41
m 1
Vol. XIV.
LINCOLN, NEB., FEB.' 12, 1003.
No. 38.
RECRUITING FOR 1904
Why You Should Assist in Helping
to Extend the Circulation
and Influence of The
Independent
Plutocrats are Always Alert
There may be some who at first
thought wonder why they should be
expected to assist in helping to ex
tend the circulation and influence of
The Independent. A little thought will
convince them it is a privilege, almost
a duty to do so. Do you realize how
thoroughly the money power is or
ganized and how thoroughly it con
trols every branch of the government
at the present time? Only last week
the Standard Oil company, with John
D. RocKefeller at its head, demon
strated its power and control of con
gress by delaying, which means ulti
mate defeat, all anti-trust legislation.
President Roosevelt found it neces
sary to threaten the congress with an
extra session unless it should show
itself able to pass some kind of a
bill to put an end to trust extortion.
But the president will be helpless
against the combined organization of
the trusts so long as the congress is
republican and the trusts, through
Marcus A. Hanna, control the repub
lican party. The millions contributed
by the trusts to the republican cam
paign funds were not given without
some consideration in return. With
all these things readers of The In
dependent are familiar. But the read
ers of trust literature and the subsi
dized press of the country know noth
ing of the real condition of political
affairs. The Independent has no trust
funds to draw upon. We cannot af
ford to employ traveling agents to
solicit subscriptions. We cannot use
the postmasters of the country to
boom the circulation of The Inde
pendent. It must depend upon the
patronage of the plain pecple whose
cause it champions for- its support.
The Independent is the leading pa
per of its class in the United States.
It advocates certain principles of gov
ernment believed to be for the best
interests of all the people. It pub
lishes facts without fear or favor and
endeavors to furnish the information
to its readers necessary to enable
them to cast an intelligent bal'ot. If
you believe in the principles advo
cated by The Independent and that
their enactment into law would bene
fit the nation as a whole it is your
duty as a patriotic citizen to do your
part in helping to ma' e tlrra law.
When the nation ne-ds sold ers in
time of war to defend itself frcm its
destroyers and presrve the bkssings
of our free institutions it is your
patriotic duty to volunteer yonr ser
vices as a soldier. If the privileges
you enjoy are worth so much s?crifice
in time of war, are they not worth
the lesser sacrifices of time and atten
tion to preserve them in time of
peace? As prevention is better than
cure, so it is better to kep the ma
chinery of government moving in such
lines that war and revolution will be
unnecessary. The citizen who gives
time' and attention to problems of
government in time of peace is as
truly a patriot as he who fol'ows the
flag in war. The man who studies to
improve his country in qniet time i3
the man who can be depended upon to
fight for it when heeded. A political
coward always mal.es a "cold-footed"
soldier.
- The man who PRETENDS to b
TOO GOOD to interest himself in po
litical matters and dismisses the sub
ject with a contemptuous sneer that
"he don't care" should be reminded
that he cannot escape the annual vis
its of the tax collector and that he
and his children will be required to
assist in paying the political fiddlers.
He should be reminded that he and
his family must, use kerosene oil and
that John D. Rockefeller, head of the
Standard Oil trust, has arbitrarily
raised the price of that household
necessity from 9 cents a gallon to 16
cents a gallon, wholesale, and that the
retail price has gone up according
from 14 cents to 20 cents in five-gallon
lots. That is the tribute he pays
to a single trust In the same man
ner on every pair of shoes he pays
tribute to the leather trust and down
the list on nearly every household
necessity. Will he help to right the
wrong or suffer the injustice to in
crease until the burden becomes heav
ier than succeeding generations can
bear and the sword and bayonet be
come the only cure? He should be
reminded that he cannot escape his
part in the revolution. If he pro
claims his ' neutrality, then it will
avail him nothing, for the govern
ment, if need be, would draft him and
his children in its service.
The citizen who "don't care" about
politics is of doubtful patriotism. He
is the political rogue's delight and
they only wish that his kind may in
crease. As Nero fiddled while Rome
burned, so the indifferent citizen fid
dles while his liberty perishes. He
growls a little, but payi; the bills and
does nothing to check the robberies
and political extravagance.
If you believe in the principles ad
vocated by The Independent the
principles of the people's party it is
your duty to help extend its circula
tion and influence in order that those
principles may be made law. It is
your duty to assist in electing men
who will support and advocate the
same principles you believe in. You
have read The Independent and know
of its loyalty to the cause of good
government. Will you do your par'
in helping to overthrow the rule of
Mammon and substitute Abraham
Lincoln's government of the people,
by the people and for the people?
The Independent has announced a
special rate, only $1.00 for NEW sub
scriptions to run until after the pres
idential election in 1904. Recruiting
coupon books containing five coupons
n each book have been prepared.
Each coupon is good for a subscription
to The Independent to be sent to any
address in the United States until
November 17, 1904, twenty-one months
from this time. Every reader inter
ested in the cause of good government
should send for a recruiting coupon
book. No charge is made for the
book or coupons in advance. We'll
send you the book andwhen you have
sold the coupons send $1 to The Inde
pendent for each coupon sold. Any
unsold coupons may be returned. It
costs you nothing to try. Send for
a book today. Here are those who
have already ordered coupon books.
Why not have your name added to
the list:
O. S. Williamson, Beaver City, Neb.
J. M. Knox, Cambridge, Neb.
A. W. Gingery. Lamar, Colo.
A. R. Cross, Lewis, Kas.
A. F. Parsons, North Platte, Neb.
J. T. Sims, Simsville, Ala.
W. B. Essick, North Benton, O.
J. M. Babb, Clayton, III.
James Mcllduff, O'Connor, Neb.
Ralph Ashton, Emmett, Neb.
J. B. Vaughan, Clifton, S. C.
Neb. Mut. Ins. Journal.
Wm. Bailey, Eldorado, Kas.
August Uhde, Curtis Bay, Md.
William Hancock, Loup City, Neb.
Wm. Surman, Carlinville, 111.
David Marshall, Milltona, Minn.
H. J. Mason, Fullerton, Neb.
Jerry Johnston, Miola, Pa.
Mr. Martin's Mistake
Editor Independent: It is incom
prehensible how any man who has
been reading with attention any
thing I have said on the subject could
have got it into his head that I am
in favor of letting the banks, under
any possible condition or favoritism,
issue their notes as money. The is
sue of money is a prerogative of gov
ernment and ought under no possi
ble set of circumstances to be dele
gated to any individual or corpora
tion. And let me say further in this
connection that every dollar of ev
ery form of money ought to be a full
legal tender.
I hope Mr. John T. Martin will not
again misunderstand me on this
question.
FLAVIUS J. VAN VORHIS.
Indianapolis, Ind.
Good for The Outlook! In discuss
ing the action of the Chicago city
council, deciding by a vote of 51 to
1G to ask the legislature to pass a bill
allowing any city in Illinois to pur
chase street car lines, The Outlook
believes that "the amendment provid
ing for a referendum of all consider
able extensions of a railway fran
chise should be urged." That is good
populism.
IHE VALUE OF MONEY
Mr. Da Hart Raturna to Ilia Old Lot, tha
Subject of Monty
CHAPTER I.
Editor Independent: Adam Smith
said: "The word VALUE, it is to be
observed, has two different meanings,
and sometimes expresses the utility
of some particular object, and some
times the power of purchasing other
goods which the possessor of that ob
ject conveys.
"The one may be called "value in
use,' the -other 'value in exchange.'
"The things which have the greatest
value in use have frequently little or
ho value in exchange; and, on the
contrary, those that have the greatest
value in exchange have frequently
little or no value in use. Nothing is
more useful than water; but it will
purchase scarce anything; scarce any
thing can be had in exchange for it.
A diamond, on the contrary, has
scarce any value in use, but a very
great quantity of goods may frequent
ly be had in exchange for it."
Thus spoke Adam Smith, and it
would have been a great deal better,
if he had said only half as much.
What he said about value as being a
"power of purchasing goods" was
very true, but that part about value
as being "utility of some particular
object" was certainly erroneous. It is
no more correct to say that value is
utility than to say that value is
wealth. We also need a definition of
value that will separate it from price
as well as from wealth and utility.
Economists are obliged to use these
four words and they all should be
used, without one being used for the
other.
- I have quoted all that Adam Smith
said about value. The next great
political economist coming along was
David Ricardo born in 1772, dying in
1824, in his fifty-second year and it
is a great pity that he could not have
had twenty years more. He made
great improvements on Adam Smith,
and he would have done much more
if he could have lived longer. Un
fortunately, however, he had a con
fused notion of value or at least a
confused way of explaining it. The
probability is that he was more de
ficient in language than in ideas. He
undoubtedly saw clearly the differ
ence between utility and value, al
though he did not express it -clearly.
He made a mistake in following too
closely the great Adam Smith.
Ricardo commenced the discussion
of his political economy by quoting
Adam Smith approvingly, and then
adding more illustration, in order to
show that "value has two different
meanings.".
He said: "Water and air are
abundantly useful; they are indeed
indispensable to existence, yet, un
der ordinary circumstances, nothing
can be obtained in exchange for them."
Gold, on the contrary, though of lit
tle use, compared with air or water,
will exchange for a great quantity of
other goods."
Ricardo continues: "Utility, then,
is hot the measure of exchangeable
value, although it is absolutely essen
tial to it. If a commodity were in no
way useful, it would be destitute of
exchangeable value, however scarce
it might be, or whatever quantity of
labor might be necessary to produce
it."
What nonsense! How can value be
"exchangeable?" If it is a "power of
purchasing," as Smith said, how can
it be exchangeable? Two commodities
may be exchangeable, but two pow
ers of purchasing cannot be ex
changeable. Ricardo then says: "Possessing
utility, commodities derive their ex
changeable value from two sources:
from their scarcity, and from the
quantity of labor required to procure
them."
He then devotes thirty pages for the
purpose of showing that commodities
get their "exchangeable value" he
ought to say "value," because thes
is no such thing as exchangeable val
uefrom two sources: "from their
scarcity, or from the quantity of la
bor required to obtain them."
While Adam Smith could dispose of
value by a dozen lines, yet Ricardo re
quired thirty pages to give his notions
about it. And it is singular that each
subsequent economist devoted more
and more space to the subject, before
he could come to the discussion of
wealth, the real subject of the sci
ence. Ricardo thought that It waa 4
very necessary to prove what was the'
cause of value, namely, labor or scarc
ity. Adam Smith had said: "The
value of any commodity to the per"
son who possesses It, and who mean3
not to use it or consume it himself,'
but to exchange it for other commod-,
ities. is equal to the quantity of labor ,
which it enables him to purchase or
command."
"Labor," says Smith, "Is the real
measure of the exchangeable value of
all commodities."
Then we read from Smith as fol-.
lows: "The real price of everything"
. . . is the toil and trouble of acquir-;
ing it. What everything Is really,
worth to the man who has acquired,
it, and who wants to dispose of it or
exchange it. for something else, la the
toil and the trouble which it can
save to himself, and which it can Im
pose upon other people. What is
bought with money or with goods is
purchased by labor, as much as what
we acquire by the toil of our own
body. That money or those goods In
deed save us this toil. . . . Labor was
the first price, the original purchase
money that was paid for all things.
It was not by gold or by silver, but
by labor, that all the wealth of tha
world was originally purchased; and
its value to those who possess it, and
who want to exchange it for new pro
ductions, is ''precisely equal to the
quantity of labor which it can enable
them to purchase." r
I am quoting from the 5th chapter
of the Wealth of Nations by Adam
Smith, which chapter is entitled "Of
the real and nominal price of com
modities, or of their price in labor,
and their price in money." ... He
takes the ground that "labor is the
real measure of value." You notice
he does not say "standard of value,"
a phrase we use so much in modern
times. He is looking for something
that will serve as a measure of value;
and this something he concludes, must
be a commodity that Is the product Of
labor. He argues that although la
bor is the "real measure of value,"
yet labor cannot be used in every-dayj
life as a measure. On this point he
says: "Every commodity is more
frequently exchanged for, and there
by compared with, other commodities
than with labor. It is more natural
therefore to estimate its changeable
value by the quantity of some other
commodity than by that of the labor
which it can purchase. The greater
part of people, too, understand better
what is meant by a quantity of a par
ticular commodity, than by a quan
tity of labor. The one is a plain and
palpable object; the other an abstract
notion, which, though it can be made
sufficiently intelligible, is not alto
gether so natural and obvious."
Exchanges of labor for labor takes
place in the .infancy of society. Af
terwards the people begin to exchange
commodities for commodities. This is
barter in its advanced stage. After
wards the community finds that there
is some one commodity which is uni
versally useful and which everybody,
wants. Then those who have more
of any one commodity than they can
use themselves, begin to exchange it
for that one commodity which every
body wants. This one single com
modity is called money, and those
who have a superfluity of one or more
commodities, begin to exchange them
for the commodity called money. This
commodity becomes acceptable, first,
because taxes can be paid with it;
secondly, because damages adjudged
to be paid by the courts, can be paid
thereby; third, fines and all penalties
can be paid thereby; fourth, rents
are discharged thereby. What the
landlord and government will accept
for rent and taxes the merchant,
manufacturer and labor will accept,
for their goods and labor.
Smith insists that although labor is
the "real price" of commodities, yet
money is the "nominal price" of com
modities. His idea is, that money
(gold or silver) gets its value from
the quantity of labor necessary to
mine and bring these commodities to
market. In this respect both Ri
cardo and Smith agree. This, however,
is a disputed point. Undoubtedly the
value of gold and silver ought to de
pend upon tin quantity of labor nec
essary to mine and bring them to
market. But nations are not doing
business as they ought to be doing.
Mr. Del Mar has made a long and
laborious examination of this matter.
