PAGE 16
NOVEMBER 17, 1904
Letter from Tom Watson
Hon. T. H. Tibbies. Lincoln,: Neb.
'Fusion is dishonest and no such tree
can bear good fruit. If either of the
old parties is right there is no excuse
for a third. If both are wrong, we
should have no co-partnership with
either Tirm with one in the west
becomes a temptation to fusion with
the other in the south. Allied with
'democrats in the west and with re
: publicans in the south, the people's
TiRrtv becomes a political prostitute,
which no decent man should recognize.
The only hope we have is to keep in
the middle of the road and combat
both the old parties.
. In this campaign I have fought both.
fusing with neither. Populists who
: are in the fight on principle can do
' nothing else. Populists who are in the
' movement for office only can endorse
' co-partnrship with the common foe.
Say to our comrades in tne west uiai
I am enlisted for another four years.
'Say' to them that I sail personally can
vass every western state, between this
year and 1908. Say to them that I was
never more certain that we can finally
succeed il we so conduct our cam
paigns as to win the confidence of sin
cere reformers.
Mr. Bryan has no authority to bind
the democratic party to his populist
niotfnrm Hp is slmoly one demo-
-rat j3iBOjiseveral millions, n e
was bound to the tfatioatforml
bl? nartv on Tuesday, NoVem1jef8,tetrt poiil pop
1904, he is bound by It now. - ine i.
Louis convention of 1904 settled the
Issues for four years. The law of the
party is as declared at St. Louis, and
as accepted by Mr. Bryan, remains the
law of the party for, four years. He
can not change it. His support of Par
ker is an endorsement cf what was
done at that convention. He has now
seized upon the populist platform and
declares that he will have the demo
crats adopt it. If he is sincere wiy
The Deb Problem
Editor Independent: Since my. last
article in your issue, of November ,
1904, the November circulation state
ment has been received. The table I
the October statement, mat ; tamo
modified by the November statement
is shown: '
: The actual increase of money since
December 1, 1896, to be as follows:
""TH4--min. ( inpliiflintr hill-
lion in treasury) JC7TT88S5U2i.
Standard silver dollars... 117,211,029
Subsidiary silver 35,189,636
National bank notes 221,882,610
Total increase .. ...... $1,103,043,190
From which should be de
ducted treasury notes of
1890 cancelled 110,061,280
992,978,910
Increase in circulation all
money outside treasury.
933,031,915
Amount of net increase
not ; in circulation ......$ 59,947,995
. The November statement does not
change the general situation as out
lined before. It ought to be noted,-
however, that during the last two
months (since September 1) there has
been a decrease of volume of "stand
ard silver dollars of $818,009 and an
Increase of "subsidiary silver" of $2,
'534,380. This may, or may not, be im
portant, but in view of the fact that
.there has been a monthly increase con
tinuously for several years of "stand
ard silver dollars" it mav become in
teresting to know why this decrease
occurs now, and .whether it will con
" tinue. It is so far a reduction of stand
. ard of payment money. I ,call atten
tion to it for possible further reference.
I ended my last article with the
Estate ment that the "quantitative the
ory of mor.ty," under our economic
conditions, has a double aspect and a
double application; that in one. we
are going towards a contraction and in
the other towards an inflation. It is
the failure of Mr. Bryan and Mr. Towne
to recognize this double aspect and ap
plication thats has ; led then into the
. very grave mistake they have made in
supposing tnat whatever of business
prosperity we have '.ad since 1896 has
rr stilted from the Increase of ihe
money volume reported by the treas
ury department, when the fact is, as
I think I have shown conclusively, the
demand has increased much faster than
the money volume. If this is the
basis on which Mr. Bryan rests the
quantitative theory in its application to
No Need for Two"
Fop-ulisi Parties
i
docs he not join the party, which for
thirteen years has battled for that plat
form? If we are good enough to fuse
with why are we not good enough to
join?
If the democratic party should adopt
his platform we should have two pop
ulist parties. The country does not
need TWO POPULIST PARTIES. To
divide, the reform forces in this man
ner courts defeat.
If Mr. Bryan is sincere in hi3, pro
fession of populist faith it is his duty
to unite with us. To declare himself
a populist in principle and at the
same time refuse to join forces with us,
creates that division among the re
formers which insures the permanence
of the triumph of our common enemy.
In 1890 Mr. Bryan played into the
hands of plutocracy by scorning the
populists who had been lured by Sen
ator Jones into nominating him for
president. In 1904 he missed another
glorious opportunity by not bolting the
St. Louis convention. He made that
mistake all the more irreparable by his
speeches for Parker during the last
weeks of the campaign. He now steers
himself and the reform forces toward
a crowning disaster in 1908 by taking
possession of our own platform and
declaring his purpose to use it inside
the democratic party. Thus he pierces
us with our own sword.
I repeat the statement: We do not
neejijrWQ populist parties. All hon-
ulist party. The man whorifteceptsronr
principles and yet refuse to unite with
us shoulders the responsibility of cre
ating that division of the reform forces
which means defeat. If Mr. Bryan
would act as unselfishly toward the
populists tow as they acted toward
him in 1895, we could unite forces and
achieve success In 1908. I hope to
God he will yet do it
THOS. E. WATSON.
Thomson, Ga.
our conditions, he will have to abandon
the theory.
The two applications of the theory
relate, the one to payment "of existing
debts, tire other to business exchanges.
The one is the supply, of "debt pay-
occasioned by debts to be paid
The
other is the supply of a medium of ex
change in relation to demands occa
sioned by business transactions and ex
changes. :
There is no more important no
more tremendous economic fact thr.n
the great ..tftftuZkT : tmbUcaadjrapidlx
increasing volume or private ana cor
porate debts. The. question of payment
of interest, and when and Bow the
principal is to bo paid, is little less
than appalling. What is to be the
ultimate "standard of payment" of thi3
enormous volume of debts is of vital
importance, not only to the people of
this nation but of the world. When
statesmen, who are supposed to.be fa
miliar with economic principles and to
bd informed concerning economic con
ditions, and to whom the people have
looked for guidance, lose sight of thi3
debt problem, of the when and the how
these debts are to be liquidated, and
conclude, because the treasury depart
ment has reported an increase , of
money, without considering any other
fact, that the "money question" 'has
decreased in importance, whaLhope is
there that even the most intelligent
masses can ever be aroused and made
to understand the dangers that
threaten.
There is no monetary , standard ex
cept a standard of payment, something
with which r. debtor can pay his debts,
a standard fixed by law legal tender
money. A creditor is not compelled by
law to accept anything in payment of
his debt except the standard of pay
ment. Creditors may and often do ac
cept other things even property but
wheu they choose to exercise the right
given by lav;, the debtor must pay in
the legal standard of payment. ' Before
the war the "standard of payment."
was double ilver and gold coin. After
the war it was, and still is, triple--
silver, gold and government paper
"Gold standard" means no standard of
payment no legal tender except gold
coin. It. will mean, when we have it,
that every creditor will have the right
to demand from his debtor . the pay.
ment of his debt in gold coin. Is there
any doubt about this being what the
advocates want? Is there any doubt
about, the present tendency in that di
rection? ,
On November 1 the entire "genera
stock of money in the United States'
was $2,848,292,930. In what I have
said heretofore I have treated all this
as if it were in law debt paying money,
and on this assumption I have shown
thatUhe increase of it, since 1896, has
been no increase at all, but an abso
lute contraction, when compared with
the enormous increase in the. volume of
debts. The entire general stock of gold
in the United States was, on November
1, $1,363,047,081. If we are going to a
gold standard of payment this is the
goal. When every creditor is able, un
der the law, to demand gold coin for
his debts, th.s is the amount of debt
paying money we will have; to which
will be addea, of course, whatever in
crease of gold there may be from year
to year.. During the last eight years
the increase has been less than $100,
000,000 in each year. It is to the
volume of money available to pay
debts, and the demands made by the
debts, that the quantitative theory
must be applied. In a debt paying
sense nothing is money except stand
ard of payment legal tender. Crcii
tors do not always demand legal "en
der, and this fact may vary somewhat
the demand occasioned by the increas
ing volume of debts. The ... general
proposition, however, remains true, if
so,, the quantitative theory, when so
applied, will not explain any increase
of prices and business activity we may
have had since 1896. According to the
theory, the facts upon which Mr. Bry
an predicates his conclusions, exactly
opposite results would e expected to
follow.
It is the most falacious method of
economic investigation to take two
facts the reported increase of money
and increase,, of business activity ig
nore every thtnglscacil conclude that
one fact is the result of ifie 6tterrA
student of conditions, as well as of
theories, is compelled by the additional
facts to -which, I call attention to con
clude, that never before has the 'Gl
ume of money reported been so small
in proportion .to the demands for it. If
this is true, then the increase of money
reported does not explain the admitted
increase of business activity, and we
must look elsewhere for a vindication
of the quantitative theory.
The relation of the volume of debt
paying money to the volume of debts
to be paid; the supply of the one to
the demand occasioned by the other is
only one side of the money question;
one aspect of the applicaHnn ot
quantitative theory. Can there be any
doubt that on this side of the question
there has been, not only since 1896,
but for many years, influences 'con
stantly tending to contraction, to a re
duction of the volume of the standard
of payment?. In the application of the
"quantitative theory on this side of
itkeaiiStio'n,T can there be any doubt
about results ll&t mtist-comeiuanijhe.
ever widening separation of supply
and demand going in opposite direc
tions? " - r -
On this side of the question it is im
portant, and there is no "decrease in
the importance," that the scheme and;
purpose of the financial influences to
reduce the volume of the "legal stands
ard of payment" should be met and
thwarted. The volume. of debt paying
money should be increased beyond any
possible volume of silver and gold; be
yond the volume of all l:inds of money
reported by the department. And ev
ery dollar should be "standard of pay
ment'.' without limitation, restriction or
discrimination, and issued by the gov
ernment. .". ;
If this could be accomplished, it
would " still , not be a complete solu
tion of the financiaj question, nor a
cure tor an tne evils ot our nnanciai
system and of our financial conditions,
It would be a very long step in the
right direction, but it would not be
the ultimate goal to which every finan
cial reformer ought to press.
The other side of the question, the
side on which-lhere is now the wild:sc
inflation, and for an increase of which
the financial powers seem to me to be
planning, is quite as important
. With your permission I will consider
this ia another article.
FLAVIUS' J. VAN VORHIS
Indianapolis, Ind. "
Seward County Farm
Farm of 120 acres; 40 awes cuiti
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following- towns: Germantown, Bee
and Valparaiso. Creamery and store
half mile from house; school house
across the road; rur:.l mail route;
telephone line by hon3e. Price $45
per acre. Easy terms. No. 7B. Weber
and Farris, Lincoln, Neb.
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