Che Conservative
VOL. HI. NO. 42. NEBRASKA CITY , NEBRASKA , APRIL 25 , 1901. SINGLE COPIES , 5 CENTS.
PUBMBHED WEEKLY.
OFFICES : OVERLAND THEATRE BLOCK.
.T. STERLING MORTON , EDITOR.
A JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE DISCUSSION
OF POLITICAL , ECONOMIC AND BOOIOLOQIOAI.
QUESTIONS.
CIRCULATION THIS WEEK , 12,250 COPIES.
TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION.
One dollar and a half per year In advance ,
postpaid to any part of the United States or
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Morton Printing Company.
Address , THE CONSERVATIVE , Nebraska
City , Nebraska.
Advertising rates made known upon appli
cation.
| - _ _ _ _ „ _ _ - - , _ -
Entered at the postofflce at Nebraska City ,
Neb. , as Second Class matter , July 29 , 1808.
The farmer who asks
DO WE WANT for more money
MONEY OR would not really be
EXCHANGE ? satisfied , for a mo
ment , with money
if he were compelled to keep it. Just as
soon as he receives the money , he wants
to pay it out for something which is
actually useful to him. What he really
wants is not more money , but more
shoes , more clothing , more food , more
houses , more barns , more wagons , more
comforts of life. He finds the process
of exchanging his wheat and corn and
cotton for these other comforts , a diffi
cult and slow process , and , at present , it
seems to him that he cannot make this
exchange , without first selling his pro
duce for money and then selling the
money for some different land of pro
duce. Then , when he has sold his crop ,
he is not able to make up his mind in
stantly as to the particular articles which
he wants in exchange ; and , therefore ,
he wants to keep the money on hanc
until he does make up his mind. If he
does this , he withdraws from , circula
tion a considerable part of the very
mouey which he wonts to keep in cir
culation ; and , thus , he is taught , re
duces the price of all products , his own
included. Then he naturally demands a
fresh issue of money , to raise prices of
his products , and so goes round and
round in a path which leads nowhere.
All this is easy enough to see , and has
been pointed out very often. But , while
all who think
Trade. much upon the
subject , are wel
able to prove that no possible increase o :
the' currency would answer the end
which the farmer has in view , no prac
tioal method of attaining this end has
been offered to him. It seems that there
s a perfectly practicable method within
reach. The farmer really needs no more
noney , but simply greater facility for
barter. The large merchants and manu
facturers have already this facility in
their bank accounts. They do not use
actual money , whether in coin or paper ,
10 matter how it may be defined. They
my , and are paid , in bank checks ; and
: hese checks , themselves , are practically
never paid in money , but are simply set
off , one against the other , in a clearing
: iouso. Accordingly we find that the
intermittent clamor for increased cur
rency does not come to any important
extent , from the commercial and manu
facturing classes , but that all they want
is increased credits and banking faculties.
Less than five per cent of the business
of the country is conducted upon an
actual money basis , and less than twenty
per cent of the deposits in banks are
represented by actual cash on hand.
It seems , therefore , perfectly clear
that the only effectual remedy for the
difficulties which
Tools of Trade. trouble the farm-
ersin this respect ,
is to be found in a very great extension
of banking facilities among them. If a
bank were brought to the door of every
farmer , and he could feel assured of its
safety , as a place of deposit , and could
be taught to accept payment for all his
goods in bank checks , and to make pay
ment for all his purchases in the same
way , he would cease to use or to want
any considerable amount of coin or
currency. This is the remedy which
modern civilization has provided for the
money difficulty , with regard to other
classes of the community ; and it is be
cause the American farmer has nol
learned to keep up with the commercial
classes in this respect that he , constantly
under false teachers , demands more
currency. The remedy which he de
mands would really bring him no relief
The annual produce of the country must
largely exceed in value twelve billion
dollars. The free coinage of silver , even
if it were possible to add all the volume
of silver to the gold now in circulation
and to keep it all in the country , coulc
not increase the currency sufficiently to
dispense with five per cent of the trans
actions ' now conducted by means o :
bank checks.
If we could bring the farmers of the
country , generally , to do business
through banks , as
Business. merchants do , they
would feel no
greater need of money than merchants
feel. Nothing else will ever mitigate
the pressure upon them of which they
sometimes complain.
The necessities of civilization , demand
ing imperatively that farmers , as well as
all other classes of the community , shall
fall into line with the system of credits
and banking which characterizes civil
ization , any scheme of supposed relief
which hinders the progress of the bank
ing system among farmers will only
srolong their distress and aggravate the
disease of which they complain.
An enlargement of the currency has
andean only have this effect : By re
lieving , for a short
Expansion Fallacy , time , the pressure
upon the farmers ,
which comes from restricted facilities
for exchange , it turns their attention
away from the true remedy and delays
the introductibn of banking among
them. A wise government facilitates
the extension of sound and safe banks
among the people , but will not take
away the natural pressure which is
needed to induce them to avail them
selves of banking facilities. Nature
teaches us nothing , except by the pro
cess of deprivation and gradual pressure.
If we never suffered any inconvenience ,
we should never make new inventions ;
whereas , in proportion to the increase
of inconvenience which we suffer for
want of inventions , is the increase of
inventions themselves. Therefore , the
expansion of the currency , by relieving
the pressure , delays the extension of
banks of deposit , which is the only
proper remedy. Banks can supply
means of exchange , adequate to any de
mand , which money can never do. The
gradual abandonment of silver , as
money , in civilized nations generally ,
and the falling back upon gold , as the
exclusive currency , is the method by
which nature gradually forces men * to
extend their banking systems , and to
rely , niore and more , upon exchanges by
cheques in place of exchanges by money.
A gradual contraction of the currency
makes inevitable the rapid extension of
banks , and every bank furnishes , at
least four times , and often ten times , the
facilities of exchange , which ore fur
nished by the amount of coin which is
stored in its vaults.
Our national banking system , for some
reason , fails to meet the needs of the
farming classes.
Banks. Private banks
have been spread
ing among farmers ; but , unfortunately ,