nut
2~> CENTS
WHAT IS MONEY?
oklU. A_^_ ( y|
Popular Remedies for
Popular Ills.
THOMAS MAY THORPE.
NEW YORK!
J* 5-OGILVIE,Publisher,
57 Rose Street.
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Painless.
Effectual.
In many towns where this wonderful medicine has been
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of the ordinary complaints incident to humanity ; and when
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a few days, it is not wonderful that Beecham's Pills should
maintain their acknowledged popularity in both hemispheres.
They cost only 25 cents, although the proverbial expres¬
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box," for in truth one box will oftentimes be the means of
saving more than one guinea in doctor's bills.
REMEMBER THAT BEECHAM'S PILLS IS
are
A WONDERFUL MEDICINE
for all
BILIOUS AND NERVOUS BISORDERS
—such as—
CONSTIPATION,
WEAK STOMACH,
SICK - HEADACHE,
LOSS OF APPETITE,
IMPAIRED DIGESTION,
DISORDERED LIVER AND ALL KINDRED DISEASES.
Prepared onlv by Thos. Beecham, St. Helens, Lancashire, England. B
Allen Co., Sole Agents for United States, 365 and 367 Canal St., N. Y., who
your druggist • oesnot keep them) will mail Beecham's Pills on receipt of price, 25c
but inquire first. Correspondents will please mention J. S. Ogilvie's Books.
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oooooooooooooocooooooooooooooo
WHAT îS MONEY?
OR,
POPULAR REMEDIES
FOR
POPULÄR ILLS
»
BY THOMAS MAY THORPE.
" Strike but hear ! "
"The truth shall make you free."
" The only book of the age that I found Thought-provocative and worthy
of Serious Attention was Ricardo's on 'Great Financial Questions.'"—De
Quincey's Opium Eater, freely quoted.
"Your silver is cankered."—God's judgment on an Infatuated and
Wicked People.
Copyright, 1896, by Thomas May Thorpe.
THE PEERLESS SERIES, No. 95. Issued Monthly. March, 1896. Sub¬
scription, $3.00 per year. Entered at New York Post
Office as second-class matter.
NEW YORK:
J. S. OGILVIE PUBLISHING COMPANY,
57 Rose Street.
üjiriei
$a-lt?73
' ¿r i
«s®- / f~»
DEDICATION-1896.
t
- To Thorolf, King of Iceland,, circa 850;
To." Thorpe/' a Celebrated Man and Author of England
in 1000;
To the memory of Benjamin Franklin, a near Rela¬
tive, by whose Spirit these lines are Inspired;
:,J ;To ;ThI Kew York World,, the champion of Truth
and G. , d for their own sake—the Glory of the American
,Press;.*p-/-
To the Intelligent and Incorruptible American
' SENATE;!/;.; \\ .
; rTo the Inextinguishable Absurdity of the idea that
gold or anything else can have intrinsic yalue—that is,
Value independent of Law, Usage and Circumstance;
To ,the Honor of the American People, which can
Circulate and Maintain the Credit oe Thousands
of Millions of Dollars in any FORM to which they may
elect to lend their Unimpeachable Credit;
To the Eternal INFAMY of Gold Monometallism,
which Invites Robbery and Jobbery and Alone renders
them POSSIBLE; and of the majority of a Supreme
Court that declares that Struggling Labor shall bear
the Burdens of Governmental Expenditure while reaping
Hone of its Benefits, thus leaving the already Too Rich
to go virtually UNTAXED;
. To the fame of Blackstone, who established the Prin¬
ciple, The Income of Property is the Property:"
To Bishop Huntington and Father Huntington,
4
dedication.
the unfailing Friends of the Poor, with whom I have com¬
mon descent from Tristram Coffin of Nantucket; and to
Bishop Pottee, the Great Bishop of a Great Diocese;
To my Cousin, T. B. Wakeman, whose political and ad¬
ministrative ability will yet be Appreciated;
To Alfeed E. Knight, Esq., and Rev. De. Satteelee,
my Boyhood and College friends;
To Undying Hateed of Oppeession in every Foem
and an Incessant and Fearless Advocacy of the People's
Rights,
This Book is Dedicated,
Come What Will/
December 10, 1895.
L'ENVOI,
To my Fellow-countrymen from Maine to Texas
from Oregon to Florida :
A Hymn of Reconciliation.
i.
Columbia, the gem of the ocean,
The land of the brave and the free,
My heart's most tender devotion
Shall ever go out unto thee!
ii.
The land of the corn and the vine,
The land of mountain and lea;
The land where the sough of the pine
Kesponds to the call of the sea.
'
in.
Here's a hail to the knightly elation,
Abandoning home for the fray; j
To fight for the weal of the nation,
Brave boys of the blue and the gray.
iv.
The stars and the bars, forever—
O lay them sacred away;
The stars and the stripes, let them ever
Wave over the blue and the gray.
v.
Uncover and bow down the head,
O pray for the blue and the gray;
Let us leave in God's keeping our dead
Forgiving, forgiven, united alway.
'j
i
6
poem*
vi.
xEre again to battle we fly,
Let's pause for debate and a vote;
Let love and sound reason reply 5
To the bugle's impassionate note.
T. M. Thorpe.
3 A. M. Nov. 10, 1895 : >
7 St. Marks Place, New York.
INTRODUCTION.
One cannot but note the increase of robbery and
suicide in New York city, my home, and the financial
barometer of the country. The masses are becoming
desperate. The bold and reckless gain subsistence by
burglary and highway robbery : the timid and
scrupulously conscientious seek in death a possible,
mercy from God that man certainly denies. All
which indicates heartrending evilß that call for
instant and heroic remedies.
The private life of a public man is as sacred as that
of the humblest laborer. But he who accepts office
invites the white light of constant investigation and
questioning. For salary and honor above the average
he must give in exchange an honor and honesty " above
suspicion," or suffer the consequences in a fall whose
disaster is in proportion to its descent.
I The country to-day is in the agonies of monetary
stringency, largely because of the covert defeat of the
income tax, " the fairest of all imposts," as a great
( ! English writer long ago demonstrated. Blackstone r
says, if you sell the products of a piece of property,
you sell the property ; for its sole value is its rental.
On this basic principle the Supreme Court's decision
is valueless in point of law. A man's property is simi¬
larly and briefly exponented by his income. To say
8
IîsTRODUCTIOX
i
we may not tax a man's income is to say we may not
tax his property at all ; for, as we have seen, his income
from his property, as phrased by the supreme judicial
Text-book, is his property. Especially when one
member of that Court for no apparent nor imaginable
good reason reversed his former decision in favor ofthat
tax and so defeated it entirely—especially should he,
and with him his consentient colleagues, explain and
produce better reasons than those officially given.
In like manner, I am pained and astonished to
find that Pierpont Morgan is closely bound to Lawyer
Tracy, Cleveland's partner and intimate friend ;
and that Charles Stetson, who is Attorney for the
Bond-Syndicate, is also a Partner and intimate friend
of the President. I say that Washington, for ex¬
ample, would not throw heavy commissions into the
monopolistic pockets of people so closely connected.
It might be all correct, but he would say it might
not seem so, and that his reputation must be spotless
beyond even the logical chance of interrogation.
Let Congress investigate and call for persons and
correspondence. Those concerned are public servants ;
if innocent, they will rejoice at the greater glory of a
triumphant acquittal. The Supreme Court and the
Secretary of the Treasury—and Cabinet—are not
beyond the powers of constitutional Impeachment.
I wrote my littlç book ere I had even seen Coir's
" Financial School." I did do with a purpose. I
knew its power, and I feared an unconscious imitation
that might weaken the force of my own definitions
and arguments. Since then I observe that the author
of that epochal work, not yet taken with due seri¬
ousness, demonstrates several keystone facts. First :
INTRODUCTION
9
Amidst all the fluctuations of the production of gold
and silver, and of their mutual quantitative ratio,
never stable, the value of gold and silver remained un¬
changed at 16 to 1; never lower than about 15 to 1 ;
never higher than about 17 to 1. Hence vicious and
lying legislation can alone be responsible for any dis¬
turbance of reciprocal values that had been proven by
ages of experience to be in essence as intrinsic as
gravitation or endosmose and exosmose. The silver
deluge from Mexico and Potosi had no more effect
in disturbing that heaven-ordained harmony than
that of gold from California. And " Coin " shows fur¬
ther that there is less silver in proportion to gold
to-day than there was during the 16 to 1 period of
prosperity. It is a misleading statement, pure and
simple, therefore, to say that " silver, because of over¬
production, has ceased to be a precious metal, and has
become a commodity." If » not worth $1 per ounce,
adverse legislation is the sole cause ; remove the cause
and the effect will instantly cease.
Again : Hever in the world's history has so much of
gold and silver been used—destroyed largely—as in
the gilding of books and other articles, as now.
Again : Were the debts of all nations paid in gold,
there would not be gold enough to satisfy that one
item alone ; we have only $500,000,000 gold, or about
$7 per capita, in the United States.
Take awav bank-reserves and " hoarding " and our
«/ o
per capita for circulation cannot be up to ten dollars as
against about fifty in France. Can we call such a
forced condition, against all the facts and statistics,
less than criminal f Is it any wonder that " hard
times" began with " contraction ?" that the prices of
10
INTRODUCTION.
wheat, cotton and other American products have
dropped pari passu with the wholly forced and artificial
" fall" in .the " price " of silver (?). " Honey " is not
and cannot be a " commodity." Its sole purpose is to
register the relations of value. Gold and silver must
be absolutely free at their established ratio of 16 to 1
or they cannot perform this function. As well ask the
mercury to register the degrees accurately in a chan¬
nel purposely made larger or smaller than the absolute
proportion.
Carlisle's crime is disarranging the values and trade
of over seventy millions of intelligent and active
people in order to fabricate " bankers' exchange " for
four per cent, only of our commercial transactions,
which is the amount of our foreign trade. Better, as
in revolutionary days, give up the four per cent, en¬
tirely if necessary, and live prosperously upon our own
resources. But one per cent, at least of the four we
could still enjoy, for the Orient would send us tea, and
Mexico, coffee, just the same as ever. And if our
currency were silver they would make our ports hum
with large and increasing orders, shipping us dyestuffs,
drugs, cabinet woods, fruits and silver in return.
Let us consider, says a paper, the enormous aggre¬
gations of gold now held by leading nations of Europe
in their central or state banks. The estimate made of
that total was not less than one billion of dollars. But
the private sequestrations are as large. Look at the
known facts in regard to the gold mined. From 1885
to 1892—seven years—the amount of gold mined was
not less than $800,000,000. According to Sauerbeck,
the amount added to coinage was about $30,000,000
(£6,000,000). That is to say, the ratio of gold was
INTRODUCTION".
11
166 mined to but 6 coined. What became of the rest ?
The arts consumed, with wastage, about one-half. At
least $500,000,000 of gold has been practically " lost "
during the past ten years.
What folly then to talk of "gold alone." Then con¬
sider this :
THE COST OF PRODUCTION".
(FROM THE DENVER NEWS.)
To abate the alarm of the " sound money " men we
hasten to assure them that very little of the gold
mined in Colorado costs below $1 an ounce to pro¬
duce. This, we hope, will relieve their apprehension
of a depreciated and cheap currency containing less
than $20.67 per ounce of " intrinsic value."
This country is the richest on the globe, possessing
$95,000,000,000 ; yet ' if we believe Cleveland and
Carlisle, a fluctuation of a petty $10,000,000, or
$20,000,000 in the " Reserve " is sufficient to throw us
all into convulsions. We should not know whether
or not we had any " Reserve," if professional pluto¬
crats did not point to it and howl over it as a beggar
shows his self-made " sores." Let us use our credit,
as every wise merchant or nation has ever done, and
there will be an end to jobbery and needless " loans."
Why should we borrow at 12 per cent, discount any
more than Yanderbilt or Astor ? They get a railroad
or two whenever they want it, fora check or green¬
backs, and nobody asks for an exhibition of their
" gold reserve." Their reputation and general prop¬
erty interests are all-sufficient. So would ours be if
our confidential clerk (Carlisle) were not forever going
about and crying : "Let us have some gold at any
n
INTRODUCTION
cost or we are ruined forever." It would be farcical
if the tears and blood of pauperism and felo-de-se
were not its neeessary accompaniments. hat would
a business house do to a head bookkeeper or clerk
who would act as Carlisle does ? To listen to Carlisle
one would think America the Lazarus of nations,
bankrupt or trembling on its verge day by day. Does
not a solvent merchant give his notes to tide over an
emergency ? Then why not the National Treasury at
least exhaust our credit before dividing up 15 per cent,
of " commissions " with Rothschild & Co. in a way that
it is the duty of the coming Congress to investigate
rigidly. Let us issue our coin and silver to the last
penny before burdening our wretched people with
further uncalled for " debt " and " interest." "When
the, 96 per cent, of home-trade refuses to take
national money at par it will be time enough to talk
of " a foreign loan.'- But I maintain that this is an
axiom : Any currency at par in a first-class power
will pass at par all over the world.
But supposing we pay our deficiencies each quarter
by the issue of coin and greenbacks.
What is that but a popular loan taken by our own
people ?
If they let it depreciate that is their own affair.
And mark it : This currency would have to circu¬
late at 12 to 16 per cent, below par before it would be
as " dishonest money " as the recent Shylock " loans."
No one who is a good citizen but would indignantly
scout the idea of refusing his own governments money
(in time of peace) at less than its face. At any rate
we would owe ourselves; we would escape u bonded in¬
debtedness " " payable in gold," a dishonest because
impracticable and one-sided money.
INTRODUCTION.
is
We shall leave much—our all in fact—for the next
generation to enjoy. Let them lend us a little for our
present needs—which is what we call " public credit "
and " the faith of the nation "—and all will be well.
Still let us not forget, in view of these facts, that a
bonded gold debt is—treason.
Finally, let us demand adherence to the recent
"Philadelphia method." When the banks refused a
loan to the city except at exorbitant Carlislean rates,
the wise authorities appealed to their own people. At
once the whole loan was subscribed for at par or a
premium.
A foreign loan, or a loan payàble in anything but
" the lawful money of the United States," is on its
face an evidence of jobbery and corruption ; and the
people must " know the reason why." As this goes to
press the following despatch to the noble "World"
rightly expresses it :
Corsicana, First National Bank.—Patriotic duty
prompts us to refuse to have anything to do with an
unnecessary issue of bonds to replenish an unnecessary
reserve. Our people have such confidence in the
credit of the United States that they do not care
whether the gold reserve is one hundred or one hun¬
dred millions of dollars.
The Monetary Catechism
for
LABOR, COMMERCE AND POPULAR REPRE¬
SENTATIVES, BRIEFLY TERMED
GOVERNMENTS.
by thomas may thorpe.
What was the greatest and most formative power
of earlier days ?
Rome, which gave laws and customs to the then
cultivated world.
What was the Roman word for money ?
Moneta.
What is its signification?
From monere, to teach, to warn : i.e., the inscrip¬
tion teaches its assigned value.
What other Latin word was used interchangeably ?
Pecunia, from " pecus," defined by Ainsworth as
" Cattle, a flock of sheep." The same Author interprets
" pecunia " as follows : " 1. An estate, real or personal ;
2, money." Holland's Pliny B. 33, Chapter 3, refers
16
0
tVHAÍ IS MOKET?
to " money " thus : " And what was the mark im¬
printed thereupon? even a sheepe, which in Latine
they call pecus; and from thence procedeth the word
pecunia, which signifieth money?*
"What do these terms convey as a matter of historic
truth ?
That the first and fundamental basis of " money " is
real estate and what is derived from it ; that cattle
were its primal tokens ; that all prosperity and com¬
merce are dependent upon the welfare of the farmer ;
that the original and typical coins were of later in¬
vention and by the figure impressed upon them-—
cattle—" taught " the number of cattle or amount of
equivalent farm produce that the coin merely mani¬
fested. Later " gold " and " silver " were thus termed
" money," but only derivatively, as representing pro¬
duce and property. Silver—argentum—not only meant
" money " as did aureum, gold, but by way of preemi¬
nence it signified " bullion " also, money in its great
aggregate and mass. (See Ainsworth.)
What is the first mention of " money " as it would
be called in our days ?
Gen. 12:16 : And Abram, the great man of the period
" had sheep aid oxen [see Pecunia above], and he-asses
and men-servants and maid-servants and she-asses and
camels."
Then a man may be wealthy and transact commerce
of nternational scope without any " gold basis ?"
Yes, this case proves it.
What was the next special mention of money ?
In Gen. 23 :16 : " Abraham weighed to Ephron 400
shekels of silver, current money with the merchants?*
Then what was the basic " current money with the
merchant " as God himself ordained for his people ?
WHAT IS MOÏTEY?
17
SILVER.
Can God and his people get along then without
"Wall Street gold and the Rothschild gold-conspiracy ?
Yes, if his people have the courage to put more faith
in God and his institutions than in If all Street and
the great Jew bankers.
Can you give an instance of any country doing
better with silver only than those violently forced
upon a gold basis by financial and legislative treason to
popular rights ?
Yes, Mexico, all things considered, is more prosper¬
ous than the United States.
Give another.
- Señor Leopold Lucayo, the leading capitalist and
banker of the small State of Nicaragua, in an inter¬
view by the New York Journal, July 24, 1895, is thus
reported :
" How are Nicaragua's finances ?"
" They were never in better shape. The circulating
medium of Nicaragua is silver and government notes,
and both circulate at par. We have no gold coins,
except those which are received in exchange from
other countries, such as American double eagles,
eagles and half eagles, the English sovereigns and
French napoleons."
These two statements dispose of Hoke Smith's re¬
cent allegations in Georgia, and a favorite fable of
gold-bugs everywhere, that if our country adopt silver
coinage at 16 to 1 we should be without gold. Nicara¬
gua evidently procures through the ordinary processes
of exchange, all it needs, to meet exceptional demands
and cases. Moreover, the monometallists say that our
country upon a silver basis would find herself shut in
18
WHAT IS MONEY?
bv a Chinese wall and cut off from the commerce of
the world ; that without a gold basis we could neither
export a pound of our own products and manufac¬
tures nor import a dollar's worth of those of England,
France, Germany, and other gold-basis countries.
That our farm products would rot, mills and foundries
close, banks cease to do business, and a panic and
general ruin ensue unprecedented since the days of
Abraham.
Is this a correct picture ?
Yes, quite as much so as any other .statement made
by the gold conspirators—that is to say, entirely and
absolutely false. They have a way of arguing that
the father of lies must admire, i.e., Claim everything
for gold ; ignore all history and the most evident
facts right before your eyes if they redound to the
credit and value of silver or any other currency than
gold.
Mexico has 10,000,000 population, of which about
6,000,000 are half-naked Indians, 2,500,000 half-breeds,
and only a little over 1,000,000 whites. H early all
are ignorant and superstitious. Yet, although robbed
at one blow of one-half the value of her solely-silver
circulating medium by the gold conspiracy of Europe
and Grover Cleveland & Co., so great and elastic
was the volume of her currencv that she has lived
«/
through the alleged " ruin" of silver monometallism
and experienced a revival of business of recent date.
Is it true, then, that silver inonomentallism is fatal to
business activity and world-wide purchase and sale ?
Ho, absolutely false, as the case of Mexico proves.
Can Mexico sell anything to Europe and America,
both being tricked into the insufficient gold standard?
WfiAT IS ÎÎOKEY? 19
Yes, every pound of her coffee and other products is
disposed of just as readily as if the words " gold stand¬
ard" were never heard of.
Then what 10,000,000 Mexicans can do the great
American nation of 73,000,000, with unlimited energy,
resources, and intelligence cannot do ?
' o
Such is the black slander of the gold-bugs in the
interest of a limited currency (gold) so as to manipulate
their gold at 2 per cent, a month : a slander that every
self-respecting American farmer and mechanic should
hurl back into their teeth—at the polls.
. Tell us something about Nicaragua.
It is a little Central American Republic of 49,500
square miles, about the size of New York and a couple
of New Jersey counties thrown in. The population is
of the same character as that of Mexico, and numbers
170,000, or as many as two or three wards of New
York city.
They, having a silver and paper currency only, can
sell all they raise to Europe and America, can they
not \
Yes !
And, similiarly, buy anything they want ?
Yes.
And grow and prosper in spite of the Shylock liars
and conspirators \
Yes.
And even procure a gold surplus from all the gold-
bug nations as they want it ?
Oh, yes, no trouble at all about that.
But our credit would be inferior to that of little
Nicaragua if we adopted free silver or silver mono¬
metallism, if you choose ?
WHAT ÎS if OXET?
Yes, so Wall Street positively avers.
Our ability to sell, our resources, in short« aie much
less than those of Nicaragua ?
Yes, the gold bugs say so.
Our resources, our " reserve of " credit are less than
those of Nicaragua ?
Hoke Smith and Fairchild, Cleveland and Carlisle
say so. •
Nicaragua, then, from a silver basis, can buy or sell
to us or to Europe, but we could do neither?
Tes, Hoke Smith says Nicaragua's resources' and
credit in the markets of the world are infinitely ahead
of ours. Nicaragua can succeed, can buy, can sell on
a silver basis, but wreck and ruin would visit this great
nation under precisely similar conditions.
Who is Hoke Smith—an escaped lunatic ?
No, he is not an " escaped " lunatic, for he has yet
to be " committed " to Bloomingdale. The people
will see to that. " What fools we mortals be !" We
elect men who are either incapable or corrupt, or both,
to office ; these are the people in a country that should
always be " on the boom " who lie back and cry " Hard
times ! What a mysterious thing it is !" If we can't
do any better next election let us import a president
from Mexico and a secretary of the treasury from
Nicaragua.
But to revert : You showed " monev " was based,
" 7 i
fundamentally, on agricultural produce and later on
manufactures. Does this government " of the people,
for the people, by the people " (professedly !), legislate
for the majority—the farmers—or for the minority ?
The two great parties hitherto in power invariably
legislate for the minority (capitalistic class) and
against the vast majority (the agriculturalists).
t WHAT IS MONEY?
21
What then becomes of your boasted " Eepubbc ?"
There isn't any ! We are now under a despotism
meaner than that of the Thirty Tyrants in Athens—
a lying, Shylock "gold basis" oligarchy. The Thirty
Tyrants were manly in comparison. They said, "We
hold by our strong right arms. Oust us if you can !"
The Shylocks fasten the shackles upon the limbs of
the Goddess of Liberty, but to the tune of " America,
sweet land of liberty." They paralyse the wealthiest
nation on the globe, composed of the smartest and most
enterprising people on earth, and do it all " in order "
to get " the poor laboring man " " honest money !"
But is it true that " the laboring man " or any other
man can get more groceries or dry goods on Saturday
nights for gold than for some other currency ? You
know the gold-bugs snare the votes of the poor by pro¬
fessing their fears that a silver dollar will not buy but
fifty cents worth of something and thus their dear
poor man will lose something. Now, Either test it or
cease making the statement. Let four men go to
market Saturday night. "A" with a gold dollar (if
he can find one, so rare is " our " " gold currency !")
another with a silver dollar, another with a silver bill,
and another with a dollar in small change, sjlver and
copper. They all want potatoes at say $2 per bushel,
retail. Each man gets a half bushel (of Scotch mag¬
nums probably). "A" comes last and demands a'
bushel. " Why so ?" says the dealer. " Oh, mine is a
darling little gold dollar, don't you see ? I saw you
vote for one of the two old parties so that a gold
dollar could buy twice as much as a silver dollar, as
their speakers avowed. Now, be consistent, and as
you gave my neighbor É B ' and all the rest of them,
22
WHAT IS HÖHET?
even down to the copper-man, half a bushel, either
you give me a bushel for my gold dollar or vote here¬
after for an abundant currency of every sort as
American commerce and expansion requires."
" All right. I see the point and stand convicted.
I have been led blindly by capitalistic campaign false¬
hoods, when any sane man with a gold and a silver
dollar (or silver bill) could have disproved the false
assertion of the gold-bugs in five minutes and forever,
by the logic of facts" (Gold-bugs hate "facts" as a
mad dog hates water. Let him have all the say-so, and
he is happy.) Gold-bugs say gold is " the people's
money." Is it ? How often does a farmer or me¬
chanic see a gold dollar ? Again, if it be the essential
" money of the people," it has one serious and fatal
defect. The masses of the people do most of their
trading in small change. Gold " change " is so mi¬
nute as to be absolutely inadmissible. Imagine gold
pieces of one, two, three, five, and even fifty cents.
How deceptive to call that the "basis" of our trade
transactions, that is scarcely ever seen in any shape,
and cannot even be coined in a form adapted to the
every-day necessities of the whole population, from
peddlers to millionaires ! What infatuation to call gold
" our main currency !" But the conspirators know that
if they can force by statute of a pliant Congress, etc.,
the world to demand the gold which they alone pos¬
sess and control, that they, being its entire propri¬
etors, can loan it out at exorbitant rates : get it back
in due course as fraudulent " interest " on the war bonds
they bought for 40 to 50 per cent, of their face in orr
dinary paper currency, and which bonds and interest,
payable as issued, in " current funds," they had made
WHAT IS MONEY?
23
payable by Congress later in " gold," and so on ad fi~
nitum so long as an outraged people will bear it.
Their motto is : If you want a Legislature, Congress,
Court, or High Official, Buy it ! Meanwhile, befool the
people by high-sounding talk about" honest money I"
" Honest money " will catch them every time just as a
bit of old rag will be taken by the brainless mackerel !
But what did Washington and Jefferson mean by
" an honest dollar ?" If I could but know that, I
should modify my views accordingly, and demand that
every creditor of our Government should be paid off
in " honest money," which can be none other than
" dollars " " as by law established."
How you begin to talk reasonably and like a good
citizen, in other words, like a Populist. Since you are
converted I will gladly enlighten you. From a very
scarce pamphlet now in my possession, and bearing
the autograph " R[ufus] King," entitled " Report of
the Secretary of State on Establishing Uniformity in
Weights, Measures, and Coins of the United States.
Hew York: Printed by F. Childs and J. Swaine,
MDCCXC.," a report made " by Order of the House
of Representatives," and twice signed (in printed script)
" Thomas Jefferson " (at this time Secretary of State
to Washington, and as such his closest adviser and
' confidant : so that his words must be supposed to rep¬
resent Washington, officially and formally, also)
What, then, does Jefferson say for himself and as the
mouthpiece of Washington ? "... the present Meas¬
ures and Weights are to be retained^ but to be rendered
uniform and invariable by bringing them to the same
invariable standard " (p. 18).
On p. 37: "COINS.—Congress in 1786 established
24
what is money?
the Money Unit at 375.64 troy grains of pure SIL¬
VER.' P. 42 : " Let the Money Unit or Dollar con¬
tain eleven-twelfths of an ounce of PURE SILVER :
376 troy grains P P. 49: "Coins.—Dollars. — THE
Dollar 376.029S5 troy grains pure Silver. Eagle,
10."
It will be seen that the " eagle " is mentioned sim¬
ply as being of the value of "10 " [" dollars " " in pure
silver There is no " gold-standard " nor " basis "
whatsoever !—it is a silver basis.
Well, that is great! But have you any evidence
that Washington's policy was conformed practically to
this fundamental legislative principle f
It must have been. Washington was no gold-bug ;
was too good a citizen to stigmatize " the dollar " of
the American people as " dishonest money," as the tail
of the Rothschilds' kite are now doing.
Undoubtedly. " But to the testimony !"
Well, here it is : a report of Elias Boudinot, Director
of the Mint, dated " Mint of the United Stat.es, De¬
cember 3d, 1795."
Washington was once inaugurated in Hew York,
April 30,1789 ; in Wall Street, by a curious coincidence,
where Ms statue now points in scorn at the headquar¬
ters of the Rothschild gold-bugs. He served eight
years; so this report accounts for almost the entire
coinage of his incumbency. In it Boudinot says :
" The issues of the mint, from its first establish¬
ment to this day, as collected from the register kept
for that purpose, consist of : Eagles, 2,795 ; half-
eagles, 8,707 ; dollars, 204,791 ; half-dollars, 323,144 ;
half-dimes, 86,416; cents 1,066,033 ; half-cents, 453,-
541 80-100."
what is mohey? 25
♦
Thus, out of a total coinage of $454,000,. only
$70,000 was in gold ; or, the ratio of gold to silver
and copper was about seven dollars in silver to one of
gold Ηyet silver did not " fall "!
Of that absurdity, "a gold dollar," there is not
even a mention.
Was there any idea in the mind of Washington and
Jefferson of any "intrinsic value" in coin ?
Not the slightest. They would have spewed out of
their mouth all this " banker-talk " of the " absolute
essentiality of a gold basis," etc.
What purpose had these founders of our republic in
the function of " coining money ?"
Solely to get as many dollars into circulation as
possible to increase the wealth of the people by facili¬
tating trade and the exchange of products—their sole
' conception of wise and benevolent statesmanship, and
the object and only,value of "money."
Did they " limit " coinage or suggest it ?
No. They rightly considered the more dollars (of
silver especially) the better off our people would be.
Did Washington and Jefferson establish the number
of grains in a dollar as being " intrinsic," or solely as
an artistic and convenient representation of labor and
productive activity ?
They properly regarded all " money " as a " token "
merely.
What reason does Jefferson give for the unit of the
• silver " dollar ?"
One of harmony and proportion only. He says
(p. 43 of his Report, above described) : " This
[weight of silver], with the twelfth of alloy,
already established, will make the dollar or unit, of
26 WHAT IS HOHEY?
the weight of an ounce, or of a cubic inch of rain¬
water exactly."
Then, if they are right, the fiat of the government
makes the standard of money ?
Yes. We have seen a silver dollar or silver bill or
100 coppers will all buy 100 cents' worth in any store
or market if,just " let alone."
For what purpose is this gold-bug talk of a " gold-1
basis ?"
Simply to deceive the people. Money in Washing¬
ton's da^ was seven-eighths silver and passed at par
everywhere, among ourselves and ail over the world,
Would it do so again if no restrictive laws were
passed by the various governments at their great
Creditor's dictation (Rothschild) ?
Yes. So impossible and absurd is the attempt to
make any gold essential that even little Nicaragua
snaps her fingers at Wall Street, showing a courage
and intelligence our people must imitate or go into
universal bankruptcy and ultimately anarchy.
If " gold " were substituted for " silver " and " silver"
for " gold " in the Rothschild Statutes of the world,
gold would " fall " the next day in Wall Street and
every "exchange" of the world, and silver would " rise "
accordingly. Rothschild wants money scarce ; he
'would be glad to " demonetize " silver or anything else
that would render his century-hoarded gold more
precious.—Intrinsic "qualities" are one thing and
unalterable ; intrinsic currency value is a figment, and
ebbs and flows with every legislative session and
breath of public opinion. Silver has not " fallen it
has been hammered down at the Rothschild dictation.
With a President and Congress scorning it and a
WHAT IS MONEY?
21
Secretary of the Treasury " borrowing gold " uncon¬
stitutionally and unnecessarily just to divide a big
commission among a lot of gold-bugs, and so further
burden our taxes, and a Venal Press backing them up,
it is to silver's credit that if still passes, dollar for
dollar, wherever it can find even one-fourth of a
chance. The Secretary of the Treasury, when silver,
was " bought " monthly, always offered less than the
owners wanted—"beared" it, as they say in Wall
Street. He keeps our • silver uncoined, as Jefferson
would not do, and then " borrows gold " to supply a
" deficiency " that does not exist. All this demands
the impeachment of President and Cabinet.
Of what offense do you accuse the Administration
(December, 1895) ?
Of squandering the people's resources and cause¬
lessly attempting to bond the United States.
Are such bonds illegal ?
Absolutely fraudulently null and void.
Should they be paid then ?
Ho.
Why?
Because " void for usury and because bonds at
high interest and payable in gold are the last resort
of a country with exhausted capital and war-imperiled
existence.
Are we so ? Hot at all. Our credit is illimitable,
and " Congress " should wisely use the power the
Constitution gives it {not the President and Secretary
of the Treasury) " to coin money " (silver dollars or
their equivalent) to meet every recurring deficiency,
until our volume of elastic circulating medium shall
have reached $250 per capita instead of the " hard-
28
WHAT IS MOXEY?
times " banker modicum of only $18 or $20 as it is
now ; with, the effrontery and treason of further
contraction and more "gold bonds" in place of this
pittance of present currency actually talked of as about
to be saddled upon a too long suffering commercial
and industrial " republic." Can such folly, robbery
and madness be contemplated—-further contraction
when we h^ve only one-twelfth of the amount of
currency now needed to move the crops and manu¬
factures of this great and undeveloped empire !
Even so. Ko other people is as patient as ours.
Read the following extract from the " Proceedings "
of the annual Belteshazzar feast of the Bankers'
Association at Saratoga. (New York Morning Jour¬
nal, July 11, 1895):
" Mr. Ives then described at length the negotiations
between August Belmont and J. Pierpont Morgan,
representing the syndicate of bankers, and the
government officials, and the sale to the government,
of gold worth $65,117,500 for 3f per cent, bonds.
He said that the profit of the syndicate was the
difference between 104J paid to the government and
112J, at which the syndicate sold its bonds, less the
cost of procuring the $32,000,000 of foreign gold and
other expenses of the transaction. He estimated
these expenses at ï\ per cent., which would make th|
syndicate's profits 6J [16] per cent. This he did not
consider excessive in view of the risk taken !"
In conclusion Mr. Ives said :
" The power of free silver men has passed its
zenith. They still boast and swagger, but this is
their sole stock in trade. Ko great party will dare
go before the country with a free silver plank in its
platform," Shades of Jefferson !
»
WHAT IS MONEY?
29
" B. E. Walker, president of the Canadian Bankers5
Association, compared the Canadian and United
States systems of banking. He deplored the existence
of ' thousands of banks in the United States, with
individually small capital and no branches !' Then he
remarked : {In the United States the paper money,
by whatever name it may be known, is practically all
created by the government, which is not in touch
with the business [meaning Shylock] community.'
"The third point which he denounced was the
national banking system's quality of legal reserves.
He said :
" CI hope reformers will not be satisfied indeed
until the government has retired from the business of
banking and returns to its only proper functions in
connection with money, the minting of metallic
money ! The treasury should give up its note-isstiing
functions, not merely because its responsibilities have
become unbearable, but also because it is incapable of
performing the note-issuing functions satisfactorily "
i.e., give the syndicate full sway 1 O Franklin Î
But this is the bankers account for " outside
show. 5 Senators say these bonds were sold at 15 per
cent, below their value and a "ring" got the dif-
* ference. < O Washington !
Is our credit inferior to that of Astor or Yanderbilt,
for example ?
Of course not ! We own all they own—-for purposes
of revenue and taxation—and all else from Alaska to
Texas where our flag flies.
What would you say if Tanderbilt's secretary were
to give his notes for $112^ up to $120 and turn over
to his employer only $104 J ?
30
WHAT IS MÔHEY?
That he was either a lunatic or a robber.
Why?
«>
Because he was discounting notes (practically checks)
good for any reasonable sum without interest, thus
bringing Tanderbilt's credit into the mire and pocket¬
ing the " fraudulent " and " made-up " " discount."
Then much more if one man as above can " check "
for any amount his legitimate needs and business may
require, our government can do so too, can it not ?
By so much more as it is richer than any one
wealthy citizen.
"What would the government's " checks " be in such
a case ? " Bills of credit," etc.
The emission of " money " itself from its " bank" is
the constitutional power " to coin " (as required by
public needs and welfare) and its resources or capital
f the whole wealth of the nation and the honor and
credit of 73,000,000 American citizens.
How shall we characterize our employe Cleveland
and his Cabinet for hawking our credit all over Europe
and paying into the people's treasury only $1.04£ in
exchange for an indebtedness of $120 with its at¬
tendant "jobs," humiliation, "commissions" and
" expenses ?"
I leave that to à committee of investigation to be
appointed by the next (and Populist) Congress, unless
our voters are such fools as to take a positive pleasure
in their own shame and losses.
But those bonds are "payable in gold" are they
not ?
So Cleveland " understands."
So I understand, although, as is well known, we
have only one-tenth enough gold in this country to
keep its business in a state of healthful motion.
WHAT IS HOSTET?
31
Is gold our basic " dollar ?"
Noj silver, as Jefferson declared.
Then what right has our Treasury to buy and sell
" gold," which, as we thus see, is a mere commodity
like pig iron or sheet-lead ?
None whatever. It might just as well "corner"
cran berry-beans or "boom " suburban lots.
You said a short time ago there was no intrinsic
value to any circulating medium. What do you mean
exactly by that ?
Well, to illustrate. Ivory is white and hard ; so are
some buttons. These are " intrinsic qualities " of
those matters and of others more or less like them,
but they are not " intrinsic values." Two separate
pounds of ivory may be equally " white " and equally
" hard." One may be in the rough, however, and
worth ten or twenty dollars. The other may be a
little statue of Tenus or Napoleon and worth five
hundred dollars. So an ounce of gold, if gold were
not used for " money " and so stamped and certified
by a stable government, would be worth, like ivory or
tin, just what the demand for it in the arts would
justify. If gold ornaments were pronounced " vulgar "
by the whole fashionable world it would fall to about
$10 per ounce. If it were de riguer for every respect¬
able person to show something of gold about the
toilet, it would jump to $25 or $30. Precisely so with
silver. The same amount of gold in a foreign coin
does not " pass " here for the value of our correspondent
American coin. Why ? Because it has not absolute
or intrinsic value, only ' qualities.' It is the credit of
the government that marks its "intrinsic value."
Again : The bag of gold found by Robinson Crusoe
32
WHAT IS MONEY?
S
was of less value, as lie said, than a bag of some new
garden-seed would have been. We see, thus, gold is a
" commodity," just like potatoes, roller-skates or any¬
thing else. It is worth something or nothing, accord¬
ing to supply and demand and surrounding circum¬
stances. The man who swallowed a gold-plate and
died from it did not consider gold of " intrinsic value "
i.e. of the same absolute preciousness 6 everywhere
and independent of all conditions.' God only is the
absolute. Mr. Horr says ÇN". Y. Tribune, July 26,
1895) : " My proposition is that gold has remained
' nearly ' stationary in price since 1873, and silver has
fallen in price in accordance with the great law of
supply and demand !?" What do you say to this pivotal
, statement of Rothschild's champion ?
In the first place if only " nearly " stationary it can¬
not possess any given intrinsic value. It would be
stationary, absolute, as truth is truth or twice two
equals four. As a matter of fact nothing fluctuates
so much as gold. You can prove this by getting a
little book or large chart, common around Wall
Street, called " Fluctuations in the Price of Gold." It
looks like a map of the Andes, all peaks and valleys,
and never a moment's equilibrium.
If gold has a " price " as he says, it is not a measure
of coin-value. There is the whole fallacy. "Abso¬
lute coin " can have no value ; it is simply the measure
of value for other things and is their medium of ex¬
change. As to " intrinsic " value, you might as well
try to give a weight to a proposition in Euclid,
tell the color of the figure 9 or the smell of the
letter A. " Since 1873 " the " law of supply and
demand " has had nothing to do with the price of
WHAT IS MONEY?
33
silver or gold. By íniqiiitíous laws and treasury " in¬
fluences," " regulations," " bondings," " biddings," etc.,
all having the form and power of. law, gold has been
forced u up " and silver forced " down." Tantalus had
the same hope for a cooling drink as silver to re¬
spond to " the law of [the people's] demands." The
infamous " Sherman laws " stood between silver and
the people's need of silver. Silver " since 1873 " has
the same chance to advance that the girl had to be¬
come a natatory champion under her mother's regula¬
tions (laws) :
Do you want to swim?
So you can, my daughter.
Only don't go near the water Î
Gold has the same " qualities " as has " quinine/2
e.g., but both for their value depend upon supply and
demand. This supply and demand may Be " free " as
Populists require, or laws and circumstances may aid
it or check it. Anything, gold for example, may be
compared to water in an aqueduct. You may clean it
out or shut it partially or wholly. The water remains
water ; but its movements are regulable. Thus when
quinine had a heavy duty upon it, by law of Congress,
it sold here for several dollars an ounce. When by
law of Congress that duty was removed, the same
quinine with all of its " qualities " unaltered and unim¬
paired at once fell to a few shillings per ounce.
There is no intrinsic money. To explain : It is only
a medium of the exchange of values. A man in Leg¬
horn can send $50,000 worth of olive-oil to Hew
Orleans and get back by the same vessel $50,000 worth
of cotton. Money, more or less, as labor, etc., require,
is a facility in making such exchanges but of no value
M
what 18 hohe y?
in and of itself. If it were it would exchange values
(products) everywhere. Two and two cannot be four in"
New York, three in Africa, and five in China. But
gold-bugs make this ridiculous assertion When they say
their idolized metal possesses " intrinsic " value in any
other sense than silver or green-gage plums. If gold
had any " intrinsic " " value " it would stick to it as
sound does to a bell or malleability to gold or copper.
If so, then it was "worth" not one bag of garden-seed
to Robinson Crusoe, but as many bags as it would buy
(represent) in London or Pernambuco. But what is
the fact ? In Abyssinia your gold would be a bauble ;
so would your silver, unless that silver were a dollar
stamped with the image of Maria Theresa. Custom,
accounts for it ; the concrete common-law of uncivi¬
lized peoplès. You would plead in vain for your gold
eagle, "It is 'intrinsically9 worth ten of your Maria
Theresa dollars. Carlisle and Korr say so." The
Abyssinians would justly answer : "We have a right
to manufacture (legalize) our own currency. We are
to be supposed to know what ' money unit ' suits our
needs and our tastes and conveniences better than any
other nation or set of nations can know for us."
What relation has " currency" then to trade?
The same that the atmosphere has to the lungs. To
be " normal" the pressure must be 32 pounds to the
square inch at the earth's surface. If less or more
respiration is oppressed. Too much currency is the air
at the bottom of a deep well or mining-shaft—it is
so " thick" as to impede the respiration ; if too limited
it is the air on the top of a lofty mountain. The
heart must beat too rapidly to get its due quota of
oxygen—profits; it has to labor painfully and desper-
what is 3í0key?
85
ately under that " sweat-shop" lash, or it can't get
"enough." At last the struggle for air—currency,
trade-values—becomes too great they grow faint and
die. In civil polity we call this—hunger, disease, poor
sanitation, too little rest and recreation, too little chance
for education—ignorance, poverty, suffering and sui¬
cide I In one word, " hard times."
The " money unit" may be called a " dollar" here,
a " franc" in France, a " cowrie-shell" in Africa; but
w&herever it is its function—the exchange of values—
is the same—but " function" is not " value." The
figure " 5" on a gold-piece means " 5 dollars /" on a $5
bill the same ; on a " nickel" " 5 cents? As well say
that in all these cases the figure "5" has " intrinsic"
value as tb say that " money" or " barter" has.
As well claim the exponent of an algebraical quantity
is " intrinsically" that quantity. " V~o " may mean any
value or quantity, according to circumstances]—the
square root of six units or six millions ; of six units of
starch or six units of dollars. Only the circumstances
of every transaction can determine the " value " of the
" curreney" (exponent). As endosmose is related to
exosmose so the articles exchanged vary as to the
"eurrency" (medium) of their exchange.-
As the pressure of the atmosphere and the elastic
bodies it impinges upon so, " currency" and " value"
respond, meet and fall back, with infinitude of
variation. The mutual relations of pressure and
volume are not the atmosphere and are not that body
that touches upon the atmosphere. " Money" is
equivalent to these " relations" and of itself nothing
any more than the sign " F cut off from over the
figure in Davies' Algebra.
36 what ís mostet?
Don't the bankers know any better when they say
44 we must have a gold basis and a gold reserve" or we
can't do any business (exchange of values)?
Oh, yes, they know better, but it is 44 money " (usury)
in their pockets to 44 persuade " our " authorities " by
solid argument and the people by 44 4 sound money5
babj^-talk " to the contrary.
"What is the only 44 Treasury-reserve " our great
Government needs? As before proven,, from the
language of Washington and Jefferson and their col¬
leagues as used in the legislation of their days—when
money is required 44 let the committee engage a print¬
er " and 44 emit bills of credit to the amount of
dollars as the emergency requires, on the faith of the
United States for the defence of America."
What gold 44reserve" does Yanderbilt hold or
require ?
None whatever. He would laugh at the idea of
keeping $100,000,000 or a tenth part of it lying idle in
his 44 treasury " (bank), and thus inactive and non-pro¬
ductive. He would say justly : 44 My reputation as a
man of means is sufficient (4 faith of the U. S.'). My
simple note or draft will4 go ' anywhere. My property
(in a general sense) is 4 reserve ' enough."
What kind of 44 financiering " do you call this 44 play¬
ing gold-reserve ?"
Ten per cent, of ignorance, ninety per cent, of bribery
(Rothschild trickery) pure and simple.
What44 reserve " has the IT. S J
All the property of the country to respond to
taxation, as funds are needed.
Early action of Congress shows all currency to be
acceptable and intended by Congress to be of equal
what is hohe y?
37
value in acting simply as a means of the exchange of
commodities (see Journals of the American Congress
from 1774 to 1778, Washington, Gideon, 1823 : at Astor
Library). P. 149.—Friday, October 6, 1775 :
"Resolved^ That orders issue to the Continental
Treasurers to collect for Continental bills a quantity of
silver and gold, not exceeding $52,000 in value, for
the use of the army in Canada.
" Resolved,, That the Committee appointed for the
importation of powder be directed to export agreeable
to the Continental Association, as much provisions or
other produce of these colonies as they shall judge
expedient for the ( purchase ' of arms and ammuni¬
tion."
It will be noted that the "silver and gold " was to be
procured " for Continental bills " solely because
the circumstances compelled. 1 If they had not who can
doubt Congress would have issued bills only ? They
were then " rebels," no surety of an established
government, hence little " credit." An army, " in
Canada," was in an enemy's country and could not be
expected to take Continental Bills. Elsewhere, when
payments were local, we find bills only—"greenbacks "
—were declared legal tender for all debts payable by
the United States or to her.
Also note : " Provisions and other produce " are
recognized as having the force of legal tender ; when it
may be expedient to use them, can " purchase."
P. 87.—Thursday) June 22,1775 :
" Resolved) hat a sum not exceeding two millions
of Spanish milled dollars BE emitted by the Congress
in bills of credit) for the defence of America.."
-Note " Mexican dollars " are meant, as Mexico was
88
WHAT IS MONEY?
then 44 Spanish " and the source of 44 Spanishw silver.
. Second, we have here the ferst declaration of what
constitutes American money : it is not 44 gold " but
44 Mexican dollars," the handsomest and most typical
coin " ever issued. To use it is to learn to admire
and desire it. And, third, this silver standard so
established by the fathers when battling for freedom
was significantly stated to be 44 for the defence OF
AMERICA." Let every American rally then for that
Silver Standard " for the defense of America "
against the Rothschild Shy locks whose 44 sole standard "
is causing low prices and distress indescribable simply
to make the bankers or capitalistic class richer by
enabling them to speculate in the popr laboring men's
heart's blood and bitter toil by their ownership or
practical control of the far too limited amount of gold
to keep the wheels of business in motion. If " gold "
must be had (per Act of 1873) we must buy gold, for
wheat,, silver, coin, labor, farms—all that constitutes
property—our people may have. The Rothschilds own
or may own by selling 44 securities," every dollar of gold
in the world. Therefore no man favoring " a gold
standard" is far from the imputation of corrupt
motives if not actual bribery. It is inconceivable that
any sane, honorable man will play into the hands of
a hook-nosed monopoly. Those who do have 4 rea¬
sons " so evident that they need not be stated.
"What business man 44 bulls " enthusiastically the
property of his creditors (lender) and 44 bears his own
property and securities that are to be exchanged for
his rival and creditor's 44 gold ?" Yet that is what our
President, Congress and Supreme Court are doing in
44bulling" gold and defeating the income tax—the
what is hohe y?
89
most just tax ever formulated—all in the Interest of
capital and versus labor. Let us hear of one act or
decision in behalf of labor and really and in earnest
meant to break off the yoke' of monopoly ! Shame on
such " representatives " and " servants " of the
people; yes, better say of the gold ring and of
every other capitalistic monopoly, " Where the
carcase is " there the two " old parties " will always be
found gathered together. The bankers are happy and
they only. They own both parties ancjl don't care
which wins. Their division into "Democratsand
" Republicans " is all Punch and Judy, and a farce
intended to occupy and amuse " the public " that
monopoly " s." The Rothschilds own nearly all
the gold now. Our policy as producers and borrowers
is to demonetize gold, not " bull" it. What then can
we think is the motive of " American " (?) " authorities "
who sing pasans to gold and decry silver, paper and
subsidiary coin— the people's money and only genuine
medium of exchange ? We give the " gold bonds " to
Rothschild and his banker-tools since we see " Con-
t
gress " has precedent as well as power to " emit bills
of credit " or coin, or circulate " Mexican " or other
silver " dollars."
Cleveland had no more cause to " borrow" from the
Ring than a cat has use for two tails. A Populist
Congress would " emit " " silver dollars " and " bills of
credit for pensions or any other deficiency: no one but ,
a Shylock would refuse either, and the nation would
hum with an excitated development of industry and
new opened mines, farms, etc. As it is, the Ring could
force us into national bankruptcy in less than three
days if it suited its purposes.
40
what is moxey?
How ?
Why, just exchange $100,000,000 worth of their
bonds for that amount of our paper and " legal tender
notes and rush them to our Treasury. Where
would our "legal reserve" be then? But, thank*
God ! that might be a benefit. It would unmask the
enemy, and we would either remonetize silver and
" bills of credit," or demonetize gold. One or the
other must be done or " the masses " may be driven to
all the excesses of a modern " French Be volution."
When the people's representatives betray them, " bread
riots" and "strikes" are sure to follow. If so, whose
fault will it be ? As proven above, virtually all the
gold belongs to the ring. The little dribblets it leaves
"lying around" have a "string" to every piece, like
the " boy's " dollar on April-fool day. Just as a cat
pretends to look away so the mouse can " run," so the
bank cat won't let a single piece of gold really "get
away " from their control, which is only another word
for absolute ownership, as we have above demon¬
strated. To resume our quotations :
P. 88.—Congress " Resolved, That the form of the
bills be as follows :
ISTo. Dollars.
This bill entitles the bearer to receive
Spanish milled dollars or the value thereof, in gold
or silver, according to the resolution of the Congress
on the 10th day of May, 1775 ;
Resolved, That Mr. J. Adams, Mr. J. Butledge,
Mr. Duane, Dr+ Franklin, and Mr. Wilson be a
committee to get proper plates engraved and to
agree with printers to print the above bills P
what is mohey?
41
That is what we should do whenever a 4 deficiency5
meets us. Let Congress " agree with printers to print
the hills." "Only that and nothing more." If B.
Franklin were living ,now he would do so, and not
s " pay too much for a [gold] whistled
Let us elect a Populist Congress and impeach our
un-American Representatives for willful waste in
issuing " gold bonds " when silver and paper * bills
of credit duly "printed" and minted, would meet
every requirement and obey the law and custom of " the
Fathers."
Let us remonetize Mexican dollars and our nation
would in two weeks be alive with our fellow Repub¬
licans of our neighbor country. Every hotel, store
and factory would feel the impetus of their orders and
of their dollars ! But I fear such action would be too
* %
much like the principles and practice of "Washington,
Franklin and Jefferson, to find any favor with either
of the two "old parties." "Ko pay, no preach," said
the Indian. Ko " job," no action by either " old party."
Let any move have merely, legality, common-sense,
morality, justice and the people's welfare to commend
it, and Cleveland, Carlisle, Tom Reed & Co. will never
see it ! " Where do we come in ?" they cry.
There are twenty other laws and resolutions of
Congress in 1775 and 1776 that might be quoted, but
present space forbids. But I add one more :
P. 585.—December 28, 1776.—"Resolved, that the
Ireasury-board [Carlisle it would be] now emit five
million dollars on the faith of the United ¡States"
There you have the sole "money unit" that any
good American can know or sanction, " the faith
of the United States"
42
what is money?
If in those troublesome and pauper times that suf¬
ficed, for what number of " millions of dollars," should
not that " faith " be good now ?
Go to, ye Cleveland-Carlisle-Rothschild conspirators,
and paste that in your hats !
We conclude these extremely important citations
by giving the substance of the act referred to by
Jefferson as settling the basic " dollar " of the United
States :
P. 679, Journals of Congress, Wash., 1823, v. IV.,
Tuesday, August 8, 1786 :
".On a report of the Board of Treasury [Carlisle
holds the place now] —
" Resolved^ That THE STANDARD of the United
i
States of America shall be eleven parts fine and one
part alloy.
" That the money unit of the United States, being by
the Resolve of Congress of the 6th July, 1785, a
£dollar' shall contain of fine SILVER 375.64-100
grains."
Turning back to said date, 6th July, 1785: " And
' on the question that the MONEY UNIT of the United
States\of America [not of Europe ; they acted without
reference to Europe; much more is it our duty to do so
now !] be One Dollar, the yeas and nays being required
by Mr. Howell ; every member answering Ay, it was
Resolved, That the MONEYunit of the United States
be one dollar " [in SILVER as above].
Corollary.
s
The war of 1861 saw us with no predominating
capitalistic class as we suffer from now. It is an
outgrowth of that war, and in the quiet that followed
WHAT IS . „ . * * ' 43
; : ,
a cessation of arms' the conspirators Segmio^epogfrl
nize themselves as apart from the Hif^mon^herd,''
A * 9 # # ' ^ g •
and one another as members of a * Secret* ôMêr, yvith
interests opposed to the poorer classes, who are ever
in the, market as borrowers. " We shall be money¬
lenders no w," they exclaimed exult in gly, and by
degrees has grown up a Bankers' Association for evil
as powerful as that of the Masons for good, and quite
as occult. It has its signs and winks and dark lan¬
terns. Behind closed doors it curses and laughs at
" the public " as a lot of silly dupes-—so silly that they
will go to their natural enemies for a definition of
" sound money," and repeat it as a parrot or an echo
repeats its lesson. So long as we continue electing
sich men to the presidency and other offices, honest
Populists excepted, so long will we and our little ones
scrimp and agonize under the yoke of slavery men
call " hard times." And why ?
Because under a plutocracy it is always " hard
times " for the struggling masses. A thousand fam¬
ilies must perpetually " economize " (wretched word !)
in a country where by chicanery, " management,"
favorable corrupt legislation and usury, one family has
the property that God and Nature meant to be equably
divided among a thousand happy, prosperous families,
—the jewels, the strength and glory of any State.
Their pliant tools and co-capitalists at Washington!
don't intend to let us have " easy times." Be sure of
that. We will never get them except by bold and
even revolutionary legislation. " Easy times," " cheap
money," " good prices," " high wages"—this means the
emancipation of the masses from the money lenders'
maw. It means an abundant currency—money at from
44 rr\ c c ; W£At is moxey?
c r fc r '' % J f <• r r < r r c
• r i /. Ccr « î J c r'r £r
&v fe C *]áefrs röetft.*-pe(r annum. Bothschild & Co., bjr
mai action" (the insufficient gold
staÄäJfehJ intend0 to keep the worker so distressed
that on rent-da3r and interest-day he must go to
pawnbroker or banker and either sacrifice his all or
have his note shaved at 2 to 4 per cent., not per annum,
but per month.
" Ö ye fools and blind," said our sorrowing Saviour
to those who crucified him, and brought Titus and
Vespasian down upon Jerusalem—how ? By listening
to the same class at that day, and turning away from
their own Great Teacher.
As prices fluctuate at every conceivable instant of
their existence, " money," being simply the medium
of their exchange, cannot have any more1 set value
than the mercury in a thermometer can have a fixed
*/
and unchangeable level or temperature. E.g., but for
a single moment can a peach or pear be in its prime.
The peaches worth $2 a bushel to-day may begin to
spot to-morrow and fall accordingly. Or if slightly
green and become a little more ripe and mellow, may
rise accordingly. The ever-fluxing value of a piece of
money is found only as the sum of all the conditions
and elements which enter into any commercial trans¬
action at the time of such transaction. In the Horr-
Harvey debate Horr admits this by using the phrase
" the value of gold has fallen." Absolute value can
neither rise nor fall. Gold's value runs the whole
scale from plus to minus in mathematical terms. The
gold that is too deep ever to be mineable by man is of
no value, or zero so far as the world's coinage is in¬
volved. A gold dollar " in evidence," is " positive."
It will buy 100 cents or may pass into a piece of
what îs money? ' 45
Jewelry. Or gold (and silver) may be ^negative " as
when one is killed by a silver bullet or weighed down
and drowned by a belt of gold pieces, as was a man on
a wreck upon the coast of Long Island. In the desert
it may be worthless or a mere -burden. A glass of
water to a traveler dying of thirst would be worth
the whole of that traveler's possessions. China has
one-fourth of the population of the globe. For 4,000
years she has done without any " gold basis " or " gold
reserve." According to Horr & Co. she has never in
all that time been able to u buy or sell amongst her
own people or from and to foreign nations." By the
same " authority " she has always been " in a state of
utter ruin and panic." Our gold is of little value in
China ; her " cash " of little value here. Yet the im¬
mutable law of supply and demand has never for a
single second failed to find a medium of exchange.
Where " value " is there are the latent powers of " ex¬
change." Gold or money only seems to buy and
" registers " the purchase and sale. A customer " pays "
a quarter for a meal. The restaurant keeper does not
accept the coin for the meal,, as he is not a savage and
is not collecting medals or baubles. lie takes a prom¬
ise to pay, drawn by John Doe, the payer, and en¬
dorsed by " the faith of the United States " that she
will receive it at full value at her custom houses,
post-offices and tax-collector's offices. This secures its
" value " for potatoes, onions, rent or any other out¬
lay to which the owner may choose to devote it. It is
the endorsement that makes it " money." If the poor¬
est pauper on Black well's Island could manage to
persuade V anderbilt to endorse his promissory notes
they would pass at par. Somewhere in mid-Pacific
46
WS AT IS MOXEY?
two ships pass in the night. One is carrying $100,000
worth of flour from A. B. at San Francisco to So
Long at Hong Kong. The other $100,000 worth of
tea from So Long to A. B. At that point $100,000 in
copper cash suddenly becomes $100,000 in gold, silver
or paper. Thus much as to any " intrinsic " value to
any " money " of any sort. You can no more say
where one " value " becomes another than you can catch
hold upon the end of a rainbow. The laws of trade
are as protean in the one as the laws of refraction and
reflection in the other.
Question.—I follow up to this section. But there is
just one remaining " money unit" that may force you to
admit " intrinsic9 value. What do you say to calling
gold or " currency " in general the absolute tokens of
so many " labor " units " or " day's Tabor " or " day's
products ? " '
This query has been partly met already. I thank
you for the chance, however, to fill any hiatus upon
this portion of the case.—Unfortunately, all these
elements, being human, are unstable. " One " " man "
or " one " " horse " can or does do twice as much as
his fellow. For reasons of climate and similar, the
day's labor is from two hours to sixteen. In the
^boiling water at the bottom of the Comstock shaft
a few " shifts " of thirty minutes each are a day?s
work : as in a diving-bell or submarine caisson.
But as a last effort after this illusion, " intrinsic "
value : Can you not express by the " dollar " the
" labor unit " in its concrete results, irrespective of the
mere element of timef A plow or a watch might be
formulated as so much labor, might it not ?
Ho, for all results are the results of the sum of their
WHAT iS MOKEY? 4$
causes ; and we have seen heretofore that they are
indeterminate. Moreover, from the moment a plow, a
watch, a cotton or wheat crop is completed or started
" hazard " intervenes. Ho sooner is a thing born than
it begins to die. Use a plow one day and it is no
longer your " plow absolute ;" it will sell as " second¬
hand." A cotton crop to-day in prime order to¬
morrow is in the dirt from wind or rain. A field of
fine wheat cut and stacked is subject to the same
calamities. But if 40 per cent, of a good crop be
damaged the other 60 per cent., where money is
abundant, will be worth proportionately more than it
was " the day before the cyclone." Uo, I fear your
"intrinsic" labor unit must go to the limbo of all the
other " intrinsic " " dollars." " On the faith of the
United States " is where we found it : there we had
better leave it.
hat harm does " contraction " do, then, if the
valuers in the exchange of products and not in the
money ?
Crops as all products must be " moved." France,
with only one-sixteenth of our territory, and (say)
one-fifth of our natural wealth and " undeveloped
resources,' has won universal praise for her economic
policy, as a whole, since her disastrous war. She has
gained " a victory of peace." Being an acknowl¬
edged type, let us benefit by her wisdom and example.
She has $52 per capita of circulating medium ; we
only about $14 actually in free circulation. But we
need (say) five times her capital, for we have five times
her* resources and five times her chances to do profit¬
able • work on land, lumber, coal, gold, silver, etc.
Ergo, we need and must have $250 per capita to have,
not " good times," but " the best times," i.e., normal.
.48
tVHAÎ IS MOXEY?
How can you get this extra money into circula¬
tion ?
By "emitting bills of credit" and coining other
money as " deficiencies" and needs require as Congress
used to do, in lieu of piling up a gratuitous debt and
making the ring and the Jew sharks our creditors ata
shave of 15 per cent, or more. We can go to $250 per
capita without panic or jar and the only changes
would .be for the better. The kow-towing of our
authorities to the Jews is a disgrace beyond measure
of scorn. They never work and, giving their whole
time to scheming, honest business and labor are always
at a disadvantage with them. Their " gold " was
drawn from the Christian nations by usury (see above).
Let us drop all mawkish sentimentality, fight the
devil with fire and " get back our own " by demonet¬
izing gold, as was done by Austria for a time in the
early century. The distress wrought in this country,
Europe, Mexico and India by demonetizing silver is
more than the 7,000,000 Jews of the world can ever
atone for, were all treated as Haman was. Their
motto " an eye for an eye " is not ours ; but at least
we can remonetize silver and paper and expand our
currency in every way till our proportional " French
limit " be attained.
Low prices, 4-5 cents for cotton and 40-60 cents
for wheat, is economic suicide. Europe and the Jews
get all the " benefit our people are writhing in dis¬
tress ; every line of business feels it. With plenty of
currency to move the crops prices would bound to 15
cents for cotton and $1.50 for wheat—perhaps more.
Contraction means ruin to our farmers ; and that
means ruin to city merchants and to all of us. It costs
"WHAT IS MONEY?
49
8 cents a pound to raise cotton and 60 cents to raise
wheat. No wonder the West and South are plastered
with Shylock mortgages and in New York the book-
trade and all other business are paralysed. How long
will it take to ruin a nation under " a gold standard "
(contraction) ? Farmers have to borrow money to
" move " their crops, do this on a constantly falling
market purposely made so by Wall Street by means
of this very " gold standard" (contraction), pay usury,
get their dribblet in paper, contract to pay it in gold
and so on in a vicious circle. They thus pull down their
own prices and put up the price of the limited gold
supply, all of which the " banks " own or control. Oh,
Shvlock is " smart," but it is not the fault of this
book if the wrong being made known, a way be not
found at the polls to get out of it.
Nearly every fire, fast destroying our city and
country, " starts" " accidentally " (?) in a place labeled
by a " gold-bug " name. Why spare them by refusing
to remonetize silver ?
Is Ahlwardt all wrong ?
Let it be understood we must review all the " Bond "
legislation since the war.
Constitution says : "No impairment of contracts"
can be made by law. Pay greenbacks or other currency
for all bonds when it was originally so stipulated.
Impeach the ¿'resident and his Cabinet ; appoint a-
Committee with power " to enqu ire into the action
of the Supreme Court, especially of Turncoat. Let the
people look at Carlisle and Turncoat particularly, wher¬
ever they go, and question their consciences with a
relentless search of the public eye. Let us act !
The Constitution says the Supreme Court shall hold
50
what is moxey?
office only " during good behavior." Congress then
can examine into that conduct, impeach, remove as
justice demands. The Supreme Court is only coordi¬
nate, not above criticism ; else it were an oligarchic
Despotism and " the .Republic " a farce.
Let us resolutely refuse to pay either principal or
interest of the Cleveland-Carlisle " gold-bonds " and
sue for every cent of 4i commission " and junket con¬
nected with them. Yoid for want of necessity they were
given without consideration and therefore NULL.
" To emit and print hills of credit" etc. Congress
long ago laid down as the principle that this is the way
and the sole way to obtain money by a government
whose " faith " (ability and honor) are unquestioned.
You will find ample citations elsewhere in this book.
Late in July " a lawyer " (gold-bug) writes as follows
to the N. Y. Morning Journal :
" The repeal of the makeshift only stopped the silver
purchasing. It left in the Treasury some five tons,
more or less, of uncoined silver, costing, taking an
average of all purchased under the law, 92£ cents an
ounce. All of those five tons the Treasury can, if it
pleases, manufacture into silver dollars at a cost of 71£
cents each, but intrinsically 4 worth ' to-day only 52
cents." fWhat is the paper of a $2,000 bill u worth "?]
If this be so what a crime indeed has Carlisle com¬
mitted (our Czar !) to pledge " our " (his) faith for gold
bonds at a lavish usurious " shave " of 15 per cent,
while this " money " lay dead in the " back-room/
Does a housekeeper run in debt or go hungry when
there is a teapot or stocking full of " money " (silver)
on call in the closet ?
If this book be correct a dollar has no " intrinsic "
WÖAT ÏS ÎÎOîtEY?
61
money value, either 52 or 100 cents. If so, a paper, or
copper, or nickel "dollar " is " worth" a few cents or
nothing. You might as well talk of the " intrinsic "
worth of a potato or a lump of coal, or the " fixed "
" ratio " of their values one to another. There is simi¬
larly no reason in talking about "increasing" the size
of a silver dollar to " correspond " to the " value " of a
gold dollar. You might as well say that a paper
dollar should weigh 100 pounds so as to " correspond "
with a gold " dollar," or that if a one-dollar bill is five
inches long a $500 bill should be 500 inches long. The
things are incommensurate. The exchange " value " of
o o •
any two pieces of property we express, for convenience,
in " dollars " or " francs " or " florins," but that
" value " as we have seen fluctuates every instant as
the said two articles become more or less ripe or
abundant or what not. The " intrinsic "• value of a
dollar may be half an ounce of quinine, e.g., or two
ounces, as tariff legislation or any other conceivable cir¬
cumstances may justify. If, as the gold fools argue, we
should coin silver on a varying basic weight we should
have to make new dies every instant of every day, for
as the market reports show, gold and silver are mere
commodities, and so objects of barter and sale, advance
and fall, every moment and every hour. They mean to
discontinue all silver coinage or they they would not
advance such an idiotic plea. "What they need both
morally and intellectually is a thorough course at the
Keely Institute. If their fool-ideas were put into meas¬
urable practice every contract would have to read about
as follows : " payable in silver dollars of the size
and fineness of said dollars as coined at one-quarter to
eleven on the first of April, 18—." Eo; the generally
what is moxey?
accepted ratio of 16 to 1 is the best because it is
founded on common sense, the ultimate résort of all
law. A " dollar " of less than one ounce would make
our fractional coins, especially the nimble and useful
dime and quarter, too small ; and that is all there is to
it. Gold coins under §10 are too minute to be accept¬
able. Too much value is in them always at risk by
loss and so^ disproportionally elusive. " You can't
fool all the people all the time, Mr. Goldberg!"
Ilorr's " remarks " at Chicago are full of fallacies, as a
matter of course. He says in one place : " Gold has
fallen in value." In another: "We have twice
changed the quantity of gold in the gold dollar, each
time making it less i.e., if gold have " intrinsic " value
it has " twice " jumped to a higher level. But if " in¬
trinsic " how can " we " " make " it less or more ?
This is rank greenbackery, glaring "fiat-money."
Again he says: "You can't demonetize gold. Can
you de-bread wheat ?"
Well, farmers who under free coinage got $1.25 to $2
for wheat and now sell it below cost, think their babies'
mouthy are pretty well " de-breaded." And the wheat
has been " de-breaded " by adverse gold and watered
railway stock legislation.
So, Horr admits that gold can be " demonetized."
You can't " de-gold " it, nor can you " make " wheat
barley. Ho lunatic (begging Mr. H.'s pardon!) could
talk such nonsense. But we can " demonetize " gold,
(as a matter of fact Austria once did so| Mr. Horr !)
and the people will do it if they cannot get back the '
silver dollars of the fathers of our republic. Mr. Horr
admits also that the "enormous demand" for silver from
the Orient will ever prevent any glut in Christendom,
what is mohet?
> 53
But let us try the "glut." We h&v*liad the famine
long enough. This gold-bug out cry against too much
money (except for themselves) reminds me of the man
in Western Nebraska. He was so afraid of " too much
rain " that he spent his last dollar in roofing over his
entire farm. He is the only man in that entire section
that will yote the Jew ticket next fall. The silver
product of the United States under free coinage would
be between $50,000,000 and $100,000,000 per annum,
or about $1.25 per capita. Yet thoubands on this
plea vote against " free silver!" Yes, $1.25.
" Quem dem milt per dere prius demerítate Now de1
duct Horr's "enormous drainage" of silver to India,
China, etc., and we are impoverishing our circulating
medium "for fear" of—what? Maybe another fifty-
cent piece " all around " !! among a people who have
begun to poison, drown, and butcher their families
and then cut their own throats because they can't get
work outside of the living hell of Jew sweat-shop labor ;
half-a-cent each for making garments ; 4 to 6 cents for
8-cent cotton, and 40 to 60 cents for 60-cent wheat.
" Go to, ye rich men, howl for the woes that are about
to come upon you." "Woe unto you [who by such
doctrines and practices] add field to field " and bond to
bond !,
Never forget that we are " to love our neighbor
[humanity, for which Christ died] as ourselves."
The misery of India "on a gold basis" is hollow-eyed
and beyond description. And who is responsible for
it ? John G. Carlisle and every voter who puts into
the ballot-box a monometallic ticket. " And oh, thy
servant, Lord, prepare, a strict account to give." 1798
saw " the books opened " in France. Let us avert that
54
WHAT IS MOXEY?
sort of book- keeping in the only possible way : the
choice of the People's ticket next November and reme¬
dial legislation "railroaded" through every depart¬
ment of this Government. The great " cry " that is
going up (see daily papers) says : There is not a mo¬
ment to spare. Gold-bug financiering is causing little
babies to suck poor, dry, starving maternal breasts
until the blood comes ! " How long, O Lord, how
long !" Don't forget it ! The monstrous iniquity of
demonetizing silver in India was prefaced by the Eng¬
lish (Rothschild) announcement—a lie, but * said it in
every daily paper of the time—" "e are compelled to
do it by the demonetization of silver in America." And
Russia (the Rothschilds) are now trying by " treaty "
to force even China and Japan upon a gold basis, so as
to make gold scarcer and dearer than even now ! Con¬
spiracy !
According to the Tribune of July 26, 1095, quot¬
ing Congressman Otey, the following is the pro¬
gramme of the Ring who are now in power î
" In it I stated my belief that there is a combination
between the money power of this country and England
with the Republican party to enforce the gold stand¬
ard That the Democratic party of the great West
and South ought to oppose it and insist : First, on tho
free coinage of silver at 16 to 1 ; second, they should
oppose the efforts of the combination to retire $346,-
000,000 of greenbacks and $152,000,000 of treasury
notes by the issue of $500,000,000 of gold interest-
bearing bonds ; third, that it is clear that the said com¬
bination not only intends to do this, but also to retire
the $400,000,000 of silver, leaving only $700,000,000
National bank notes and gold, which would depress
WHAT IS MONEY?
55
business, lower wages, and produce a panic such as
this country has never seen. If this is Populism, I
should like to know what Democracy really is."
Isn't that cool, ye dupes of the " gold-bond "
frauds \ How do you like it ? Will you submit to it ?
If not, answer at the polls, and down these human
turkey-buzzards, or be slaves forever. Every vote for
any other than the Populist ticket rivets a nail in the
coffin of American political and industrial freedom.
If we submit any longer we declare for eternal
slavery as in Europe, by instituting only two " classes"—
the rich and the poor : the rich by means of their own
lying legislation ever getting richer and the poor poorer
—to know no end till the great national clock shall
strike 1798 times! Don't you see the outcome of the
conspiracy ? I will tell you what it is. The farmer
or artisan until 1878 could easily earn a good living by
his own labor and still have time to read a good book
or paper for an hour or two before bedtime. How
under "single-standard" conditions he has to turn
. out so many " labor units" to earn a " dollar" that he
must rattle away at hectic-consumption rate from
dawn till late at night ; not only so. But wife and
little children must all work, thus glutting the labor-
market and ruining all the social amenities of the old
" American home " and every chance for rest, health,
or self-improvement. Hote, all this is a part of the
deliberate policy of the gold-bugs. To perpetuate
our power we must keep the men toiling and the
masses ignorant. A " bright " laborer can see through
our fallacies. e don't want " bright" laborers.
How then can we avoid it and fear no discovery and
retribution % Why, beautiful gold-bug idea!—
56
what is moxey?
Let us work the men to death on starvation wages
and then the children will have to slave in foul dens
with their poor little fingers and frail little bodies
when they ought to be at school or playing at tag in
recess. Oh, happiest of all happy thoughts of the devil
and his hook-nosed angels 1 Don't you "see"it? Of
course the next generation will grow up so rickety and
imbruted that they won't have either the brain or the
nerve to attend public meetings or read books on "polit¬
ical economy " or bimetallic papers. And then—oh,
blissful day! —our power and wealth shall know no
end. " Leave hope behind, you who enter here !" All
the rest of our lives we can live on human blood pud¬
ding and save buying salt for our bread by mixing it
with the widows' and orphans' tears. As President
Andrew D. "White says, this condition of feverish
" contraction " and its resultant " moreantilism "
" seems to be eating out not only the disposition but
the power of political thinking."
I have no time to dwell upon it, but the defeat of
the Income-Tax is a part of the same Conspiracy. See
Debates of Congress, Washington, 1851, Gales and
Seaton : p. 1917 : Direct Taxes—" for the valuation of
houses and lands and the enumeration of slaves within
the United States." P. 1925, Passed, 69 to 19, H. of
K. P. 1707.—Similar bill reported. P. 2066.—Cer¬
tainly the " income " is the just sum of taxable values.
As Blackstone declares : " If you sell the income you
sell the land or the thing, for the income is the con¬
crete financial representation of the thing."
So our rich are to escape all taxation if this infa¬
mous reversal stands!
Since Blackstone says : " If you sell the products of
WHAT IS MONEY?
57
land forever you sell the land." In this sense, for pur¬
poses of revenue, our treasury " owns "—can fall back
upon—the whole assets of the whole country. That is
what the first Congress meant when it " issued bills of
credit "—money-—" on the faith of the United States."
To substantiate this statement any required number of
quotations may be made from the Proceedings of
Congress, to wit :
Journals of Congress, p. 12 : Will's Press, Phila.,
1800. Vol. 2, Jan. 5, 1776 : " Resolved, That the sum
of $10,000 be'struck' to be exchanged for ragged
and torn bills of the Continental currency." P. 64.
Feb. 17, 1776 : " That a standing committee of five
be appointed for superintending the Treasury. . That
it shall be the duty of this committee," " to superin¬
tend the emission of bills of credit."
May 9, 1776, p. 157: "The committee appointed to
devise ways and means for raising $10,000,000 for the
service of the current year brought in « their report ;
whereupon :
" Resolved, That $5,000,000 be emitted in bills of
credit, to be redeemed at such periods and in such
manner and proportions as Congress shall hereafter
direct and appoint." Ho "purchase of gold" nor
"gold-reserve" in that.
Incidentally.—" That laws be provided in each of
the States for effectually preventing monopolies—of
necessaries for the army, or inhabitants of the same."
P. 411. How does that please Olney !
P. 445.—(November 26, 1776.)—" Resolved, That it
be recommended to the Assembly of the State of
Pennsylvania to adopt such immediate measures for
remedying this evil [monopoly] as their wisdom shall
58
WHAT IS 1T02SHY?
suggest to be adequate to the present purpose, and for
preventing like pernicious practices for the future."
♦ Such were the principles of the' fathers of this
government. Contrast them with the "gold-basis"
rings and steals of the present day, the repeal of the
income tax and general escape of all rich men from
due assessment, national and local.
Suppose " the Reserve " to be only $63,000,000. Is |
that any reason for the appointed guardians of our
national faith to preach unremittingly panic and
bankruptcy ? Is not Congress in session ? Have we
not all the hundreds or thousands of millions of dollars
per annum of this vast commonwealth to back our
credit % This cuckoo-cry, " Protect the gold reserve
or we perish !" made for stock-jobbing purposes is as
senseless as it could be if Macy or "Wananaker should
go into convulsions of financial apprehension because
the payments of some given day had emptied their
" cash "-drawer. You may brand any one making
such an appeal as a fool or a knave or a cross between
the two.
Au contraire; Let us abolish monometallism, and
with it " the Reserve." These things are the lay-out
for our Wall Street gamblers to juggle with. If our
credit be not good " the Reserve " is far too small to
bolster it up ; but as it is good for any strain to be
ever imagined, it is too much money to be withdrawn
from an already depleted currency and lie idle like the
idol of the Temple of Mammon as it is. Of what use
is it if one cannot spend it ? If we can, then we do
not need any " reserve " except a daily or weekly
" statement " of the amount of cash in the Treasury. '
If Carlisle had not rendered himself liable to indict-
WHAT IS HOKE Y?
59
ment by disobeying the law, made to protect this very
«told against undue withdrawal by declaring he could
and should check such withdrawal by paying out
silver, when advisable in his " wise discretion,'' as peo¬
ple's trustee only, we could not have any such " bond
issue " even as a " theory." He blows hot and cold, but
always at the beck of Wall Street. " Let us have,
more gold " he says. " Let us have less," he does, by
giving out gold to speculative gamblers for obliga¬
tions payable in silver. The law says : " A man may
not profit by his own wrong." As he thus has made
the stringency of which he hypocritically "com¬
plains," he has no right to saddle the people with
" bonds " to fill an artificial vacuum shown to be of his
own fashioning. He and Cleveland and " the Ring "
are personally liable, unless we have a new doctrine
that our administrators of the law alone are permitted
to violate it without any fear of pain or penalty. The
barons of England taught King John, the G rover
Cleveland of his day, quite another lesson, as did the
people of England Charles the First. Indeed the
student of history may trace an almost exact parallel
between the exaction of " ship-money " by Charles and
of " gold-loans " by Cleveland.
Again : We can get at a " popular loan " best by
issuing greenbacks and other tokens directly to the
people as pensions and other expenditures call for.
At the worst they will not go as far below par as the
10 or 15 per cent. " the Ring " exacts as " discount "
upon our gratuity " loan " to them. Why saddle us
then with a " gold loan " that is a heavy and utterly
causeless burden ? If there were no "job" would
" the Ring " be so solicitous shout that dear darling
60
i
what is moxey?
' Reserve ?" As Pierpont Morgan told his coparceners
with brutal frankness (see World, Dec. 31), " What aré
we here for?" Yet silly dupes talk about such men
" protecting the national honor !" Scat !
If you besiege a city the quickest and most merciful
thing to do is to block up their water-supply. Sur¬
render is only a question of a few days at the most.
The enemy that is bleeding the people like barber-
surgeons, " corners the gold of the country and the
whole world" (see "World, Dec. 31, and Jan. 1).
If we would end the " hard times" that have prevailed
ever since silver was hoodooed in 1871, strike like
wise strategists at the enemy's vital-point, demonetize
gold, if necessary, do away with the reserve and an
era of prosperity will dawn inside of forty-eight
hours. For twenty-four years our mercantile com¬
munity has been told " Only establish things on a gold
basis, only maintain a ' gold reserve ' and the
millenium will dawn for you." Well, perforce, we
have had " a Wall Street millenium" for almost a gen¬
eration. And every year of it has been a pandemonium
of unsettled values, falling prices, increasing failures
(see Bradstreet's), increasing suicides, a diminishing of
independent landholders in city and country, an
increase of multi-millionaires ; until now we are treated
to a new President, or rathér Czar, and told, " Pierpont
Morgan holds your destinies in his hand !" \
Fpr every effect there must be a cause. What
evil element can we trace all through the woof of this
twenty-four years of misery and Bloomingdale finance
and politics ?
In one word behold the answer : Monometallism !
Knock away the prop and the image falls. We are
»
WHAT IS MONEY?
81
told we are at the mercy of the bankers because
" they corner all the gold." Well, if that be so, as
the People's Party has been declaring all along, the
" way out " is an easy one :
Pemonetise paper and silver or else demonetize gold.
" The syndicate " shows no pity on us, the people.
We are " their meat," their lemon to " manipulate "
and "squeeze" at will. Fight the devil with fire!
IMPEAOH, USTDIOT, sue for restitution of every
penny thus diverted needlessly as 1 have shown, from
the people's pockets ! Show no mercy, as you have had
none ! Ostracise them from decent society, call
public gatherings in every city and hamlet, adopt
resolutions of indignation, demand redress for your¬
selves while living and for your children after you,
" or know the reason why ! " If Wall Street precipi¬
tate a " panic " in revenge for the dethronement of
their golden-calf, forewarned by this brochure, we can
laugh at them. Let them " throw overboard " their
" securities," mainly water and wind, at best ; let them
go into a frenzy if they will. Let us keep cool !
We of the ordinary everyday world, when the sky
clears, will find ourselves all the better and the
richer for it. We will none of us refuse gold, silver,
\ paper ; we shall buy and sell just the same, only we
shall not have to stop to hearken to any more sheet-
iron thunder about "a gold basis," "the reserve,"
" corners in gold," a fifty-cent dollar," " the banks to
the rescue/' and such nonsense. If the " water " were
wrung out and we had, rather, " fifty-cent bonds " to
pay interest upon, honor and honesty would reap all
' the benefits. W hy should we pay heavy and excess¬
ive charges on railroads and for manufactured prod-
what IS MOOT Y?
nets? For example, three cents per mile, so as "to
yield five or six per cent.," as the r'ng puts it, when
one cent per mile would return the same satisfactory
rate upon the actual cost of many of the roads ? Is
there not a radical reform called for when a Presi¬
dent and Secretary of the Treasury, the people's
chosen " representatives " ceaselessly and causelessly
degrade their own country's credit in the interest of a
false and shameless " syndicate ? " All innovation !
We have entered upon the lowest stage of political
degradation, the Persian or Turkish satrapy. Let us
term it " Pompadour politics : " given a ruler, given a
" favorite," and there you are ! But that was not what
Bunker Hill was fought for.
Cleveland's cry " Another loan, when the reserve is
drawn down to $ is the signal for the gang
" who have cornered gold " to " export " it and see
that it touches the " danger limit." Did George
Christy ever dream of such a howling comedy ? and
so far, by " electing " one or other of the two old
rotten political parties, the foolish American people
applaud and say " Give us some more ! Encore ! en¬
core ! " And we will get the " encore " up to uni¬
versal bankruptcy just so long as we vote that way.
Let us realize that the purpose of money is not re¬
demption, but the exchange of values—in other words,
Circulation. A " gold basis" or any basis that requires
or encourages " redemption " is a fallacy in itself and
a menace to trade. Who wants " greenbacks " " re¬
deemed " outside " the Bing " who thereby attach a
suction-pump to the people's treasury ? We want
money to obtain commercial value, not to exchange
it for other money. A silver or paper dollar is just as
WHAT ÎS MÔîtÈYif
63
"good" in Washington Market as a gold dollar. Were
it not for this nonsensical " reserve " and " gold basis
the dollars of all sorts would freely pass from hand to
hand and " hard times " would " come no more/*' In
losing our " gold reserve " and " gold basis," pray what
else should we lose than endless chances for tricky men
to get up u jobs " and inaugurate " tensions ?"
Coin the silver, print more greenbacks and every
cloud would vanish from our commercial skies. If
you don't believe it, try it ! But why should you
doubt it when, as every one knows, our " best times "
were prior to " resumption," That fatal act of Sher¬
man was " the first vial " and " the beginning of
woes." Unless we draw upon our limitless credit as
common sense would dictate to any sensible business
man and issue up to $50 to $100 per capita of currency,
we will have ourselves alone to blame if we suffer
longer.
As for trusting the national banks to issue our notes
if their infamous " squeezes " and " corners n ha ve not
sufficiently degraded them from all hopes of fiduciary
confidence of any sort, then should we commit national
financial suicide indeed ! " Trust the national banks ?"
' Yes, trust the scorpion and the viper, rather we
might go to Sing Sing and Moyamensing for our con¬
fidential cashiers and bookkeepers, but to the National
Banks, never !—as a Class.
Here is a " form of currency " that would release
the pressure and go at par the world around :
$ • • • _
This Note is Iteceivable at the Custom-House, the
i 'ost-Office and all National Depositories, and is Legal
Tender for all Debts, Public or Private, Domestic or
Foreign,
64'
what 13 m oxet ?
And, outside of the first twenty-four hours in "Wall
Street alone, who would dare to refuse it or even
desire to do so ?
There stands the engine. Appropriate legislation
alone can get up the steam. Act, Congress, act !
In resume ; In Eov.-December, 1895, up to this point
this little book was written in three sittings from a
mind full of the people's woes since early childhood.
Events as prophesied have followed fast with stunning
effrontery and rapidity. To-day, January 1, 1896,
Anno Diaboli, so far as politics can make it so, the
papers tell us that Cleveland is determined to issue
" more bonds" to "a blind pool" as the World in its
headlines characterizes it, controlled by Tracy, and Stet¬
son, two of his partners. Where sleeps the voters'
wrath ? Remonetize silver ! Act, Congress, act!
First : With $170,000,000 of available assets, with
Congress in session to impose farther tariff for revenue,
as it may well decide to do, this bond issue with its
further " shave " of over $20,000,000 in addition to the
$11,500,000 already " located " in defiance of law and
equity, is absolutely uncalled for. The $33,000,000 of
"shave " would of itself far overbalance any possible
deficiency of the treasury, to say nothing of tariff and
internal revenue relief that Congress will afford with
due diligence if given time and opportunity for dis¬
cussion. which is their right. This haste of Cleveland
is equally indecent and unconstitutional and calls for
instant investigation by Congress.
As to that wretched " Reserve"—a final appeal to
American patriotism and common sense.
Imagine Vanderbilt lugging around forty pounds of
" gold " on his shoulder as an " open evidence " of his
WHAT IS HOHE Y? 65
solvency and " good faith and you have in a para¬
ble the exact nature and value of. this diabolical inven¬
tion of corrupt speculative purpose. It is of just as
much moment to our credit or solvency as the gnat
on the ox's horn was to the comfort of the ox. Our
taxable property is $000,000,000,000, if not much
greater, in view of Undeveloped Resources awaiting
only the Remonetisation of Silver to double our people's
income. The first duty of an American Congress is to
the American people, and the prosperity of the farmer,
the working people and the business community is the
best " security " that the little knot of " foreign and
domestic bond-holders " can demand. Let us return to
the finances of our fathers, of 1870 and before, and
get rid of the chronic panic that set. in with the in¬
famous and clandestine bill of 1871 and has never
intermitted for a single moment in all the Quarter of a
Century that has followed. " How long, O Lord, how
long ?" The average American farmer if asked, u Do
you know how the 'reserve' stands ?" would answer,
" Bother the ' reserve.' What I want is a big crop of
potatoes and plenty of circulating medium to move
them when harvested." The business world also is
shylocked into a ceaseless " selling out " as disreputa¬
ble as it is ruinous. When will our people get " that
tired feeling " and overthrow their corrupt and lunatic
administraitors f
The cuckoo cry of " The Reserve is in danger " is as
sincere as the old maid was modest, who when the
city was taken by storm went to the commanding
general and demanded to know when the " ravishing "
would begin ?
The Ring find the only use for the Reserve. In
66 WHAT IB MONEY?
their facile hands it is a fakir's rubber face worked
into simulated spasmodics and running the whole
' scale of mountebank " agony." Bosh Î Konsense !
If the reserve should pass the constantly recurring
and constantly demoralising " danger-point," and
expire altogether the country could breathe freely for
the first, time in twenty-five years. As every house¬
wife's first duty is to keep her own doorstep clean,
the first duty of Congress is to demand a full investi¬
gation of precedent bond " profits " and render any
more such " deals " forever impossible by overthrow¬
ing the gold monopoly. They now brazenly admit
not only that gold might be " cornered," but that it
is " cornered," and in the pocket of one man, back of
whom is the head European Mephistopheles, the
Rothschilds. If a " gold basis " be of this nature,
then down, everlastingly down with a "gold basis."
Our liberties are in peril, if not already forfeited.
What a spectacle ! Seventy million once free Amer¬
icans in daily fear of the one-man power of the
modern representative of Judas Iscariot and his
"methods." Was it for this that Washington and
Marion fought and Warren died? If so, better far
that "1776" had failed. It rests with Congress and
the next election to demonstrate that free institutions
are no mistake. As Judas delivered the, Christ into,
the hands of the Jewish money changers of that day,
so now our " chosen guardians " have handed us over
to the tender mercies of their literal and lineal heirs
in office. Judas Iscariot is indeed not without his
" successors."
The pretended anxiety for "our credit" with .
a little handful of "foreign bondholders" is as
what ïs money?
I
67
real as the philanthropy of those good women
who let their own children go in rags that they
may make red flannel mufflers for the heathen
in tropical Congo, Re-establish our commercial
prosperity and we have the best guaranty for one
and all of our obligations, public and private, domestic
and foreign. If that won't "satisfy Europe" then*
let Europe go unsatisfied. If I treat my guests as
well as I treat myself and my family, I do all that
courtesy requires.
As well ask us to wear peaked hats and carry (shep¬
herd) crooks around to " satisfy" the Tyrol ; to " yodel"
up and down Broadway and Fifth Avenue to " satisfy 3
Switzerland ; to rub charcoal over our faces to " sat¬
isfy " the Carbonari of Italy. Let us mind our own
financial business and politely request " Yurup " to do
the same. Oh, for one hour of true American feeling !
That is only one of the many precious things that a
" gold basis " forces us to throw into the bottomless
pit of the forum. The Curtían act that shall close it
forever is to be found only in the patriotic self-sacrifice
that shall cause the best men of all parties to re-
monetize silver. That way alone lies the pathway of
escape from the infamy and loss of an insufficient
yellow metal, only $7 per capita in lieu of at least
$55 absolutely required by our farmers and business
community : too soft and disproportionate for any
general circulation, the " affinity " of " corners "—the
hammer to knock out the corner-stone of the Wash¬
ington Arch of American Freedom. As well ask our
Treasury to pay our officials in £ s. d. or francs or
florins ; as well ask us to set our clocks to those of
London and St. Petersburg, or to wear the clothes of
68
WHAT IS MONEY?
How?
Swedish peasants or Austrian gypsies, as to set our
financial time-pieces to those of London, Paris and
Berlin. America for the Americans—suum quique—
American "time," American "manners," American
" business methods," and above all,
American Money for an American People !
January 3, 1895.
t» *
Of the Beginning
The End.
The following able article from The World, of
January 8, 1896, well expresses the remedy. If Carlisle
would only obey the. law as Manning did and pay out
silver at his option—not the bankers'—there would
ensue " a great calm," financially, as when the Master
spoke the all-sufficient "Word upon the stormy Sea of
Galilee :
manning's medicine.
If the gold ring in this city shall continue its raid on
the treasury it may become necessary for the Presi¬
dent to administer to them some of Daniel Manning's
medicine. What this efficacious remedy was and how
it was given were told in the World's Washington
Dispatch yesterday. It was during a raid similar to
the present one in President Cleveland's first adminis¬
tration. Secretary Manning came to Hew York, and
calling the gold raiders to him he said :
" Gentlemen, the Treasury is willing to furnish gold
for any legitimate demand, but if you attempt to draw
upon the treasury-gold after to-day as you are now
doing, for hoarding or speculation, I shall adopt an
what is hohe y?
69
effective remedy for the protection of the govern¬
ment's reserve. We have a cash balance of over
$150,000,000. Not one of yon doubts for a moment
the purpose and ability of the government to maintain
specie payments. But if you continue to withdraw
gold I shall at once order that you be paid 10 per cent,
in silver coin the first day. The second day you will
be paid 20 per cent, in silver, the third day 30, and so
on until one-half will be paid you in silver. "
" But," exclaimed the astounded bankers, " this is in
violation of the implied obligation that the govern¬
ment will pay gold."
" Make no mistake about that, gentlemen," replied
Mr. Manning. " The law says ' coin,' and the treasury
will exercise its undoubted prerogative."
That ended the gold raiding. The government
won its point just as soon as the Secretary of the
Treasury showed that he had a backbone.
And it would win its point in the same way to-day.
Manning's way was Jackson's way, when that great
Democrat said, " I take the responsibility," and or¬
dered. the removal of the deposits from the United
States Bank, telling the banking ring that if they
wanted a panic they were at liberty to proceed with it.
President Cleveland will be fully justified in admin¬
istering the Manning medicine to these gold grabbers
if they persist in their purpose. Anything is better
than the humiliation of the government and its con¬
trol by a lot of mercenaries—anything, [ßgP even the
Silver Basis, much as we are opposed to that.
We append as part of this Book the following Ar¬
ticles J:rom The Woeld. We believe a "great light"
70
WHAT IS MOSTET ?
is breaking and that this brilliant journal' sees that
the logic of events and of national prosperity and
honor points the way to " a silver basis " as it for the
first time declared. In no other way can " the gold-
ring be smashed." " A silver basis " would say : " Keep
your old gold ! The people don't need it, don't want
it and won't have it. We prefer in every way to trust
to the 'honor' and the 'faith' of the American
people. That is the only ' reserve ' for honest and
patriotic Americans."
Kepeal the alleged law that one man, the Secretary
of the Treasury, may at will pile bonded debt upon
the whole people. Only scandal is too apt to be the
result.
is the " blind pool " blind ?
«
Harmony seems again to exist between Wall Street
and Washington. The same old Wall Street sneers at
a popular loan are repeated in Washington. The same
old Washington cry that a syndicate is necessary is
echoed in Wall Street. The failure of the public loan
and the certainty that the syndicate must be called in
are predicted in both places. The organ of the Ad¬
ministration is foreshadowing the withdrawal of a call
for a public loan and is still favoring the contract with
the blind-pool syndicate. The blind pool is active and
confident. Hot one of the bankers who were in it has
withdrawn. Not one. Several Chicago banks with
large gold reserves have just joined. It is reported
that the secret syndicators are active in trying to
bargain with the gold miners for their output, thus
still further cornering the Government chances for
gold. There are indications that the Tuesday raid
WHAT IS 3I0HEY?
n
upon the gold reserve was made by the pool and that
further raids will follow.
The ring is still in the ring.
Does it not look as if the defiant syndicate and its
guilty secret partners are bent upon a ring rule of the
Treasury of this nation ? [Through gold-basis.]
Would it not seem that, had the heart of Mr. Cleve- 4
land been actually in the call, his private secretary and
all the petty officials who send out the news about the
Treasury would not dare to scoff at it and predict its
failure I Is it not strange that, in the face of the call
for a public loan, the secret syndicate remains un¬
broken and ündiscouraged % Is not the silence of Mr.
Cleveland inexplicable when every one knows what a
few ringing words from him would do % Is there any
room for doubt as to the effect of a message from him
to Congress or the people appealing to the patriotism
and the pride of American freemen to aid the Govern¬
ment and smash the ring ?
But not one word is heard from him.
ould it not seem that common-sense and self-
interest, not to speak of patriotism, in the bankers
would compel them to bow to the will of the people,
abandon their pool and join with the people in the
support of the national credit and the national honor ?
Can they doubt that the people of this republic are
mightier than any ring of selfish purse-potentates ; that
the people will rule, not the purse potentates ?
This arrogant money power, blinded by selfishness
and pride of wealth, will do well not to force the issue.
T]or if the issue is joined the end is sure. The people
will triumph. And if it should seem to the people,
the millions of New England and the Middle States,
"what is money?
the tens of millions of the already passionately indig¬
nant South and the great 'est, that the inevitable
alternative forced upon them by this ring is either
government by secret "Wall Street syndicates or free
silver, they will choose free silver. The American
people will never consent to the virtual control of their
Government by Wall Street. And there are tens of
thousands of honest sound-mone}7" men who, when
compelled to choose between the two evils, will, how¬
ever reluctantly, rather submit to free silver than to
rule by the Wall Street money power.—-World.
the duty and danger of the banks.
It is in the power of the national banks to make the
new bond issue a success. It is not merely their duty
to the Government to do it, but it involves their own
self-preservation.
They have shown that they have the gold. They
have proved that they were ready to furnish it to a
syndicate. They must furnish it to the Government,
and they must furnish it on fair terms.
The banks have a hundred millions of gold in the
three great cities alone of New York, Boston and
Chicago. The prompt, hearty and spontaneous offers
of the smaller banks in the country not only furnish
them an example but impose on them an obligation.
The eyes of the nation are on them. If they refuse
to aid the Government in an emergency, if they join
hands with the speculators who are trying to " hold
up " the Government, the power which called them
into existence, gave them their charters and made
them the only privileged class in the country will deal
with them as they have dealt with it.
WHAT IS MONEY?
78
There is already an intense prejudice against the
national banks, especially in the great West and South.
Should they persist in a mistaken policy of hostility
they will strengthen that feeling. They will put a
weapon in its hands for their own destruction.
They can furnish the gold to the Treasury, and once
in there they can keep it there. To refuse to exercise
that power now would be to invite an outburst of
indignant hostility that would sweep them out of ex¬
istence.—Wokld.
the bond scandal.
The greatest scandal, that of a Government contract
with the bond syndicate, has been averted. A great
scandal, that of the understanding under which the
syndicate was to be formed, yet remains to be investi¬
gated.
The form of the bond subscribers' contract with
each other was not made at haphazard. It is a care¬
fully written document, really a model document. It
is concise, it is terse, it is complete. It covers every
possible condition. It was drawn up with a full
knowledge of the circumstances under which it was to
be put in execution.
It fixed the price to be paid " upon about the basis
of the contract of Feb. 8, 1895."
It fixed the amount of gold to be furnished—" 5,750,-
000 ounces to be firm, the balance (5,750,000 ounces
more) may be firm or in the form of an option in
whole or in part."
It was a contract for all or none. " ~No participation
shall be binding unless the equivalent of $100,000,000
of bonds are subscribed for."
It provided that the gold should not be drawn from
n
what is moxey?
the Treasury, but not that it should not be drawn out
again. It placed the whole proceeding under the
management of J. P. Morgan & Co., absolutely and
without appeal.
What was the origin of that circular ? What is its
history ? Who was consulted in drawing it up ? On
what official assurance was it based ? On what au¬
thority was it sent out ? J. P. Morgan & Co. do not
" propose to form a syndicate " of the leading bankers
of Hew York on mere hopes or visionary expectations.
They are not dreamers. They deal in realities. On
what reality did they base this clear and positive and
carefully worded circular %
These are not idle questions. They are not imperti¬
nent. " They deal with a grea£ public matter, with a
grave public scandal. They are questions which every
one is asking. They are not met by the letter of
" vindication " sent by Mr. Morgan to Secretary Car¬
lisle. They are quèstions to which Congress must find
out the answer.
The bond deal has been smashed. The negotiations
which led to the attempt must be investigated. Con¬
gress cannot evade its plain duty in this scandalous
business.—W orld.
Comptroller Eckels reports January 6 that the
[National Banks " of the twenty-four reserve-centers
of this country " have only $173,000,000 in gold.
How then can we run upon " a gold basis " except by
buying " [Rothschild gold " at usurious rates—" ring "
rates ? The heroic and the right remedy is to avoid
the usury, which by our law is " crime and to do so
the best, the quickest and the only way is : •
pêmonetize sllver.
Abolish the Reserve i
WHAT IS MONEY?
75
THE EVIDENCE 12^ THE CASE.
The World yesterday printed from the files of its
esteemed contemporaries the evidence of the under¬
standing between the Government and the Morgan
syndicate concerning the proposed issue of bonds:
The evidence shows that every provision, every line,
every word of the subscribers' contract had been dis¬
cussed and agreed on beforehand. It proves that the
contract was not carelessly framed nor issued at
random, but that it formulated a bargain clearly
understood and freely entered into by the Administra¬
tion.
The proof is positive, unimpeachable. It. is pre¬
served In the files of every daily paper of New York.
On Dec. 23 the Herald said : " The Administration
/
has been in consultation with some of the members of
the Belmont-Morgan syndicate."
On Dec. 21 it said : " Secretary Lamont's recent visit
to New York was for the express purpose of sounding
leading banks and bankers of that city."
On the 25th : Äi J. Pierpont Morgan reached "Wash¬
ington early this morning (Dec. 24) and SAW THE
PRESIDENT." Also, "The visit * * * indicated
that the President feels it incumbent on himself to
anticipate the failure of Congress to provide needed
relief."
On Dec. 24 the Sun spoke of the "informal com¬
munications that have been had during the last week
between President Cleveland and prominent bankers
of this city."
On the 26th it quoted J. Pierpont Morgan as saying,
" It would not be proper for me to speak as to the
views of the President."
76 what is 3i0xey?
%
On Deo. 27 the Evening Post announced on the
authority of " a leading banker " who had " called on
J. P. Morgan " that the amount of the loan would be
$100,000,000, that it would be " through a syndicate,
as before," with a doubt as to any provision for main¬
taining the reserve as before. This was confirmed on
the same day by the Times, the Tribune and the Sun.
Finally, on Dec. 28 the Herald announced under its
Washington date of Dec. 27, " by authority," that
"arrangements have already been made with the
Morgan syndicate to supply all the gold needed."
The terms of the syndicate agreement were not
publicly known until Dec. 31. Then it was found out
that every condition, clause and word in it agreed with
the announcements made beforehand.
On Dec. 31 the syndicate agreement was published,
and it referred to "4 per cent, bonds of 1925." Under
the law the bonds must be thirty-year bonds, which
would make them expire in 1926. But when the call
came the bonds, it was discovered, were to be - dated
back one year, so as to expire in 1925. By what
singular foreknowledge did Mr. Morgan get so small
but important a detail of Mr. Carlisle's plans ?
Is not this proof convincing ? It it possible to
question it ? Did the papers lie ? Did they all lie ?
Were all their correspondents liars % More prepos¬
terous still, did their correspondents and reporters
imagine and invent and fabricate these exact and
accurate truths in regard to an understanding that did
not exist, that had not been thought of, that had no
basis of fact whatever ?
There is a lie out somewhere—a lie involving the
honor of the Government. A great scandal is being
hushed up. Will Congress investigate it %—woeld.
whaî is money?
Our national wealth for purposes of taxation is
about one thousand thousand million dollars ($1,000,-
000,000,000 !) Let us "emit bills of credit5' as did Frank¬
lin and the Continental Congress, for $20,000,000, or
$50,000,000, or any other merely alleged " deficiency "
requires! ISTo more "loans," bonded or otherwise.
Above all, abolish the so-called " gold reserve," that
nest of Jew bond-robbers, that pile of " chips " for Wall
Street gamblers ! To our resources (see just above)
even $100,000,000 more of bills and silver would be of
no heavier importance than a " debt " of one cent to
Astor or Yanderbilt. The people need this extra ,
issue of money. " Representatives " of the people do
not dare to go home till by law you shall have seen
that they shall get it and get it at once !
"the beginning of the end."
It looks to-day—January 8th, of Gen. Jackson fame
—as if the swinedicate might triumph by " manage¬
ment " and bargain such as no great people ever wit¬
nessed beforè. If the " bond-steal " shall yet be con¬
summated by a combination of effrontry and corrup¬
tion, then let it be known that the American people
repudiate this steal and that of 1895 as equally null
and void for malfeasance and want of due considéra¬
tion. The treasury has nearly $200,000,000 on hand
in all sorts of moneys. There is absolutely no need of
any loan of any sort whatsoever. If Carlisle would
do his sworn duty and pay out silver as well as gold
for government expenses and for the miscalled " re¬
demption " of government bills and paper, there would
be no cry of " financial difficulty : rescue 4 the re¬
serve ? 1" If gold be gold one of its offices is to act as
wfiaî ís holtet?
a basis for the issue of. equivalent paper-money. If
truly " equivalent " why is not a silver or paper dollar
the same as its pretended base—gold ? But " jug¬
gling is the order of the day. Anything " to cry
panic " as an excuse for " more bonds " and " more
divides." So we are told that greenbacks redeemed
(merely exchanged in reality) by gold " are a part of
the reserve and not to be paid out again !"
This is contrary to express law, but no matter :
" Contraction " in aid of " gold " and the creditor class
alone finds ears at Washington. "Let the common
people writhe ! We are un wrung !"
There is no such thing as " redeeming " money, as it
is only the ever-changing ratio of value amongst mer¬
cantile commodities. As well " redeem " the key of
G ! hen a farm.hand breaks a hay-rake, his em¬
ployer gives him another in exchange for it—tie does
not " redeem " it. So when mutilated currency is re¬
placed it is simply exchanged, not " redeemed." A
greenback exchanged for gold " redeems " the gold just
exactly in the sense the gold redeems the greenback.
If not, pearls and diamonds because of actual value
might be forced upon those demanding gold for green¬
backs. The gold has the endorsement of the govern-
\ment ; that is the only difference. For the stamp is of
no consequence. Blocks of tea circulate in Thibet ;
blocks of salt in Abyssinia. Why ? Because custom
there has the force of law here.
" Foi* a Hation to Contract the v olume of Currency
existing at the Time of the Making of a Debt by
subsequent Action is the Greatest Crime a J J at i on can
commit."—Abraham Lincoln.—Who then are "our
greatest Criminals 2 "
thwecte«2í
university
Library
Haying no carrion-crow " Syndicate bonds " and not
much else of anything, I must appeal to my Honest-money
friends to help circulate the Truths contained in this
book.
Single copies, 25 cents, gold or stamps taken; 2 copies,
40 cents; 3 copies, 55 cents; 6 copies, $1.00; all prepaid to
any post-office within the IT. S(yndicate).
"The Trade," Clergy, Teachers, Editors, the Young
People, can all aid a Patriotic Movement and earn a liberal
Commission. For Special Terms, address the author,
T. M. Thorpe, 834 Broadway, Hew York City.
Editors may quote two columns in review or one page at
any time till further notice, provided full credit and the
Author's address be appended.
The Author wishes to issue in this Series two other Works:
"The Fallacies of Cleveland's Message of 1895" and "The
Fallacies of Carlisle's Message of 1895," which, with this
book, would constitute a Complete Exposition of Honest
Money in its true Functions.
tUT"Advance Subscriptions are earnestly solicited.
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