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The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes ou les planches trop grandes pour dtre reproduites en un seul cliche sont film^es d partir de I'angle »up6rieure gauche, de gauche d droite et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images nicessaire. Le diagramme suivant illustre la m6thode : 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 SB /; ^1 AND THE Money Question in Canada AND SOME CONSIDERATIONS ARISING THEREFROM. BY A HUSBANDMAN. PRICE, 25 CENTS. CA/V BE HAD OF ALL BOOKSELLERS, Toronto : THE HUNTER, ROSE CO., Ltd. 1897. V \ \ jU-ONKY / AND • THE MONEY QDESTION IN CANADA AND SOME CONSIDERATIONS ARISING THEREFROM. BV A HUSBAN13MAN. PRICE, 25 CENTS. CAN BR HAD OF ALL BOOKSELLERS, \ Q;oronto : The hunter, ROSE CO., Ltd. 1897. Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thou- sand eight hundred and ninety-seven, by Rockrt Douglas, at the Department of Agriculture, /• PREFATORY REMARKS. This pamphlet is dedicated by the author to his fel- low-Canadians everywhere as a New Year greeting, witli the expectation that it may npsist at least some who hitherto may have given little serious consideration and have not very clear views of the Money Question, and induce others who may have given much thought to it, but who still, through old nssociaticms, cling to gold as the best or proper standard of money, to consider the whole question in all its phases, free and unabiased as far as possible by other men's opinions, or predilections, and so ariive at conclusions and convictions clear and satisfactory to themselves, as the result of their own en- quiry. After, and as a result of, such consideration and enquiry, the author is convinced beyond a peradventure that the Money Question is the most important, easily put right, and urfjent for immediate solution at this time on this continent, and that bj^ a proper standard of money, a sound money system, and sound principles of lending and borrowing upon real estate, that Canada, by wise and prudent legislation, can be delivered iom her crusliing load of national and individual mortgages in a marvel- lously short time and the debts incidentally be turned into a good bond to bind us Canadians together. There is no manner of doubt but that a perfectly safe national money system can be framed and worked with- ■mill 4 Prefatory Remarks, out gold having anything to do with it, and as little doubt that North America is on the eve of some radical change in the manner of doing things. If a bold forward step is not taken on the right lines the dril't will still be down- wards on the wrong ones. The United States and Can- ada have been in many respects like two railway tiains on a down grade for thirty years back or more. Both countries must lay in a new leaf and reverse the grade by, first of all, acknowledging God more than they have done in their legislation. They must cast oH' the moral turpitude hanging like an incubus, which has been en- gendered by disobeying Divine commands about a Sab- bath day's rest from toil, unjust tarirt' abominations, drawing national revenue from blood-money thi'ough licenses of deleteiious and intoxicating drinks, and the gold incubns in our money system. Tiie fii.st three are inexcusable, the latter least creditable to our intelligence. The author has (and who has not ?) been grieved these many years back at tlie time worse than wasted by pattyism and taritf* discussion abominations, keeping back from consideiation many most important matters still to be righted, such as a higher stnndard of teachers to man the Public Schools ot the various provinces, cut- ting down our government machinery, prohibition in some good shape, government management of railways, bank- ruptcy and sanitaiy regulations, municipal management of city franchises, whereby the load of municipal taxa- tion could be almost annihilated, as is done in Glasgow. I appeal with much contidence to my fellow-Canadians, and especially to " the powers that be " and the press, to consider this Money Question carefully and courage- / A Prefatory Remarks, 5 ously, so that Canada may no longer be cursed by dear and scarce money. There is neither dearness nor scarcity, but fulness, even to overtiowino-, of the good things of this life. Why, oh why, should there be a famine of a mere medium to purchase the good things ? « 1st January, 1897. ■J / / / / MONEY AND THE MONEY QUESTION IN CANADA. r ■ >^ To those who have not clear views on the Money Question, the many divergent views, o[)inions, and spec- ulative theories about sound money, debased currency, appreciation and depreciation of gold, silver, wheat, and other things must be perplexing indeed. Why cannot solid ground and the truth be found and the Aicts ascer- tained to a demonstration as well as about other every- day matters ? It is not creditable to our intelligence that there should be so much doubt and perplexity as evidently prevail. There cannot be a doubt but the darkness that pervades the minds of so many intelligent and wise men arises from the almost universal belief in a fallacy — viz., that gold is the best or right standard of money. If men be- lieve and build upon a fallacy, the structure will be faulty ; the mere and longer discussed, the greater the perplexity and the longer in coming to the truth, the only solid ground. Build well upon a true foundation, and the structure will be good, beautiful and excellent in every way. Is it not as clear as noonday that gold and silver met- als, as well as other things, even money itself, are alike J A ,5ias8as. ^m BB vmmm mi&M'^ 8 Money and the Money Question in Canada. subject to the law of supply and demand, or demand and supply, for in some circumstances the one precedes the other, which regulates the market value ? Is not the market value just the intrinsic value ? Each metal or material has its own intrinsic value, caused by the adap- tation to man's needs. Why, then, all this ado about appreciation and depreciation ? Gold and silver metals are more adapted for ornamental, fine, delicate work because of their qualities — viz., cleanness, beauty, duc- tility, etc. ; iron, in its various conditions, and other un- clean metals are more adapted for useful, strong work. Paper is more adapted for money purposes than metals because of its qualities of being convenient, cheap, and abundant availability of supply. These are all essential. It is more adaptable to all our needs for mone^^ purposes, so much so that even with our foolish metal standard it is of necessity used in its various forms for the great bulk of commerce. Metal money is most convenient for fractions only, and even then often not so convenient S/S 25 and 50 cent bills. These being settled facts are sug- gestive of many questions such as the following : 1st. Is it not so that what we call money, in whatever form, is simply a medium and nothing more for exchang- ing goods and products of all kinds in a permanent form that will buy and sell itself, it being all things In one ? 2nd. Is it not so that the cheaper and more convenient the better ? 3rd. Is it not so that the dearer and more inconven- ient the worse ? 4th. Is it not wisdom, and consequently right, to use the better and more convenient, and folly and conse- quently wrong to use the worse 1 ■ * jj. Money and the Money Question in Canada. 9 5th. Are not gold and silver the dearest mediums, and paper the cheapest, and, in fact, the only practicable one, nowadays ? Is it not, then, a moral question — a ques- tion of right and wrong ? 6th. Does not a costly medium add all its cost to the articles bought and sold in some shape or other ? It might be difficult to locate the cost exactly. 7th. Is it not so that a piece of gold metal which costs one dollar if owned and stamped by government costs one dollar, plus the coining and stamping, and a piece of paper which we may say costs nothing if owned and stamped by government for many purposes costs only the price of the paper, plus the printing and stamping, and is virtu- ally 100 times cheaper if all in one dollar bills, but if in larger denominations all the cheaper ? And what does this mean and involve ? Think this out, ye wise men ; tell us what the results and consequences are of adding 100 per cent, to the cost of the medium. I presume it is a big question, far-reaching, and pregnant with momen- tous consequences. Is this not a key to a Vanderbilt with his $40,000,000 and the hard-working farmer, labourer, or mechanic, all of whom are as honest and in- dustrious and doing more good to the world by produc- ing the material for the food, clothing, shelter, and the real creators of the money as well ? These after 60 or 70 years of hard, honest toil, perhaps not worth $400, or $40, all told, and a yearly saving of not one dollar. Vanderbilt, with $40,000,000 invested at even 3 per cent., would have a yearly saving of $1,200,000. Is not this dear money and costly money-standard one of the devil's delusions by which the Christian world has been deceived for more than one thousand years ? - "..'tiSfl 10 Money and the Money Question in Canada. 8th. Is not the standard or value of money, whether the material be metal or paper, its face value to buy and sell, and when deposite 1 with the government which made and issued it, its intere-^t value when deposited or loaned by government ? This, we may say, is its real national standard to measure its value by. 9th. Is not any standard or standards other than its face and interest standard or value a mischievous fic- tion ? What other standard is needed or possible ? 10th. Is it not so that government only should issue and make legal all the nation's current money, guaran- tee its face value, and its interest when deposited with and issued by government ? What other guarantee or promise is needed ? No other. 11th. Is it not so that when government receives money on deposit from citizens it should loan it again to other citizens if they wish to borrow it, by giving the best possible security ? 12th. Is there any better security anywhere than im- proved productive farms owned and occupied by indus- trious, honest, law-abiding families, the bulwarks of a nation — a wall of peace, and " of fire," if need be ? 13th, Would not unlimited coinage by government and unlimited printing of money be unsound economics, highly dangerous and most injurious ? 14th. Is not unlimited free coinage of gold unjust by protecting gold-producers at the national expense, highly dangerous and fraught with evil consequences ? 15th. If the United States and Canada ceased borrow- ing from outside, and used paper money only, based upon labour and not upon gold, would not the demand for Li^tdj^ 'Jft- A^^^ J "".""'V'T^'' Mo'ney and the Money Question in Canada. 11 gold 1)6 iiuich lessened, and, as a conse(|uence, l)o more plentiful and the'price likely to decline? 16th. Is not the essential thing about money its se- curity, stability under all circumstances, and ability as a national thiug to purchase and sell any and every com- modity at the market price ? I7th. Is it not essential and sound economics when governments coin or print money that the Hunt be well within the security in order to be safe, not to make more than 50 per cent, of the maiket value of the security ? 18th. Is it not unsound economics, unprofitable and hazardous, for citizens to mortgage real estate to aliens, and consequently sound economics, profitable and safe, to mortgage to their ow^n government, which represents the citizens, and who would receive the annual interest and in case of default, the real estate ? 19th. Is not borrowing upon improved productive farms a perfectly legitimate transaction between borrower and lender, each of whom should be on equal terms, and both alike )nade sure ? 20th. If a citizen, owner of productive real estate, borrow on mortgage from his own government, say to half the market value, why should he, as a matter of right, pay any interest to the State, or anything further than the expense of printing the money, if he pays all taxes directly and executes all the obligations of a good citizen ? It is virtually his own money he is borrow- ing. 21st. Does not the preventing of citizen owners of real estate, say improved productive farms, from borrowing from their own government paper money on the security .'*'-■■'":' mm 1 2 Money and the Money Question in Canada. of their farms — the concrete lesults of their labour lock- ing up the capital of the citizen owners ? 22nd. Does not our present system of permitting or virtually forcing them to borrow froui aliens on the gold standard basis unlock the door to aliens and rob the citizen and the State ? Consequently, suicidal policy. Many more questions might be asked, but enough meantime. " Debased currency " is an expression fre- quently used in discussing the money question. I under- stand those who use the term mean that to adopt silver as a standard of monev for all amounts at the ratio of 16 to 1, or paper without a gold foundation, would be de- based currency. It seems to me the expression betrays a misapprehension of facts and is not strictly correct. If there were no distinction between the f-mctions of national and international money, and silver not stand- ard money for all amounts, and gold the only standai'd, then the expression would be correct; but there is no more necessary connection between national and inter- national money than between national and international goods, further than it is convenient in exchanging goods. Nations could exchange goods without money if exports and imports were equal, or even if otherwise. Imports are now [)aid by exports, and vice versa, balances only are paid with money. Under present circumstances gold answers tolerably well, but international or empire paper money would answer much better. It would be much cheap- er and save the expense and risk of hauling and transship- ping gold. If the ship was burnt or lost the paper money need not be lost ; not so with gold. The main function of international money is U) pay balances ; of national to Money and the Money Question in Canada. 13 pay in exchanging goods. Gold is not the on)}^ standard money even in gold standard countries, neither is it in reality the standard of money. The standard of money and standard money are two distinct and different things. Standard mone}^ is the nation's legalized money, no matter wliat the material may be, gold, silver, copper, or pai3er ; they are all standard money — silver and copper to limited amounts, paper unlimited. All alike are guar- anteed their face value ; none of them, therefore, are debased money. The least valuable mateiial, I believe, makes the most valuable and best money. We may call gold rich money, or the rich man's money, but a dollar's worth of silver or copper coins will bu}^ or sell as much as a gold dollar, and so will a paper dollar. They are all equally good, honest money, none of them debased, but not necessarily all equally sound money. Gold is a high fictitious standard. We may call a man rich whose money is all in gold, a high standard man ; and a man poor whose money is all in silver or copper, a low stand- ard man, or "debased;" but we know the standard of the man is his character for honesty. So it is with his money ; it is its character for honesty. The rich man's gay clothing does not exalt his character one iota ; it is more likely to affect it adversely by making him proud and debase the man. The poor man's homespun does not debase his character one iota ; it is more likelv to make him feel humble and exalt the real maii. If silver is debased money in comparison with gold, what might be said of paper, which in reality is 99 times cheaper than any metal, if in one dollar bills, and many times more so if in larger denominations ? But it is infinitely more con- i^dj ■■■p ^ 14 Money and the Money Question in Canada, venient. If so much cheaper and convenient then a moral question arises, Is it right or wrong, wise or foolish, to use the most costly and inconvenient article when the cheapest, most convenient and most efficient is available, and would be such a blessing to multitudes ? Govern- ments cannot make lefjal dollar coins for less than 100 cents per dollar, but they can and do make paper legal dollar bills for less than one cent per doUnr. To make a ten, a hundred, or a thousand dollar bill costs no more than a one; the only question is its security. Our paper money is said to rest upon gold in order to be safe and not " debased." Gold is said to rest on itself. Custom says it has an intrinsic value as money. Is this affirmation and custom warranted by facts ? Verily no. Where and how do governments get the gold it rests upon which Lhey hold as reserves to redeem their notes ? This, I un- derstand, is how the Canadian Government gets it. The Treasury Board issues debentures to any who will xurnish gold for them, either coin or bullion. So that our gold redemption money, as a matter of fact, is founded upon paper, and not the best of paper at that. The people might repudiate their government's action for borrowing without specific authority. I presume such authority was never asked. The almost universal belief that our money system is founded on gold seems to the writer not warranted by facts, and rests upon a fallacy ; inasmuch as it is clear to a de- monstration that our gold, upon which our money system is founded, is not based upon gold, but upon paper promises, and that our whole money system needs to be overhauled and put upon its sure foundation of truth, which is laid i m f Money and the Money Question in Canada, 15 in nature, viz., the foundation of labour, or the products of labour in the concrete form, employed in producing the necessities and conveniences of life, such as food, clothing and shelter materials, and not on materials whose natural functions are to assist in constructing delicate instruments, and to adorn and beautify men's persons and works. In considering the money question we recognize the close relationship it has to the Land Question, and the fact that while it belongs to the possessor of it for the time being, if honestly got, it belongs essentially to God because we belong to Him ; " We are not our own." Money is a most useful thing; it answereth all things, we are told, and is a most interesting and instructive study. Few seem to understand money or the money question, or give it much thought further than how to acquire it, many for their good and many to their hurt. It is blessed to get money aright, and more blessed to give aright, whether got rightly or wrongly. What is money ? What is its standard ? What ma- terial should it be made of, metal or paper ? Who creates or makes it, and how ? Should it be cheap or dear, and how cheap or dear ? Can it be abundant and cheap ? How long will it last ? Who should make it legal and issue it ? What is its right use and abuse ? Who should borrow it, and on what conditions ? What is interest, and what is usury ? Some disadvantages and dangers of metal money, and some advantages and safety of paper money ; International money. A formidable dozen of queries, but more might be asked. Let us take them in their order. ii 16 Mon^y and the Money Question in Canada. First, What is Monsy ? Money is wealth, wealth is by labour; therefore labour is money. Money is the pro- duct, of the cwnmunity's labour. The community's labour being so manifold, almost universal, one thing £here must be, for convenience sake, in civilized countries to represent the labours. Money is the representative medium, the one thing used in exchanging any and all pro' •^^'^2 Money and the Money Question in Canada. ■.^,:^^ .1 (lered and hampered in his business operations by un- just and uncertain laws tliat may render it impossil^le for him to meet his obli<,^ations. There must be fixity of ti'ade reguhitions, and tliey can only be fixed by being free all the time, and a fixed national suitable -money standard, a standard which will not (ihange except by statute, and whicli should never be changed without due consideration and timely notice, and then men would know what they were doing. As things are at present, the borrower is at the mercy of circumstances to an enormous extent, through the want of these two essen- tials in our national laws. Our borrowing upon land is on a wrong principle, at least i'rom a wrong source. . Eleventh. Interest and Usury. Money being the pro- duct of labour, nature does not forbid interest when loaned, nay, it demands it as a right. Money, that from which interest is derived, is essentially individual and also national in a special sense ; consetj^uently, interest must vary according as it is individual and national for the time being. The interest which governments give for it when loaned to them must be fixed by statute. The interest when in possession of individuals must not be fixed by statute, but by individuals, because it would be a violation of individual freedom of action. It would be as wrong to bind men to a fixed rate of interest as to bind them to sell their goods at a fixed price. Exorbit- ant interest is what we understand by usury — more than what the law allows, or ought to allow, for govern- ments to give more interest to individuals for money deposited with it than the national interest would be usury. And for governments to charge more than the .:.^- ii^ Id id e Money and the Monet/ Question in Canada. 33 national interest, and put it into revenue, would bo making individuals pay usury to the nation. What the indivi- dual paid over the national interest he was ma«le to pay to others who luid no claim to it. Individuals, banks and others must be left free to charge and pay wliat interest they mutually agree upon. Under our present derangements and arrangements loan companies are charg- ing usury all the time, inasmuch as the law very wrongly allows or virtually compels men to mortgage their lands to them at, say from 5 per cent to 7 per cent., when the government only should bo the mortgagee, and the in- terest they ought to pay the government is the national interest, say about 2 per cent, at present is all it ought to be. The banks in charging say 8 per cent, for short dates is not usury ; it is only fair interest ; it pays both the lender and the borrower. Take a typical example. Say a merchant borrows $1,000 for three months at 8 per cent, per annum; he gets from the bank $980; the banker gets $20 for the three months, with about one minute's time spent in the transaction. The merchant, say a drover, buys and ships 30 cattle each week at $1 per head clear profit 12x80 =$360. Atthe end of three months, with the proceeds of the last shipment, he pays back to the bank the $1,000. Four times $360=$1,440 profit for the year. Many drovers ship two times in a week, and some from more stations than one, and also look for more than $1 per head of profit. Many merchants turn over their capital many times a year through the help of the banks, and have many profits in one year ; but the farmer has only one crop, one profit in the year. Should his land bring forth a hundredfold he would do well, but if only .;??*■■ jimiii^ ^• i I ■i 34 Money and the Money Qtiestion in Canada. sixty or thirtyfold after expenses all told are paid and paying 7 per cent, over and above, there is nothing left if the prices be low. But if his land yi^ld only twenty- fold, which would be about 25 bushels of wheat and 60 bushels of oats and barley to the acre, which is above the average, in many cases not over half ^bat amount is reaped on account of circumstances beyond his control, such as untimely frosts, drouth, storms, rust, midge, weevil, wireworm, joint worm, Hessian tiy, pea bug, and other things ; in the case of stock, cattle diseases, flies of all kinds, cattle embargo ; low prices, dear implements, dear living on account of tariffs, and upon the top say 6 per cent, on half the value of the farm, and add to that the national debt interest of 3 per cent, o: 4 per cent., for it comes upon the land in the long run, and where is the farmer ? Is it any wonder times are hard and farm pro- perty depreciating in value ? I can speak as a farmer of 34 years' experience in Canada, that money loaned on real estate farm property at preseni. xs not worth more than 2 per cent. ; but give Canadian farmers the op[)or- tunity to mortgage their farms to their own government at 2 per cent., and for as long as they choose to pay it, and things will boom in Canada without danger of bursting, unless it be through too great worldly prosperity they forget the interest they owe to their Creater and Re- deemer. Twelfth. Some Disadvantages and, Dangers of Metal Money and Advantages and Safety of Paper Money. The principal disadvantages are Costliness, Inconvenience, Comparative Scarcity of the kinds used. Gold and Silver, Liability to wear and be lost, Liability to fluctuate, and il Money and the Money Question in Canada. 35 and ; left 3nty- (l 50 e the nt is ntrol, Liidge, \ and ies of nents, ip say that nt., for is the n pro- mer of ed on more ppor- Inraent it, and rsting, they Id Re- Metal \loney. lience, [Silver, Le, and Danger of being cornered by speculators. Having gold and silver mediums costing their full face value adds 100 per cent, to the cost of the medium. Why have a costly medium when a cheap one is equally good, or better ? Its inconvenience is so great that it cannot be \ised for a ten-thousandth part of the country's commerce. It can only be used for small transactions ; its greatest use is for fractions. The comparative scarcity is a fatal objection. It is liable to wear away and be lost. The wearing away process may seem small ; but is it small in the aggregate ? In the bank of England sovereigns are not counted ; it is too inaccurate and slow ; they are shovelled and weighed and the value arrived at by weight — the tear and wear is irrevocably lost. If shipped to other countries, if the ship founders and goes down, gold and all is lost in the bottom of the sea. Its liability to fluctuate is another serious objection. Gold does not fluctuate much ; but what is the reason ? Is it not because so many countries use it for money purposes, and by making it the money standard, even the standard by which silver money is valued ? This liability to fluctuate, combined with mak- ing it the standard of money, gives speculators an oppor- tunity to corner it ; and to make money without working for it is simply protection of gold metal. Because of this fluctuating quality there is always danger, both from sudden demands for quantity in proportion to the sup- ply, and great increase of supply and small demand. As examples, let us quote from " The Insurance and Finance Chronicle " : " India seems like a bottomless well in its capacity for absorbing metallic treasures. In the last 36 Money and the Money Question in Canada. 33 yeais it has imported $1,786,125,000 of gold and sil- ver, or $54,000,000 worth each year. This vast sum is stated on good authority to have gone to swell the accu- mulations of the native princes and other wealthy inhabi- tants. Should they ever develop spending tastes, the effect on the metallic currencies of the world would be serious." "The price of silver fell recently in London be- low the record of 28 pence per ounce. The mischievous results of a coinage chiefly of a metal liable to such serious depreciation as silver, as shown in recent years, is seen in the panic which has been caused by the recent decline in this metal. It is little known that in Lancashire mills and warehouses the fluctuations in prices of silver are watched daily, as wheat prices are on the stock exchange, financial and shipping operations having to be regulated according to this monetary barometer. The days when any coin, as the rupee in India, is the standard of value for a country is coming to an end. A standard should stand firm, not jump up and down like mercury in a thermo- meter, as silver does, to the extreme disturbance of all trade dependent on its value.' In the United States, " in 1878, fine silve*- to the extent of 291,272,000 ounces were purchased at about $1.06 an ounce. In 1890, 168,- 674,000 ounces were bought at 92^% cents per ounce, these enormous purchases first elevating and then, by over-stimulation of production, depressing prices. The cost of these purchases was $464,210,000. Silver a few days ago was quoted at 60 cents per ounce, so that the silver bought by U.S. Treasury, valued at current rates, is now worth $276,000,000, being $188,210,000 less than it cost. The probabilities all point to a further reduction. Ex- ■mt0^^^s^^ Money and the Money Question in Canada. 37 I perience first-hand is an expensive article. The U.S. people have paid 188,000,000 of dollars to find out a fact about silver which has been notorious for ages, viz., that it is a marketable commodity like wheat and other pro- ducts." Verily, " folly is wasteful and wisdom economi- cal." In so far as these facts have reference to silver they are equally applicable to gold ; gold is a marketable commodity like wheat or silver. " Bad coins of good silver seem on the face not possible, but the great diflfer- ence between the net value of American dollars and quarters being now so low compared to their face value, coiners are issuing bogus coins made of silver equal in quality to the genuine. The margin between these spu- rious coins and what they pass for is over 86 per cent., amply sufiicient to cover cost of making and leave a large profit. This was done in days when English coins were made seriously below their face value." In the future, and so long as gold the world over is made the standard of raonsy, will there be a demand for gold to be held in reserve to redeem the paper money, to what extent no man knows. Should the supply of gold seriously decrease, a gold famine, and consequent panic, will be the result, and speculators will take advantage of it and take the nation by the throat. What will there be to prevent a dozen or two of very rich men laying their heads together, convert their wealth into redeem- able paper, and demand all the gold reserves, both in Canada and the U.S. ? If they did so, theyjiad both countries by the throat. What could the governments do ? They could not get more without buying it, and what could they buy it with ? (This might be the ■4 mam I I f 38 Money and the Money Question in Canada, best thing that could happen. It may possibly require some such experience to bring people to their senses, so that they may be led to consider to the bottom the money question, and put it on the rock foundation of labour, and discard the gold standard altogether.) This is the great danger of a metal standard, as it is called. Britain could take the Yankees and Canadians by the throat by demanding gold for their loans, which are all on the gold basis, and make them bankrupt — but not the people, thank God, who rules above millionaires and govern- ments. The people can alter our money system; and we are going to learn wisdom in this matter, and put our money system in a better, simpler and more profitable shape, and at the same time pay all our debts, as we now do, by the good hand of God giving us the ability and willing hearts to work in unison with Him, and through His wondrous works in giving sunshine and rain and fruitful seasons, filling our homes and barns with all manner of store and our hearts with joy and gladness. Should the supply of gold increase enormously the world over, as it is quite possible it may in the near future, what then ? Suppose it became as plentiful as iron or coal, what then, if we still kept to the gold stand- ard? The result would be lots of bogus coins of good, genuine gold issued by counterfeiters, and who would that benefit but the counterfeiters and gold diggers, not us Canadians one iota, unless our gold diggers and coun- terfeiters, if we had any of the latter persuasion. And what wrong would the counterfeiters be doing to any- body if they put lots of good, genuine gold sovereigns in circulation, if gold is sound standard money ? Suppose w i Money and the Money Question in Canada. 39 II in Canada we found a gold deposit of a few acres and in each man's farm a cubic yard. Canadians, with their mortgaged farms and national debt, would send shiploads to Britain and pay off our indebtedness, and what wrong would we be doing if Britain still kept to the gold stan- dard ? Methinks if we and other countries paid our debts to Britain in gold, and not in produce, Britain would change her gold standard mighty quick. She would wftnt goods; " Food, food," would be the cry, and *' We will pay you in manufactured goods. We will not lend you any more money on the gold basis." The advantages and safety of paper money are great indeed and must be patent to all. It is the cheapest of all mediums. A Bank of England bill costs only about one cent, a dollar bill, a ten, fifty, or a thousand dollar bill not any more, I suppose. It is the most convenient of all mediums of national money, so much so that virtu- ally the world's commerce is conducted by it. When it wears out it is not lost but can be renewed at a nominal cost, and if lost in the bottom of the sea or burnt in a great conflagration it need not necessarily be lost. If the proof of the loss be absolute, and the numbers and de- nominations of the notes known, they could be replaced same as lost drafts, cheques, or P.O. orders, when names and amounts are known. Who would be wronged, or what right principle violated, by so doing with the na- tional money; as is done with the individual ? None what- ever. It would be a national benefit through the indi- vidual not sufiering loss. There need be no limit to the supply, because the supply will be in proportion to the labour, industry and frugality of the citizens; the greater 1 40 Money and the Money Question in Canada. these conditions prevail the greater the supply will be. And the millionaires and speculators could neither corner nor monopolize the labour, the industry, the frugality ; they would rather need to exercise these qualities. This is the great safety of paper money. It has not one dis- advantage. Gold has many disadvantages. Why in the name of wonder do we Canadians not look into the money question? We are asleep on this matter. International Money. Commerce being international to such an extent as now prevails, international money suited to the times and circumstances would be a great convenience. Free commerce, "the international law of God," as Richard Cobden so beautifully puts it, is a necessity for the welfare of nations, a great civilizer, and, when conducted on Christian principles, a great Chris- tianizer. Our present system of money derangements is just in keeping with our commercial tariff derangements. Both of them are alike awkward, stupid, foolish, waste- ful, and therefore unchristian. This reform would be very easy of accomplishment, and there is a very simple way without John Bull having to give up his gold sov- ereign idol. The simplicity is so apparent it is a wonder it has not been accomplished before now. Doubtless it would have been but for the time and energy worse than lost in discussing and working out tariff nostrums and nonsense on this side of the Atlantic these thirty odd years back, and in Britain, necessarily no doubt, in dis- cussing and lighting over Home Rule and other evils springing out of the land regulations and social problems in general. To have a common decimal system for Britain, Canada 1 Money and the Money Question in Canada. 41 and the United States would be the simplest thing im- aginable. Even if Britain should continue her gold sov- ereign and gold standard, let her do so ; it is her own business, it will only hurt herself. Let us Canadians, at any rate, put our money system u}>on a sound paper basis and discard gold altogether, and have the honour of being the first Christian people to appreciate the excel- lency of paper money founded on labour, and keeping silver coins as current money for fractions of a dollar. All that Britain would require to do would be to make her halfpenny and sovereign a very little different in value or relative value, call her halfpenny the five-liundredth part of the sovereign, and her intermediate coins to fit in, Britain's currency is halfpenny, penny, three-penny, four- penny, sixpence, shilling, florin, crown, sovereign, and £- note. Canada's, cent, 5 cents, 10 cents, 25 cents, 50 cents, one dollar bills, fives, etc. All that Britain would need to add would be five and ten-cent pieces and abolish her three-penny and four-penny pieces, and make her crown four shillings in place of five shillings, and be equal to our dollar. And Canada would add a I2|-cent piece. And to please Britain and show respect to the sovereign call our five dollar bill a sovereign, or suveran, which Webster tells us is the true spelling. "We retain this bar- barous orthography from the Norman souvereign, which doubtless was adopted through a mistake of its origin." And let each country fix their own national standard or interest to suit themselves. At present it would be found that 2 per cent., the present Bank of England rate, would be most suitable for both countries — quite likely for a considerable time to oome. tif, 42 Money and the Money Question in Canada. International money and international trade are close- ly connected, the former being a representative, the other the things represented. Britain, by her system of freely lending money to other nations and free trade in goods, has prospered amazingly. These two funda- mentals, along with government by men of integrity and high moral character, as the first consideration, have put and keep her in the foremost place among the nations of the world, and will keep her there until other nations adopt the same things. If Canada, in place of dawdling along like slaves with bad rulers, and indefinitely with tariffs further wasting herself until by sheer force of circumstances she is compelled, as Mother Britain was, to adopt free trade half a century ago, would adopt free trade in goods, and inaugurate free money on a sound paper basis, she would have a great advantage over Britain, because of her vast supply of raw material with- in herself in land, minerals, timber and fish. Canada, if she is wise in her day and generation, will show to the world what the principles contained in the Old Gospels, combined with the New, can do to put her worthily alongside, if not ahead, of the Mother Country and the U. S., as she will do if they stick to the gold idol and she cast the idol aside. Circumstances alone, if we do not take good heed, will force us to adopt free goods and free sound money. It will be either these or protracted dispeace, with poverty, bankruptcy, revolution, or repudiation if we continue our present system of bor- rowing for another decade or two, even if we substitute what is called a revenue tariff". If Canada and the U. S,, before the close of the cen- » 4sote i I * • 52 Money and the Money Question in Canada. If. " But there is another side to the shield, and it is to be feared the facts that may be cited by the pessimist are quite as important as can be presented in favour of the prosperity argument. If the city were not in debt, and if the citizens individually were rid of their indebted- ness, there can be no question that Toronto would be to- day, not only making a living, but an exceedingly good one. It is the incubus of 1 id investments, of ruinous speculations, of wealth sunk in unused public and pri- vate enterprises, that weighs the people down. There were in the city in 1894, the last year for which we have a return, 4,97G vacant stores and dwellings. Of the 10,- 850 acres in the city proper, there were 3,562 wholly vacant. That tella the whole story. Behind these facts one can imagine all that is involved to owners of real estate, in the overbuilt condition of the city. The rent- als ot all property, save in the business centre around King and Yonge, have fallen enormously, so much so, that in many cases much of the revenue is eaten up in taxes. The owners of vacant land see no hope of turn- ing their property to use by building upon it, and con- tinue to pay interest and taxes in a hopeless sort of way, because of the covenant in the mortgage that carries a threat to deprive them of all their savings, if the prop- erty cannot be sold for the face value of the mortgage. Had the citizens only lost their own money in the house- building and land-buying period, the trouble would have been almost over by this time. The land would have gone back to the city for taxes, and the houses would have lain idle and exempt from taxation till required. " Much of the money lost in these houses and lands, ^ ] C;Jft"^'S' ii6.*3-J.tj'. ;'3",Ti*.-0(..jci" 1 Money and the Money Question in Canada. 53 howevej-, was not the money of the people of Toronto. The money of English capitalists and of the small in- vestors throughout the province was loaned on mortgage on these thousands of vacant houses and vacant acres, and from the earnings of to-day the citizens have to pay not only taxes, but interest on capital that is non-exist- ent, or that is earning no return. It is this that keeps Toronto in deep water, and that will cripple the city, until by some years of the strictest economy the private and public obligations of its citizens are redeemed. It is more than ever necessary to set before the people as clearly as possible the growth of assessment, debt and taxation in Toronto, and the part played in that growth by the City Council, by the property owners directly, and by the School Boards and other public bodies which spend the taxpayers' money. Civic reform, in its finan- cial aspect, is more important, and, we believe, more ur- gently required than even reform in the machinery of Council. The citizens must be impressed with the fact that the troubles of to-day are tlie result of financial excesses in the past, and that any attempt to improve the machinery of Council that does not recognize extra- vagance rather than corruption, as the besetting sin of the Council and officers of the corporation, and of the people themselves, must assuredly fail. "In the accompanying calculations an endeavor is made to show the gradual increase of per capita taxation in the city, and the proportion of the taxation resulting from the abnormal increase of the city debt during the years of the boom. The period reviewed begins with the year 1887, when the fever of speculation was just beginning ■■ft.; ^WW!KKmBmm^!^smm. 54 Money and the Money Question in Canada. to make itself felt, and before it bad materially affected the city's expenditures. The following table gives tbe population as returned by the assessors, which, it may be observed, is invariably from 10,000 to 12,000 below that shown V)y special census — the taxation for all purposes inclusive of local rates, and the taxation per head of population : — Population. 18S7 118,403 I8S9 139,452 1891 .. 167,439 1S93 109,099 189i3 174,309 Taxation Total per head. taxation. $ 1,481,499 12.51 1,903,145 14.07 2,974,554 17.76 3,291,950 19.46 3,018,058 17.03 i 'f^ The estimates on ncco'.uit of debt are at page one of the estimat''S : — Local inipiovonieut debt, annual rates thereon $ 715,000 General deljt charges, less waterworks 699,000 Total ^1,414,000 ''Here, then, is the fact, and no special pleading can overcome it, that of 83,018,000 taken by the tax collector this year out of the pockets of the people of Toronto, $1,414,000 were for no other purpose than meeting in- terest on debt, and repaying money borrowed." Here is the Queen City, full of wise and benevolent men, taxing herself for municipal purposes $3,018,000, of which $1,414,000, or 46.85 per cent., spent in paying in- terest and sinking fund on borrowed money. " 4,976 ^t i .'.lA mm>mmmF \ i A { % Money and the Money Question in Canada. 55 vacant stores and dwellings, of the 10,850 acres in the city proper, there were 3,5C2 wholly vacant. That tells the whole story." The whole story will not be easily told. Here is part of the story, and may be profitable for doctrine, at any rate. These 3,562 vacant acres would be 35 farms of upwards of 100 acres each If these had been purchased by the city, say 17 years ago, when the national impolicy was inaugurated, for say $6,000 each, about the then market price, or $210,000, and rented to the then owners, who had all the stock and implements necessary to work them, at l discussions, never even thought that they might have been acting on the false standard of another country to our hurt, without even questioning whether or how we could have cheap money, as cheap as the Bank of Englanii J » i I 62 Money and the Money Question in Canada. estate borrowers, as iiidividiuils, getUni; inon(;y at their option from their own government at 2 per cent, would be the very men whose direct interest it would be to have an lionest, stable government. The French as- signats is not a parallel case ; neither w^as the then French nation ;i parallel to Canada of to-day. We are supposed to be a Christian nation, not a nation of infidels and, consecjueutly, Ibols. At that time France threw Christianity aside all she could. They were as fickle and unstal)le as the wind. They even tried to abolish the Sabbath day's rest, or something like it, but did not succeed very well. The machinery they put in motion to get money was a dire necessity for the government, whereas in our case it is not a necessity for the govern- ment at all. The revenue our government would deiive would be more incidental, in fact, entirely so. The ne- cessity in our case is for the individual to get money to improve his farm and himself and family by giving his own for security for the money. By so doing he is con- ferring a benefit on others as well as himself. The idea of mortgaging real estate to our own govern- ment is not chimerical at all, nor is it a wild-cat scheme. It is simply common sense founded upon an otei nal princi- ple — the principle of loyalty to our own countr}*. It is just in an important sense the " redemption " piice of the im- proved land. In Germany at this day tliey have a sys- tem in operation, and have had for how long I don't know, on a large scale, just about half way between our present system of borrowing from outside the nation and the plan the writer wishes Canada to adopt. I fancy it is a good deal on the same principle as the British con- i4\ Money and the Money Question in Cdtiacla. G3 i sols or national debt. The borrowings are all from citi- zens and not outsiders, and the interest derived all paid to and enjoyed by citizens, not the government, conse- quently not lost to the country, as all our interest is, except what is borrowerl f"oni our own citizens, and that is a comparatively small amount. I quote fmui the In- surayice and Finance Chronicle : " The mortgage loan companies of Canada are represented in Germany by mutual credit associations ... on a mutual capital basis. . . They issue bonds which are listed on the exchanges. . . These bonds are not issued direct to in- vestors like our loan company debentures are, but are given to borrowers in payment for mortgages, who dis- pose of them in the market for securities or otherwise. . . . These bonds are not held outside Germany." The Bankers' Magazine gives the total amount of mort^^ages represented by this class of bonds as about $1,297,000,000, which enormous sum has been obtained from tlie public at an average rate of 3? per cent., the loans . . . are made from 30 to 50 years, payable in small installments, a great contrast to the system prevailing in this country." The rate of interest fluctuates very little in a long course of years, a system vastly more favourable to the farm- ers and infinitely ) otter for the countrv as a whole, inasmuch as the interest, amounting to $48,637,500, is enjoyed by their own people. If our 550,000 improved farms of 100 acres each were worth S4,000 = S2,200,- 000,000, and the farmers had borrowed our own money from our own government at the same rate of interest up to (49 per cent., the German limit,) say 50 per cent, for convenience, would be a revenue of 341,250,000, being ^ gHm 64 Money and the Money Question in Canada. fully $10,000,000 more than all our revenue from tariffs and excise put together, with absolutely free imports in goods, and the farmers would have a vast amount of cap- ital to carry on their business operations somewhat like as they should be. I look upon the battle for free and abundant goods as virtually won. A good workable plan of direct taxation only needs to be plainly and calmly laid before all the people for consideration, and the op- portunity given, say a plebiscite, to decide. Doubtless the people would recommend and demand its adoption. And the alacrity of adopting would very much, almost alto- gether, depend upon its cardinal virtues of justice and economy. Any system of indirect taxation is difficult to elaborate and impossible of just application. Direct taxation is amazingly simple and easy to elaborate, and the only way possible to arrive at anything like justice. As to economy, there are not two opinions about that, neither is there as to efficiency ; that would soon follow. The battle for free and abundant money is different ; most of the people seem totally indifferent or apathetic, doubtless solely because they have given neither thought nor consideration to the question. When this question comes to be looked into intelligently by the many the battle will not be so protracted as for free goods, for the simple reason that money is simply the representative of goods. The one great desideratum here is for the intel- ligent leaders of all parties to unite as one, and consider the question to the bottom with the one end in view, viz., to find the truth, and having found what they be- lieve to be the truth (as clear in having the money ques- tion upon as secure, solid and common sense basis as we • 1 I :. 7^K£j=a(«s«a5j» ip .*;♦ Money and the Money Question in Canada. 67 say a 150 acre improved, productive farm, which has cost its owner in hard cash and honest hard labour the toil of many years, of struggles under difficulties of him- self and family ; the birthplace of his sons and daugh- ters, and the death-place, it may be, of a wife dear to him beyond expression, or other loved ones ; the place which is the nursery for the family, the Church and the State, and the stay of our Dominion and of the Empire of which we form a part ; a farm which has cost prob- ably $10,000 or $12,000, and which was saleable ten years ago at $10,000, six years ago at $8,500, and to-day perhaps only about $7,000 ? Suppose the farmer wanted to borrow $3,000 upon it, and mortgaged it to the government for that sum at 2 per cent., and got Dominion legal tender notes, as now. The .government would receive $60 yearl}'^ for revenue, and the farmer $3,000 to do what he liked with it. If, in place of mortgaging to his own government, he mort- gaged to an alien at 6 per cent., as we now do, the go\- ernment would receive no revenue from it, the farmer pajung $180 in place of $G0; so his minus $120 gets $3,000 for five years, say, to be paid then or renewed, at the option of the borrower. Over and above he has to pay his share of Dominion indirect taxes of $30,000,000, not only of this sum but his share of the $60,000,000 of tariff, which does not go into revenue, and $10,000,000 for interest on national debt, in all $100,000,000. His share for himself and family is $100, that is $220 more than he would need to pay if we had direct taxation, as the $60 would suffice for his share of Dominion revenue. N6w, these are facts and not fictions, and " facts are chiels that winna ding." ^pp m 68 Money and the Money Question in Canada. If one farmer could borrow $3,000 in this way, why could not all who could give the same security do so if they wished ? And why should any be debarred the privilege ? Suppose a township of 400 farmers ; half of them wanted capital to start joint stock mutual com- panies, all in the townships or villages in it to purchase shares if they chose, organized a company for each — say a flour-mill, oatmeal-mill, woollen-mill, planing-mill and sash- factory, implement-factory and foundry, dry- goods, groceries and hardware store, a butchery and bakery, etc. Suppose they mortgaged their farms for $2,500 each, which would be $500,000 capital, for which they would pay $50 each, or $10,000 in all, which would go to gov- ernment for revenue, and Free Trade into boot, they could carry on these various businesses on a strictly mutual co- operative basis, so that there would be no inducement for our ruinous competitive system in vogue at present, and which seems unavoidable. All would have a direct interest in things being well managed, whether the arti- cles made and dealt in were cheap or dear. If every township in the Dominion had this system of things in operation, even to a comparatively small extent, what would be the inducement for the country people to flock to the cities to try and do better ; or what inducement for any farmer to pull up his stakes and flee to Brother Jona- than ? Methinks our sons and daughters would get mar- ried and hive ofl* to Manitoba and the great Northwest, or to Musk oka and Algoma's forests and mines, each accord- ing to their tastes. The tendency of the age to congregate in large cities is not a pleasing prospect for the future — these man-made places. Some one, long ago, made the J J .>ls '*l ' I II .IW W lyn ji j py i,^ <> ■V f / ^4 .w - *■> Money and the Money Question in Canada. 73 aim apparently to hold on to office in order to en- rich them and their friends, and to pile up debt for the Dominion, having held office for 28 of 28 years since Confederation. On the other, the Reform party, especially the leaders, such a galaxy of men of unsullied moral rectitude, men of great ability and experience so long in opposition — to what ! A government the least said about it the better. The only things that held it to- gether were money and diabolical gerrymander and fran- chise laws. Reformers and all good men, of whatever party, must by this time have learned a lesson, how closely connected morality is with good government, and especially the awful danger of not meteing out justice to rulers when found guilty of bribery and deception. Pf the Reformers in 1873 had probed the Pacific scandal as they ought, and made a public example of the wrongdoers by, at least, disqualifying for life those found redhanded in the bribery plot of 1872, our national policy, and its atten- dant train of evils, would have had no existence. Doubtless, an overruling Providence has had some good to bring out of our evil doings by bringing Canada to her hunkers and to her knees, and acknowledge God more in her national affairs by bringing her to see the vileness of her ways, and change her evil systems which have caused so much oppression, and turn to the paths of righteous government. The opportunity is at hand, the flood is about high tide. " There is a tide in the affiiirs of men, if taken at the flood, leads on to fortune." Wa« ever a time so opportune, and the need so great, to make a radical change in our national aflairs in taxation mat- .4' - ^ 7 i:' I |1 74 Money and the Money Question in Canada. ters, and in public morality in high places ? There is no use in shutting our eyes to the fact that direct taxation in the Dominion sphere of government is the only remedy, humanly speaking, the one thing needful to re- dress our greatest wrongs, not only in Manitoba but throughout the Dominion. We want and must have a remedial bill of the right sort. It is ten thousand times more needful than the much-talked-about School Reme- dial Bill. Our rulers, past and present, have a general but very inadequate impression of the real state of matters in the country parts. They lack the minute knowledge of the individual difficulties which have caused the general impression. Doubtless many of them have their own money difficulties to contend with ; but theirs do not prevent them getting a new suit of clothes and pay- ing for them when they need them. Nob so with many farmers and those dependent upon their success. Hun- dreds of thousands of them have much difficulty to pay for a new suit when they need it, and also for food they require to buy after paying all unavoidable expenses in conducting their various occupations, their debts crush- ing them all the time, many of them ashamed to tell their debts, and who would have none but for our pub- lic violation of God's moral laws, to wit, protection, as it is called, and too high interest on money employed in agriculture, the mainstay of the country. • If at their earliest convenience the members of the new government, personally or by commission, would take a little time down amongst us farmers and villagers, and enquire into our circumstances with the view of i .f<\ i ■£i^ie:^4"'^'>£ in lit n e it f Money and the Money Question in Canada. 76 finding out the real state of matters and a remedy, their visits would be hailed with rejoicing, and information would be given freely, both with open and closed doors, as occasion rendered prudent. Whatever differences of opinion there may be as to grievances in Manitoba about school matters, they would find there were real griev- ances in every })rovince, township, and village in the Dominion on trade matters which are bringing us all to the level of slaves in place of freemen, as we ought and might be. Let them take note-book in hand and jot down facts ; they will find them by the thousand on every side. Their greatest difiiculty would be to keep the facts within compass. They would require to visit dis- tricts both where mixed farming was the rule and where specialities were more ]Drominent. I am as convinced as can be that such a visitation of inquiry is absolutely necessary in order to get correct and reliable information of the real cause of the hard times and a great help to find the effective remedy, and, in fact, the only way in order to be able to frame a Remedial Bill such as is needed. I venture the opinion that they would get such an array of facts as would lead them to see that to frame any scale of tariffs at all approaching a suitable remedy for Canada's ills would be an utter impossibility,, and that there was no remedy at all to compare with absolute Free Trade, which involves Direct Taxation. I also venture the opinion that they would find that the only classes of farmers who were even holding their own, as the saying is, or doing anything at all well these many years back, were those who had been making cheese a speciality, and those tw parsimonious, hard-fisted ones -s^^^&^ r *>^- 4. 'I 76 Money and the Money Question in Canada. who would rather cut off their right hand than mortgage their farms to anybody, and who spend not one cent for the country's welfare unless compelled by the municipal tax-gatherer, and who believe there is no Dominion tax-gatherer, because they never see nor hear of him, and who give less thun a copper coin, it may be, for homo and foreign missions if they happen to belong to a church. All who can grasp the situation of Canada for many years back, and who are not pessimists, mu t begin to see the workings of Providence in our national affairs. In 1872 flagrant bribery in high places left unpunished ; in 1878 Honesty dethroned as a consequence, and the old Bribery regime reinstated and exalted to positions of honour and trust ; the bribery of 1872 practically con- doned. Bribery increased to a degree undreamt of even in 1880, and continued ever since, and now reigns su- preme, and it seems well-nigh impossible to lay the mon- ster quiet again. He stalks through the country deceiv- ing the people and trampling the people's representatives as if they had no rights but to submit to every indignity and insult, the best men of the country denounced as ob- structionists when trying to rule for the best welfare of the country, and every citizen in particular. Why did Edward Blake leave his country's politics in disgust when he was so much needed at home, where he was and is loved and looked up to, and is yet ; and why was the great Liberal party, the honest, progressive party, defeated time and again in 1878, 1882, 1887, and 1891 ? We may well ask ourselves these and kindred questions. Doubtless, all these and much more evil has been per- I ii ( 1 \j Y Hi %- ■ ' Mml>;mU'imm.'*ii m^r^ bB f l! if.i R Money and the Money Question in Canada. 77 mitted by au all-wise Providence, that a greater good may result, WFmt greater good, humanly speaking, could any sensible Canadian conceive of tlian that absolute Free Trade should prevail within our borders of all things good and necessary for life and comfort, and restricted trade or, more '.orrectly speaking. Prohibition in things not necessary for daily use, either for life or comfort. In order to have these there is no other right way than first of all to frame a definite system for each, very carefully drawn up, and lay them before the people either to be adopted or rejected. To have free goods means cheap goods, and in abundance, and the best means to im- prove the quality at the same tiniii. To have free money means cheap money, and in abundance, and the best means to improve the quality at the same time. There can be no.doubt of these facts, which I believe them to be after having given them my best thoughts. Having now placed my views on paper on Money and the Money Question in Canada, very imperfectly it may be, I am most anxious to have them laid before my fel- low-countrymen of all classes for their best consideration. As a farmer of the Dominion, all I ask of the Dominion Government is protection to my person and property, with liberty to labour, buy and sell freely whatever is generally believed to be needful and good for life and comfort, for things not needful for life and comfort* liberty to get them only in the drug-stores under medi- cal surveillance, and liberty to borrow capital on my im- proved farm to half its market value, from my own government in place of from aliens, and I will pay all Dominion taxes, and an Imperial tax as well, direct I'' 78 Money and the Money Question in Canada. iv. without any expense or circumlocution, either to my township treasurer or to headquarters, as seemeth best to the powers that be. These things, I venture to say, are reasonable and right, and wha^ every honest farmer in the Domiinion would say he wants and would under- take to do if asked the questions, and that every honest man and woman in the Dominion will admit to be reasonable and right, and that such things ought to pre- vail. Everybody wants personal protection, cheap goods, and cheap money when in want of them. Why ? Be- cause they are needful for life and comfort. Why, then, in the name of wonder, should they not be free among a free people ? We have free Bibles, and pride ourselves we have free churches and free schools ; why, then, in the name of justice and humanity, cannot we have free trade in the necessaries and conveniences of life ? With- out the latter neither of the former three can have free scope or a fair chance to show what they can do for a needy peoplo and a needy world. What Canada needs, and the world needs, is freedom in good things, coupled with wise and prudent prohibition of injurious things. In these times, at the close of the nineteenth century, a rare opportunity is afforded Canada to make these two radical changes. Are we Canadians equal to the occa- sion and fit for seif-ffovernment ? Time will tell. If m ,*• '*»• r*'** 1 ""*■ — ■"Trii iliim»Mrnl«inflllMfltiVl ■ •■' ■ •• - i-'T-"' „-.,— ..-y^if.^.— ^— . .^ ) "Hi \ ■*»' M ,..-x*iS5&b.