Ha 
 
 H7/S 
 
 A_ 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 
 A^ 
 
 en 
 
 
 S^ O 
 
 — 
 
 cz 
 
 = 
 
 ^= 3: 
 
 = 
 
 = DO 
 
 5 — 
 
 ^^ ^ 
 
 9 ~ — 
 
 ^^^ > 
 
 3 ^ 
 
 ^■^~ 1 — 
 
 33 
 
 7 ^ 
 
 = 33 
 
 8 = 
 
 = O 
 
 3 = 
 
 
 ^^s 
 
 ^^S -< 
 
 4 
 
 
 Scientific Money 
 
 By 
 James D, Holden. 
 
 /•
 
 
 ^V^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 .^ 
 
 ^
 
 Entered according to act of Congress in the year l^OI by J. D. 
 Holden, in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
 
 :1 
 I 
 
 Errata— In the third line of page 20 the word 'value' should read 
 'volume.'
 
 ANNOUNCEMENT. 
 
 Arrangemenls are being perfected at Emporia (Kansas) for the 
 inauguration of a non-partizan political movement as herein outlined 
 and for the publication of a journal, devoted to the interests of the 
 movement and to the propagation of the financial philosophy advanced 
 in the accompanying pamphlet. 
 
 The new paper will advocate a short route to Prosperity through 
 direct individual action, independent of existing political parties. 
 
 It is believed that with a scientific financial measure formulated 
 upon which the victims of the present money system can unite, the plan 
 of action proposed, although unusual, will commend itself to the 
 thoughtful voter as simple, feasible, and opportune. 
 
 The paper will be issued weekly, for the time being, under the name 
 of '*The Independent League" and it will act as the official organ of 
 the new movement until a permanent organization is effected. 
 
 The editorial department will be under the supervision of Mr. 
 Ilolden, who will be assisted by a corps of able writers. A leading 
 feature of the journal will be its discussion of the panacea proposed by 
 Mr. Holden for existing social evils. Criticism of the Land Currency 
 theory will be invited, and adverse or favorable communications of 
 peculiar interest will be published and dispassionately discussed. In 
 this manner the financial and other vital economic questions which are 
 so closely associated with individual prosperity, and which are so little 
 understood, can be divorced from party bias, carefully analyzed, and 
 mastered. 
 
 The active co-operation of those in sympathy with the line of action 
 proposed is essential to success, and the moral and material support of 
 progressive men generally is solicited that the movement may speedily 
 assume proportions commensurate with its importance.
 
 Friends of the movement are requested to seal their approval of the 
 plan proposed by a subscription to the periodical that it may be made a 
 powerful medium for disseminating a vital trutli, and in effecting an 
 organization of the non-partisan forces of the nation for immediate 
 action. The reader is cautioned against underestimating the importance 
 of individual effort, as it is through this means only that escape is possi- 
 ble from the evils and dangers with which society is environed. 
 
 It is recommended that an organization of independent electors be 
 at once effected in each municipal *'ownship and city throughout the 
 nation. A Manual of instructions for the formation of primal organiza- 
 tions — /. ('., Township and Ward Leagues — will be forwarded upon appli- 
 cation when the same is accompanied with stamps to cover postage. 
 Copies of the accompanying pamphlet containing" the text of the pro- 
 posed relief measure and Mr. Holden's convincing argument in support 
 of the same will be furnished for distribution at $8.50 per hundred, or 
 $1.25 per dozen, postpaid. 
 
 A copy of Mr. Holden's '' Metallic Money and Hard Times " will be 
 sent to each yearly subscriber to the official paper, the subscription price 
 of which has been placed at $1 per year. 
 
 The necessity tor intelligent and immediate action is apparent. Let 
 us exercise the power we possess to inaugurate an era of unexampled 
 prosperity throughout the nation. 
 
 The primary object is an independent political organization to 
 advance the cause of reform; the adoption or rejection of the Land 
 Currency doctrine will abide the action of such organization. All who 
 are interested in, or will assist in such independent action, are invited 
 to confer and co-operate with us by letter in order to reach the point of 
 general organization and effective action as soon as it is practically 
 possible to do so. 
 
 Address orders for Manuals, pamphlets, subscriptions, and all cor- 
 respondence to 
 
 THE INDEPENDENT LEAGUE, 
 Box 961, Emporia, Kansas.
 
 Let it not be [orgotten: 
 That Ignorance has ever been the complaisant critic of Truth. 
 
 SCIENTIFIC MONEY 
 
 — OR — 
 
 Prosperity Through Legislation. 
 
 BY — 
 
 JA/V\ES D. hOLDE/M.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 It lies within the power of Congress, through the en- 
 actment of a single statutory law, to immediately inaugu- 
 rate throughout the United States an era of unexampled 
 prosperity for the followers of every useful pursuit. The 
 following Images are written for the purpose of demonstra- 
 ting this truth. In order to clearly present the issue, the 
 text of the legislative measure proposed is given, to the 
 provisions of which, and to the reasoning in support there- 
 of, the thoughtful attention of the reader is ir.vited. 
 
 '■> tl I'^Ll,,* ... •»•• 
 
 f * • * V,, »•• 
 
 •..•..:..:..; 'A-' ;'< r\ -'.: •••
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The radical question involved in the solution of the 
 Labor Problem is the question of — currency. Con- 
 cerning this question men generally are confessedly unin- 
 formed, and it is therefore not unreasonable to connect the 
 financial impoverishment of the great majority of men 
 with the almost universal ignorance that j)revails concern, 
 ing this important instrument of commerce. 
 
 The power of currency to immediately supply the ]na- 
 terial wants of those who possess it, is little less than mag- 
 ical, and the conclusion is irresistible that general igno- 
 rance of the nature of so potent an agency in human af- 
 fairs, is incompatible with general prosperity. 
 
 The well known apothegm of Addison concerning the 
 marvellous power of Gold, in fact applies to Currency^ as 
 the yellow metal derives its extraordinary potency solely 
 from the statutory decree which permits its owner, at will, 
 to convert it into legal-tender currency, Addison aptly 
 says: 
 
 "Gold, (meaning currency,) is a wonderful clearer of the under- 
 standing; it dissipates every doubt and scruple in an instant, accomo- 
 dates itself to the meanest capabilities, silences the loud and clamor- 
 ous and brings over the most obstinate and inflexible. Philip of Ma- 
 cedon refuted by it all the wisdom of Athens, confounded their states- 
 men, struck their orators dumb, and at length argued them out of 
 their liberties." 
 
 Let the nature of currency be generally under- 
 stood AND THE EMANCIPATION OF LaBOR WILL SPEEDILY 
 FOLLOW. 
 
 What, then, is Currency? 
 
 389244
 
 Scientific Money. 
 
 Standard authorities unite in the following generally 
 aceepjted definition; viz: — 
 
 "Thftcirculating medium; that which passes for money in a coun 
 try the aggregate of coin, bills, notes, etc., in circulation; as 'A me- 
 tallic currency"; 'A mixed currenc3\' " 
 
 It will be observed that while this definition states cor- 
 rectly of what currency consists, yet it furnishes but little 
 if any information as to its essential attributes. A proper 
 understanding of the subject therefore requires that the 
 popular definition of the term be supplemented by fur- 
 ther elucidation; as follows: — 
 
 1. Currency is a representative of value in the fonn 
 of a token, which because of its availcibiliiy as a circulaf- 
 ing medium, is in universal demand. 
 
 2. As an agency in the distribution of labor products, 
 currency is essential to society; it being the one form of 
 value by means of which man's material wants may, in 
 complex society, be readily supplied. 
 
 3. Currency is of two kinds: — Legal-tender currency, 
 supplied by governments at a nominal cost to tJie recipient; 
 and credit-currency, supplied by private banks at current 
 rates of 'interest.' 
 
 From a perfected definition of this essential factor in 
 the afPairs of men, it appears that the mysteriously potent 
 agent called "money" is not necessarily a disc fashioned 
 from rare metals of exceptional value, but, being simidy a 
 representative of wealth — which passes current because of 
 its exceptional arbitrary power — it may be made of any 
 substance ivtiicJi is capable of receiving and 7'etaining a 
 legible impression; and furthermore, that it may be sup- 
 plied by government at a nominal cost to tJie recipient. 
 
 The significance of this imj^ortant fact is not general- 
 ly appreciated; i. e.: — That the issue of ncdional currency 
 at a nominal cost to iJie recijyient is governed entirely by 
 stahdory regulation.
 
 SciEN^TiFic Money, 
 
 Three kinds of national currency now in circulation 
 were thus issued; viz:— Certificates representing value In 
 gold; certificates representing value in silver; and national 
 bank notes, or certificates representing value in government 
 bonds. 
 
 Under the present law, any owner of gold bullion, 
 upon presenting the same at the mint, may demand an is- 
 sue of national currency in the form of gold certificates, to 
 an amount equal to one dollar for each 23.22 grains of 
 pure metal deposited. No inierest is cJiarged hij the gov- 
 ernment for the use of this curraiicij, which is returnable 
 at the pleasure of the Jiol ( J er; the bullion being held as 
 security for the return of the currency, for 'redemption,' 
 whenever the latter is no longer required by the holder for 
 exchangeable purposes. 
 
 Currency in the form of national bank notes is also 
 issued, without interest, to owners of government bonds, to 
 an amount equal to 90 per cent, of the par value thereof; 
 the l)onds being deposited as security for the return of the 
 currency at the pleasure oftJie recipients. 
 
 Until a comparatively recent period, national curren- 
 cy in the form of silver certificates was issued, without in- 
 terest, to owners of silver bullion, to an amount equal to 
 one dollar for each 371 1-4 grains of pure metal deposited. 
 This currency was also returnable at the pleasure of the 
 recipient or holder. 
 
 National currency thus issued constitutes an available 
 representative (at an arbitrary valuation) of the several 
 forms of value deposited as security for the return of the 
 currency, at any time the holder may choose to present it 
 for 'redemption;' i. e. whenever the holder may prefer that 
 which is pledged, to the use of its representative. 
 
 Such of this currency as is decreed a full legal-tender 
 in payment of public and private obligations becomes
 
 6 Scientific Monet. 
 
 'money,' and when issued by authority of an established 
 government invariably possesses a commercial value equal 
 to metallic money, as it is invested with every legal attri- 
 bute which the same authority imparts to coined metal; 
 i. e. — arbitrary power to discharge legal obligations. 
 
 The reader is admonished not to allow pre-conceived 
 impressions to prevent the acceptance of this vital truth . 
 The full legal-tender paper issues of an established gov- 
 ernment, although not redeemable in coin, are, necessarily, 
 and ever have been, the commercial equivalent of metallic 
 coins. 
 
 Notwithstanding this well authenticated truth, the 
 belief strangely prevails that legal-tender paper currency 
 would not circulate at par were it not redeemable in GOLD 
 on demand; it being confidently asserted that neither silver 
 (•oins nor silver certificates would continue to possess par 
 value should the Secretary of the Treasury refuse to redeem 
 in gold, all silver certificates presented to him for redemp- 
 tion. 
 
 The tenacity Avith which men cling to this suicidal be- 
 lief is inexplicable, as it is warranted by neither reason, 
 logic, nor experience. 
 
 The present chief executive of the United States is 
 conspicuous among the expounders of this pernicious 
 dogma. In a recent message convening Congress in spe- 
 cial session the President says: — 
 
 ''The knowledu;e in business circles .among our own people that 
 our government cannot make its flat equivalent to iutriusic value, nor 
 keep inferier money on a parity with superior money b}' its own inde- 
 pendent efforts, Las resulted in such a lack of confidence at home in 
 the stability of currency values that capital refuses its aid to new en- 
 terprises, while millions are actually withdrawn from the channels of 
 trade and commerce to become idle and unproductive in the hands of 
 timid owners."
 
 Scientific Money. 
 
 The use of the word 'knowledge' in the paragi-aph 
 above quoted cannot be justified. The United States Gov- 
 ernment has never yet failed to make its fiat equal to what 
 the President terms 'intrinsic value.' For more than 100 
 years the government, by arbitrary decree, has equalized 
 the exchangeable value of all metallic or paper legal-tender 
 currency issued by its authority. It is the fiat of the gov- 
 ernment that to-day confers 100 cents worth of exchangea- 
 ble value upon about 56 cents worth of coined silver, as by 
 fiat it imparts the same exchangeable value to 23.22 grains 
 of coined gold, and to 12 ounces of coined copper, — i, e., 
 100 copper cents — the inherent value of which is less than 
 8 cents. 
 
 The value of any article or thing lies, not in its com- 
 position, but in its ability to perform the office for which 
 it ispeculiarly adapted, and money is no exception to this 
 rule. Money owes its currency value to the extraordinary 
 power imparted to it by legislation ; i. e. — arbitrary power 
 to discharge legal obligations under the law. Possessing 
 this exceptional arbitrary power, money necessarily pos- 
 sesses exchangeable value wherever debts and taxes are 
 made payable in legal-tender currency. 
 
 The sum and substance of the hypothesis upon which 
 the assumption of the President rests, is that paper curren- 
 cy, irrespective of its attributes, circulates at par for the 
 reason only that it is redeemable in gold on demand. 
 From this postulate the following deductions are unavoid- 
 able; viz: 
 
 1. Should it be a physical impossibility for the govern- 
 ment to redeem all its paper currency in gold, on demand, 
 it follows that such currency does not now pass current for 
 the reason, that, in an emergency, it would be so redeemed. 
 
 2. If it does not circulate because it is redeemable in 
 gold, it must pass current for some other reason.
 
 8 Scientific Money, 
 
 Does it circulate because those who accept it, believe 
 it can be converted into yellow metal, in case they should 
 ever need yellow metal? No: — because those who receive 
 it in the greater quantities, are aware of the fact that ac- 
 cording to official estimates the total supply of gold in the 
 United States (including public and private stores) does 
 not exceed $500,000,000, while the public and private paper 
 obligations which in theory, are redeemable in gold, ag- 
 gregate upwards of $6,000,000,000: — the paper obligations 
 of the government alone amounting to some $2,000,000, 
 000, while more than $4,000,000,000 of so-called 'bank de- 
 posits' must also be 'redeemed' in coin. From these con- 
 siderations the conclusion is inevitable that legal-tender 
 currency (both paper and metallic) passes current 6eca«se 
 of a value inherent in one or more of its exceptional attri- 
 butes. 
 
 This being true, it folio vvs: — That the theory of 'gold 
 redemption' is simply a glittering delusion with which a 
 credulous laeople are bamboozled by the designing men who 
 cleverly manipulate the monetary affair of nations: men 
 whose chief stock-in-trade is a futile promise to redeem 
 their obligations in gold on demand — a promise which in- 
 v.^riably proves disastrous when put to the test. 
 
 Inasmuch as money passes current by virtue of its ar- 
 bitrary debt-j)aying jDOwer, it follows that all full legal-ten- 
 der currency, regardless of its material, possesses par value; 
 therefore there can be no such thing as 'superior money' 
 as distinguished from 'inferior money,' the seeming varia- 
 tion being that which ftt times has existed between full 
 legal-tender money, and credit-currency. So long as legal- 
 tender currency shall possess power under the law to dis- 
 charge legal obligations it must be obvious to the reflect, 
 ing mind that no apprehension need exist as to the 'stabil- 
 ity of currency values.' That there is no such apprehen-
 
 Scientific Money. 
 
 sion, in fact, is shown by the circumstance that both gold 
 and silver, coins and certificates, circulate side by side pii 
 terms of perfect equality: the demand for one equalling 
 the demand for the other, notwitlistanding the Treasury's 
 ^gold reserve' of 8100,000,000, is well known to be serious- 
 ly impaired. 
 
 The belief is a common one that American silver coins 
 beyond the limits of the territory in which they are a le- 
 gal-tender, possess bullion value only. This is one of the 
 many erroneous notions that prevail. 
 
 As the value of coined silver exceeds that of the un- 
 coined metal in the United States, where the coin is a legal- 
 tender, so do American silver coins possess a value far su- 
 perior to that of silver bullion throughout the world. 
 This for the reason that possessing exchangeable value equal 
 to its face in the United States, it is worth in any part of 
 the world an equal sum, less cost of transportation to a 
 j)oint within the jurisdiction of the United States Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 All commerce is the exchanging of commodities for 
 commodities, and currency exists but to /aciZ//a/e exchang- 
 es. (!!oin and bullion pass from nation to nation as com- 
 modities — never as money; and from the fact that the rel- 
 ative value of the precious metals, and the percentage of 
 alloy in their coinage differs materially in different coun- 
 tries, there is no such thing as international money; any 
 currency, which possesses exchangeable value in one nation 
 necessarily posseses an equal value in other nations, less 
 cost of transjjortation to the market in which a special de- 
 mand for it exists. 
 
 No event or circumstance in history controverts the 
 statement that legal-tender paper money invariably pos- 
 sesses par value within the jurisdiction of the nation issu- 
 ing it. The so called Legal tender notes issued by the
 
 10 Scientific Money. 
 
 Federal Government during the iate rebellion constitute 
 no exception to this immutable law, as they were a jiartial 
 legal-tender only. Had the 'greenback' been received by 
 the government for custom duties as were the 'demand 
 notes,' (which, because so receivable, commanded a premi- 
 um equal to that jDaid for gold) importers would not have 
 been compelled to pay a i^remium for coin, and hence a 
 jyremmm on gold during the loar would have been un- 
 knoivn. 
 
 Gold, as coin, cannot command a premium over any 
 currency which possesss equal legal-tender power under 
 the law: hence the assumption that gold would command 
 a premium over coined silver, should the Secretary of the 
 Treasury fail to 'maintain the parity' of the two metals, 
 (by paying gold, if demanded, upon all public obligations) 
 is absolutely groundless. Let this truth be made clear: — 
 Upon the face of a silver certificate of the denomination of 
 '§10, appears the following inscription; viz: — 
 
 "This certifies that there have been deposited iu the Treasury ten 
 silver dollars payable to the bearer on demand." 
 
 Suppose the Treasurer should refuse to redeem in gold, 
 a certificate bearing this inscription, on the ground that 
 the certificate calls for silver? For what reason could such 
 a refusal enable gold to command a premium over silver 
 coin? -Vs silver would still continue to be money it would 
 as such, continue to discharge money obligations. Who 
 then would be compelled to pay a premium for gold? It 
 must be obvious that if none were comj)elIed to have gold 
 it could not command a i^remium over other legal-tender 
 current'}'. 
 
 '"But," says the sceptic, "there are in force thousands 
 of obligations the principal and interest of which is paya- 
 h\e in ''gold coin of the present standard of weight and 
 fineness!'' Would not gold command a premium because 
 of the existence of these obligations?''
 
 Scientific Money. 11 
 
 In answer to this hypothetical question, there is at 
 least one positive assertion that can safely be made; to wit: 
 — Gold conld not command a premium as money Vjecause 
 of the provisions of these contracts. 
 
 Money obligations are payable in money; and if gold 
 obligations are contracts for the delivery of a connnodHy, 
 they do not come within the scope oi the present discus- 
 sion. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 In the discussion of the financial question, confusion 
 frequently arises from the lack of a perfect understanding 
 between disputants, or between writer and reader, as to the 
 sense in which monetary terms are used. In this connec- 
 tion it may be said that nearly every writer on the subject 
 of Finance is open to the criticism of an indiscriminate 
 use of the terms— 'money,' 'currency,' and 'medium-of -ex- 
 change.' As these several expressions possess separate and 
 distinct meanings they should not be promiscuously em- 
 ployed in a scientific discussion of the question. In this 
 argument, therefore, the following terms will be used strict- 
 ly in the following sense; viz: 
 
 Money. — A token representing value, issued by 
 Government for exchangeable purposes, which, irrespective 
 of its material, possesses arbitrary power under the law to 
 discharge all public and private obligations. 
 
 Currency. — A convenient representative of value 
 for use in facilitating exchanges; issued bv either govern- 
 ments or banks: the term including, legal-tender coins, 
 legal-tender paper, and non-legal-tender b mk or govern- 
 ment notes which by their terms are payable in money, on 
 demand.
 
 12 Scientific Money. 
 
 Medium -OF-ExcHANGE. — Any article or thing by 
 means of which exchanges are facilitated: includiug — 
 money, currency, bank-credits transferable by check or 
 draft, and any form of value which may, in any transaction, 
 act as a medium in effecting an exchange of property. 
 
 Capital. — That portion of the produce of industry 
 which may be directly employed either to support human 
 beings or to assist in production; as, money, property, or 
 stock employed in trade, manufactures, etc. 
 
 Wealth. — 'Wealth comprises all articles of value.' 
 Property; riches, etc. 
 
 According to these several definitions, it will be seen 
 that while money is currency, yet, technically, currency 
 is not money except ivhen it is invested by laic icith the 
 full legal-tender attribute. It will be seen also that al- 
 though both money and currency act as a most convenient 
 medium of exchange, yet, a 'medium-of-exchange' is not 
 necessarily either money or currency. These distinctions 
 are not too precise; they are essential to the elucidation of 
 of the science of money; they disclose the striking fact, 
 that, as a rule, exchanges a7'e not effected icith money; 
 that the most common medium of exchange is neither 
 money nor currency, but^BANK-CREDiTS, transferable 
 by cheque on the books of private banks — one or more of 
 which exists in every community. 
 
 As indicating the extent and intimacy of the relation- 
 ship that exists between the public and these private insti- 
 tutions in the all-important matter of the distribution of 
 the products of labor, it is estimated that more than 90 
 per cent of commercial exchanges are consummated by 
 means of a medium supplied by banks; viz: bank-credits; 
 such credits under ordinary conditions proving the com- 
 mercial equivalent of currency. This signifies that under 
 the present method of issuing national currency, society is
 
 Scientific Money. 13 
 
 absolutely dependent upon private bankers for the great- 
 er j^art of that which is essential in the distribution of the 
 product of industry. 
 
 As showing the manner in which bank-credits are 
 utilized for exchangeable purposes, the following illustra- 
 tion of banking methods is given in an abbreviated form 
 for convenience: — 
 
 X. opens a small bank with a cash capital of $5000. A B 
 
 C D and E, merchants, having a surplus of currenc}', deposit 
 
 with him flOOOeach. A statement showing the condition of the bank 
 at this time would read as follows; viz; 
 
 RESOURCES: LIABILITIES: 
 
 Cash oa hand I10,00(t. Capital paid in $5,000. 
 
 Deposits subject to check $5,C00. 
 
 !J10,000. $10,000. 
 
 On the second day, F, calls at the bank and arranges to borrow 
 $5000, for 90 days at the current interest rate— 10 per cent per annum. 
 F. has property in abundance, but is in need of c urrency ^Wie, availa- 
 file representative of property. F. executes his note of hand at 90 days 
 with the customary endorsers, and, not wishing the currency for imme- 
 diate use, $5000 is placed to his credit on the bank's ledger— less of 
 course the 'discount' for 9B days — $129.13. 
 
 As evidence of the fact that he has a bank credit upon which he 
 can check at pleasure, F. is provided with a small book in which it 
 appears that he has 'deposited' with X. $4870.87 in cash; this sum rep- 
 resenting the amount of his note, less the discount. lu fact, F. had 
 simply given X. liis note for $5000, due in 93 days— including grace. 
 
 Shortly after X. had extended this accomodation to F , he was 
 visited by G. and H. with each of wliom he made an arrangement ex- 
 actly the same as that effected with F. Both G. and H. departed with 
 a small book in which it was reorded that they severally, iiad depos- 
 ited with X. $4*^70. 87 which was also 'subject to check.' In fact, G. 
 and H. had simply given X. their respective notes for $5000, duly en- 
 dorsed, due in 93 day^t. 
 
 At the close of the day's business A B C D and E 
 
 as actual depositors of $5000, and F G and- H as borrowers 
 
 of $15,000, (less of course the discount) possessed written evidence
 
 14 Scientific Monet. 
 
 tliat they had an depasit with X. a sura aggregating $19,613.61, all of 
 which was subject to check. 
 
 A statement showing the condilion of X'& bank at this time woul<J 
 read as follows; riz: 
 
 RESOFRCESr 
 
 Lians and disconnts (notes- of F G — and H fKiOO each) $15^)00.00 
 
 Cash on hand (X's capital, and aetaal deposits 55CW) lO.OOO.Oe" 
 
 S25,000.0O 
 
 LIABILITIES r 
 
 Capital paid in , f 5,000.00 
 
 Deposits subject to check .... (15000 cash and X's promise to pay 514,612.01) 19,612.61 
 Undivided profits (dssceant on loans to F G and H) 387.39 
 
 $25,000.00' 
 
 Of coarse a bank with a cash capital ef $5000, would not, in the 
 flrdinary course of business, loan $15,000 to three men. Divide this 
 $15,000 into 200 'accomodations' averaging about f 75, and it would 
 more correctly represent the number of X's borrowing patrons. If 
 we also multiply his 5 actual depositors by 20 it will give him 100 de- 
 positors with deposits averaging §50. As 100 depositors in X's town, 
 would include all, or nearly all, of those engaged in active business, it 
 will be seen that all transactions between X's depositors, (i. e. the 
 business community) excepting those of trivial amounts, could be car- 
 ried on without the useof aclriul currency, by means of checks on the 
 bank. The checks being deposited with X, he would simply credit or 
 debit on bis ledger such accounts as would be affected by each check. 
 Banks can thus safely accomodate customers who wish to use curren- 
 cy in the immediate vicinity of the bank, when it would be unsafe to 
 extend the accomodation to those who would wish to send the funds 
 abroad. Thus, an industrious farmer may borrow $50 or $100 with 
 which to pay his taxes, at times when the bank would not be freely 
 'discounting' for ordinary business purposes. As it is the custom for 
 County Treasurers to deposit the public funds with the local banks, 
 the currency loaned for tax paying purposes is reasonably sure to find 
 its way back to the bank's vault before the close of the day's business. 
 
 There is a school of financial writers who deny that 
 bank-credits increase the circulating medium of a nation, 
 alleoring as a reason for their belief, that no more checks
 
 Scientific Money. 15 
 
 are out at any one time than could, under normal condi- 
 tions, be paid by the banks on demand. 
 
 The statement that, under normal conditions, banks 
 are able to cash, on demand, all checks in force at any one 
 time, may or may not be true, without disproving the fact 
 that bank-credits act as a most effective medium of ex- 
 change, and that a bank-credit, under normal conditions, 
 is as much the commercial equivalent of currency, as ihe 
 non-leg al-iender hank note of par value is the commercial 
 equivalent of legal-tender coin. The fact is that the great 
 bulk of checks and drafts are not presented for currency 
 payment. They are 'deposited' as cash; treated as cash: 
 and command interest as cash. In fact, only a small 're- 
 serve'' is required to pay in currency the small percentage 
 of checks and drafts which are presented for actual pay- 
 ment. To make this clear let us return to the illustration 
 
 of X's bank: — Before the bank opened, only A B C 
 
 D E— — and X had currency with which to 
 
 gratify their wants. F G and H had property 
 
 but no currency. A B C D E and X 
 
 had but '^10,000 in currency before the bank opened, yet 
 
 immediately thereafter, F G and II borrow from 
 
 X a nifdium-of -exchange to the extent of $15,000, without 
 exhausting the supj^ly, or impairing the bank's capital. 
 
 The idea that checks and drafts are orders on banks 
 for money, and that they act simpl}' in facilitating the 
 handling of currency, is an erroneous one. A bank check 
 directs a bank to pay currency, if currency is required, 
 otherwise to transfer a credit to the j)crson ptresenting 
 the check duly endorsed. In this manner a small quanity 
 of currency and a large volume of credit constitutes the 
 medium by means of which exchanges are effected, and, as 
 a medium of exchange, both command equal rates of inter- 
 est.
 
 16 
 
 Scientific Money, 
 
 The following table and comments, taken from the 
 National Economist Almanac, will prove of interest in the 
 present discussion: 
 
 Propobtion of Checks to Curkenct, etc., in busines.s Exchanges. 
 
 [From the report of the Comptroller of the Currency.] 
 
 The total receipts of the national banks in New York City, in other reserve cities, 
 
 and of the banks elsewhere in the United States on June 30, 1881, with the percen 
 
 tages thereto of gold coin, silver coin, paper currency, and of checks, drafts, etc., 
 
 were as follows: 
 
 
 Number 
 of banks 
 
 Receips. 
 
 
 Proportions. 
 
 
 
 Gold 
 coin 
 
 Silver 
 coin. 
 
 Paper 
 currency 
 
 Checks. 
 drafts,etc 
 
 Npw York Citv . ... 
 
 48 
 
 187 
 
 1731 
 
 $167,437,759 
 77,100,715 
 40,175,542 
 
 Per cent. 
 0.27 
 0.76 
 2.04 
 
 Per cent. 
 0.01 
 0.15 
 
 0.77 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 1.02 
 
 4.71 
 
 15.47 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 98.70 
 
 Other reserve cities 
 
 Banks elsewhere 
 
 94.38 
 
 81.72 
 
 Total United States 
 
 1966 
 
 $284,714,016 
 
 O.65I 0.16 
 
 4.06 
 
 9.5.13 
 
 The explanation of the above table is that out of every $100 in business transac- 
 ons, $95.13 is done with checks and drafts, and $4,87 in cash- When we understand 
 that only one man in about 1260 has a bank accoun t, we can realize the power of 
 money in the struggle for life. Besides this, these checks and drafts are the most 
 expensive currency possible, and at the same time the most dangerous, as it can be 
 expanded or contracted to suit the plan or whim of its owners. 
 
 I 
 
 That private banks of issue are a great convenience to 
 a people who are dependent upon the precious metals for 
 a legal-tender currency must be conceded; but it is indis- 
 putable that the one immediate cause of industrial depres- 
 sion, of the impoverishment of the many, and of the in- 
 equitable distribution of wealth, is the failure of govern- 
 ments to provide national currency in adequate volume. 
 The failure of Congress to provide a circulating medium in 
 quanity equal to the needs of trade at a nominal cost, — 
 as it now provides a fraction of thai which is required — 
 enables those who shrewdly dictate financial legislation to 
 supply the deficiency and to exact for its use that which is 
 called— Interest.
 
 SciEvriFic Money. 17 
 
 When it is considered that this 'deficiency" constitutes 
 fully 90 per cent, of the total amount used, and that the 
 present annudl interest-charge against society for the use 
 of this product oflegislafion exceeds in amount the total 
 value of the yearly surplus products of toil, it becomes ap- 
 j)arent that both justice and expediency demand the imme- 
 diate establishment of a national system of finance which 
 
 will ANNIHILATE INTEREST FOE THE USE OF AN" INDISPENSA- 
 BLE CIRCULATING MEDIUM, 
 
 It is an astounding fact that for centuries men have 
 piid 'interest' for the use of a circulating medium under 
 the erroneous impression that they were thereby legiti- 
 mately compensating the owner for the use of Capital^ 
 This belief necessarily proves fatal to the interests of all 
 who labor; (*) and it is the prevalence of this false idea that 
 for 3000 years has enabled the non-producing classes of so- 
 ciety to Zatc/?(ZZ^ subsist upon the fruit of others' toil. 
 Interest eor the use of money is not compensation" 
 FOR THE USE OF CAPITAL. // IS tribute for the use of legal- 
 tender, legally exacted from the industrious through the 
 operation of ingenious legislation, 
 
 The distinction between the act of compensating the 
 owner for the use of capital, and that of payit)g interest for 
 the use of money, while well defined, is not readily dis- 
 cernible. It is determined by the conditions governing 
 each transaction in which one man uses the capital of an- 
 other. While it is true that money is capital, yet it is not 
 as capital that it commands 'interest.' Money commands 
 interest by reason of the performance by it of two distinct 
 offices; viz: 
 
 Note (*) — The labor here referred to is that which beueflts socie- 
 ty. There are two kinds:---that which benefits, tiud that which i.i- 
 jurjs.
 
 IS Scientific Money. 
 
 1. That of a circulating medium. 
 
 2. That of a legah'zed debt-paying agency. 
 
 It commands interest as a circulating medium because j. 
 in the complexity of society, exclicmges cannot he readily 
 effected without it. It commands interest as a debt-paying 
 agency because of the provisions of statutory laws which 
 require all legal obligations to be paid at maturity in legal- 
 tender currency. Legal obligations therefore are not law- 
 fully payable in icealth; they must be discharged by means 
 of a legal-tender representative of wealth. This law 
 makes legal-tender curr'cncy a necessity to all who pay 
 taxes or have maturing obligations. Restrict the issue of 
 the 'representative' to the monetization of one or both of 
 the 'precious metals/ on any pretext^ and legal-tender nec- 
 essarily commands 'interest' because of its scarcity. Were 
 legal obligations lawfully payable in the various forms of 
 wealth, money would not command interest as a debt-pay- 
 ing agency; and, likewise, were the legal-tender represen- 
 tative readily obtainable: that is to say, were currency is- 
 sued by government, at cost, to owners of suitable wealth 
 generally, (as it is now issued to owners of certain forms 
 of wealth; viz:— bullion and government bonds,) money 
 would not command 'interest' as a circulating medium. 
 In other words: — If ttie laiv were changed, the vast major- 
 ity of those who now borrow the 'available representative' 
 from iDrivate sources at current interest rates, would use a 
 legal-tender representative of their own eligible wealth, ob- 
 tained from the source of the supply, and upon the same 
 terms as that for which they now pay 'interest' was original- 
 ly issued; namely, without interest, and at a nominal cost. 
 
 Conclusive evidence in support of the assertion that 
 men do not borrow because they wish the use of money as 
 capitcd is supplied in the fact that currency is loaned by 
 the banks to those only who can jDledge capital as securi- 
 ty for its return.
 
 Scientific Money. 19 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Havin<2: shown that currency is not the common 'me- 
 diura-of-exchange,' it becomes necessary, in order to make 
 evident the practicability of the legislative measnre herein- 
 after proposed, to demonstrate also that it is not the com- 
 mon 'measure-of-value.' To establish this fact, is to over- 
 throw an almost universally accepted theory of money; 
 namely: — That fhe volume of currency in circulaiion, de- 
 termines the price of commodities and propcrtij. This 
 theory although endorsed by the most distinguished writers 
 on jDolitical economy is undoubtedly fallacious. 
 
 Before stating the reasons which justify this conclu- 
 sion, the views of some of the most noted adherents of this 
 — THE QUANTITATIVE — theory of money will be briefly 
 given. 
 
 John Stuart Mill, in Principles of Political Economy, 
 says : — 
 
 "That an increase in the quantity of money raises prices, and a di- 
 minution lowers them, is the most elementary proposition in the theo- 
 ry of currency, and without it we should have no key to any other. 
 
 If the wliole money in circulation was doubled, prices 
 
 would double. If it was increased one-fourth, prices would rise one- 
 fourth So that the value of money---all other things re- 
 maining^ the same-- varies inversely as its quantity; every increase in 
 quantity lowerin<r its value, and every diminution raising it in a ratio 
 exactly equivalent." 
 
 David Ricardo, an eminent Euglish authority says; — 
 
 "That commodities would rise and fall in price in proportion to 
 the increase or diminution of money, I assume as a fact that is incon 
 rovertible. That such would be the case, the most celebrated writers 
 on political economy are agreed."
 
 20 Scientific Money. 
 
 Henry Cernuschi, a distinguished French writer, says: 
 
 "The law of leg'ai-tender gives value to money, and that value is 
 increased or diminished in proportion as it's value is greater or less." 
 
 Prof. Francis Bowen, an American author, says: — 
 
 "All exchange is a barter of merchandise for money; and the 
 quantity of money which an article of merchandise will command in 
 the market is termed its price. Increase that quantity, and the price 
 of all articles inevitably rises ; diminish it, and the price as certainly 
 falls." 
 
 Adam Smith, in The Wealth of Nations, says: — 
 
 "Prom the high or low money price either of goods in general, or 
 of corn (wheat) in particular, we can infer only that the mines 
 which at that time happened to supply the commercial world with 
 gold and silver were fertile or barren." 
 
 Of later writers Senator Stewart, of Nevada, in a re- 
 cent work — Silver and the Science of Money, says: — 
 
 "An addition to the circulation increases the supply of money, 
 and (the demand remaining the same) reduces the value of each dollar 
 or unit of money." 
 
 In a recent speech delivered in the United States Sen- 
 ate (May 1890) Senator John P. Jones, of Colorado, said: — 
 
 "It is an axiom of political economy that no amount of increase 
 in the number of units of money in a country increases the aggregate 
 value of the money of that country." 
 
 Geo. C. Ward, in 'A Better Financial System,' says: — 
 
 "If the volume of money stands 100 and prices 25, or four to one, 
 an increase in volume of money to 200 simply raises prices to 50 and 
 the proportion remains as before, four to one." 
 
 It will be seen that in these quotations the position is 
 unequivocally taken that— The greater the volume of cur- 
 rency in circulation, the higher will he the price of com- 
 modities and property .
 
 Scientific Money. 21 
 
 This theory, although apparently justified by expe- 
 rience, is nevertheless fallacious, as will be seen by the 
 following reasoning: 
 
 Theoretically, there is no such thing as 'cheap' or 
 Mear' money; i. e. — money of varying value. There are 
 high and low-priced commodities and property only; the 
 'dollar,' the 'pound.' the 'franc,' the 'rupee,' etc., remaining 
 ever the unchanging unit — one. In fact, all purchases are 
 made, and all obligritions are liquidated with ivealih^ in its 
 various forms; the medium called currency acting simply 
 as a convenient agency (or go-between) in consummating 
 the transaction. Currency, however, being indispensable 
 in facilitating exchanges, when restricted in volume^ com- 
 mands 'interest' as a circulating medium. If it were pro- 
 vided by government in adequate volume, i. e., in supply 
 equal to the legitimate demand therefor at a nominal cost, 
 it would cease to command interest as a circulating me- 
 dium, an 1, as a cjusojaenze, it wjidd ca:iie to cjristitule 
 a factor in affecting the jirice of commodities and proper- 
 ty. It is because society has never yet been blessed with a 
 circulation equal to its needs, therefore, that the currency 
 volume seemingly determines price. Since the conception 
 of the legal-tender idea, the money volume of civilized na- 
 tions has been wrongfully restricted by legislation through 
 the subtle influence of the great monied capitalists of the 
 world, whose interests, as creditors (of both individuals 
 and of nations) demand a circumscribed volume of legal- 
 tender. This powerful influence has ever been active in 
 promulgating the plausible 'intrinsic-value' theory of mon- 
 ey, for the reason, that to confine the national issue of 
 legal-tender to the coinage of the rare precious metals, is 
 to gain the assistance of N.\TURE in making 'money' (i. e. 
 legal-tender) command 'interest.' An adequate motive 
 for such activity is not wiating:— r/iase who live upon the 
 interest of money ^ subsist upon the fruit of other's toil.
 
 22 Scientific Money. 
 
 It was this potent influence that caused the surrepti- 
 tious demonetization of silver in the United States in 1873 
 upon the development of the prolific mines of Colorado 
 and Nevada; as it caused the demonetization of gold in 
 Europe in 1853-7, when the discoveries in California and 
 Australia threatened a too abundant supply of gold. 
 
 That which 'measures' the value of prcjDerty is not the 
 currency volume, but — demand. When the exchangeable 
 value of the article is determined by demand, the jjrice is 
 expressed in 'dollars,' or in fractions thereof; but only 
 when the volume is unduly restricted, does either money 
 or currency constitute a factor even in determining price. 
 
 The abnormal demand which is created by law for 
 that which will legally discharge interest-bearing obliga- 
 tions, renders it necessary for those having maturing ob- 
 ligations to buy legal-tender (with services or labor prod- 
 ucts) with which to meet the same. As legal- tender is not 
 readily obtainable by those to whom it is thus made a nes. 
 essiiy, a saciifice of value ensues in the procedure of ob- 
 taining it (from those who possess the insufficient supply) 
 which materially affects the general range of prices. 
 
 The j)riraal cause of low prices for such articles as are 
 commonly used, arises, however, not so much because the 
 present currency volume is not sufficiently plentiful^ as 
 from the fact that owing to the manner of its issue, curren- 
 cy is obtainable only upon conditions which destroy or im- 
 pair that which may be termed, ahility-to-pjircliase in the 
 industrial classes of society. Continuous low prices for 
 the necessaries of life invariably accompany a large and in- 
 creasing volume of public and p>rivate indebfedness. The 
 interest-charge which annually accrues thereon absorbs the 
 surplus wealth produced by industry, which "s thus trans- 
 ferred to a small class of monied capitalists through the
 
 Scientific Money. 28 
 
 medium of interest payments. The necessity of meeting 
 the maturing coupon, prevents the direct interest-payer 
 from purchasing freely of the product of others' toil in the 
 gratification of his wants, and hence low prices and a 
 seeming overproduction of useful articles because of a gen- 
 eral inahilify to purchase. Thus, through the direct and 
 indirect payment of interest for the use of an essential cir- 
 culating medium, results industrial paralysis and its at- 
 tendant evils; all useful members of society being com- 
 pelled to contribute from their earnings to the fund upon 
 which the non-producing classes subsist. 
 
 As the interest charge which annually accrues on mu- 
 nicipal, corporate, and national indebtedness is paid 
 through an indirect tax on the consumer, there are none 
 who escape the penalty incident to an unenlightened finan- 
 cial system. 
 
 It is estimated that the public and private indebted- 
 ness of the people of the United States which in 1878 ag- 
 gregated about twelve thousand million dollars, has in- 
 creased so rapidly that it is now not less than $32,000,000, 
 000. At an average interest rate of 6 per cent, per annum 
 on this sum, the annual interest-charge against society 
 would amount to $1,920,000,000, or a sum exceeding the 
 value of the agricultural and mineral products of the na- 
 tion for the year 1893. 
 
 The following statistics relating to the public debt of 
 the United States Government, for which the writer is in- 
 debted to the National Economist Almanac, are instructive 
 as illustrating the amount of interest which is indirecthj 
 paid by the consumers of the United States on the nation- 
 al indebtedness alone. They disclose the amazing fact that 
 the public debt has been diminished only when the estimate 
 is ex^Dressed in 'dollars;' that in fact, more ivealth would 
 be recjuired to liquidate the debt to-day that it would have
 
 24 
 
 Scientific Money. 
 
 required at the close of the war, notwithstanding the pay- 
 ment thereon of principal and interest amounting to more 
 
 than THREE AND ONE" HALF BILLION DOLLARS. 
 
 Although these contributions are in the form of an 
 indirect tax on the consumer, yet they are paid from the 
 earnings of toil, and consequently impair the contributor's 
 ability -io-pur chase to the same extent as would a direct 
 tax. 
 
 Table showing the increase of the national debt if paid in 
 
 farm prodlx'ts. 
 
 Debt in 18G6, $2,783,000,000. Debt in 1889, $1,693,000,000. 
 
 PRODUCT.S NECESSARY TO PAT THE DEBT 
 AS PER PRICES FGR THE TEARS NAMED. 
 
 Attouut 1866 
 
 Amount 1889. 
 
 Showing ac- 
 tual increase 
 of 
 
 Keef— barrels 
 
 Pork— barrels 
 
 129,000,000 
 
 87,000.00 
 
 1, 007,000, oo( 
 
 8,262,000,00" 
 
 2,218.000,000 
 
 7,092,000,000 
 
 213,307,000 
 
 24,110,000 
 
 211.625.000 
 
 141.0a3,.8.33 
 
 2,156,2.50,000 
 
 5,642,666,000 
 
 3,761,000,000 
 
 16,930.000000 
 
 483,800.000 
 
 42,325.000 
 
 82,625,000 
 
 54,083,333 
 
 1,149,250,000 
 
 2.-380,316,000 
 
 1 543. OOP. Of o 
 
 Wheat— bushels 
 
 Oats— bushels 
 
 Corn — bushels . . . . . 
 
 Cotton — pounds, 1867 
 
 9.838,000,000 
 
 270,493,000 
 
 18,215,000 
 
 Co'il — tons 
 
 Bariroji— tons 
 
 By referring to another table in this Almanac, it will be seen that we have paid on 
 the principal of the public debt $1,080,000,000. and as interest on same $2.462,000,00(\ 
 and a further sum of $36,000,000. as premiums on bonds purchased: amounting in all 
 to $3,578,000,000. Yet we find the debt of the nation has actually increased if paid in 
 the labor and products of the people (any person of ordinary intelligence knows it 
 cannot be paid in anything else) ; that is to say, it will take more labor products to 
 pay what we now owe at present prices than it would have taken to pay the entire 
 indebtedness in 1866 at the prices then. By consulting other tables in this Almanac 
 it will be learned that mortgages and all other Indebtedness have in like manner in. 
 creased, and their payment is effected by the same principles. The pertinent ques- 
 tion just here, is how long will it take the laboring people to become homeowners, 
 independent, and happy, at this rate?
 
 Scientific Money. 25 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 In common parlance m^ney is a 'representative of 
 value, or wealth ;' to prefix the compound word legal-tender 
 to this common expression is to coin a concise and perfect 
 definition of the term; to wit: — Money is a legal-tender 
 representative of value, or wealth. 
 
 This being true — Why should a nation possessing 865, 
 000,000,000, of wealth, have a money volume of only one 
 and one-half hillion dollars? 
 
 If money is a legal-tender representative of wealth, — 
 why may not more wealth have a legal-tender representa- 
 tive? Whose interests are promoted by national legisla- 
 tion whereby less than 2| per cent, of the aggregate wealth 
 is monetized for exchangeable purposes? Certainly the 
 present system cannot be perpetuated in the interest of so- 
 ciety, to whom a circulating medium is a necessity! Nor can 
 it be perpetuated at the instigation of those whose matur- 
 ing obligations are payable in legil-tenler! Who then are 
 the beneficiaries of the present system? Can it be that 
 eminently respectable element of society — those who '"'toil 
 not, neiitier do theij s^;/«?" 
 
 Query: — If legal-tender certificates representing value 
 in certain metals constitute an effective circulating medium, 
 why would not legal-tender certificates representing other 
 enduring and appropriate forms of value prove equally ef- 
 fective and beneficial? 
 
 T.isre is no valid reason why they would 7iot.* 
 
 (*) Legal-tender land currencj' (not redeemable in coin) was is- 
 issued by the common wealth of Pennsylvania in 1731 and lemained 
 at par with gold for 30 years, because it was invested with all the legal 
 attributes of coin. See the authors "Metallic Money and Hard 
 Times;" pp 38-29.
 
 26 Scientific Money. 
 
 Of all forms of valua. that which is b23t suited to serve 
 as a basis for the issue of national currency in adequate 
 volume is: — productive real estate — at a safe arbitmry 
 valuation. Land values may act as a basis for the issue of 
 currency, at a conservative valuation, without in any man- 
 ner conflicting^ with the uses for which land is naturally 
 adaj)ted; and, ic'dhout conferring upon ike direct recipi- 
 ent of the currency a special advantage over other citi- 
 zens. This cannot be said of either of the so-called pre- 
 cious metals. The present valuation of gold is an arbitra- 
 ry valuation, far in excess of its natural value as a com- 
 modity. We arbitrarily value gold when by legal decree 
 we declare that 25.8 grains, 9-10 fine, shall, when coined, 
 possess exchangeable value equal to 100 cents worth of 
 other forms of wealth; and although other nations do like- 
 wise, it does not alter the fact that the 'coining' of the 
 precious metals and the imparting to them, alone, of the 
 legal-tender function, has been a practice for which the 
 industrial classes of society, have ever paid dearly. This 
 for the reason that the arbitrary valuation of these metals 
 at the legal ratio has baea flagrantly artifi3ial and fictitious. 
 This assertion is partially verified by the present price of 
 silver, which, since its demonetization in 1873, has declined 
 until at present its commodity value is only about one-half 
 its currenc}' value. Had silver not been demonetized it 
 would still retain the fictitious value it enjoyed in 1873, 
 an 1, but for its recent demonetization in Europe and India, 
 it would still command a premium over gold equal to the 
 difference between the ratios at which the metals were 
 c Dined by the mints of Europe and America; i. e. — the dif- 
 ference between 15^ to 1, the European ratio, and 16 to 1^ 
 the ratio in the United States — a difference of about 3 per 
 cent. As to gold: although the assertion is necessarily of 
 a conjectural character, yet there can be no reasonable
 
 Scientific Money. 27 
 
 doubt, that should the countries which have demonetized 
 silver also demonetize the yellow fetich, the effect upon 
 the market value of gold would jirove far more disastrous 
 than it has upon that of silver. (*) 
 
 With land as the basis for the issue of national cur- 
 rency, the abuses incident to the over-valuation of the pre- 
 si'ious metals would be obviated as the valuation of land for 
 currency purposes would be entirely independent of its nat- 
 ural value for productive or other uses. In fact, under 
 the provisions of the following proposed legislative meas- 
 ure, society at large would be the beneficiary of a benefi- 
 cent money system, to the maintenance of which none but 
 land owners would contribute. Further comment on the 
 provisions of the measure will follow the text of the Bill 
 which is as follows: — 
 
 An Act to Utilize Land Values as a Money Basis! 
 
 Be it enacted hy the Seuate and House of Representatives of 
 the United States of America in Coni^rress assembled:— 
 Section t. That upon the passage of this act, any person having pos- 
 session and ownership in fee simple of any improved real 
 estate in any state of the United States, by a clear, obvious 
 and perfect title, and who is competent to convey the same, 
 shall, upon the conditions hereinafter prescribed, be entitled 
 to receive from the Treasurer of the United States an issue 
 of national currency to an amount not exceeding the pres- 
 ent assessed valuation of the lot or tract upon which such 
 issue is desired: the currency so issued to constitute a legal 
 representative of the value thus monetized, and to be a le- 
 gal-tender at its face value in payment of all debts, public 
 and private. 
 
 (*) For the reasoning upon which this statement is based see the 
 author's pamphlet "Metallic Money and Hard Times," pp 23-26. 
 (f) See note A appendix.
 
 28 Scientific Money 
 
 Section 3. To carry into effect the provisions ol this act, the presi- 
 dent, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, 
 shall appoint in each county a resident commissioner, 
 learned in the law, and duly entitled to practice in the su- 
 preme court of the state to which he belongs, who, as fiscal 
 agent of the national treasury, shall transact the business 
 required of him by this act, and to whom applications for 
 an issue of currency upot. real estate in his. county shall be 
 made: and he shall receive, as compensation for his services 
 a salary of two thousand and four hundred dollars annu- 
 ally. (*) 
 Section 3. To obtain an issue of currency under this act, the appli- 
 cant must file with the commissioner for the county within 
 which his really is located an application in writing, setting 
 forth: 
 
 (1.) The name in full and postoflJice address of the appli - 
 cant— and of consort if married; (3.) The legal description 
 of the lot or tract of land for which a currency representa- 
 tive is desired; (3.) The county and state in which the 
 same is located; (4.) The nature of the occupancy, and the 
 relation of the occupant's interest to that of the applicant ; 
 (5.) The kind of improvements; (6.) The value of the 
 premises; (7.) The value of the land exclusive of improve- 
 ments; (8.) The official valuation of the premises for taxa • 
 tion for the year 1894, * as evidenced by the public records 
 of the county or municipality within which it is situated; 
 (9.) The amount of currency desired. 
 
 A written abstract, certified by the proper custodians of the 
 records of the same, showing the applicant to have such ti . 
 tie to the real estate described as is required by the first sec- 
 
 (*) Note: Certain details are intentionally omitted; such as, the 
 giving of bond by the commissioners, provisions for necessary clerical 
 assistance, safeguards in the certification of title abstracts by county 
 officials, etc. They are not essential in the draft of a bill designed to 
 illustrate a system. 
 
 » It i.< proposed to constitute the assessed valuation of productive real estate 
 for the year 1894 a permanent arbitrary valuation of the same for the pBrpose of a 
 currency issue.
 
 Scientific Money. 29 
 
 tion of this act, shall accompany each applicatiou. (*) 
 Section 4. It shall be the duty of the commissioner to examine, in 
 the order in which they are received, all appli- 
 cations and the real estate described therein; he shall verify 
 the correctness, truth, and sufficiency of the representations 
 made, and the sufficiency of the respective titles; he shall 
 reject all cases of unproductive real estate, and all cases of 
 excessive valuation, and certify to the Treasurer of the 
 United States such applications, with the accompanying ti- 
 tle abstract, as he finds to conform with the provisions of 
 this act; provided:— That where it shall appear from an ex- 
 amination of premises upon which an issue of currency is 
 applied for, that the value of the improvements exceeds the 
 value of the land, the issue of currency thereon shall not ex- 
 ceed such a proportion of the assessed value of the premises 
 as the value of the realty, exclusive of improvements, bears 
 to the total assessed value. f 
 Section 5. It shall be the duty of the United States Treasurer to 
 cause all applications re,:;ularly submitted to him to be ex- 
 amined by expert examiners qualified to pass upon the va- 
 
 (*) See note B Appendix. 
 
 f The purpose of this act is to monetize the value of prodactive 
 real estate, exclusive of improvements, and to provide for as liberal 
 an issue of currency in each instance as is consistent with public safe- 
 ty. Inasmuch as the present assessed valuation of real estate throuifh - 
 out the country is equal to about 40 per cent, of a fair valuation 
 thereof, it will be seen that a currency issue equal to the present as- 
 sessed value could advaniageously be made in all cases where the val- 
 ue of the improvements do not materially exceed the value of the bare 
 land. To illustrate:— Take a business lot worth $5001) u[ion which 
 there is a building worth an equal sum— $5000. Total value of the 
 property $10,000. At 40 per cent of the above actual value, the as- 
 sessed value for taxable purposes would be $4000, or the sum to which 
 the owner of the premises would be entitled. When the fact is con- 
 sidered that the increased issue of currency would necessarily enhance 
 the present value of all productive real estate it will be seen that a 
 currency issue of $4000 could safely be made in the iustance cited.
 
 30 Scientific Money. 
 
 lidity of the same, and to endorse his approval upon such as 
 are in accordance with this act. Such Treasurer shall file 
 and keep a record of applications thus approved, and shall 
 transmit to the proper commissioner, and to the applicant, 
 official notice of such approval. 
 Section 6. The commissioner, upon receiving official notification 
 of the Treasurer's approval of any application made to him, 
 shall, if the condition of the title remains unchanfjed, take 
 a written obligation and conveyance of the real estate, duly 
 executed by the applicant, and jointly with the husband or 
 wife of the applicant if married, in favor of the United 
 States, with conditions and provisions as follows: 
 
 I. That a sum equivalent to the currency received by the 
 applicant shall be returned to the United States Treasury when 
 the same shall no longer be desired for use as a circulating me- 
 dium. 
 
 II. That until such currency is returned, the applicant, his 
 heirs or assigns, will pay to the national treasury on the fir«t 
 day of each year a sum equal to two per cent, per annum on the 
 amount of currency received, 
 
 III. That the obligation thus executed shall constitute a 
 first and primary lien upon the realty described, until the con- 
 ditions of the same are duly complied with. 
 
 IV. That so long as the payment of two per cent, per an- 
 num on the currency received by the applicant shall be promptly 
 made, the obligation shall not mature; but in ease of default of 
 such annual payment at the maturity thereof, such obligation 
 shall be subject to foreclosure for the full amount thereof, and 
 the premises upon which the obligation is a lien may be sold to 
 satisfy the same. 
 
 Section 7. Immediately upon the execution of such obligation 
 the commissioner shall make, and keep in his office for pub- 
 lic inspection, a registry of the same, duly indexed, which 
 registry shall impart notice to all persons of the contents 
 thereof; and the title and right so acquired by the United 
 States shall be prior and superior to any lien or claim of the 
 state, or any nmuicipality thereof, and of all persons what- 
 soever.
 
 Scientific Money. 31 
 
 Section 8, Upou the rei^istration of such obliii^iition the commis- 
 sioner shall retiiru and certify the same to the Treasurer of 
 the United States who shall thereupon place to the credit 
 of the applicant upon the books of the national treasury a 
 sum equal to the amount of liis obligation; wliich credit 
 shall be payable on demand in a nati.)nal currency to be 
 provided by the Treasurer, of denominations and designs 
 corresponding to the present authorized issue of United 
 Stales Treasury notes. The Treasurer shall transmit to the 
 applicant a certificate of deposit, payable to his order, for 
 the amount of such credit, and in case of 'demand for the 
 currency, the same may be transmitted by registered mail 
 at the risk of the person entitled thereto. 
 
 Section 9. Any owner of real estate upon whicli a currency repre- 
 sentative shall have been issued as herein provided, may, at 
 his option, at any time after one year from the issuing of 
 the same, return the same into the national treasury, in 
 sums equal to one fourth, one half, three fourths or the full 
 amount of the original issue, and upon the sum so returned 
 the annual charge of two per cent shall cease from the first 
 day of the calender quarter succeeding the date of such 
 payment. Upon repayment of the full amount of the obli- 
 gation, the Treasurer shall execute a discharge thereof 
 wliich shall be entered in the registry of the proper county 
 by the commissivmer of such county. Currency so returned 
 ma}' be reissued under the provisions of this act, and when 
 not needed for such reissue the Treasurer of the United 
 States shall cause the same to be destroyed. 
 
 Section 10. The revenues derived from the operation of this act shall 
 constitute a fund from which the expenses of maintaining 
 the system shall be paid, and should the receipts exceed the 
 expenditures, the surplus shall become available for the 
 general expenses of the government.
 
 B2 Scientific Money 
 
 CHAPTER V. ^ 
 
 Although the monetizing of land values as proposed 
 in the foregoing measure may seem to the reader a novel 
 and extraordinary proposition, ye'o it will become apparent 
 upon reflection that nothing is promised for the bill that 
 it cannot speedily accomj)lish. The fact should be appre- 
 ciated that land is not proposed as a basis for the issue of 
 currency for the purpose of giving value to the currency; 
 a land basis is introduced for the purpose only of regulat- 
 ing the currency volume, and to guard against an overis- 
 sue. The currency would owe its value (as does that which 
 now circulates) tothe demand that exists for lesal-tender, 
 in which all obligations are lawfully liquidated. Money 
 does not pass current, as is generally supposed, by 'common 
 consent,' nor by 'usage,' nor because of its material; nor 
 yet, by the fiat of government; as a demand exists for 
 milch-cows, for driving horses, for plows, and for useful 
 articles generally, so likewise does a demand exist for that 
 which the law declares a legal -tender; and it is this, and 
 the needs of society for a circulating medium, which makes 
 the demind for 'money' one that is inseparable from the 
 gratification of nearly every human want. 
 
 National currency invested with the legal-tender attri- 
 bute, thus becomes a form of condensed value which, irre- 
 spective of its material, proves the most efPective and satis- 
 factory medium for readily effecting exchanges ever de 
 vised by man. Scientifically issued, currency would con- 
 stitute a specific represenfafivo of the monetized wealth of 
 the original recipient. When issued and in circulation, 
 currency, lawfully acquired, would constitute a legalized
 
 Scientific Money. 33 
 
 representative of the imrUcnlar services or property giv- 
 en in exchange therefor. From this it follows:— That al- 
 though legal-tender paper issued by government in pay- 
 ment of its obligations circulates at par by virtue of its ar- 
 bitrary debt-paying power, and the necessities of society 
 for a circulating medium, yet, not being issued as a repre- 
 sentative of specific value in property, the manner of its 
 issue is unscientific, arbitrary and indefensible; the limit 
 of the volume being regulated solely by the will of Con- 
 gress irrespective of the principles which should govern 
 the issue of so essential a public agency. 
 
 — Currency, being indispensible to society, it follows: 
 — That society must suffer if currency be not readily ob- 
 tainable; that is to say— If the supply provided by govern- 
 ment at a nominal cost to the recipient be not equal to the 
 legitimate demand therefor. In other words: — Society 
 must suffer if the government's issue of currency be so re- 
 stricted that it is obtainable bv men generally only from 
 private sources at current interest rates. 
 
 — Money being simply a legal-tender representative 
 of value or wealth, it follows:— That should a demand ex- 
 ist therefor, the volume of money may advantageously 
 equal the compass of such wealth as may fittingly have a 
 money representative.* 
 
 — As gold and silver bullion is nunetlzed at an arbi- 
 trary valuation, through the certificate process, by legisla- 
 
 * Value which may fittin-j^ly have a currency representative 
 would embrace such as tlie government could safely receive as se- 
 curity for the issue of currency, and the custody of which would not 
 require especial attention in order to preserve its value.
 
 3 4 Scientific Money. 
 
 tive decree: — The decree only is wanting to monetize by 
 the same process, at tin arbitrary vahiation, any other form 
 of value which is equally or more eligible for the purpose. 
 
 As the enjoyment of life consists chiefly in the con- 
 sumption or use of the various products of labor, it follows 
 that the more perfect the system by means of which such 
 products are disfribufed; i. e. — IVw grcafer ihe volume of 
 legal-fender currency, proper, — the greater and more uni- 
 versal will be the measure of human happiness. 
 
 The following analogism will serve to elucidate the 
 Land Currency Theory: 
 
 A. owns a gold brick weighing 50 lbs. worth $15,000, 
 which represents his earnings and constitutes his entire 
 capital. B. owns a section of land worth $15,000, which 
 represents his earnings and constitutes his entire capital. 
 Each wish to use 5000 'dollars.' That is to say: — hoili 
 icish fo vse a poriion of their earnings in the gratificaiion 
 of their icants. Neither can readily use his capital in its 
 present form. If either had 5000 'dollars' he would be 
 able to 'buy' $5000 worth of that which others would like 
 to 'sell.' Wh.at both A. and B. require in order to gratify 
 their wants, in complex society, is a legal-tender represen- 
 tati've ot wealth; i, e. — ^an available circulating medium. 
 Both have the wealth: — How may they obtain the repre- 
 sentative? Under present statutory regulations, A. may 
 take one-third of his wealth to the 'mint' and, upon depos- 
 iting the same with the comptroller, obtain thereon $5000 
 in currency, which he may return at any time he may pre- 
 fer the bullion to the use of the currency. As no interest 
 is charged by the g )vernraent for the use of legal-tender
 
 Scientific Money. 35 
 
 certificates representing value in gold, A. obtains his cur- 
 rency at a nominal cost. How maj^ B. obtain an available 
 representative of his wealth for exchangeable purposes V 
 Under present regulations, B. must obtain his 'currency' 
 from private sources at current rates of interest. 
 
 What does B. obtain when he borrows 'money' from 
 private sources at current interest rates? He obtains, sim- 
 ply, metallic or paper certificafes, invested with the legal- 
 tender attribute, which were previously issued by his gov- 
 ernment for exchangeable purposes to the original recipient 
 at a nominal cost. Because the volume of these debt pay- 
 ing certificates is restricted by law, they command 'interest.' 
 
 Why may not B. also obtain from the government a 
 specifiic representative of such of his own wealth as, in 
 character, is suitable for the purpose? There is but one 
 reason why he cannot do so; namely: — It is not the law. 
 
 If it were the law, how would society be affected there- 
 by? Would such a law confer a special advantage upon B. 
 as a land owner? No. Society would be the beneficiary 
 of such a law. The currency issued to B. would be value- 
 less to him until he parted with it; and, in this event, the 
 recipient and every subsequent recipient would become an 
 equal beneficiary with him to whom the original issue was 
 direct. Under such a law. Government would simply make 
 B's wealth available for e.rchangeable, or debt-pa ijing 
 purposes, as it does A's, and by a similar process. Neith- 
 er A. nor B. could use their earnings for exchangeable pur- 
 poses but once, while the increased issue of currency would 
 provide a circulating medium which would facilitate ex- 
 changes without commanding 'interest.' To monetize A's 
 wealth alone, make« money scarce and creates a demand 
 for credit devices with which to effect exchaiiges. This 
 policy breeds interest,' not for the use of capital, bat for 
 the use of an indispensable circulating medium.
 
 86 Scientific Money. 
 
 A. now loans his certificates to B. at ruling interest 
 rates for the reason only that B's government denies him a 
 privilege that it accoids to A. If currency were readily 
 obtainable at a nominal cost, by those to whom it should 
 be issued; namely:— Owners of appropriate values gener- 
 ally, immediate financial relief would result from the ready 
 cash market which such a currency issue would create for 
 all useful articles, and for the services of those seeking 
 employment. 
 
 Such is the nature of Currency. 
 
 Two objections have been made to the issue of Land 
 Currency which ore worthy of consideration; to wit: — 
 
 1. It is claimed that the recipient of the currency 
 would derive an especial benefit from having the use of 
 both the land and the currency. 
 
 2. That present land owners would be able to obtain 
 currency at a nominal cost, reinvest the same in land upon 
 which they could obtain another currency issue, and thus 
 continue the process, fid ivfinitum. 
 
 In answer to the first objection it may be said that 
 while possession of the 'basis' would be retained by the re- 
 cipient of the currency, yet such recipients would alone 
 bear the expense of a money system which would prove of 
 incalculable benefit to society at large, while the use of the 
 currency by the direct recipient would be a use of the 
 same for exchnngeaUe purposes only. In order to obtain 
 the currency the recipient parts with the title to his land, 
 which he can regain only upon repayment of the sum re • 
 ceived, plus- the annual payment thereon of two per cent 
 per annum. The transaction is not one of borrowing and 
 lending money; it is a method of 'coining' land value for 
 exchangeable purposes, as bullion value is coined under the 
 present system. The obligation is not a mortgage, but a
 
 Scientific Money. 37 
 
 conveyance of the realty to the government, that its value 
 may be utilized to provide at cost, that for which society 
 now pays 'interest.' The two per cent, per annum is not 
 interest, but the estimated cost of maintainino; the svstem. 
 Therefore the direct recipient of the currency would, prac- 
 tically, pay society two per cent per annum, not for the 
 use of the currency, but for the use of that part of his 
 wealth which is thus mouetizcd. It is not class leL^islation, 
 because the use of the currency by the recipient is not an 
 exclusive use of the sime. Land is proposed as a basis for 
 the currency issue because of its peculiar fitness to serve 
 the purjDOse; being distributed throughout every locality, 
 each community would be able to furnish a basis for cur- 
 rency, whereas at present, all are dependent for legal-ten- 
 der upon the so-called 'precious metals/ While land owners 
 would be able to obtain currency direct from the mint, (as 
 do gold owners under the present system) yet, other prop- 
 erty-owners would as readily obtain currency from the 
 sale of their surplus products, at lucrative prices, in the 
 cash market which would result from the operation of the 
 system. 
 
 To monetize land values is to enable the land owner to 
 gratify his wants to the extent of the value monetized; this 
 involves the purchase by him of the labor products of oth- 
 ers with capital thus made available, which can be expend- 
 ed but once, as the government would hold a lien on the 
 property for the amount of currency supplied. Inasmuch 
 as there must be an application of labor to agricultural 
 land in order to make j^ossession of the same valuable, so- 
 ciety, to whom the joint product is essential, would be 
 benefitted, rather than injured, l)y the use of the 'basis' for 
 productive purposes. 
 
 The second objection as above set forth is not applica- 
 ble to the principle that underlies the proposed legislation. 
 
 389244
 
 38 Scientific Money. 
 
 Were it possible for evil effects to follow the issue of land 
 currency, upon the assumjition that the system would fa- 
 vor land monopoly, the objection would apply, not to legis- 
 lation which would monetize land values, but to laws 
 which permit a monopoly of land. 
 
 The chances are more than a thousand to one that the 
 reader' would be financially benefitted by the proposed 
 system . All who are engaged in useful pursuits would be 
 immeasurably benefitted, while injury would result to none. 
 A small percentage of society would simply be deprived of 
 an advantage which they unjustly enjoy under the present 
 system. 
 
 How would the system affect the interests of creditors? 
 Would not the payment of obligations in land currency be 
 a repudiation of honest debts? No. Obligations are not 
 repudiated which are liquidated with wealth, or with a le- 
 gal representative thereof. Obligations may be paid with 
 wealth without being paid in gold, and this is the purpose 
 of the proposed legislation. We cannot pay in gold, but 
 we can pay in wealth, and the proiDOsed currency, as a le- 
 gal-tender representative of wealth, would be the commer- 
 cial equivalent of either coin or bullion. 
 
 Under the proposed system, would not the land owner 
 loan at 10 per cent, per annum, the currency thus obtained 
 by him at two? He would if he could doubtless, but to 
 whom would he loan it? Those who now pledge real es- 
 tate as security for loans would obtain currency from the 
 government. This would include the great mass of direct 
 interest payers — the farmers, the railroads, municipalities 
 and a large percentage of manufacturers; but the remuner- 
 ative prices which all useful articles would command under 
 the changed condition would soon obliterate the system 
 whereby those who 'produce wealth, borrow from those 
 who do not. With money obtainable from government 
 in supply equal to the demand, at two per cent per annum,
 
 Scientific Money. 89 
 
 a medium-of-excliange could no more constitute an article 
 o£ profitable traffic, than Q,Q.n posiage skimps under j^res- 
 ent regulations. As every issue of currency under the 
 proposed system would result from a legitimate demand 
 for a circulating medium, an overissue (sufficient to depre- 
 ciate its value as a convenient medium of exchange) would 
 be impossible . 
 
 The United States census for 1890 shows that the na- 
 tional wealth at that time amounted to §60,000,000,000. 
 Mr. Geo. C. Ward, a well known economic writer and stat. 
 istician in a valuable treatise recently issued entitled 'A Bet- 
 ter Financial System' (Arena Pub. Co., Boston) thus tabu- 
 lates the items comprising the national wealth in 1890; viz: 
 
 TOTAL VALUES IN UNITED STATES. 
 
 1890. 
 
 1. Farms (bare land) '. $6,000,000,000 
 
 2. Unimproved lands 1,000,000,000 
 
 3. Mines, petroleum and coal lands 2,000,000,000 
 
 4. Lots in cities and towns (bare land) «.000,000,000 
 
 5. Railroads and municipal franchises 7,000,000.000 
 
 6. All buildings and other improvements 13,000,000.000 
 
 7. All personal property 18,000,000.000 
 
 Total $55,000,000,000 
 
 Between the above figures and those of the Censits 
 Bureau there is an ay)parent discrepancy of $5,000,000,000. 
 Mr. Ward estimates that various railway and other stocks 
 which are included in the above statement have been 'wa- 
 tered' to the extent of !?5,000.000,000, and upon this theory 
 the two compilations are made to agree. 
 
 Of the items in the foregoing tabulation, the 1st, 4th, 
 and oth, at least could safely and advantageously serve as 
 a basis for the issue of national currency if required. For- 
 ty per cent of the above estimated actual value would ap- 
 proximate the present assessed valuation of the same for 
 taxable purposes.
 
 40 Scientific Money. 
 
 CONCLUSION. . 
 Those who suppose so radical a disease as that which 
 afflicts society can be cured by a return to bi-metallism, or 
 by other conservative remedies, fail to appreciate the dan- 
 gerous character of the prevailing disorder. By reason of 
 past financial legislation the people of the United States 
 are overwhelmingly in debt, and must remain so while ob- 
 ligaiions are payable in coin or Jiigh-priced credit. The 
 disease is debt. The remedy is a simple one; i. e. — Make 
 VALUE instead of com, a legal-tender in the payment of le- 
 gal obligations, through an adequate issue of legal -tender 
 currency, issued as a specific representative of appropriate 
 property-value, and as a result of this single act, the golden 
 fetters will incontinently fall from the limbs of Industry, 
 and thereupon Prosperity who patiently awaits the tardy 
 act, will rejoice with an emancipated jjeople in the birth of 
 that which society has never yet enjoyed— an honest mon- 
 ey system.
 
 Scientific Money. 41 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Note A— The writer is greatly indebted to E. S. WaterUury, Esq. 
 of Emporia, for assistance in the preparation of this measure, and for 
 suggestions which have been appropriated and embodied in the ac- 
 companying argument. For his painstaking labor, his uniformily 
 courteous attention, and encouraging interest in the subject matter of 
 the treatise, he has placed the author under lasting obligations. 
 
 Note B — In the countries ol Australia, New Zealand and British 
 Columbia there is in operation what is known as The Torrens' System 
 of Registering Land Titles, whereby through methods which have 
 proved most satisfactory, the government for a small consideration in 
 each case, guarantees an indefeasible title to the lawful owner of real 
 estate, and in this manner arbitrarily settles disputes relating to land 
 titles. The consideration which is received for the guaranty of titles 
 generally, is set aside as a fund from which to indemnify any who 
 may be wronged by the arbitrary action of the government in any 
 particular case. The advantages of the Torrens System are, that 
 when the title of a tract of land is once registered, all subsequent con- 
 veyances of the land are made by a certificate issued by the Registrar, 
 thus saving to subsequent buyers or sellers the expense of searching 
 records and furnishing expensive abstracts of title, legal opinions, etc. 
 
 Thus one thorough examination of the title to a tract is made to 
 answer for every subsequent transfer. It is also claimed that the 
 practical results of the system in tlie countries named has been "to 
 add largely to the wealth of the community by restoring to their val- 
 ue as buildings sites many blocks of laml wliich had been deprived of 
 that special value by technical defects and uncertainties attaching to 
 the title." Those familiar with the methods employed by different 
 countries in the transfer of land titles, unhesitatingly pronounce the 
 Torrens' System the most perfect yet devised, and a desire for its 
 adoption by the various states of the Union is becoming man- 
 ifest. Inasmuch as the title to really constitutes an important feat- 
 ure of the proposed issue of land currency, this method of registering 
 the title of lands upon which an issu^- of currenc}^ would be granted 
 could be easily and advantageously be m ule a feature of the accom- 
 panying measure. In the February number of the Century Magazine 
 for 1892 appears an article by Mr. Edward Atkinson, in advoc-icy of 
 the Torrens' System from which the following explanatory extracts 
 re taken:--
 
 42 Scientific Money. 
 
 "The registry of titles, clears all fair and honest titles, removes all exist- 
 ing clouds, and gives the occupant who82 title passes the examiners in the first in- 
 stance indefeasible possession; while at the same lime rendering the future 
 transfer or conveyance of the land as simple and as ready as the transfer of a share 
 of railway or factory stock now is in this country, and reducing the cost of convey- 
 ance, as it has been well put, "from pounds to shillings." 
 
 "Under the Land Transfer Act, it is not necessary to examine the deeds in the ab- 
 stract of title; these no longer exist. They have been delivered up to the registrar, 
 and when a certificate of title is granted they are cancelled. An investor therefore 
 does not run the risk of a mistake or blunder of his solicitor. Every transaction has 
 its finality and complete security." 
 
 "Conveyancing by deed without registration is the common rule in England; reg 
 Istering deeds the common rule in the United States. Conveyancing by registry of 
 title wag not new when Sir Robert Torrcns applied it in Australia. It has been in op- 
 eration for over a century in Pjussia, in Bavaria, and in other European states, nota- 
 bly in Hamburg, which until lately was one of the free cities where a similar system 
 has been In operation for over GOO years. Purchasers of estates ip Paris may also ob- 
 an insured title by payment of a small fee to the city." 
 
 "The registrar of New South Wales reported in 1881, that although the Real Prop 
 erty Act or Torrens' System had been in operation eighteen years no compensation 
 had been made upon the titles registered nor had any claim been sustained against 
 the insurance fund which at that time amounted to a little over thirty-eight thousand 
 pounds sterling." 
 
 The ordinary fees for registration are as follows: A fixed fee of $3.25 on each 
 registration; and one-fifth of one per cent, of the ceclared value of the land up to 
 $5000, and one-tenth of one per cent, of the value over that amou ut, 
 
 "The best evidence that the act works satisfactorily is that no certificate of title 
 has ever been attacked since the beginning of the registry under the act in 1870. The 
 popular verdict is entirely in its favor for every title is sifted as it comes in, aud the 
 mistakes of ignorant conveyancers, or those arising from other causes, are rectified 
 before they are allowed to affect the title. One great advantage is that any one can 
 search a title for fifty cents."
 
 ADDE/NDA. 
 
 Tt is an interesting fact that not only has Congress 
 power to afford the relief that is so generally desired, but 
 that those who are actively demanding reform measures — 
 the Populists— already possess sufficient numerical 
 strength to accomplish needed legislation, were their forces 
 utilized by the commissioned leaders of the movement. 
 
 Were the Populists demanding an impartial adminis- 
 tration of public affairs as an organized body of indepcncU 
 ent voters, rather than as a political party demanding re- 
 form — pZus OFFICE, the balance of power they hold in a 
 large majority of the congressional districts of the United 
 States could easily be made effective in inaugurating any 
 meritorious legislation. 
 
 Under present tactics the reform forces are engaged 
 in an unequal, if not a futile, struggle for partizan ballots. 
 The contest, should be for control of the maohinerij of the 
 dominant political party— whether republican or democratic. 
 In seeking relief through the instrumentality of a 
 new political party the reformers antagonize two intluential 
 classes of society, and thus the jwlifician and the j^artizan 
 become active enemies of the movement, who, were other 
 tactics pursued, would naturally become interested and val- 
 uable allies. 
 
 Were the non-producer's control of national legislation 
 intelligently contested, no uncertainty would attend the 
 issue: the common enemy, in fact, is formidable only be- 
 cause opposed by unorganized, or mismanaged forces. 
 
 The one thing required in the present emergency is a 
 CONGRESSIONAL MAJORITY — pledged toy he enactment of a 
 specific, practical, measure of relief The election of sue h 
 a majority by the populists is purely a matter of tactics.
 
 Were the right fulcrum used the task would be an easy 
 one. The independent electors of the various congression- 
 al districts have but to formulate a practical measure, and 
 in an organized capacity demand its enactment, in order 
 to readily obtain remedial legislation through the action of 
 any dominant political party. 
 
 Whenever in a representative government the interests 
 of the constituency are betrayed by the representative, it 
 is because it can b3 done with impunity. Whenever those 
 represented are alive to their interests the representative is 
 conscious of the fact and acts accordingly.* Hence it fol- 
 lows, that the political complexion of the congressman is 
 immaterial if his pledge be formally obtained to support 
 the specific measure demanded. A plan of action therefor 
 which would exact from each congressional candidate, as a 
 condition precedent to his election, a written obligation to 
 actively support the measure prescribed, (the independent 
 forces being represented by a duly constituted congression- 
 al committee) would effectually forestall any clandestine 
 arrangement which might subsequently be proposed or at- 
 tempted by those who now, through diplomacy or intrigue, 
 direct congressional legislation. Under these conditions 
 the formal pledge of Mr, Reed, the republican leader from 
 Maine, would be as scrupulously kept as would that of Mr. 
 Simpson, of Kansas. 
 
 Such a demand upon the regular party candidates, by 
 the independent electois of a consressional district, would 
 force a public discussion of the measure proposed that 
 would discover its defects or commend its practicability. 
 
 In the remote contingency that neither of the regular 
 party candidates could conscientiously endorse the pro- 
 posed legislation, an independent congressional candidate^ 
 
 * Presidential Electors furaisU aa apt illustratioa of this fact. 
 The "Moaey power" evea could aot seduce oae of these electors.
 
 3 
 
 similarly pledged, coald be supplied by the congressional 
 committee, for whom the ballots of those favorable to the 
 measure — irrespective of political affiliations — could be 
 cast. 
 
 By this simple method of procedure the victims of 
 jDresent legislation could unite in a j^ractical manner with- 
 out the necessity of surrendering political convictions, ad- 
 vocating extraneous measures, or defending the character 
 or official acts of party nominees.* 
 
 The congress thus elected, while comprising members 
 representing republican or democratic constituencies, would 
 be formally pledged to the enactment of a specific econom- 
 ic measure by an obligation sufficient to protect the inter- 
 ests of the constituency . 
 
 Thus would the populist strength now uselessly ex- 
 pended in elevating to state and county offices, officials 
 whose duties are not in the remotest degree associated with 
 the legislation required, be reserved; and the reform prin- 
 ciple be divorced from, and rendered independent of the 
 personality or motives of its supporters. Members of state 
 legislatures who elect United States Senators could also be 
 selected in a similar manner through the intervention of 
 the League's committee. 
 
 Success in the present movement through the agency 
 of a third party, not only involves the education of a pln- 
 rality, at least, of the voting population to an appreciation 
 of the merits of abstruse economic questions, concerning 
 which varying opinions are honestly entertained, but it 
 demands of the voter that he sever his relations with, and 
 
 * A committee in each county comprising the primary delegates 
 — one from each municipal township; a congressional committee con- 
 sisting of the chairmen of the several county committees; and a na- 
 tional advisory committee consisting of three members representing 
 the East, the South, and the West, would constitute an organization 
 through which all essential d'jiails could be arranged.
 
 4 
 
 abandon the party organization to which by name and as- 
 sociation the partizan is bound by indissoluble ties. This 
 demand is as unnecessary as it is impracticable; impracti- 
 cable, because the vast majority of those to whom the ap- 
 peal is made are too busily enf^aged in the struggle for sub- 
 sistence to devote time to the investigation of disputed eco- 
 nomic theories, as they are too loyal to their political lead- 
 ers to question either their wisdom or their political hon- 
 esty. 
 
 The present struggle is not, as many assume, a contest 
 between good and bad men; nor is it a battle between pa- 
 triots and partizans; nor is it, as claimed, a sectional con- 
 troversy between the 'East' and the 'West.' It is a conflict 
 between the producing * and the non-producing classes of 
 society; a conflict on the one hand for the continuance, on 
 the other for the repeal, of certain inherited statutory en- 
 actments which enable the non-producer to reap the fruit 
 of other's toil, through methods which, although lawful and 
 seemingly legitimate, are nevertheless, artful, unjust, and 
 destructive of human happiness. 
 
 The real enemy of society therefore is not the 'pluto- 
 crat,' but the statutory laws which enable men to become 
 plutocrats: laws which the victims of the present condition 
 possess the power to abolish. To effect the repeal of these 
 noxious laws is the real issue in the present struggle, and 
 victory lies in leadershii^ which, recognizing the character 
 of the forces to be emi^loyed, shall utilize, not antagonize, 
 the uninformed partizan voter. 
 
 Considering the necessities of the situation, the pro- 
 gress thus far made by the reform forces while considera- 
 ble, is far from satisfactory. 
 
 * The term producing classes as here used is intended to include 
 all persons engaged in useful pursuits, as distinguished from those 
 whose incomes are derived from interest or rent.
 
 5 
 
 The great desideratum — organization — haa been suc- 
 cessfully effected; but it yet remains as a necessary step 
 in achieving the end sought to ascertain — why the organ- 
 
 IZATION IS INOPERATIVE. 
 
 Why do not the producing classes of the nation em- 
 brace Populism as a means of uniting their forces against 
 the common enemy — The Non-producer? 
 
 Does the fault lie with those who deliberately refuse 
 to endorse the present movement? 
 
 Or is it because the methods and measures of the re- 
 form leaders are not such as the occasion demands? 
 
 The interests of the movement demand that this ques 
 tion be honestly answered. 
 
 Whenever a nation of people who crave financial relief, 
 refuse to cordially endorse a movement of respectable pro- 
 portions looking to that end, it is safe to conclude that 
 there is something seriously defective in the proposition as 
 submitted. 
 
 That ivhich is defeating the objects of the present re- 
 form movement is the office-holding feature of the plan 
 submitted by tlie reform leaders. An analysis of the situ- 
 ation justifies this conclusion. It is not, as claimed by the 
 reform press and speakers, the capitalists who are defeat- 
 ing the reformers: It is the politicians. Not in an ag- 
 gresive movement against reform, but as a result of the 
 defensive policy to which they have been driven by reform 
 tactics. In opposing the ofiice-holding appendage of the 
 reform idea the politician is compelled to antagonize the 
 reform movement, of which office-seeking is so conspicuous 
 a feature. The opposition of the politician is not to the 
 reform, it is to the methods proposed for its inauguration.
 
 6 
 
 Were the unwise policy which aniajonizes Ihe politi- 
 cal interests of this sagacious and influential element 
 forthwith abandoned the reform movement would gain the 
 active sujyport of those icho are at present responsible for 
 its defeat. 
 
 In conducting a partizan warfare against the populists 
 the politicians are materially aided by the imperfections 
 that are apparent in the principal relief measures proposed 
 by the reform leaders; to wit: The financial demands of 
 the Omaha Platform. 
 
 These ^demands' constitute a conspicuous target for 
 hostile arrows, as none of the specific measures proposed are 
 logically defensible. It is not improbable that much of 
 the present opposition to the new movement is due to the 
 fact that the populist's creed fails to satisfy those who are 
 inteU'gently seeking the cause of the present extraordinary 
 social condition. The intelligent inquirer demands to know 
 why the measures proposed will afford the promised relief. 
 
 Those who propose as a solution of the problem, either 
 bimetallism or an issue of treasury notes in 
 volume equal to $50 per capita of the present population, 
 would find it difficult to furnish a discriminating inquirer 
 with satisfactory reasons for prescribing these measures.* 
 
 Aside from the fact that Metallism is the chief cause 
 of, rather than a cure for society's ills, the demand for the 
 unlimited coinage of silver at a ratio of IG to 1, is tanta- 
 mount to a demand that government impart an exchange- 
 able value of 100 cents to each 371J grains of pure silver 
 presented at the mint for coinage. As the market value of 
 
 * The Sub-treasury, or government warehouse plan, to which the 
 movement was unceremoniously committed by th«se who drafted the 
 resolutions adopted at Ciucinnatti. has been, virtually, abandoned as 
 impracticable. But a small percentage of populists ever gave this 
 measure unqualified endorsement.
 
 this amoimt of silver at present is about 56 cents, this law 
 would, virtually, make the government a purchaser at this 
 fictitions valuation of all bullion which might be presented 
 by its owner for 'coinage,"' thus practically doubling the 
 market value of the output of the silver mines by arbitrary 
 decree,* There are thousands who are earnestly seeking 
 light on the financial cj[uestion who are unable to see either 
 the justice or the expediency of this 'demand/ 
 
 A similar difficulty confronts the enquirer in his en- 
 deavors to discover the principle upon which the '$50-per- 
 capita' demand is based. Why the vjhnna of nion9y — 
 which is an available representative of wealth — should be 
 regulated hy populaiion, is a problem the answer to which 
 is left to conjecture. This demand doubtless relies for its 
 justification upon the assumption that exchanges are effect- 
 ed with money, and that the nation is suffering for the need 
 of a greater money volume. This view although a popu- 
 lar one is technically incorrect. What is needed is not a 
 greater money volume, but a cheaper circulating me- 
 dium; i. e., a circulating medium ptovided by government 
 at cost, in lieu of that now obtained from banks and finan- 
 ciers at current interest rates. In order to obtain such a 
 circulating medium, the supply of national currency must,. 
 
 * The demonetization of silver has established beyond question a 
 truth which could not otherwise have been satisfactorily proven; viz:' 
 That a law which authorizes the unlimited coinage of any metal — 
 gold not excepted— necessarily equalizes the market value of such 
 metal whether it be coined or uncoined, and regardless of its natural 
 value as a commodity. Thus: — To declare that :23 22 grains of pure 
 gold when coined shall equal in value one dollar's worth of an}' other 
 commodity is to arbitrarily determine the value of this amount of yel- 
 low metal in the products of labor generally. As all gold under tne 
 present law is coinable into l^gal-tender 'dollars' at the will of its 
 owner, — How can there be any variation in the market value of a 
 metal thus favored?
 
 equal the legitimate demand* therefor, (be the demand 
 greater or less) and it must be issued at co^t, as a specific 
 representative, not of 'popnlaiion, hnt of wealfh. Inas 
 much as under any financial system the bulk of business 
 transactions will be effected with credit devices, (either 
 high, or low-priced) rather than with actual currency, it is 
 not at all unlikely that were society out of debt the present 
 volume of actual currency would suffice to answer the re- 
 quirements of trade. 
 
 It is obvious that no change in financial legislation is 
 proposed by either the republican or democratic leaders, 
 not withstand in (j the lyressing necessities of the rank and 
 file of both tliese j^arties. It is also evident that no relief 
 is jDossible through action of the -'Peoples Party until it is 
 elevated to national power by democratic and republican 
 voters. With the democratic leaders in full possession of 
 government patronage, and the republicans hopeful of suc- 
 cess because of democratic recreancy, the jjrospects for 
 third party ascendency in '96 are, at best, uncertain. 
 
 How imperative therefore is the necessity for immediate 
 action through a non-partizan movement of — the people. 
 
 The plan of action herein outlined is both simple and 
 feasible. Excepting in one essential particular,t it is sim- 
 ilar to that upon which the non-partizan Farmers Alliance 
 was so auspiciously inxugurated, anl upon which it gained 
 its phenomenal victories in ISO ). Tnis well conceived 
 movement was unfortunately wrested from its sound moor- 
 
 * Postage stamps are obtainable at present rates for the reason 
 only that the supply equals the deiiuind. 
 
 ■f-The farmer's movement supplied its own can lidates, instead of 
 prescribing the course of those in ofBce as herein proposed.
 
 9 
 
 ings by the hasty and ill advised action of the Cincinnati 
 Convention of 1891. * 
 
 Thus a successful independent political movement — 
 which had exhibited its pjwar in Kansas by electing 5 of 
 the 7 congressmen to which the state was entitled — was 
 degraded to ihe level of a political party, in which the 
 individuality of the citizen is necessarily subordinated to 
 the decree of the party caucus, and to the intriguing domi- 
 nation of ambitious or venal party leaders. 
 
 Thehops of the nation lies in the in^dependest elec- 
 tor! 
 
 If Populism, in its true sense, is to constitute the 
 agency through which popular government is to be perpet- 
 uated it must be lifted from the plane of partizanship and 
 restored to its original patriotic purpose. 
 
 The action demanded is radical but imperative! The 
 fatal step taken at Cincinnati must be retraced while there 
 is yet time to avoid the dangers that threaten the Republic. 
 
 Relief lies in the individual action of those who de- 
 mand it! 
 
 Let the victims of present legislation unite upon a sin- 
 gle issue. 
 
 Let there be formed in each municipal township of the 
 nation an Independent League of those who favor the 
 Monetizing of Land Values . 
 
 ■f This convention was in no sense national in character. It was 
 called and held at the instance of a very few men and a<^ainst the pro- 
 test of the officers of nearly all the Industrial organizations, includ- 
 ing Polk, Powderly, Beaumont, Terrell, and the Southern Alliance 
 leaders generally. Hasty action was deprecated by those who wisely 
 organized the Alliiince, and the sentiment against third party action 
 prevailed at the annual meeting of the National Alliance held at 
 Ocalain December 1890. At this meeting a National Conference of 
 the Industrial organizations was arranged to consider the course which 
 should be pursued. This Conference was to have been held in Febru 
 1892. The Cincinnati Convention was held in May 1891.
 
 10 
 
 Such action alone^ on the part of those already pre- 
 pared to endorse the proposition will insure a discussion 
 of the measure which will disclose its icondrous possibili- 
 ties. 
 
 When the remedy j)roposed shall have commeuded it- 
 self as a practical and desirable solution of the pending [)rob- 
 lem, the electors of the several congressional districts — thus 
 organized — may direct their representatives in Congress to 
 enact the measure into Law. 
 
 Should the demand be general, the end sought is ac- 
 complished. 
 
 Should the proposal for non-partizan action be antag- 
 onized by party leaders, the line should 1)0 sharply 
 drawn between those who are demanding good government 
 simply, and those who. upon any pretext, demand official 
 position as a necessary accompaniment. 
 
 The present attitude of the partizan reform leader nec- 
 essarily subjects his motives to public suspicion. The 
 emergency demands a policy which shall jjlace beyond ques- 
 tion the motive of those who, in this crisis, assume to teach 
 or to lead. Such a policy will both, disarm the active op- 
 ponent, and fortify the timid adherent. 
 
 Prompt action must be taken — while Reason rules — 
 that the impending revolution may be a peaceful one.
 
 CONTE^NTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Currency— Its magical power— Iguorance of its nature the primal cause of pov- 
 erty— Addison's apottiegm— The popular definition of currency amended— Money 
 made plentiful or scarce by act of Congress— Present currency issues explained— 
 Fallacious financial theories dominant — The President's view— Tts sophistry dem. 
 onstrated — The "Gold redemption' theory a?ialyzed— Why money circulates — A pre- 
 mium on gold over other legal-tender, impossible. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Monetary terms defined, Money vs Currency, Money not the common medium of 
 exchange, The dependence of society upon the banks, liank-credits the common me- 
 dium of exchange, An illustration of banking methods. Bank-credits the commercial 
 equiralent of currency,' Statistical table showing with what exchanges are effected, 
 Interest, society's arch enemy, How it is generated, A new money system indispen- 
 sable, A Hew truth proclaimed— Interest for the use of money, not compensation for 
 the use of capital. Evolution in finance essential to prosperity, 3000 years of financial 
 darkness, Why currency commands 'interest,' The disastrous effects of Metallism. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The quantitative theory of moHey a fallacy. Money not the 'measure of value,' 
 An accepted theory demolished. The Mill-Ricardo theory and its distinguished advo- 
 cates, Quotations from eminent political economists, Unwiirranted assumptions re- 
 futed. How value is 'measured,' How ability-to-purchase in the masses is destroyed, 
 The primal cause of low prices. The ceaseless interest-drain that centralize? wealth. 
 The enormous indirect interest-tax paid by consumers. Actuil increass of the public 
 debt. Statistical tabli'. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A concise definition of money. Monetized wealtii vs wealth. Only 2'/^ per cent 
 of the nation's wealth monetized for exchangeable purposes under Metallism, 
 .lustice demands the monetization of all eligible forms of wealth at the Will of its 
 owner. Two methods of monetizing value. The artifleial valuation of the precious 
 metals under the present system, An Act to utilize Land Values as a Money Hasis, 
 A money system proposed whicli will abolish 'interest' for the use of a circulating 
 medium. Full text of the measure. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Land Currency, A faultless money system, A fliexible currency, at a nominal 
 cost, A scientific solution of the vexed question. Four irrefutable propositions in 
 support of the new theory, A convincing elucidation. Objections considered, A finan- 
 cial system which would benefit all and injure none. The creditor's interests coiisid 
 ered. Debts now payable in gold, would under the proposed system be payable in a 
 legal representative of wealth. Statistical table showing of what the nation's wealth 
 consists, Conclusion. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 An acknowledgotnent— The Torren's System of Registering Land Titles. 
 
 ADDENDA.
 
 J. D. hOLDE/M'S ECO/NOA\IC WRIJI/NCS. 
 
 Sent post-paid upok receipt of price; viz: 
 
 Metallic Money and Hard Times 25c 
 
 The Law of Legal Tender 10c 
 
 Government Railways 10c 
 
 Scientific Money 15c 
 
 The four to one address 50c 
 
 Reform Publishing Co., 
 
 Emporia, Kansas. 
 
 "What is the best work on the Money Question? 
 
 To a hundred such questions in the past, the invariable answer 
 has been— Metallic Money and Hard Tiln^is."— Anericaa Noacon 
 formist. 
 
 "A great argumeni"— Pittsburg, Kansas. 
 
 "Metallic Money and Hard Times is the title of a book which leads 
 all others on the Money Qnestion."— Br ookfield Union. 
 
 "There is not a superfluous or idle sentence in the argument." — 
 Oeo. C. Ward. 
 
 "Worth its weight in 'Metallic Money' to every one who desires to 
 post themselves on the greatest of all public questions."- .(4 6t7ene Mon- 
 itor, 
 
 "Refreshingly interesting." — Emporia Republican. 
 
 "The best short article on the Money Question we have ever seen." 
 — Fredonia Democrat. 
 
 "The very essence of thought."— Senator Peffer. 
 
 "If Mr. Holden had the ear of all voters he certainly would capture 
 a majority for his plan with such modifications as would provide for 
 foreign debts."*— J. V. Farwell. 
 
 * It will become apparent upon reflection that no modification 
 of the plan, as suirgested by Mr. Farwell, is necessary. ..'Foreign 
 debts' are not payable in American monev; they are payable in for- 
 eign legal tender, or in its commTcial equivalent— foreign exchange. 
 $1000 in gold coin will purchase no more foreign exchange at the 
 present time than will $1000 in silver coin, because both are equally 
 a legal tender. Foreign exchange can always be had in the United 
 States for American legal-tender.— Jwi/<or'» note.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below 
 
 RECE 
 
 MAIN LOAI^l DESK 
 
 A.M. 
 
 718I9I10111112 
 
 
 Form L-9 
 20m-l,*42(S519) 
 
 VED 
 
 P.M. 
 
 1I2I314I5I6 
 
 o 
 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CAUFORNIA 
 AT 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 LIBRARY
 
 . V 
 
 AA 000 593 783 
 
 HG 
 
 613 
 
 H71s
 
 (,!:•■ 
 
 
 r <;. 
 
 .^"- 
 
 -'»•■' 
 
 >'. Vv':. 
 
 fir 
 w 
 
 '•?;■ 
 
 ■■' -r' '