UC-NRLF 
 
 21 M57 
 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 JWts 
 
 OF" 
 
 r /_/_ / 
 
 ry /_/_ / / 
 Accession No. /JO O (O . Clews No. 
 
iE LIGHT 
 OF REASON 
 
 A SOLUTION OF 
 THE ECONOMIC RIDDLE 
 
 BY 
 
 A. B. FRANKLIN 
 
 \RLES H. KERR & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS 
 
 56 FIFTH AVENUE, CHICAGO 
 
 35 CENTS 
 
The Light of Reason 
 
 SHOWING THE FIRST STEP THE NATION 
 
 SHOULD TAKE TOWARD A SOCIAL 
 
 ORDER BASED ON JUSTICE 
 
 BY 
 
 A, B. FRANKLIN 
 
 CHICAGO 
 
 CHARLES H. KERR & COMPANY 
 56 FIFTH AVENUB 
 
Copyright, 1899, 
 By A. B. FRANKLIN. 
 
 Library of Progress, No. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 A glance at the opening chapters of this book might 
 lead to the impression .that it is a mere work of fiction 
 without particular aim or purpose other than to enter- 
 tain, but such is far from being the case. 
 
 Though it contains a story it is in reality, as indi- 
 cated by its title, a treatise on the living questions of 
 the day with which we are one and all concerned. 
 
 Its particular claim to public favor lies in the fact 
 that it elucidates the manner by which the obstructions 
 llrat lie in the path of progress may be removed, so that 
 man kind may receive the full benefit of the discoveries 
 made, and the knowledge gained by the human intellect. 
 
 That some of its readers, especially such as are well 
 along in years, will disagree with its conclusions is but 
 to be expected. 
 
 Youth is progressive. Its hopes lie in the future, 
 and for that reason it readily approves of innovations 
 which it is convinced are for the public good. 
 
 On the other hand, old age is conservative. It lives 
 in the past, and is loath to adopt usages other than 
 those to which it has become accustomed. But while 
 the older generation is gradually relinquishing control 
 of affairs, the younger is acceding to power, and will, as 
 it inevitably must, mould the destiny of the nation in 
 the immediate future. 
 
 Yet, if the adult reader will for the time being, di- 
 5 
 
vest himself of preconceived prejudice so that he may 
 peruse the pages of the "Light of Reason" with unbiased 
 understanding, he will he surprised to find how readily 
 the mental haze surrounding public questions will dis- 
 solve, and how clearly the significance of current events 
 will, in an atmosphere of altruism, unfold itself to his 
 vision. 
 
THE LIGHT OF REASON. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Xo premonition of danger came to banker Rodney 
 Holcomb as, pale, haggard and depressed in spirit, he 
 crossed the gang plank of a steamer lying at a Philadel- 
 phia wharf, for an extended trip to foreign lands. 
 
 Man}' years before, he became enamored of Eleanor 
 Marlowe, a dark-haired, prepossessing, stately heiress 
 whom he subsequently married. 
 
 Their combined means left no doubt of their ability 
 to keep the wolf from the door, and when, in time, a 
 male heir put in an appearance their cup of happiness 
 was full to overflowing. 
 
 A few months before our story opens, this son, their 
 only child, had reached his majority, and, owing per- 
 haps to having in the course of years imbibed the hu- 
 manitarian views of an instructor in the college he at- 
 tended, he neither developed the aristocratic tendencies 
 of his mother, nor the money getting propensities of 
 his father. 
 
 The home relations of the family, however, moved 
 along serenely until Arthur Holcomb showed a predi- 
 lection for a young lady who did not find favor in the 
 mother's eyes, which circumstance led to the first dis- 
 cord of moment that ever found its way into the bank- 
 er's luxurious home. 
 
 7 
 
About that time it happened that an important 
 business complication upon the Pacific slope required 
 attention, and upon this mission, which it was expected 
 would take several months to straighten out, young 
 Ilolcomb was dispatched. 
 
 But within sixty days a letter from him imparted 
 the information that the matter had been satisfactorily 
 arranged. In addition it announced the young man's 
 intention to start immediately upon a trip to the gold 
 fields upon the tributaries of the Yukon, and that at 
 least six months would elapse before his return. 
 
 This sudden determination on his part rather met 
 with his parents approval, his mother especially con- 
 cluding that a prolonged separation from the object of 
 his affections might assist in bringing about a change of 
 mind. 
 
 But one day word came from the far north of a ter- 
 rible disaster to a party who had ventured along a dan- 
 gerous mountain path at an inopportune time, and 
 among the list of those who had met their fate appeared 
 the name of Arthur Holcomb. 
 
 The parents of the young man were naturally terri- 
 bly shocked on receipt of the news, and while it nearly 
 drove the father to distraction, it brought on an attack 
 of heart failure in the mother which caused her death. 
 Continued grieving over his double bereavement soon 
 brought Rodney Ilolcomb to the verge of physical col- 
 lapse, and upon the advice of his physician and friends, 
 he was embarking upon his journey in the hope that 
 changing scenes, preoccupying his mincl 7 would restore 
 him to his former self. 
 
 As the sequel proved, the immediate object of the 
 trip upon which he had embarked was more than ac- 
 
eomplished. hut the undesirable results otherwise could 
 certainly not have been anticipated. 
 
 The steamer which carried him across the Atlantic 
 landed him safely on the other side, and his journey 
 across the continent, including stops -more or less pro- 
 longed at various places of interest, was devoid of any 
 iii( ident of an unusual character. 
 
 I Jut a steamer 0,1 which he subsequently took pass- 
 age for the Orient, met with disaster while speeding 
 along off the African coast. 
 
 Her machinery broke down while laboring under the 
 stress of a furious gale with a heavy sea running, and 
 her machinists being unable to repair the damage, for a 
 week or more she was buffettcd about in a helpless con- 
 dition, drifting completely out of her course, and away 
 from the usual track of the merchant marine. 
 
 And one day. in the midst of a dense fog which had 
 hung about the ship for hours, something not altogether 
 unexpected happened. 
 
 There came a sudden shock, a grating and creaking 
 noise, and a crushing of timbers as the vessel struck 
 upon a submerged rocky formation. * 
 
 Intense excitement immediately possessed passen- 
 gers and crew, and orders were rapidly given to lower 
 boats and provision them, but before this could be done 
 the ship careened to one side, her prow rose in the air, 
 and sliding off the ledge on which she struck she went 
 down stern foremost carrying those on board of her to a 
 watery grave. 
 
 Not all, for strange to say, only Rodney Holcomb 
 clinging for life to a piece of flotsam survived to tell 
 the tale. 
 
 For many hours he drifted thus about until finally 
 
10 
 
 cast ashore upon an island which, providentially enough 
 for him, provided food sufficient to sustain life; and on 
 this island for twenty long years he lived, like Robinson 
 Crusoe, solitary and alone, scanning many times a day 
 the vast expanse of water that encompassed him about, 
 to discern the possible approach of some vessel upon 
 which he might return to civilization. Now and then 
 a. sail appeared upon the horizon, but not until the 
 lapse of two decades did any of the various signals he 
 regularly hoisted attract attention. 
 
 A merchantman considerably out of its course, sent 
 a row boat to investigate what appeared to be indica- 
 tions of human life upon a seemingly barren island, and 
 shortly he was once again in the companionship of men 
 of his own race who generously supplied him with such 
 raiment as he urgently stood in need. 
 
 In two short weeks he disembarked at the wharf of 
 a great city on the African coast. 
 
 Here had been located a financial institution which 
 in former times* had honored letters of credit he had 
 issued to tourists and commercial men. 
 
 But was it Mill in existence? And if so, was his 
 friend, Silas Burton, still connected with it, or for that 
 matter, still in the land of the living? 
 
 These were the questions he asked himself as he 
 w ended his way towards the business district of the city. 
 
 He shortly discovered that the banking concern no 
 more existed, but the friend of his youth, like himself 
 well along in years, was still enjoying life, and they 
 were soon in each other's presence; 
 
 They had grown up in the same town, were chums 
 at school and at college, and their intimacy had been 
 carried into their business careers through the transac- 
 
11 
 
 tions of exchange connected with the banker's vocation 
 in which they had both embarked. 
 
 Once before since Burton had located in the English 
 colony on the African coast he had been visited by Hoi- 
 comb, on which occasion the pranks of their boyhood 
 days, reappearing in the wreaths of smoke that rose 
 from their cigars, had been successively recalled. 
 
 But more than twenty-one years had passed since 
 that last meeting, and so changed were they in appear- 
 ance that only on close scrutiny could either recognize 
 the other. 
 
 Nevertheless the old familiar lines of their features 
 disclosed themselves rapidly on contemplation, their 
 voices had but slightly changed with advancing age, and 
 shortly after their meeting face to face, long before they 
 had once again begun to recall the by-gone days of 
 "auld lang syne," he of the bronzed visage was cordially 
 greeted as one who had seemingly returned from tho 
 dead who had embarked on a ship which never reached 
 its destination, and from which no tidings ever came. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Notwithstanding the many years of his involuntary 
 isolation, Rodney Holcomb found himself possessed 
 of considerable means. Before embarking on his fate- 
 ful journey, he had remitted Burton, with instructions 
 that he retain the same until called for, bills of exchange 
 for ten thousand dollars. 
 
 These funds, intended to meet whatever expense he 
 might incur in the Orient, still remained intact in the 
 hands of his friend. When they had been transferred 
 to his credit on the books of the government bank, he 
 provided himself with attire suitable to the station in 
 life in which he had formerly moved, and, at least so far 
 as his physical comfort was concerned, felt compara- 
 tively at ease. 
 
 "Oh,Mr. Holcomb,read this," remarked Mrs . Eudoni 
 Burton on the evening of his arrival, directing his at- 
 tention to an article in the afternoon edition of the local 
 paper. 
 
 They had been acquainted even before her marriage 
 to his old chum, and he attended their nuptials but a 
 short time before their departure for their present place 
 of abode. 
 
 She had ever been of a happy cheery disposition, and 
 it may be imagined that when Rodney Holcomb re- 
 appeared so unexpectedly, she was the most surprised 
 
13 
 
 woman on earth. "If ever a miracle happened this is 
 one/' she had exclaimed in the exuberance of her joy 
 ns she cordialty greeted him on his arrival. 
 
 The newspaper which she handed him was dated 
 June 12, 1919, and the item to which she referred 
 proved to he an account of his extraordinary adventure 
 in detail, 
 
 Already the telegraph had flashed the story of his 
 strange experience, and the fate of the "Cleopatra," her 
 passengers and crew, to every portion of the civilized 
 world. 
 
 A most welcome surprise one which filled the heart 
 of the elderly man just returned from involuntary exile 
 with joy and gladness was the information imparted 
 to him shortly after his arrival that his son, whom he 
 had considered dead, was alive and well in his American 
 home, and more than that, had become prominent in 
 the affairs of the republic. 
 
 "Arthur had grown up to be a sensible, level-head- 
 ed young man," he remarked the following evening in 
 the luxurious drawing room of the Burton home, "and 
 I now perceive that we were wrong in our opposition to 
 hk marriage to the young lady of his choice:" 
 
 "We naturally expected him to wed some one of the 
 many estimable young ladies of his acquaintance moving 
 in aristocratic circles, but one day he declared his prefer- 
 ence for Gertrude Wiloughby who had been teaching 
 school to help support her younger sisters and her wid- 
 owed mother, and nothing we could say could influence 
 him to depart from that decision." 
 
 "A sensible young man can usually be depended up- 
 on to make a wise choice of a life partner without pa- 
 
14 
 
 rental advice," said Silas Burton, and turning to his 
 wife, he added in a spirit of badinage, "can't he 
 Dora?" 
 
 "You think because you did, everybody can/' re- 
 plied Mrs. Burton, scoring a point in repartee. 
 
 "'And then,' 7 said Mr. Burton, continuing the thread 
 of his friend's discourse after the smile provoked by the 
 bit of pleasantry indulged in had subsided, "Arthur 
 went off on a western trip, and quite unexpectedly to 
 Alaska." 
 
 "Yes," coincided the other, a momentary shade of 
 sadness passing over his features, "he went to Alaska. 
 And you tell me," he continued, "that the Arthur Hol- 
 comb whom the dispatches reported lost in the aval- 
 anche was not our Arthur Lut some other person of the 
 same name, and that after it was certain the ship on 
 which I embarked had met with disaster, my son came 
 over here, nearly to the antipodes, in order to be where 
 he might render me possible assistance!" 
 
 "Yes," said Mrs. Burton, "he declared that some- 
 thing told him you had not been drowned, and when 
 Silas offered to turn over to him the funds you had re- 
 mitted for your requirements, he refused to accept them 
 saying that you would yet call for them in person. I 
 consider the intuitive belief in your safety which he en- 
 tertained a most remarkable circumstance." 
 
 "And more than that," added Mr. Burton, "he said 
 he would come again, and that he believed we would 
 meet you here uninjured and restored to perfect health." 
 
 Just then Edna Burton, lovely as a picture attired 
 in pink and white, appeared in the open doorway, and 
 announced the arrival of a cablegram for Mr. Holcomb. 
 
15 
 
 It was a message from his son, and after bestowing a 
 glance upon it, he read aloud its contents which ran as 
 follows : 
 
 "Gertrude and I and the children will meet you at 
 Burton's.' Stay until we arrive." ARTHUR. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 "There!" exclaimed Mrs. Burton after those present 
 had surveyed each other's countenance for a moment 
 in silent surprise. "What he as well as predicted is 
 coming true to the letter. Jt is simply wonderful."' 
 
 "It does seem extraordinary," said the recipient of 
 the welcome message, "but after all, what he said and 
 decided upon must have been based entirely upon what 
 he hoped would come about. It was impossible for him 
 to know." 
 
 "Of course," he continued, "he related to you his 
 experiences in the gold fields of Alaska?" 
 
 "He did, and his account of them was quite enter- 
 taining," replied Mrs. Burton. 
 
 "He mentioned, however, that he did not journey 
 to the far north for the purpose of searching for gold, 
 but through a desire to observe and study human na- 
 ture amidst the successes, failures and excitements of 
 a mining region. He seemed thoroughly possessed of 
 the advanced ideas which have since been accepted bv 
 governments the world over, and he ridiculed the idea 
 of society retaining in use as money a commodity to 
 obtain which, men traversed dreary wastes in the face 
 of cold, hunger, privation and death, when its use for 
 such a purpose could just as well as not be dispensed 
 with . 
 
 He stated then that he had started to write for pub- 
 16 
 
li cat ion upon the subject, and it is generally conceded 
 that his treatise on the science of government which 
 subsequently appeared, contributed in no small degree 
 to the enlightenment of the masses upon the currency 
 and other questions." 
 
 "I am glad to hear that," said the father of the 
 young man thus praiseworthily alluded to, "and it is 
 what might have been expected of him, judging from 
 the many works on government he accumulated, whose 
 contents he eagerly devoured." 
 
 "In many things Arthur was altogether different 
 from the sons of the rich in general. He had a keen 
 sense of natural right and justice, sympathized with the 
 weaker elements of society, and once remarked that he 
 could understand how men would always do society use- 
 ful service in the production and the distribution of 
 commodities, in the professions, the arts, the sciences 
 and in other ways, but while it might be a necessary 
 evil under the existing state of affairs for individuals to 
 gain a livelihood through the taking of interest and the 
 discounting of commercial paper, he did not consider 
 such vocations as that of the private banker at all nec- 
 i's<ary under a proper rational social and industrial sys- 
 tem. He was particularly careful in the selection of his 
 associates, never consorting with young men who cared 
 for naught else but to have a good time, and, though he 
 repeatedly declared he never would connect himself 
 with any banking institution, I thought the world of 
 the boy because of his good qualities and dignified man- 
 liness, and you can imagine how T felt when I saw the 
 name of Arthur ITolcomb among those reported over- 
 whelmed on the glacier." 
 
 "He related to us how be became interested in pub- 
 
18 
 
 lie questions," said Mr. Burton, "and was considerably 
 surprised when I exhibited to him one of his "earlier es- 
 says in print, the one you once enclosed in a letter if 
 you remember. He remarked when he saw it in the 
 scrap book in which I had it preserved that it was the 
 first paper he presented to the 'Good Government Club' 
 after becoming a member, and that it merely hinted at 
 changes which it was becoming evident would before 
 long be made in home government." 
 
 "I recollect sending you the clipping," said the man 
 addressed, "but its contents has entirely slipped my 
 memory/' 
 
 "Would you like to hear it read, Mr. Holcomb?" 
 asked Edna who had remained in the room after the de- 
 parture of the uniformed employe of the telegraph ser- 
 vice who delivered the cablegram, "it is not very 
 lengthy." 
 
 "I think I would enjoy having it recalled at this par- 
 ticular time," the elderly man addressed replied. 
 
 Edna, though not quite seventeen, had very nearly 
 completed her education, and besides the usual run of 
 studies she had taken a course in elocution. The book- 
 case was near at hand and in a few moments she began 
 the reading of the essay in a clear, musical, well modu- 
 lated voice. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 It ran as follows: 
 
 We take a natural pride in our common country, and 
 truthfully claim to have, on the whole, the grandest, 
 democracy that has as yet been reared on earth. 
 
 But even its founders admitted that it was far from 
 perfect at its inception, and since their day it has not 
 been materially improved upon. 
 
 Such being the case, why not set about to ascertain of 
 what those imperfections consist, and in what direction 
 improvement in government lies? 
 
 We frame our own social regulations, so that we can 
 make our institutions conform to whatever will best 
 conduce to the prosperity, happiness and contentment 
 of the people, and to that end can without let or hind- 
 rance alter or abolish laws or constitutions that stand in 
 the way at will. 
 
 When we contemplate society and find a limited few 
 in possession of the bulk of the wealth of the nation; find 
 Ihcm usurping governmental functions in transporta- 
 tion and exchange, controlling the avenues of intelli- 
 gence and monopolizing the necessaries of life, while 
 the many are madly competing with one another for an 
 existence, and an army of unemployed clamor, not for 
 charity, but for an opportunity to gain a livelihood by 
 
 honest labor, we naturally conclude that something 
 
 19 
 
20 
 
 must be radically wrong in the regulations by which so- 
 ciety is governed to bring about such results. 
 
 But what is to be done? 
 
 Happily an answer is at hand. Every nation of 
 earth labors under difficulties more or less similar to our 
 own, and if we examine into the remedy to which the 
 people of older settled countries are turning, we soon 
 become convinced that the measures for improvement 
 in government which they propose to introduce will 
 bring full and adequate relief. If we expect to progress, 
 we must not shut our eyes to what is going on in the 
 great world of which this nation is but a part. 
 
 Would it be wise for the Chinese say, to ignore the 
 advances we and other nations have made, in a consider- 
 ation of the adoption by them of an improved form of 
 government? 
 
 And does a monopoly of wisdom rest with us who 
 have made use of the printing press, the chronometer, 
 the cathode ray and a thousand other things of foreign 
 origin? ' 
 
 If so, how is it that We alone of the great nations of 
 earth are confronted by either a railroad or a telegraph 
 problem? And do we take notice that in all those coun- 
 tries where the operation of the railroads and the tele- 
 graph runs along as smoothly, uninterruptedly and as 
 satisfactorily as does our mail service, both railroads 
 and telegraph are owned, controlled and operated by 
 the nation by the people collectively? 
 
 True, we are agitating for government railroads and 
 telegraph, but what are the millions in France and Ger- 
 many and Belgium and other countries where such in- 
 stitutions are already collectively owned agitating for? 
 Surely not to turn such institutions over to individuals. 
 
21 
 
 Of the various political parties in those 1 countries not 
 a single one makes claim that government ownership 
 is a failure and demands its abolition. On the contrary 
 no fault is found with collective ownership in any coun- 
 try. 
 
 What they are agitating for, is, that the remainder 
 of the industries, including agriculture, now conducted 
 by private enterprise, be similarly placed under collec- 
 tive management and control. 
 
 More and more of the citizens of those nations are 
 becoming convinced that the welfare of the people as a 
 whole, which is the primary object of government, can 
 be best promoted by each respective nation taking en- 
 tire charge of its industrial affairs, and that only in this 
 manner can the rights of the individuals of a nation be 
 properly adjusted, and a more equal distribution of the 
 comforts of life be secured. 
 
 It is the practical application of this theory, which 
 accords with the trend of natural and unobstructed evo- 
 lution, that is being urged for adoption by the pro- 
 gressive element in every advanced nation of earth, and 
 within the range of its potentiality will be found a so- 
 lution of the various problems with which the people 
 of our republic are confronted . 
 
 As a nation, we are not ready for the adoption of 
 so radical a change of industrial conditions in its en- 
 iirety, but the time is ripe when the first steps leading 
 in that direction should be taken. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 "Now that my memory has been refreshed, the sub- 
 stance of the article comes back to me very clearly," 
 said Mr. ITolcomb, when Edna had finished reading the 
 clipping, "and from what I observe," he continued, 
 "things seem to have shaped themselves into a system 
 very similar to the social order whose adoption he was 
 assisting to bring about." 
 
 "Precisely," remarked his life long friend, "'and," 
 he continued, "notwithstanding the fact that when that 
 article was penned the people of the United States were 
 in some respects more conservative than those of other 
 countries, they were, after all, the first to discover the 
 road leading to permanent prosperity." 
 
 And then day by day while awaiting the arrival of 
 Arthur and his family, Rodney Holcomb took notice of 
 the stupendous changes that had been made in business 
 methods since on a May-day morning in the closing 
 year of the previous century, twenty years before, from 
 the hurricane deck of an ocean liner, he had watched 
 the spires of the city of his abode fade gradually away 
 until lost to view in the distance. And the more he ob- 
 served those changes, the more did they gain favor in 
 his estimation. 
 
 Industry was being carried on by the people collec- 
 tively. Xo capitalists gathered to themselves the sur- 
 plus wealth which the toilers produced. This now 
 
 22 
 
23 
 
 found its way into the national treasury, and with the 
 social capital thus created the people built factories 
 and workshops and opened up to themselves the hither- 
 to closed avenues of employment. 
 
 The citizens through their postal savings system did 
 their own banking. No commercial banks were neces- 
 sary, because both production and distribution were 
 being carried on by society as a whole. Individuals pur- 
 chased their necessaries in great trade bazaars owned 
 controlled and supervised directly by government. Land 
 was being cultivated collectively with the latest im- 
 proved appliances and inventions. Such a thing as tax- 
 ation was unknown; there was no necessity for it what- 
 ever. Speculation in commodities, commission broker- 
 age and insurance of every description was abolished. 
 Neither was there a private charity organization in ex- 
 istence. Society as a whole provided the best of medi- 
 cal attendance to its membership when required, and it 
 discharged its proper duty of caring for the blind, the 
 crippled and for those in any way incapable of render- 
 ing useful public service. 
 
 And the construction of public works, which in- 
 cluded the erection of commodious homes for the peo- 
 ple, went on without cessation. 
 
 All these things which tended to enhance the happi- 
 ness of the people drew forth from him expressions of 
 approval and admiration. "I doubt," said he one day 
 enthusiastically, "if you people who have seen these 
 changes made slowly and gradually realize their grand- 
 cur as I do who have had them suddenly unfolded to 
 my vision. It is amazing! bewildering! wonderful!" 
 
 One evening on leaving the Burton home after the 
 usual social chat, he took with him for perusal the pub- 
 
24 
 
 lication which Arthur had composed, which, a.s he had 
 heen told, had contributed greatly toward bringing 
 about the new social order. 
 
 It was entitled "Society," and, substantially repro- 
 duced, ran as follows: 
 
SOCIETY 
 
 Not that society in frills and lace and 
 gold, but that composite whole embracing 
 all mankind* 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The reader has perhaps seen and remembers the old 
 wooden block puzzle, the pieces of which when fitted 
 together formed a symmetrical bunch roughly round. 
 
 It was a perplexing thing which could not be put to- 
 gether without making use of each and every block, and 
 assigning it to its proper position in the make-up of the 
 whole. 
 
 When the pieces were properly arranged and the 
 puzzle was solved, like when the details of an invention 
 or discovery are made known, it all became very simple. 
 There is a good deal of similarity between the old wood- 
 en puzzle and the social organization. 
 
 Society is a compact body whose tranquility depends 
 upon the harmonious relation towards each other of the 
 elements of which it is composed. Every problem with 
 which it is confronted admits of ready solution. But 
 all public questions are inter-related, and each must 
 have its proper place in a correct alignment. 
 
 When this is done, like when one knows how to put 
 the wooden puzzle together, it will all seem very simple. 
 
 But until each and all of the questions which affect 
 our material, existence are properly adjusted, the times, 
 like the blocks of the wooden puzzle when not correctly 
 put together, must continue, as they are now, "out of 
 joint/' 
 
 26 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 As part of the inscrutable design of the Creator of 
 the Universe, man alone of the various forms of animal 
 life on earth has been endowed with reason, understand- 
 ing and superior qualities of mind otherwise, which ena- 
 ble him to provide for his immediate subsistence and 
 comfort, to transmit and perpetuate his discoveries in 
 the intellectual field, and to appreciate the mental pow- 
 ers and advantages with which he has been favored. 
 
 Man is pre-eminently a thinking creature, and to 
 the extent that he has utilized the mental faculties with 
 which he has been endowed has civilization advanced. 
 
 There is a marked difference, however, in the ad- 
 vance of mechanical and scientific knowledge promoted 
 by the individual, and of social progress which necessi- 
 tates the co-operation of the individual members of 
 which society is composed. 
 
 Progressive ideas in the field of scientific discovery 
 and invention are given to the world after successful 
 experimentation or demonstration, and are utilized at 
 once. 
 
 Not so with a theory indicating how the people 
 through their government might proceed to better their 
 condition. 
 
 Such a theory admits of experimentation only when 
 practically applied. Nevertheless, one by one, indivi- 
 duals may perceive that in some certain theory sug- 
 
 27 
 
28 
 
 gestcd, the right road to a betterment of social condi- 
 tions has been pointed out, and when the circle of those 
 co-operating for its adoption becomes sufficiently ex- 
 tended, we have social progress. 
 
 Consequently, the advancement of society as a whole 
 depends entirely upon the intelligent discernment of 
 its members as regards what is best for its welfare. 
 
SOCIETY. I. 
 LAND. 
 
 Some six thousand or more years ago, man and 
 woman awoke to the consciousness that they were be- 
 ings endowed with superior 'intelligence, and were, by 
 the Creator of all, given dominion over the land and 
 the waters of the earth. 
 
 The land was fair to look upon even as a garden. 
 Luscious fruit and other edibles sprung in profusion 
 from the soil, cattle and sheep in an undomesticated 
 state roamed the hillsides, and with fish and fowl con- 
 veniently at hand, the earlier progenitors of the race 
 had but to reach out into nature for their subsistence. 
 
 And, in the course of time, long before the advent 
 of any who cultivated the soil in even the most crude 
 and primitive way, came those who upon the unclaimed 
 pastures stretching away , in every direction, tended 
 flocks and herds. 
 
 For several centuries in the infancy of civilization 
 while land was plenty and population sparse, it was not 
 difficult for individuals to maintain fairly amicable re- 
 lations towards each other as regards the possession of 
 land. Nevertheless the land question made its appear- 
 ance at a comparatively early period. 
 
 Some portions of the land, just as they are at the 
 present time, were better than others, and for that iva- 
 
 scn were eagerly taken possession of by the 'owners of 
 
 29 
 
30 
 
 the ever increasing flocks and herds; and later on, when 
 men began to cultivate the soil, the strife for land be- 
 came intensified. 
 
 Yet the only title to land during those centuries 
 was the right of use and control conceded to individuals 
 because of priority in taking possession, and of occu- 
 pancy. 
 
 But as time passed, the more powerful, the more 
 cunning, and the more grasping of the citizenship 
 claimed and took possession of great bodies of land, and 
 the ignorant, the weak, and the less calculating were 
 taken advantage of, just as they are at the present time, 
 and soon came to consider those who had amassed 
 wealth in cattle and sheep and landed estates as the per- 
 sons to whom to look for a chance to labor in order to 
 gain a subsistence, and it might be added that this was 
 perfectly natural and proper, then, as it is even now, in 
 a competitive state of society. 
 
 Land being the natural storehouse from which all 
 that is essential to the support of man is derived, it fol- 
 lowed, that men who were not possessed of land, nor 
 were indirectly deriving support from it through labor 
 performed for land-owners or in some other legitimate 
 way, were of necessity compelled to wander off to new 
 localities in search of opportunities to earn a compe- 
 tence w r hich in the older settled communities were pre- 
 sented to but a limited number, and in this manner 
 population, perhaps at first limited to portions of Asia, 
 spread into Africa, into Europe and completed its cir- 
 cuit of the globe when, after its discovery by Columbus, 
 it took possession of the American continent. 
 
 Early in the world's history the right to the posses- 
 sion and use of land came to be looked upon as trans- 
 
31 
 
 ferablc property, and passing by inheritance, and from 
 hand to hand for a consideration, we can readily 
 conceive how, in time, the original relation of man to 
 land became obscured, and the idea that the absolute 
 title to land would for all time, be transferred from in- 
 dividual to individual became fixed in the minds of 
 men. However, as long as free land could still be ob- 
 tained, no harm came to society from regulations per- 
 mitting private land ownership and providing a 
 for its transfer. 
 
 In fact, laws providing for the ownership a 
 fer of land were unquestionably right, proper, 
 equitable throughout the period in which the earth 
 being taken possession of. 
 
 Have the lands of the earth been appropriated, id 
 the query to which these reflections give rise! 
 
 Vast tracts of land have never as yet been cultivated, 
 but the conceded right of the individual to the unlim- 
 ited ownership of land carries with it the absolute rig! it 
 of its disposition, and since the introduction of 
 parchment, whereby documentary evidence relating to 
 land ownership might be preserved, it has become pos- 
 sible and an every-day occurrence to obtain and retain 
 title to land without either actual use or occupation. 
 And it has come to pass that the title deeds to the earth 
 are on record, so that 'men can not anywhere take up 
 free land to acquire that competence which, though 
 still earned by a limited number who either directly or 
 indirectly derive their support from land, is denied to 
 an ever increasing percentage of the population. 
 
SOCIETY. II. 
 LAND (Continued). 
 
 When we reflect upon the fact that we are compelled 
 to resort to land for food, raiment, shelter and every 
 material thing which we create for either ornament or 
 use, it becomes clearly evident that land, by the will of 
 its Creator, was intended for the support of the entire 
 human race. 
 
 Not alone for the living of any one era in time, but 
 for all succeeding generations as well. When through 
 social regulations permitting the . transfer of the title 
 to land for a consideration, or the acquirement of the 
 eame by inheritance, the soil of a nation has passed into 
 the possession of a limited number of individuals, with 
 population ever on the increase, it manifestly becomes 
 diverted from its intended purpose the support of all 
 and no matter how plentiful may be the harvests 
 which it yields, the disinherited are not permitted 1> 
 share in its bounties.* 
 
 *"Natural justice can recognize no right in one man to 
 the possession and enjoyment of land that is not equally 
 the right of all his fellows," says Henry George in "Pro- 
 gress and Poverty," and by way of annotation he adds: 
 "This natural and inalienable right to the equal use and 
 enjoyment of land is so apparent that it has been recognized 
 by men wherever force or habit has not blunted first per- 
 ceptions." To give but one instance. The white settlers of 
 New Zealand found themselves unable to get from the Maoris 
 what the latter considered a complete title to land, because. 
 
 32 
 
33 
 
 We now have laws sustaining the absolute owner- 
 ship of land by individuals. 
 
 liut laws are the creation of society, and whenever 
 the condition of a considerable portion of the citizen - 
 sdiip indicates that a change in social regulations so as 
 to abolish private ownership in land would be for the 
 public good, codes and constitutions may and ought to 
 be changed accordingly. Existing titles to land must 
 be considered, what they really are; temporary expe- 
 dients to adjust the rights of settlers in a new country 
 until such a time as land can no more be taken up free. 
 For with the coming of the first individual who can no 
 more obtain free land when payment is demanded be- 
 fore he can derive his support from the soil the situa- 
 tion changes, the temporary expedient by which the 
 lands have become settled up is at an end, and it be- 
 comes the duty of the collectivity, in whom the title to 
 the land parcelled out is naturally vested, to make such 
 collective use of land that each and all may derive that 
 support from the soil to which they are naturally and 
 of right entitled. The time has come when free land 
 can no more be obtained; when it is clearly against pub- 
 lic policy to continue disposing of the remaining lands 
 of the nation as in the past, and when collective use of 
 the soil must be made for the common good. For these 
 reasons, keeping in view the interests of the disinher- 
 ited members of our common society, and our dutv so 
 
 although a whole tribe might have consented to a sale they 
 would still claim with every new child born among them 
 an additional payment on the ground that they had only 
 parted with their own rights, and could not sell those of 
 the unborn. The government was obliged to step in and 
 settle the matter by buying land for a tribal annuity, in 
 which every child that is born acquires a share. 
 
34 
 
 to arrange that the mill ions yet unborn will not be de- 
 prived of their rightful share in the. world into which 
 they will be ushered, it behooves us to refrain from 
 granting away even a single foot of the lands still col- 
 lectively owned by the people, for any purpose or for 
 any consideration whatsoever. 
 
SOCIETY. III. 
 LAND (Concluded.) 
 
 It seems rather idle to speculate upon what might 
 have hoe 11 done as regards laud by the founders of our 
 government, yd \ve may with profit indulge in a few re- 
 flections upon that subject. 
 
 Following European customs the colonists had be- 
 fore the War of the Revolution, individually acquired 
 title to the lands they occupied, so that the conditions 
 then existing as regards land were virtually recognized 
 nnd incorporated into the new social compact with no 
 attempt at change. Still there remained the vast terri- 
 tory stretching away toward the setting sun the splen- 
 did domain the last remnants of which we are parcelling 
 out this very day.* 
 
 Had government retained the title to this land, 
 leased it out in small tracts at a low rental, and later 
 on, when steam succeeded horse power in locomotion, 
 built short stretches of railroad between the most prom- 
 ising points, extending such from time to time until the 
 land was gridironed with these modern vehicles of 
 
 *While we are still disposing of the remnant of our pub- 
 lic lands, New Zealand is repurchasing its landed estates, 
 and leasing them to ac'tual cultivators for fixed terms. To 
 this end laws have been enacted that government have the 
 option to acquire land at the valuation at which i't has been 
 returned for taxation. 
 
 35 
 
- 36 
 
 transportation, the major portion of the problems that 
 now confront the nation would not have arisen. 
 
 But it was not done, and this misstep so momentous 
 in its consequences will .yet have to be retraced these 
 lands will have to be repurchased by the collectivity 
 from the individuals into whoso possession they have 
 legitimately come under the policies which wo pursued. 
 
 It is only when population has increased to such an. 
 extent that the amble hinds of a new country are all 
 taken up, that the truth dawns upon the people that no 
 provision for support of the generations yet unborn has 
 been made, and that these, when ushered bare-handed 
 into the world will find the land of the earth and its 
 resources in the possession of those with whom they 
 will be compelled to make terms before they will be per- 
 mitted to derive a subsistence from the soil. 
 
 All men should have recourse upon the land for sup- 
 port, but this does not mean that all men should derive 
 their support in whole or in part from agriculture, 
 though in fact all men do either directly or indirectly 
 derive their support from the earth. 
 
 Were farms reduced in size to keep pace with in- 
 crease in population they would, in time, become so 
 email that the use of even ordinary machinery in their 
 cultivation would not be profitable. 
 
 Population, especially in the older settled districts, 
 is becoming dense, and patches of land in millions of 
 small holdings are being cultivated the world over. 
 And how much unremitting toil, and how little of cheer 
 and comfort comes into the lives of these agrarians who 
 perhaps manage to eke out a hand to mouth existence! 
 The tendency in agriculture, like in manufactures, is 
 away from small production, and in the direction of 
 
- 3? - 
 
 production on ;m extensive scale. With the so-called 
 bonanza farms of the west, approximating an entire 
 county in sixe. the raiser of wheat on a small scale can 
 not successfully compete, and the large tracts of land 
 which capitalists are acquiring for cultivation are be- 
 coming more numerous year by year. 
 
 Only by production on a large scale, and the em- 
 ployment of the latest discoveries that tend to lessen 
 cost of production can agriculture even now be made 
 remunerative where farmers compete with each other 
 in the home market, and all in turn compete with the 
 producers of food products in foreign lands. 
 
 Do not the agriculturalists of the country then per- 
 ceive that it is the grinding down process of competi- 
 tive production which is the cause of the depression in 
 agriculture, and that an inconceivable amount of drud- 
 gery, worry and hardship could be averted by consolid- 
 ating the landed interests of the country so that the en- 
 tire soil of the nation would be operated, managed 
 and controlled as a single industrial enterprise for the 
 public good? 
 
 Such an arrangement would not alone make foreign 
 competition in agricultural products a thing of the past 
 but it would also solve the problem of how best to dis- 
 pose of the vast stretches of territory known as the arid 
 lands of the west. These would be made fertile through 
 great irrigating canals which government would con- 
 struct, and the resources of the land put to collective 
 use. 
 
 The time is not far distant when the title to all the 
 la ml within our borders will be vested in the collec- 
 tivity. The arduous tasks of agriculture will then be per- 
 formed by steam and electric machinery whose arms of 
 
- 38 - 
 
 steel will sweep over vast areas unimpeded by a maze of 
 fences such as are now set up as lines of demarkation 
 between neighbors whose interest in the common soil 
 should be identical. 
 
 There can be no grander conception than the great 
 national farm of a co-operative commonwealth, extend- 
 ing from ocean to ocean, studded with a thousand mag- 
 nificent cities beside which the urban conglomerations 
 of the present time would appear but as shabby cari- 
 catures. 
 
 Only in this manner can the foundation of a system 
 by which all may be assured the opportunities to ac- 
 quire the comforts of existence, be laid. Upon this 
 foundation will rest all the departments of human ac- 
 tivity, carried on by the people collectively, furnishing 
 avenues of employment to all, and in this manner will 
 all men have recourse upon the land for support. 
 
SOCIETY. IV. 
 WEALTH. 
 
 We may reasonably conjecture that, beginning at 
 a very early period in the history of mankind, indivi- 
 duals realized the necessity of laying up a store for fu- 
 ture subsistence and comfort out of what nature lavish- 
 ly produced. They proceeded to accumulate a food 
 and a fuel supply; the skins of animals which they en- 
 trapped and slew served them as raiment, and rude hab- 
 itations constructed of logs and the branches of trees 
 gave tli em shelter. 
 
 These fruits of their labor together with such other 
 necessaries as their primitive mode of living suggested 
 and their creative capacities enabled them to produce, 
 were wealth, just as are solely and alone the comforts 
 of life at the present time. 
 
 Individuals in this manner provided for their own 
 necessities until men began to exchange commodities 
 which they produced for those which others produced, 
 each seeking not to give more labor value in exchange 
 than what he received, and thus the competitive meth- 
 ods of acquiring a living to which we still adhere, 
 sprang into existence. Selfishness immediately be- 
 came the foundation upon which the industrial struc- 
 ture was erected, and the accumulation of the means 
 of subsistence and as many of the comforts of life as 
 
 possible a praiseworthy and laudable endeavor, 
 
 39 
 
40 
 
 But in the nature of things no one knew when ho 
 had a sufficiency when he had a competence, and so 1>\ 
 universal custom which by continued usage came to In- 
 considered a lawful right, even like unto this very day, 
 individuals proceeded to accumulate wealth without 
 limit. 
 
 Such a social order worked comparatively little 
 hardship before the days of steam and electricity when 
 men were unable to produce more than could be con- 
 sumed; but in these days of labor saving machinery 
 when we can produce more than we can possibly con- 
 sume: when the title deeds to the earth are on record 
 and men moving from locality to locality in seeking to 
 gain a livelihood stand at bay, it becomes an easy mat- 
 ter for the few who have come into possession of the 
 most profitable sources of production to appropriate to 
 themselves the wealth which under more equitable so- 
 cial conditions would provide necessaries of life for the 
 many, and enable them to share in the conveniences 
 and comforts which the age has produced. 
 
 But men are gradually coming to see that they have 
 not equal opportunities in the gaining of a competence, 
 and that social regulations under which it is possible 
 for an individual to acquire wealth which represents 
 the food, shelter and raiment taken from millions of his 
 fellow beings ought not to be continued. 
 
 The fortune of John D. Rockefeller accumulated in 
 less than three decades is estimated at one hundred and 
 thirty million dollars. The better to realize the immen- 
 sity of such a sum let us compare it with the earning 
 power of individuals engaged in manual labor. 
 
 More than four thousand years have elapsed since 
 .Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers who had 
 
41 - 
 
 boon sent into Kgypt after corn to relieve th'e distress 
 of the kindred they had left behind them in a famine 
 stricken land. 
 
 Let us now imagine the twelve sons of Jacob as 
 wage earners, and from the time of their reunion re- 
 eeiving such a munificent stipend as to be enabled to 
 lay by each the sum of five dollars per day over and 
 above living expenses. 
 
 This would sum up sixty dollars per day for the 
 twelve young men. 
 
 Let us further imagine them as for ages retaining 
 the vigor and energy of their early manhood as never 
 growing old, and with the one object of accumulating 
 money in view, laboring on and on and on, through 
 dynasty after dynasty, and century after century, all of 
 them finding continuous employment at good wages, 
 and each of the twelve saving up five dollars a day for 
 three hundred days in the } T ear as in the beginning. 
 
 One might suppose at a venture that if the twelve 
 men so laboring were still at work in our day, their ag- 
 gregate savings would at least equal the accumulations 
 of the great oil magnate, but such is far from being the 
 case. Were that their aim, well might they feel dis- 
 couraged at the task before them, because, each laying 
 by five dollars per day as before, to accumulate a total 
 of one hundred and thirty million dollars would require 
 that they still labor on and on, century in and century 
 out. for more than three thousand years beyond the 
 present time! 
 
 But in view of the fact that under our social regula- 
 tions Mr. Rockefeller may legitimately obtain control 
 of every gallon of oil in the country and dispose of the 
 same to the public at any price he may without limit a- 
 
42 
 
 tion or hindrance demand, the wonder is that instead of 
 only having passed the hundred million mark he has 
 not already become a billionaire. 
 
 Fifty years ago an individual possessed of twenty 
 thousand dollars was accounted wealthy, and many a 
 man who had accumulated such a sum retired from 
 business life. 
 
 The business man of to-day who would retire on 
 such a sum would be considered a commercial freak 
 by his compeers. The custom now is to invest in cor- 
 poration stock which earns a dividend throughout the 
 life of him by whom it is possessed, then for his legatees 
 after earthen clods have rattled o'er his bones. 
 
 Some men like some beasts are more ravenous than 
 others. 
 
 Though they mete out ruin and disaster to thou- 
 sands, their avariciousness can ne'er be satiated. 
 
 And yet these human carnivori who feed on flesh 
 and blood as well as gold, are not wholly responsible 
 for their rapacious natures. Xever beyond the fear of 
 possible adversity under the competitive system, they 
 are impelled by a vague ever present dread of a reverse 
 of fortune, to accumulate on and on without limit. 
 
 The fault lies in the system. Make land and the oil, 
 coal, and- other resources which it contains collective 
 property as it ought to be, and the accumulation of in- 
 ordinate wealth in the hands of individuals would be- 
 come an impossibility. 
 
SOCIETY. V. 
 
 TRUSTS AND COMBINES. 
 
 \ 
 
 As in the earliest of times we still compete with one 
 another for the means of subsistence. Manufacturer 
 competes with manufacturer, farmer with farmer, mer- 
 chant with merchant, and laborer with laborer. 
 
 In the struggle for existence and a competence in 
 which the individual members of society are by force 
 of circumstances compelled to engage, every man's hand 
 is industrially and commercially raised against his fel- 
 low. 
 
 And the endless chain of cruelties and tragedies 
 which accompany the warfare for subsistence bear wit- 
 ness to the fact that we have not as yet fully emerged 
 from a social status bordering upon the barbaric. But 
 men are beginning to realize that the well springs of 
 competition in production and commercial distribution 
 are being dammed up by the great trusts and combines 
 in existence and forming. And they comprehend that 
 the crushing out of competition enables the few to levy 
 tribute upon the many. But the majority do not as yet 
 know the direction in which to look for relief. 
 
 That element of the population which shuts it- 
 eyes to the fact that in the great monopoly the logical 
 climax of competition has been reached, frantically 
 urges legislation against trusts and combines. 
 
 Yet we readily perceive that combinations of capi- 
 43 
 
44 
 
 tal industrially directed are perfectly in accord with the 
 tenets of competition. 
 
 If two men may combine their capital as partners in 
 business, and a score or more in a corporation, then a 
 precedent has been recognized for combinations of capi- 
 tal without end. 
 
 The law that would say that two or more weak cor- 
 porations may combine, but that strong ones must re- 
 frain from so doing, would certainly be an extraordi- 
 nary example in legislation. 
 
 Moreover, may not the staunchest monopoly right- 
 fully claim that it is subject to the competition of any 
 similar combination of capital that may be made? 
 
 The agitation against the trusts however has a mis- 
 sion, and that is to direct the attention of the people 
 to the fact that the end of competition is drawing near, 
 and that something must be done to prevent the spolia- 
 tion of the masses by the few who arc rapidly becoming 
 masters of the industrial and commercial field. 
 
 For a few years yet, trust will compete with trust; 
 but combination and consolidation goes steadily on, and 
 were it not for the probability that, before worst comes 
 to worst, the people collectively will in their sovereign 
 right assume control of industry, the processes by 
 which undreamed of wealth accumulates in the hands 
 of a few individuals would go on until there would re- 
 main but one great trust when all the smaller fish have 
 been devoured. 
 
 There is no good reason why strife, contention, and 
 mutual destruction need longer attend the carrying on 
 of industry, and in so far as the trusts are crushing out 
 competition they are unwittingly doing a real service 
 to human it v. 
 
45 
 
 The more the circle of competition is contracted 
 the nearer we approach the co-operative commonwealth 
 in which the la-t vestige of competition in the produc- 
 tion and (listrihntion of commodities would disappear. 
 
 To attempt to legislate the trusts and combines out 
 of existence otherwise than by organizing the entire 
 population into a greater combine which would assume* 
 control of the entire range of production would be an 
 attempt to stem the tide of evolution, and would only 
 by so much longer continue the hardships the people 
 would be compelled to endure. 
 
SOCIETY. VI. 
 INTEREST WEALTH. 
 
 As universally understood, interest may be defined 
 as money charged or paid for the use of money. 
 
 But in an economic sense it embraces rent and prof- 
 it, the latter term including all dividends on the stock 
 of corporations., and all incomes upon investments in 
 general. Thus every piece of city real estate, every 
 farm, and every business enterprise is supposed to yield 
 a certain return upon its cost, and, in the economic 
 sense remarked, this return is interest. 
 
 In so far as the loaning of money at an interest 
 charge, and the accumulation of wealth in the hands of 
 individuals have, in the past, facilitated production, 
 and aided to develop the resources of newly settled dis- 
 tricts they have proven beneficial to society. But \\v 
 have arrived at a stage of progress where society need 
 no longer depend upon individual enterprise for the 
 carrying on of either economic production or distribu- 
 tion; and among the many circumstances which indi- 
 cate that the time has come when society should assume 
 its duties and responsibilities in this regard none arc 
 more in evidence than is the fact that from a blessing 
 the interest charge for the use of money has been 
 turned into a curse, and the further fact that the own- 
 ership by individuals of vast moneyed, landed, and 
 
 other estates has become a positive menace to society, 
 
 46 
 
_ 47 
 
 Some time ago the Xew York Tribune published a 
 directory of American millionaires which contained a 
 total of 4,04? names. The following is a list of the for- 
 tunes with which forty-seven of these home capitalists 
 were accredited according to the estimates at that time, 
 leaving four thousand estates whose estimated fortunes 
 do not appear but which range from one to several mil- 
 lion dollars respectively: 
 
 J. D. Rockefeller $125,000,000 
 
 W. AY Astor 120,000,000 
 
 Jay Gould Estate 100,000,000 
 
 Russell Sage 90,000,000 
 
 C. Vanderbilt 80,000,000 
 
 W. K. Vanderbilt 75,000,000 
 
 II. M. Flagler 60,000,000 
 
 AVm. Rockefeller 60,000,000 
 
 Hetty Green 60,000,000 
 
 John .1. Astor 50,000,000 
 
 ( '. P. Huntington . 50,000,000 
 
 F. AY Yanderbilt 35,000,000 
 
 S. C. Tiffany 35,000,000 
 
 T. A. Havemeyer and II. Estate 30,000,000 
 
 P. R. Payne 30,000,000 
 
 G. AA r . Yanderbilt 30,000,000 
 
 Robert Goelet 25,000,000 
 
 J. P. Morgan 25,000,000 
 
 Schermerhorn Estate 25,000,000 
 
 H. H. Rogers 25,000,000 
 
 John AY Mackay 25,000,000 
 
 Ogden Goelet 20,000,000 
 
 E. T. Gerry 20,000,000 
 
 H. 0. Havemeyer 20,000,000 
 
 Henry Hilton " 20,000,000 
 
48 
 
 Andrew Cnrnegie '. 20,000,0(10 
 
 Win. ('. Whitney 20,000,000 
 
 Darius (). Mills 20,000,000 
 
 Amos ]?. Kno 20,000,000 
 
 John I). Arehbold 15,000,000 
 
 IF. V. Newcomh 15,000,000 
 
 Adrian Iselin 12,ooo.ooo 
 
 Bradley Martin 10,000.000 
 
 Eugene Kelly 10.000.ooo 
 
 Dr. W. S. Webb 10,000,000 
 
 J. M. (Constable 10,000,000 
 
 'Hicks Arnold 10,000,001) 
 
 Anson P. Stokes 10,000,000 
 
 S. I). Babcock 10,000,000 
 
 (Jeo. F. Haker 10.000,000 
 
 Austin Corhin 10.000.000 
 
 John Claflin 10,000,000 
 
 AV. 1?. Grace 10,000,000 
 
 F. A. Constable (;,000.ooo 
 
 Adrian Iseling, ,Tr fi.000,00o 
 
 Abram S. Hewitt . :>.000.ooo 
 
 James Stokes . 5.000,000 
 
 Aggregate . .$1,489,000*000 
 
 4,000 others 4,000,000,000 
 
 Total $5,489,000,000 
 
 Kstimating the fortunes of the remaining estates ai 
 the minimum figure of one million each, we obtain a 
 grand total as above, approximating five and a half bil- 
 lion dollars, a sum equalling one-twelfth of the on tire 
 wealth of the country in 18<)0.* 
 
 *The total valuation of the real and personal property 
 in the country according to the census of 1890, was $65,037,- 
 
49 
 
 Wealth increases slowly at first but as it accumu- 
 
 's it gains a wonderful impetus. Computed retro- 
 y on a basis of increase equalling five per cent 
 compounded annually, the millionaire of the present 
 day would have been worth half a million fourteen 
 years ago, a quarter of a million twenty-eight years ago 
 and one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars for- 
 ty-two years ago* 
 
 We therefore perceive that while at a five per cent 
 rate of increase compounded annually it woi/id have 
 taken an individual forty-two years to increase his for- 
 tune from $125,000 to one million dollars, at a similar 
 rate of increase it would take him but fourteen years to 
 double his fortune, twenty-eight years to be wortli four 
 millions, and forty-two years to possess a fortune of 
 eight million dollars. 
 
 At a similar rate of growth, with prevailing busi- 
 ness 'methods continued, the 54 billions which 4,047 
 individuals possess would increase in 
 
 1 1 years to 11 billions. 
 
 v?s years to 22 
 
 I-. 1 years to 44 
 
 5(5 years to 88 " 
 
 :<) years to 17(5 
 
 84 years to 352 
 
 98 years to 704 
 
 In 56 years their combined wealth would equal 
 
 091,197, of which amount $39,544,544,333 represented the 
 value of real estate and improvements thereon, and $25,- 
 492,546,864 that of personal property including railroads, 
 mines and quarries. 
 
 *The above is an approximate computation. It takes 14 
 years and between 2 and 3 months in addition for the prin- 
 cipal of a. given sum to double itself at 5 per cent, increase 
 compounded annually. 
 
-50 - 
 
 more than one and a third times the total wealth of the 
 country in 1890, and in less than a century, these 
 estates if kept intact would aggregate more than ten 
 times the combined wealth of the people at the last 
 census. 
 
 In the light of these figures must we not conclude 
 that social regulations under which wealth may bo 
 accumulated to the detriment ol' the masses who pro- 
 duce that wealth ought not to be continued! 
 
 The time of the possessors of the larger fortunes is 
 nearly altogether occupied in re-investing their ac- 
 cumulated earnings, and never satisfied with a suffi- 
 ciency they continually strive to become the richest 
 of the rich. 
 
 It is very rarely that any of these large fortunes 
 become dissipated. 
 
 Let us imagine a ten million dollar scion of plu- 
 tocracy indulging in the most senseless extravagance. 
 
 Were he to give an elaborate breakfast, dinner, and 
 supper to his friends every day in the year at an ex- 
 pense of one hundred dollars for each meal so partaken, 
 and in addition squander two hundred dollars daily 
 upon clothes and incidentals, notwithstanding such 
 outlay which would sum up five hundred dollars for 
 every day in the year, at a five per cent return, his for- 
 tune instead of diminishing would be still increasing 
 over and above his expenditures at the rate of nearly 
 eight hundred and seventy dollars a day! 
 
 Interest as commonly understood is one of the most 
 aggressive of the various means by which wealth is ac- 
 cumulated in modern times. The aggregate of interest 
 being paid on national, state, county, municipal, school 
 district, railroad, mortgage and individual indebtedness 
 
51 
 
 is enormous, and the bulk of it goes to still further 
 augment the great fortunes of the world.* 
 
 The many pay tlu-.se vast interest charges, and the 
 few receive them. How will the principal of this in- 
 debtedness ever be paid? 
 
 \Vere competitive methods continued indefinitely 
 universal repudiation would of necessity result. 
 
 Happily a way has heen found by which the indus- 
 tries may be carried on without the necessity of look- 
 ing to moneyed men for either capital or superin- 
 tendence. When land, and the machinery of produc- 
 tion shall have been socialized, the opportunities for 
 accumulating vast individual wealth will no longer 
 exist, interest as a disturbing element in the social 
 economy will disappear, and the charging of rent and 
 profit become a sole prerogative ( f the collectivity for 
 the carrying on of public work and the maintenance 
 of government. 
 
 *The census of 1890 places the aggregate national, state 
 and territory, county, municipal and school district indebt- 
 edness at $2.027,170,546, and the real estate mortgage indebt- 
 edness for the year 1889 (that of the years which preced- 
 ed it and in force in 1890 notbeingincluded) t |1,752, 568,274. 
 The railway handed indebtedness is above five billion, so 
 that the aggregate of indebtedness from these sources 
 alone approximates nine billion dollars. Individual and 
 corporate indebtedness otherwise at a conservative estim- 
 ate would exceed ten billion dollars. 
 
SOCIETY. VII. 
 TAXATION. 
 
 Old John Jacob Astor in his life time owned con- 
 siderable of the real estate in the City of Xew York 
 now controlled by his descendants. 
 
 Being importuned by a friend to join a movement 
 looking to a reduction of the rate of taxation he de- 
 clined his aid, remarking that he was not interested, 
 
 "Xot interested!'' exclaimed his friend, "and you 
 the largest holder of realty in the city?*' 
 
 "I will tell you confidentially/' he explained, "that 
 whether the rate of taxation is high or low I do not 
 pay a dollar of it. I add a percentage to rentals to 
 cover taxation, and my tenants pay it all." And the 
 old gentleman laughed at his joke. He knew there was 
 nothing to be kept in confidence because in fixing the 
 rentals of buildings a percentage to cover insurance, 
 taxes and repairs is invariably included. 
 
 Yet in that incident there is ample food for thought. 
 
 In effect, the successful man under individual com- 
 petitive enterprise pays no taxes whatever. It is the 
 unsuccessful men who are largely in the majority 
 among the common people and among these must be 
 numbered the men who do not own much more than 
 a modest home who pay the bulk of the revenue 
 
 raised by taxation. 
 
 52 
 
53 
 
 And this shifting of burdens is notice-able through- 
 cut l lu i fill ire modus operand! of the competitive sys- 
 tem. The merchant adds the interest he pays at the 
 bank, his rent, his taxes, and other expenses of his 
 business to the price of his goods, and the common 
 people pay the bill. Railway companies, express com- 
 panies, and other corporations shift their burdens onto 
 the masses, and every dollar of their taxes and interest 
 charges, like those of all successful business enterprises, 
 is paid by the public which gives them its patronage. 
 
 In this way the burdens imposed by society rest 
 lightest on the successful man, while those of the un- 
 sucessful are increased by having added to them a share 
 of what should be contributed by those who succeed. 
 
 And this shifting of burdens must continue as long 
 as the competitive system lasts. Only through collec- 
 tive control of industry will it ever come to an end. 
 
 As regards our methods of taxation it may be truth- 
 fully asserted that no just and equitable system of taxa- 
 tion has ever been devised or put into effect. 
 
 The existing system gave fair satisfaction up to, 
 say sixty years ago when land and the improvements 
 thereon formed the great bulk of taxable property be- 
 fore great estates in railroad, telegraph, telephone, ex- 
 prc-s, gas and electric stocks had an existence. 
 
 But even in those days the cry of unfair and ex- 
 cessive taxation went up continuously, and in our 
 times, even to ascertain the just proportion which in- 
 dividuals should contribute toward the support of gov- 
 ernment, not to speak of compelling its payment, seems 
 an utter impossibility.* 
 
 *There seems to be a general criminal eagerness to evade 
 taxation. A current newspaper item runs as follows: "It 
 
- 54 - 
 
 The one great factor which renders our system of 
 taxation an absurdity as an economic measure is the un- 
 knowableness of property values. No fixed value na- 
 turally attaches itself to any material thing, and neither 
 price demanded, purchase price, nor the sale of prop- 
 erly at public vendue unerringly indicate property 
 values which are altogether artificial, ever tluctualiii;:, 
 and therefore, as regards exactness, unascertainable. 
 
 Especially is this true of landed property, the vain'. 1 
 of which for purposes of taxation can be approximately 
 determined when property values in general are ad- 
 vancing, but in an era of falling prices the fact that 
 land values are a mere mental conception can be clear- 
 ly discerned. 
 
 The most conscientious assessor finds himself at sea 
 as to real estate values in a period of stagnation when 
 sales of landed property can be made only at enormous 
 sacrifice. 
 
 And how is such an official to ascertain the value 
 of a mining claim, an oil well, a coal field, a. railway 
 or telegraph system, or of the franchises granted to 
 corporations by municipalities! 
 
 Must he not have occult powers to determine the 
 
 was published not long ago over the sworn affidavit of the 
 auditor of Chicago and Cook County, Illinois, that the farm- 
 er's tools and machinery of Cook County were assessed for 
 $30,000 more than all the money and securities of the banks 
 of Chicago. All the money and securities of the banks ag- 
 gregating hundreds of millions of dollars were assessed at 
 $53,925. The agricultural tools and machinery at $84,392. 
 The securities of the banks without the money were as- 
 sessed at $10,000. All the diamonds and jewelry in the city 
 were assessed at $17,760. while it was known that single 
 families owned more than ten times that amount." 
 
55 
 
 amount of money of which individuals are pos- 
 sessed?* 
 
 And, taking notice of the manner in which cus- 
 tom duties are collected at our seaports and upon our 
 borders, is not the searching of the person and belong- 
 ings of individuals a disgrace to our civilization and the 
 age in which we live? 
 
 Vet such barbarities are a fitting accompaniment 
 of the industrial warfare in which we are one and all 
 participating. 
 
 With the downfall of competition in economic pro- 
 duction we will be enabled to dispense with all customs 
 on imports, and to brush away the entire network of 
 slate and national taxation which is possessed of the 
 strange quality of catching the little fish while per- 
 mitting the big ones to escape through its meshes. 
 
 Taxation was originally instituted as a means of de- 
 fraying the necessary expense of government, but it is 
 now urged as a panacea for the various ailments of the 
 body politic produced solely and alone by the competi- 
 tive methods of industry now in vogue. 
 
 Of such a nature is the proposition to protect 
 American industries by the imposition of a high tariff 
 which carries with it an increased tax on commodities 
 which our people consume. This policy is now being 
 enforced. At the same time the high duty levied on 
 
 *Speaking of personal property of the class denominated 
 securities including stocks, bonds, notes, mortgages and the 
 like which escapes taxation ex-President Harrison says: 
 "The delinquency appears to be located largely in our great 
 citi.-s. Recent investigations have disclosed an appalling 
 condition of things. The evil seems to have been progress- 
 ing until in some of our great centers of population and 
 woalth these forms of personal property seem to have been 
 almost eliminated from the tax list." 
 
56 
 
 imports does not and can not raise the price of com- 
 modities which we export and offer for sale in foreign 
 markets one iota. 
 
 The entire idea is as absurd as would be a provision 
 attached to the tariff bill making it unlawful for any 
 foreign nation to retaliate in kind.* 
 
 Simmered down, high tariff legislation, beyond a 
 schedule providing a sufficiency of revenue for the car- 
 rying on of government is nothing more nor less than 
 class legislation by which some receive an advantage 
 at the expense of the remainder of the population. 
 
 The taxation route is also urged as a cure for the 
 millionaire evil, but neither a graduated income tax, 
 nor a tax on inheritance would prevent the accumula- 
 tion of vast fortunes in the hands of individuals. 
 Nothing short of the overthrow of competition in pro- 
 duction will accomplish that result. 
 
 Another proposition which attempts to reconcile the 
 inconsistencies of the competitive system is the single 
 tax on land. "Place the entire burden of taxation upon 
 land," say the advocates of this plan, "then large hold- 
 ings will be broken up, a series of small farms will result 
 and all will be well/* 
 
 We remarked in a previous chapter that the ten- 
 dency is away from small farms and small production 
 toward collective production on a national scale. 
 
 The more farmers the more competition would en- 
 sue, and, as robber barons of old relieved the peasantry 
 of the fruits of their labor in the davs of feudalism, so 
 
 *Since the above was written, Germany i? retaliating in 
 kind by closing her markets on various pretexts to a 
 number of the commodities we produce. 
 
57 
 
 would modern exploiting barons swoop down upon 
 them from elegantly furnished apartments in the rail- 
 way and hanking centers and the corridors of the stock 
 exchange, and despoil them of their wealth as fast as 
 created. 
 
 Moreover, to exempt the valuable improvements 
 upon land in city and country from taxation would be 
 as unjust and inequitable as would be the theory of an 
 opposing school urging a single tax upon improvements 
 and exempting the land itself. The proposition to tax 
 landowners "out of existence" upon their holdings 
 would be in reality only another form of confiscation. 
 When government now takes private property for col- 
 lective use it purchases it at an appraised value. A 
 precedent has therefore been set as regards the method 
 by which land in general will eventually be acquired by 
 the collectivity. With the advent of a collective dem- 
 ocracy the system of taxation as now maintained with 
 its legion of assessors, collectors, clerks and other offi- 
 cials would be abolished in city, county, state, and 
 nation. 
 
 The main sources from which taxes are now derived, 
 namely, land and the improvements thereon, machin- 
 ery, merchandise, and the means of transportation 
 would then be public property, whilst private property 
 such as household furniture, books, pictures, moto- 
 cycles, musical instruments, wearing apparel, and so 
 on, would be entirely exempt from taxation. 
 
 Cost of administration would include the carrying 
 on of industry in general, and be defrayed out of re- 
 ceipts from rental of buildings, from profits upon com- 
 modities which the collectivity would both produce, and 
 
58 
 
 distribute, from charges for transportation, and from 
 the revenues for other service supplied to the people. 
 The co-operative commonwealth then becomes the 
 remedy for the inequalities of the existing system of 
 taxation. There is no other solution of the problem. 
 
SOCIETY. VIII. 
 LABOR. 
 
 The labor problem has met with but little consid- 
 eration in the past, the result probably of a realization 
 that nothing of moment could be done towards secur- 
 ing to the laborer continuous employment and a fair 
 remuneration for his toil m a competitive state of 
 society. 
 
 The labor problem, however, occupies an inter-re- 
 lated position to other public questions, and because of 
 this it has acquired a new significance, and has been 
 forced into the political arena for final adjudication. 
 
 Under existing conditions it becomes impossible for 
 the wage earners collectively to obtain either shorter 
 hours or fitting remuneration for their labor, not to 
 speak of the uncertainty of either obtaining or retain- 
 ing employment, because, under competitive methods 
 of industry, the price of labor, like the price of com- 
 modities, is regulated by the law of supply and de- 
 mand, and, while the over-stocked labor market con- 
 tinues to be augmented by the men thrown out j)f em- 
 ployment by labor-saving machinery, by foreign im- 
 migration, and by the natural increase in population 
 and no doubt there will continue to be an over-supply 
 from these sources in the immediate future as in the 
 
 59 
 
60 
 
 past there is no reasonable ground for hope of a per- 
 manent rise in the price of labor, or that laborers 
 as a class will ever become independent enough to suc- 
 cessfully agitate for a shorter working day. 
 
 As matters now stand, employers have at least a 
 legal, if not an ethical or moral right, to employ the 
 cheapest labor capable of performing the required 
 work, to be obtained. And men who lose their employ- 
 ment by reason of such a condition, as well as those 
 who are compelled by their necessities to accept em- 
 ployment at any wage offered, have no legal redress. 
 Take for example the case of coal miners who eke out 
 the barest existence upon next to starvation wages. 
 They follow a hazardous vocation, and, in all reason, are 
 entitled to fair compensation for their labor. But their 
 employers own the mines, and under our social regula- 
 tions have the sole right to determine what wages they 
 will pay, and how they may choose to operate their 
 properties. 
 
 As' long as the competitive system endures no one 
 on the outside has a right to interfere. 
 
 We hear a great deal about arbitration as a remedy 
 for the wrongs of labor, but applied it would prove an 
 absurdity and chimera. It would work something like 
 this: Say there is a strike in a coal region. The opera- 
 tors select an employer to look after their, interests, 
 and the miners a workingmnn to represent theirs. Sn 
 far good. But when it comes to the selection of the 
 third arbitrator we may rest assured that he would be 
 either an employer outright or a mere tool to carry out 
 the ends of capitalism. He certainly would not be 
 taken from the ranks of labor. Under no consideration 
 
- 61 
 
 would tlie lion consent to arbitrate with the lamb if 
 there was the least chance of losing his dinner. 
 
 Working ])eo])le do not seem to comprehend that 
 the competitive system is predicated neither on senti- 
 ment, nor sympathy, nor honesty, nor equity, nor on 
 any other elevating trait or quality which noble men 
 possess, but solely and alone upon self-interest. It is 
 only rarely or occasionally to the interest of an em- 
 ployer to raise wages. To do so from any motive of 
 sentiment, sympathy, or even of moral right is not in 
 accord with the theory of competition for selfish gain, 
 according to which an employer could not be expected 
 to increase the compensation of his employes unles- 
 compelled to do so by a scarcity of laborers. This 
 would literally accord with the law of supply and de- 
 mand as remarked, and the reason why strikes in thesu 
 latter } r ears do not and cannot succeed is because there 
 is always a supply of labor conveniently at hand to take 
 the strikers' places. Just as manufacturer competes 
 with manufacturer and tradesman with tradesman, so 
 laborer is compelled under existing industrial methods 
 to compete with laborer for the opportunities for work 
 that present themselves. 
 
 Competition is simply industrial warfare, and if 
 men are satisfied with its operation they must not cry 
 out when they get worsted in the fray. 
 
 But that does not mean that it is not laudable and 
 right and proper for those who see a better way of carry- 
 ing on industry than by competitive methods to raise 
 their voice in an attempt to better the condition of the 
 wealth producers. There are neither strikes, lock-outs, 
 nor boycotts in the postal department; neither would 
 
62 
 
 there be in any of the many existing industrial depart- 
 ments were they carried on exclusively by the nation. 
 The solution of the labor problem lies in the so- 
 cialization of industry which includes the nationaliza- 
 tion of land from and out of which labor creates all 
 material wealth. 
 
SOCIETY. IX. 
 LABOR (Continued). 
 
 The natural drift is continually away from individ- 
 ual labor producing singly and alone to collective or 
 associated labor. 
 
 We see the shoemaker succeeded by the shoe plant, 
 the carpenter by the planing mill, the blacksmith by 
 the machine shop, and so on; and the further we travel 
 .along the road leading to collective production, the 
 more marked become the indications and signs that we 
 are approaching the goal. 
 
 When men can no longer produce commodities by 
 their individual unaided efforts, and, like in modern 
 manufactures, costly machinery and the co-operation 
 of a number of workers is required to carry on produc- 
 tion, a new economic factor becomes injected into the 
 industrial problem, and that factor is the question of 
 who ought of right to be entitled to the margin of 
 wealth created over and above the wage compensation 
 of the workers. 
 
 Were it absolutely impossible to arrange things in 
 this regard otherwise than as at present, the owner of 
 the machinery would for all time be entitled to the 
 entire margin of wealth created by the co-operation of 
 his workmen. But if, in order to prevent a few from 
 appropriating to themselves the surplus of wealth nv- 
 
 ated by the many, society were to provide the machin- 
 
 63 
 
64 
 
 t-ry necessary to production, the margin of wealth 
 created over and above the wage compensation of the 
 workers could and would be set aside as social capital, 
 or the capital of society, to be reinvested in new ma- 
 chinery thereby opening up avenues and opportunity 
 of employment to all. 
 
 In this way, the 20 per cent, say, of surplus wealth 
 which the laborers of the country collectively produce, 
 instead of serving to create a few billionaires, would 
 make it possible for society through its industrial chan- 
 nels and its public works to enhance immensely the 
 comfort and the happiness of the people. 
 
 When we so arrange that individuals, as now, be- 
 come possessed of this surplus of wealth we uncon- 
 sciously encourage the oppression of labor, because in 
 supplying our wants, impelled by our necessities, we 
 purchase the lowest priced article of a satisfactory qual- 
 ity we can obtain, and such, as a rule, are manufactured 
 by firms or corporations paying a low wage compensa- 
 tion to their hands.* 
 
 In this manner the very patronage of the people 
 serves to build up institutions opposed to their interests 
 as laborers.** 
 
 But such are the beauties of competitive methods of 
 production. . 
 
 Under collective control of industry all workers 
 
 *The manufacturer paying the lowest wage is the one 
 that usually succeeds in a competitive market. We have 
 seen a demonstration of this recently in the removal of cot- 
 ton mills from New England to Southern localities where 
 cheaper labor can be obtained. 
 
 **The economic term laborer embraces all individuals 
 who do useful labor for society. Not alone wage earners, 
 but business and professional men and women as well are 
 economic laborers. 
 
65 
 
 could l)i> well compensated, hours of labor could be 
 shortened, and what is of the utmost importance, the 
 margin of profit on commodities would go hack to the 
 people to swell the accretion of social capital. 
 
 As it is now, the displacement of men by machinery 
 goes steadily on, a large number of would-be wealth 
 producers are unemployed, the average of wages earned 
 is low, and the majority of the people are but ekeing 
 out a hand-to-mouth existence. 
 
 And it remains for the masses to determine whether 
 the control of industry shall remain in the hands of a 
 limited number of individuals and corporations with 
 the assurance that the unsatisfactory status of labor 
 will continue, or whether by public ownership and oper- 
 ation of the various industries they will emancipate 
 themselves from the thralldom of capital privately em- 
 ployed, the increment or gain accruing from the pa- 
 tronage of the public going back as a sequence to the 
 public which would supply that patronage, and which 
 because of that patronage is to such increment or gain 
 of right entitled. 
 
SOCIETY. X. 
 
 PUBLIC SERVICE 
 
 The true definition of the word patriot is, k 'one 
 who serves his country." The people of a nation 
 should all be patriots should all serve their country. 
 Only those holding public positions now servo their 
 country. The remainder of the population merely de- 
 cide upon it as the place in which they will strive to 
 obtain a livelihood. They do this in competition, and 
 competition is strife. Were they also public servants 
 strife would give way to co-operation. 
 
 We have no rulers. The president and all exe- 
 cutives, the judges of the national supreme court and 
 our entire judiciary, our congressmen, our legislators, 
 and our officials down to the janitors of our pu))l it- 
 structures are but public servants. 
 
 That is why ostentatious demonstrations by those 
 in high positions do not appear seemly and proper in 
 the eyes of the people whom they were selected to serve. 
 
 A public servant cannot but feel the dignity of his 
 position, and at the expiration of his term of service- 
 shudders at contemplation of a return into the com- 
 petitive struggle to gain a livelihood. 
 
 The abuse of their trusts by those holding public 
 office is in no way chargeable to their socialized posi- 
 tions, but is due entirely to the. extraneous influences 
 
 with which they come in contact. 
 
 66 
 
67 
 
 All about them surges an ocean of competing hu- 
 manity, and yielding to the temptation to seize upon 
 the wreckage with which it is strewn, they are drawn 
 into the vortex of the tide, and go down to a moral 
 oblivion. 
 
 Society now unjustly discriminates in the distribu- 
 tion of its favors. 
 
 It takes over a limited number of the population 
 into the public service, while the majority remain en- 
 slaved to the degrading competitive industrial methods 
 which have come down to us from the earliest of times. 
 
 Gradually, as the powers of government become ex- 
 tended, more and more of the population will be trans- 
 ferred from the ranks of competitive industry into so- 
 ciety employ, until, under complete collective control of 
 industry, any worker with hand or brain will have the 
 opportunity to engage and be advanced in the public 
 service. 
 
 The doom of the merchant of limited means has 
 already been pronounced. 
 
 When a few gigantic aggregations of capital shall 
 have gained entire control of the commercial field as 
 they certainly will in the near future, no other choice 
 will be left the business intellects of the nation but to 
 enter the employ of these corporations where they would 
 retain their positions only by the sacrifice of their in- 
 dependence, and the surrender of their manhood v 
 
 Would they not vastly prefer a dignified position in 
 the commercial or distributor}' service of the col- 
 lectivity? 
 
 Are the callings of the employes in the public ser- 
 vice at the present time not honorable and desirable? 
 
68 
 
 How proud we are to serve our country in its mili- 
 tary arm! 
 
 When war shall he no more, and the avenues for 
 displaying our zeal, patriotism, and love of country hv 
 scientifically murdering our fellow beings shall be 
 closed, will it be said that thereby we shall forever he 
 debarred from gaining honor and distinction in the 
 service of our country ? 
 
 "Peace hath her victories as well as war." The day 
 is rolling on in time when with no sordid considerations 
 to retard his better impulses all the noble aspirations 
 of man will be directed for the common weal, and when 
 that time shall come, he whose work is well done, how- 
 ever humble may be the field of his labor, will enjoy 
 that full respect of the community which is a stranger 
 to the manual toiler of the present day; while the vic- 
 tories of the intellect will be more generously rewarded 
 than any that have been awarded the epaulette in the 
 history of the past, 
 
SOCIETY. XI. 
 MONEY 
 
 In a consideration of the money problem it must 
 be understood at the outset that money, like other 
 factors of human progress, is undergoing an evolu- 
 tionary change. The semi-barharous tribes who had 
 recourse to barter no doubt imagined that the acme of 
 h i' man wisdom had been reached in the matter of the 
 exchange of commodities; and so it had in their day. 
 
 And similarly the commercial and financial world in 
 the era ante-dating the discovery of the art of printing 
 when the idea of the bank-note still lay unevolved in 
 time harbored the idea that coined gold and silver 
 would forever be and remain the money of intermedi- 
 ate exchange. 
 
 But the commercial and financial world of fo-day de- 
 clares one of these metals to be unfit for monetary uses 
 except in a limited way when based on gold. And we are 
 still moving on. The tendency of the age is toward that 
 form of circulating medium which is most convenient 
 paper and the indications are that the doom of gold is 
 a monetary token will shortly be pronounced. 
 
 If we desire to obtain an idea of what the money of 
 the future will, in all probability be like in appearance, 
 we have but to glance at the trca>iiry notes of govern- 
 ment in use at the present time. The wording upon the 
 
 69 
 
- 70 
 
 perfected treasury bills of the future may differ slightly 
 from that engraved upon treasury paper of the present, 
 day. The words, "promise to pay to bearer/' will proba- 
 bly be expunged, and some such phrase as, "This bill is 
 redeemable in any resource of government," may be sub- 
 stituted. But on the whole it will be as readily dislin- 
 guished as money as is the paper currency now in circu- 
 lation. 
 
 With this unquestionable trend in the evolution of 
 the medium of exchange for a guide, we will proceed to 
 examine 'more closely into the money question. 
 
 As intimated in a former chapter, no value attaches 
 itself by nature to any material thing, all values as we 
 know them, including that of gold, being purely artifi- 
 cial. 
 
 So we find gold and silver like wheat, corn, cutlle 
 and so forth, by nature, commodities pure and simple. 
 
 Like other commodities these so-called precious me- 
 tals have values for use, but having in addition been 
 given monetary preference by law, they carry each two 
 separate and distinct values in the world's transactions 
 of exchange. Thus bars of silver and gold have simply 
 values as commodities, while gold and silver coins have 
 both a commodity and a monetary value. To fulfill the 
 true purpose of a circulating medium the commodity 
 value of minted coins should never rise above the mone- 
 tary value attached to them. 
 
 If their commodity value rise above their monetary 
 value it is but natural for those who possess them to 
 either throw them upon the market as commodities, or 
 withhold them for speculation. For these reasons they 
 
71 
 
 disappear from the circulation of a country when at a 
 premium.* 
 
 On the other hand, the artificial monetary values 
 given these metals by law acts as a check upon any 
 downward tendency in their selling price, so that their 
 monetary value, as long as upheld by law, becomes the 
 minimum price below which they will not fall.** 
 
 But how does it become possible for the commodity 
 value of coined gold to rise above its monetary value? 
 
 Why does it not simply show an appreciation as com- 
 pared with the price of labor and commodities instead 
 of being as it is at times quoted at a premium? 
 
 In other words, why not realize that a certain sum in 
 gold coin will buy two bushels of wheat where before it 
 would purchase but one, instead of saying that gold is at 
 a hundred per cent premium, and let it go at that? 
 
 The phenomenon of a premium on gold, which is of 
 comparatively recent origin, is easily accounted for. 
 
 *From the beginning of the Civil War up to January 
 1, 1879, when specie payments were resumed by government, 
 no gold circulated as money in the country. During 'that 
 extended period it fluctuated as a commodity reaching its 
 highest figure, $2.67 for one dollar of gold, on the 9th day 
 of July, 1864. This was the price on the public board in 
 New York City. Outside the public board $2.80 was re- 
 corded. Another notable instance of the rise in the price 
 of gold as a commodity was the corner manipulated in tlu 
 fall of 1869 when 'the price of gold rose on Wall street to 
 $1.<;.>V, or 63% cents above its monetary value. This cor- 
 ner in the coined gold commodity, by the interference of 
 government on the 24th day of September of that year, 
 terminated in the wreck of fortunes on what is known in 
 history as "Black Friday." 
 
 **Silver bullion did not fall below the monetary value of 
 coined silver until after the passage of legislation discon- 
 tinuing the coinage of the silver dollar. Similarly a fall in 
 the value of gold bullion would occur upon the passage of 
 a law discontinuing the coinage of gold. 
 
72 
 
 Before the days of the bank-note such a thing would 
 have been impossible, because to go to a premium in 
 the past when metallic money was the sole medium of 
 exchange it would have had to acquire a separate in- 
 creased value over itself which is an entirely irrational 
 proposition. 
 
 Its appreciation at such a time could have found ex- 
 pression only in a general depreciation of property val- 
 ues, of the price of commodities, and of the compensa- 
 tion for labor or service. 
 
 It is only when an evolutionary advance brings an 
 additional medium of exchange into the monetary field, 
 and the artificial values of two such mediums of ex- 
 change diverge or are at variance, that a premium on 
 gold becomes a possibility. 
 
 Such a new medium of exchange was the outgrowth 
 of the discovery of the art of printing, and, like notwith- 
 standing the advent of railroads the rattle of the stage 
 coach is still heard in some parts of the country, so are 
 metallic and non-metallic currencies, one the money of 
 a crude civilization, the other a circulating medium in 
 keeping with the age and improving as its imperfections 
 are eliminated, being employed side by side. 
 
 Each still fills a definite sphere of usefulness, but as 
 certainly as the railroad constantly encroaches upon the 
 domain of the stage coach, or a new tooth loosens and 
 forces out its predecessor in our anatomy, so is the ne\v 
 economic growth, which has sprouted in financial soil, 
 loosening the grip of gold upon industry, and will event- 
 ually force it out of the monetary field. 
 
 And does not gold betake itself out of the mone- 
 tary field whenever i( goes to a premium and becomes 
 a commodity? 
 
73 
 
 Sonic <!;iy it will go out, and, as was the case with the 
 domestic who insisted upon having a day off whenever 
 so inclined, will not he permitted to return. 
 
 A- long, however, as government is enabled to ex- 
 change gold coin freely for its treasury obligations pay- 
 aide on demand, the parity of our paper and metallic 
 currencies will he maintained.* 
 
 But when circumstances make it impossible for gov- 
 ernment to redeem its treasury paper in gold on demand, 
 or in other words, when for any cause specie payments 
 arc suspended by government, a premium on gold may 
 with reasonable certainty, be looked for as a result. 
 
 A superannuated monetary system, like an imperfect 
 piece of machinerv when continued in use, becomes 
 more and more unsatisfactory. 
 
 How in recent years we were compelled to purchase 
 gold at an interest charge in an era of profound peace 
 in order to maintain the parity between our currencies 
 may be a circumstance still fresh in the mind of the 
 reader. 
 
 The methods then employed have caused us to real- 
 ixe that there is nothing to prevent future raids upon 
 the gold reserve by men of wealth acting in combination 
 to the end that they may reap an advantage through 
 additional bond issues. An increase of revenue would 
 help matters very little as a preventative in that regard. 
 It could at most only provide means to meet the interest 
 
 *The gold corner manipulated by Fisk and Gould in the 
 fall of 1869 was broken by the obvious ability of government 
 to redeem its paper in gold on demand, for when govern- 
 ment, disregarding the enhanced value of gold, exchanged 
 a liberal amount of gold coin for its treasury notes on u 
 parity 'the commodity price of gold at once fell to the level 
 of its monetary value. 
 
74 
 
 on the bonds issued in the purchase of metallic money 
 required for the redemption of treasury paper. 
 
 Purchase of money! Think of it. We as a nation 
 repurchase the commodity we employ as a medium of 
 exchange at an advance, which in effect nullifies the 
 value we declare it to have according to the stamp it 
 hears! We may make sacrifice upon sacrifice in order to 
 prevent a divergence in value between our gold and pa- 
 per circulations, but like Banquo's ghost the spectre 
 of a premium on gold will not down. 
 
 As long as we continue a metallic currency in use 
 with paper issues based upon it, we maintain a monetary 
 status under which we are ever threatened with a prem- 
 ium on gold and its disastrous effects. 
 
 Nor can the paper issues of the country be safely re- 
 tired. They are needed to supplement the volume of me- 
 tallic money which is too limited in amount to perform 
 the work of an adequate circulating medium. That such 
 as these are a necessity is the experience of every pro- 
 gressive government of earth. Conditions have changed 
 so that the world can no longer transact its business 
 with an exclusive metallic currency in use. 
 
 If government redeems its notes in gold on demand, 
 all is well. If not, we have both an appreciated and a 
 depreciated currency. In fact we arc in a dilemma. We 
 must either desist from the- use of any and all forms of 
 paper currency and make a premium on gold an impos- 
 sibility, or we must strip gold of its money quality so as 
 to reduce it to the status of other commodities. 
 
 To decide upon the latter course is to advance. To 
 confine ourselves to an exclusive metallic currency is to 
 retrograde. 
 
 Which shall we do? 
 
75 
 
 In former chapters wo have endeavored to prove that 
 the economic trend is in the direction of the collective 
 ownership of land and the. machinery of production. 
 
 The demonetization of gold, and the substitution of 
 a paper circulating medium, as outlined in this and sub- 
 sequent chapters, would fully harmonize with such a 
 rhango, and be in line with the evolution of money in 
 general. 
 
SOCIETY. XII. 
 MONEY (Continued). 
 
 The monetary designation one dollar, the equiva- 
 lent of one hundred cents, has been established as the 
 monetary measure in the United States. 
 
 In connection with the subsidiary coinage, and its 
 multiplied forms in bills and coins of greater denomi- 
 nation it measures the artificial values placed upon com- 
 modities and the labor of individuals a great deal like 
 the foot rule and its inch subdivisions, in connection 
 wini its multiplied forms in the yard stick, the ten-foot 
 pole, and the tape line, measures length. This mone- 
 tary measure, beside the law by which it is created, 
 consists entirely and alone of the money stamp im- 
 pressed by government, and of itself is fixed, stable and 
 invariable. 
 
 But unlike other measures, mankind has for ages 
 joined the monetary measure to one or more of the 
 things to be measured thereby impairing its usefulness 
 as a monetary rule. 
 
 If we stamp the words "ten dollars" upon a quantity 
 of gold that will sell in the market at times for fifteen 
 or twenty dollars, we construct our monetary measure 
 out of a material unstable in value, and certainly not 
 best adapted to a monetary use. 
 
 All measures are simply tools and conveniences. 
 
 We do not make yard slicks, pound weights, or bushel 
 76 
 
77 
 
 measures of either gold or silver. Being merely tools 
 and conveniences we construct them of the least valua- 
 ble material answering the purpose for which they are 
 intended. 
 
 The monetary measure being also merely a tool and 
 convenience, it, like other measures, ought to be con- 
 structed of the least valuable material adapted to a 
 monetary use. 
 
 These propositions find substantial support in the 
 following authorities: 
 
 "Congress shall have power to coin money and regu- 
 late the value thereof/'' Constitution of the United 
 States. 
 
 "To coin money and regulate the value thereof as an 
 act of sovereignty involves the right to determine what 
 pliall be taken and received as money; at what measure 
 or price it shall be taken; and what shall be its ef- 
 fect when passed or tendered in payment or satisfac- 
 tion of legal obligations. Government can give to its 
 stamp upon leather the same money value as if put up- 
 on gold or silver or any other material. The authority 
 which coins or stamps itself upon the article can select 
 what substance it may deem suitable to receive the stamp 
 and pass as money; and it can affix what value it deems 
 proper, independent of the intrinsic value of the sub- 
 stance upon which it is affixed. The currency value 
 is in the stamp, when used as money, and not in the 
 material independent of the stamp. In other words 
 the money quality is the authority which makes it cur- 
 rent and gives it power to accomplish the purpose for 
 which it was created." Tiffany, Constitutional Law. 
 
 "Whatever power is over the currency is vested in 
 Congress, If the power to declare what is money is not 
 
78 
 
 in Congress, it is annihilated. We repeat, money is 
 not a substance, but an impression of legal authority, a 
 printed legal decree." United States Supreme Court. 
 (12 Wallace, page 519). 
 
 "Money is the medium of exchange. Whatever per- 
 forms the function, does the work, is money, no matter 
 what it is made of/' Walker, Political Economy. 
 
 "It is right that money should acquire a value as 
 money distinct from that which it possesses as a com- 
 modity in order that it should be a fixed rule whereby 
 to measure the value of all other things." Robert 
 Morris. 
 
 "An article is determined to be money by reason of 
 the performance by it of certain functions, without re- 
 gard to its form or substance/' Appleton's Encyclope- 
 dia. 
 
 "Money is a value created by law. Its basis is legal, 
 and jiot material. It is, perhaps, not easy to convince 
 one that the value of metallic money is created by law. 
 It is, however, a fact." Cernuschi. 
 
 Society then may select any substance it may deem 
 suitable on which to impress the symbols, emblems, fig- 
 ures and phraseology of a circulating medium. And it 
 logically follows that if it may select a substance it 
 deems suitable at one time it may dispense with such a 
 substance substituting for it one it deems more suitable 
 at a subsequent period. 
 
 Money being simply a tool, there is no reason why, 
 like other tools, it should not be improved upon. W' 
 discard a tool as soon as we discover one better suited 
 for the work required. Had the plowshare not been 
 invented we might still be turning up a furrow with a 
 
-79- 
 
 cronked stick. .Hut notwithstanding the 
 into which plowshare? liave come, crooked sticks are still 
 employed in some localities as a means of turning up 
 the sod. 
 
 So, notwithstanding we still continue in use a mone- 
 tary measure which is incapable of measuring the com- 
 modity of which it is composed because of being joined 
 to it. we have, by impressing the money stamp upon pa- 
 per, created an improved monetary implement capable 
 of measuring even the occasional appreciation of gold. 
 
 We are rapidly approaching a time when the im- 
 proved implement will serve for every monetary purpose. 
 
 To continue to impress the money stamp upon a val- 
 uable commodity when a paper circulating medium will- 
 perform every function of money, is, in a financial sense, 
 to still plow with a crooked stick with a better and more 
 perfect implement at hand. 
 
SOCIETY. XIII. 
 
 MONEY (Continued). 
 
 It is probable that long before the coinage of either 
 gold or silver into monetary tokens, one or more chief 
 staples of exchange such as cattle, corn and sheep be- 
 came recognized as standards of value by the various 
 tribes or communities that existed in the infancy of civ- 
 ilization, and that the staples so recognized came to 
 measure the value of all other com modi ties and of labor 
 under the system of barter then in vogue. This would 
 be the process of establishing values that would natur- 
 ally suggest itself to a society making use of but the 
 most primitive methods of exchange, and thus, in a man- 
 ner, controlling commodities became invested with a 
 money quality by means of which it became possible to 
 measure, at least approximately, the value of objects of 
 exchange in general. 
 
 Society as a whole, however, had no concern or hand 
 in the setting up of such measures of value. They were 
 purely commercial measures, yet, to a certain extent 
 they performed a monetary function. The commodities 
 which measured value were the property of individuals 
 and therefore were purely of the nature of individual 
 money. Monetary tokens to be stamped by society were 
 at that period still an undreamed of discovery of the 
 
 future, and the more cattle, corn or sheep that indivi- 
 
 80 
 
81 
 
 duals jHK'c(|, (he more individual money, as it were, 
 there was in circulation. 
 
 For centuries after gold and silver came into use 
 they were exchanged by barter like other commodities. 
 
 The impress of certain symbols or hieroglyphics up- 
 on bars or ingots of these metals came to be generally 
 understood as designating their weight, and the utility 
 of the pieces of metal so stamped, as intermediate fac- 
 tors of exchange, was soon recognized. 
 
 From this stage it was but a short step to the im- 
 pression of a fixed monetary value upon the gold and 
 silver pieces in circulation, which conformed to the 
 value in which they had been generally held. 
 
 Such impress of a monetary value, however, by the 
 nations w r as merely a public convenience facilitating ex- 
 change under the system of barter then prevailing. 
 
 Individuals possessed of gold or silver in natural 
 nuggets, or in rings, bracelets or other ornaments were 
 privileged to present them at the king's furnace or mint 
 and have them transformed into regular tokens with 
 their monetary value impressed upon them. These 
 pieces of metal returned to those who presented them 
 for mintage remained their private property, so that 
 the gold and silver commodities having a value desig- 
 nation impressed upon them acquired the characteris- 
 tics of improved individual money. 
 
 And to these crude methods of money supply com- 
 ing down to us from ancient times, we, in these days of 
 steam, electricity and liquid air, with hardly a change 
 worth mentioning, still adhere! 
 
 Government does not now concern itself with the 
 supply of primary money except to affix its monetary 
 
- 82 
 
 stamp to the 1 miner's gold free of charge, and return it 
 to liim glistening and bright in minted form, and no 
 matter how much gold may be produced, it does not di- 
 rectly benefit government, nor, being under the imme- 
 diate control of the producer, does it give equal oppor- 
 tunities to all citizens industrially inclined to share in 
 its enjoyment as would be the case under a monetary 
 system of a collective character. Jt is individual prop- 
 erty with the stamp of government allixed, and the re- 
 lations of government to the individual and to this par- 
 ticular commodity are not much dissimilar to the ne- 
 lations of municipal government to the farmer and the 
 load of hay which, conforming to law, he has weighed 
 upon the city scales. In the former case, the money 
 stamp certifies to the weight and fineness of the metal 
 in the coin. In the latter instance, government certi- 
 fies in writing to the weight of the hay, and these for- 
 malities over, government sends both individuals forth 
 to realize what they may on their possessions. The only 
 difference is that the commodity of one producer is 
 changed into money by la\v, while that of the other 
 still remains a commodity without special favor. 
 
 The individual character of coined gold becomes 
 apparent when it goes to a premium. At such a time 
 it virtually ceases to be money, and is bought tind sold 
 at a price agreed upon like other commodities. 
 
 Justice and equity require that a circulating me- 
 dium shall be as invariable and stable a tool of ex- 
 change as the yard stick is a measure of length, or the 
 bushel measure is of capacity. 
 
 Coined gold no longer meets these requirements, 
 for, as we observe, on- occasions when above all others 
 it should well serve us as a circulating'medium we find 
 
83 
 
 the money quality upon which, we depend, destroyed. 
 Shutting its eyes to the crying need of a better mone- 
 tary system, the world is attempting to adjust its af- 
 I'airs on a tl actuating commodity basis, with gold, the 
 material best adapted to the monetary uses of cruder 
 civilizations, the favorite commodity. 
 
 The thing to do is to strip the coined gold com- 
 modity of its money quality. 
 
 Then gold will stand on an equal footing with other 
 commodities, and while all that is good in it will be re- 
 tained, its power for evil will have been destroyed. 
 
SOCIETY. XIV. 
 
 MONEY SILVER. 
 
 It is an astonishing fact that for several years after 
 gaining our independence the founders of our govern- 
 ment made practically no effort whatever to provide 
 an American circulating medium for the country. 
 
 Out of the silver and gold coins of foreign mintage 
 which constituted the bulk of the money of commerce 
 at the end of the Revolutionary War we adopted the 
 Spanish silver dollar as the unit of our money, making 
 it the lawful dollar and standard, This was in 1785, 
 and several years later we gave a legal value to the sil- 
 ver dollars of Mexico, Peru, Chili and Central America, 
 and the five franc piece of France so that they also 
 passed current as lawful money. 
 
 In 1792 we established the mint,* and enacted a 
 free coinage law under which the owners of gold and 
 silver bullion were permitted to bring the same to the 
 mint, have the same assayed and converted into coin, 
 
 *Its first product the great copper cent of early days 
 constituted in i'ts unpretentious way a circulating medium 
 of an advanced collective character. No individual was 
 granted the privilege of having the copper metal of which 
 he might have become possessed coined into pennies on his 
 own account. Government bought the material of which 
 that circulating medium was composed outright just as it 
 purchases other metallic substances for purposes of sub- 
 sidiary coinage at the present time. 
 
 84 
 
85 
 
 the owner receiving coin oi' the same weight as the bul- 
 lion brought to the mint. 
 
 All silver dollars coined under this regulation be- 
 in me in effect individual money with the stamp of gov- 
 ernment affixed, but the declaration of the administra- 
 tion, made in recent years, that it will maintain the 
 parity of the silver coinage with gold, changes their 
 status so that they acquire a collective character, simi- 
 lar to that which silver dollars, minted out of bullion 
 purchased by government since the discontinuance of 
 free coinage in 1873, possess. 
 
 Money being simply a monetary tool or convenience 
 there may occur a redundancy of a bulky circulating 
 medium notwithstanding a dearth in the volume of 
 money in general circulation, such, for instance, as 
 would be brought about with the free coinage of copper 
 pennies, and it has at least been claimed that in com- 
 mercial channels the tendency in recent years has been 
 toward an over supply of a silver circulating medium.* 
 
 Society should have full control over whatever cir- 
 culating medium it employs so that it may either in- 
 crease or decrease its volume at will. 
 
 \Yith free coinage of silver discontinued, society ob- 
 tains control over the volume of silver tokens and can 
 prevent a possible redundancy. 
 
 Wlien the supply of silver which government now 
 holds becomes exhausted it will purchase silver bullion 
 for currency purposes just as it purchases nickel and 
 copper for its fractional coins. 
 
 On the whole, the discontinuance of its free coinage 
 
 *The working people, however, receive so scant a wage 
 that they are never overburdened with any kind of money. 
 
86 
 
 has advanced silver well along toward the position it 
 will eventually assume in the social economy. The sup- 
 ply of silver is quite sufficient for purposes of subsi- 
 diary coinn^e. It is only when we depend upon it for 
 half of the world's supply of money that it does not 
 and can not meet such requirements. 
 
 As a matter of fact all the silver produced in the 
 world, excepting that portion used in the arts and the 
 industries, is now, either as primary or secondary 
 money, put to a monetary use. 
 
 It is unquestionably true, however, that wiping out 
 one-half of the primary money of the world has given 
 those who are receiving interest upon the indebtedness 
 of the nations a great advantage to the injury of the 
 masses everywhere. But we can rend the chain of gold 
 that binds us as easily as if it were a spider's thread 
 if we but make the effort. 
 
 We cannot do it, however, by resuming the free 
 coinage of silver, because we have no control over the 
 money of foreign countries. Nor for that matter have 
 they, as nations, any Say as to what form of money we 
 shall adopt. If we concluded to resume the free and 
 unlimited coinage of silver, (how r suggestive of indivi- 
 dual money that phrase), turn the entire issue of 
 money over to bankers, or adopt any other unprogres- 
 sive monetary plan to our injury, we could unquestion- 
 ably do so without the interference or consent of any 
 nation on earth. 
 
 But the commercial world docs control the price of 
 commodities, and we know by experience that we can 
 not obtain a stable circulating medium by attaching 
 the money stamp to a valuable commodity that the 
 selling price of the commodity of which the coin is 
 
87 
 
 Composed and not the monetary designation upon it 
 will control its value in exchange. Besides, it ought to 
 he clear that the more commodities are invested with 
 a money quality the more friction is generated and the 
 more complicated does the monetary situation become. 
 
 The passing of silver began with its demonetization 
 by Kngland in 1816, and since the discontinuance of its 
 free coinage in the United States in 1873 a new gener- 
 ation has been born and has grown to manhood's es- 
 tate. 
 
 Its world mission as a monetary metal nearly ac- 
 complished it is passing like the wintry snows before 
 the balmy and rejuvenating days of spring. 
 
 It is destiny it is evolution, and to remonctize the 
 silver commodity would be indeed to turn back the 
 hands of progress upon the dial of time. 
 
 It was right and proper to submit to the people di- 
 rectly the question of whether or not the free coinage 
 of silver at the mints, at its former ratio with gold, 
 should be resumed whether the action of our repre- 
 sentatives in congress in discontinuing the coinage of 
 the silver dollar should or should not be upheld. 
 
 Attention was directed to the fact that the people 
 themselves had never been consulted on the question, 
 and the original purpose of the agitation of the silver 
 issue was accomplished when the question was sub- 
 mitted, after ample discussion, to the decision of the 
 American people. 
 
 The appeal to the country was made and lost. The 
 people knew that things were not as they should be, 
 but they instinctively felt that the remonetization of 
 silver was not the remedy. 
 
 The silver issue was the false scaffolding built around 
 
the new monetary structure we are erecting. It has 
 served the purpose of a temporary expedient and we can 
 now dispense with its use. 
 
 The real mission of the silver issue was to educate 
 the people upon the money question in general and the 
 unfitness of gold to be the basis of a monetary system 
 in particular. 
 
 The lesson has come home, and the doom of gold 
 as a monetary metal is sealed. Already does its mone- 
 tary designation cling to it as loosely as do their tat- 
 tered garments to the tramps which it has made, and 
 when, in the light of reason, we shall come to see the 
 folly of retaining in use any form of individual money 
 as a circulating medium, its reign as a sovereign in the 
 world of finance will draw to a close. 
 
SOCIETY. XV. 
 
 BANKERS' MONEY. 
 
 % 
 
 Xot alone did the founders of our government fail 
 to provide an improved circulating medium for the 
 country, but in adopting the individual money of gold 
 and silver miners they placed the source of the money 
 supply entirely out of national control and made it im- 
 possible for government to increase the money supply 
 on occasion to keep pace with increase in population. 
 
 The scarcity of money in the early days of the re- 
 public was however easily overcome. 
 
 Patriots willing to contribute toward increasing the 
 volume of currency by injecting their own banknotes 
 into the circulation were numerous, and when legis- 
 latures of different states chartered banking corpor- 
 ations with power of issue, another form of individual 
 money sprang into existence. 
 
 The two so-called United States Banks, whose suc- 
 cessive careers covered a period of fifty years extending 
 from 1791 to 1841, were, like the state banks, privately 
 managed corporations. The note issues of both species 
 were purely a form of individual money. The only 
 organic difference between them was that while the 
 latter species were chartered by state legislatures the 
 former were chartered by the general government. Ill 
 1857 congress demonetized all foreign coins which up 
 
 1<> ihat laic day had been circulating in the country 
 
 89 
 
90 
 
 as lawful money at a fixed valuation. This piece of 
 legislation which transformed the bulk of the bank 
 reserves from a species of individual money into a non- 
 legal -tender commodity was the chief cause of the 
 financial panic of that year which swept the majority 
 of the wildcat banks, as the institutions chartered by 
 state legislatures were called, out of existence. 
 
 State banks, however, continued operations until 
 after the breaking out of the Civil War when govern- 
 ment imposed a ten per cent tax on their circulation 
 which put a quietus upon all institutions of that char- 
 acter. 
 
 Mention of the national bank currency brings the 
 review of the several forms of banker's money in our 
 financial history down to date. 
 
 It would seem as if the great volume of treasury pa- 
 per which was certain to be required and issued on ac- 
 count of the Civil War would have made a requisition 
 upon bankers to supply the nation with a circulating 
 medium quite unnecessary. However, taking advan- 
 tage of the confusion of war times, the banking frater- 
 nity once again managed to inject a credit form of in- 
 dividual money into the circulation. 
 
 No wild cat banker enjoyed the sinecure which 
 those who organize national banks obtain. 
 
 The former did business entirely on his own capi- 
 tal. The latter has the entire volume of his paper cir- 
 culation loaned to him practically without cost, by the 
 nation, and he may use it as long as he chooses to re- 
 main in business. To illustrate. An individual, say, 
 has accumulated $100,000, which he invests in gov- 
 ernment bonds bearing five per cent per annum inter- 
 
est.* This would yield him $5,000 a year, a sum which 
 would enable him to live retired and at ease for the 
 remainder of his days. 
 
 But such an individual concludes to secure for him- 
 self the additional advantages which the national bank- 
 ing act offers to capitalists, and distributing a few shares 
 of stock among friends so as to comply with the law re- 
 quiring a certain number of persons to be associated 
 in such an enterprise, he incorporates a bank. 
 
 He deposits his bonds with government and receives 
 back $90,000, in money of the $100,000 which he orig- 
 inally paid for the bonds, and this money he loans and 
 reloans to the people at an interest charge. And lie 
 continues to receive $5,000 a year interest on his bonds 
 just as though he had not been set up in the banking 
 business by government, and been loaned $90,000 
 working capital! 
 
 The National Bank Act introduced in the senate 
 by John Sherman was passed February 25, 18G3. 
 
 Let us assume the average of national bank cur- 
 rency in circulation for thirty-five years to have been 
 $200,000,000.* At ten per cent per annum increase 
 money doubles itself in ten years, so that at simple in- 
 terest the two hundred millions which society has 
 loaned to national bankers during these years, at the 
 expense and loss of the remainder of the population, 
 
 *Government paid as much as seven per cent, on some 
 of its bond issues. 
 
 *According to a report of the Comptroller of the Cur- 
 rency the circulation of 2,714 national banks on October 1, 
 1885, was $269,000,000, and of 3,676 national banks on Octo- 
 ber 6, 1896, eleven years later, $209,000,000. 
 
92 
 
 might and undoubtedly has earned them the enormous 
 sum of seven hundred million dollars! 
 
 In view of these facts we can not but conclude that 
 the national banking system is indeed the best banking 
 system on earth for those who engage in it. 
 
 Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury under 
 Lincoln said of it: 
 
 "My agency in procuring the passage of the Na- 
 tional Banking Act, was the greatest financial mistake 
 of my life. It has built up a monopoly that affects every 
 interest in the country. It should be repealed. But 
 before this can be accomplished the people will be ar- 
 rayed on one side and the banks on the other in such 
 a contest as we have never seen in this country." 
 
 The struggle with the money power which Salmon 
 P. Chase predicted is immediately before us, and can 
 not but eventually result in its utter annihilation. 
 
SOCIETY. XVI. 
 MONEY BANKS SAVINGS FUNDS. 
 
 A banker is just a plain, ordinary every-day citizen 
 who has money to loan. And if it be other people's 
 money rather than his own, which usually is the case, 
 BO much the better for the banker. 
 
 We are apt to lose sight of these facts amidst the 
 (levant appointments of the counting room, but we are 
 reminded of them, when, every now and then, the doors 
 of gome supposedly substantial bank close, and but a 
 few paltry dollars remain in its money vaults to be dis- 
 tributed among a host of depositors as souvenirs of the 
 beauties of modern banking, 
 
 Commercial banking is essentially a competitive 
 pursuit. Its main characteristic is taking increase for 
 the use of a tool, and is not a vocation in which the 
 people collectively ought to engage. 
 
 Were all banks abolished to-morrow, those wanting 
 to borrow money would be compelled to seek out indi- 
 viduals in the community who have money to loan, so 
 that as long as we continue competitive methods of do- 
 ing business, the sign "Bank," by which these gentle- 
 men make their whereabouts known, is really a con- 
 venience. 
 
 Such concerns would be designated banks of loan 
 
 and discount, their proprietors would do business on 
 
 93 
 
- 94 
 
 their own capital, and in case of failure which could 
 only occur through injudicious loans, or speculation 
 outside of legitimate banking, no one but themselves 
 would be at a loss. JUit, as part of the competitive 
 commercial methods which society has sanctioned in the 
 past, the moneys of the people finds its way into cor- 
 porate savings banks and other privately owned finan- 
 cial institutions for safe keeping, and it is a notorious 
 fact that for the return of such funds depositors re- 
 ceive no guaranteed security whatever. The receiving 
 of the people's money on deposit for safe keeping is a 
 department entirely separate and distinct from the 
 loan and discount features of banking, and is a func- 
 tion which absolutely can not be satisfactorily per- 
 formed by any individual or private corporation be- 
 cause banks reloan these funds for fixed periods, and 
 it therefore becomes impossible for them to carry out 
 their implied agreement to repay depositors on demand 
 whenever a considerable percentage of them, in times 
 of financial excitement or otherwise, call for their 
 deposits.* 
 
 There was a time when government kept strictly 
 aloof from any interference in the providing of ex- 
 change in any form for the convenience of the public. 
 Even the forwarding of small sums of money to distant 
 points was considered entirely within the province of 
 banking concerns, express companies, and other pur- 
 suits carried on by private enterprise. Then the 
 
 *During a recent bank panic, a western concern which 
 suspended, hung a placard in its window containing the in- 
 formation that: "This bank is closed. It is impossible for 
 any bank to do business when all of its depositors demand 
 their money at one and the same time." 
 
95 
 
 postal money order system was established by govern- 
 ment, which even now is being utilized by a portion 
 of the population as a plaee of safe deposit for savings 
 funds.* And, judging from the general demand that 
 the powers of government in this regard be extended, 
 it is not at all improbable that before long a general 
 savings department will be incorporated as part of the; 
 postal money order system.* 
 
 Should this be done, it will be in order for govern- 
 ment to impose such conditions on the now existing 
 wild cat savings banks of the country as will compel 
 thc'm, like the wildcatters of other days, to discontinue 
 business. The function of caring for the people's sav- 
 ings should be exercised exclusively by government. 
 
 And at this late clay we still permit banking cor- 
 porations to share with government the sovereign right 
 to issue money! It almost seems as if the wildcats, like 
 some specimens of the feline species in the flesh, have 
 nine lives. 
 
 We imposed a ten per cent, tax on their circulation, 
 when they metamorphosed into national banks, and in- 
 >tead of being taxed excessively on circulation, as has 
 been remarked in the preceding chapter, we loan them 
 the capital, with which they xlo business! 
 
 *From the report of the second assistant postmaster gen- 
 eral it appeared that for the fiscal year ending June 30, 
 1897, nearly $8,000,000, received for money orders remained 
 uncalled for in the hands of the department. Though in- 
 tended for no such uses the money order department was 
 to that extent utilized as a place of safe deposit. 
 
 *Since the above was written, such a system, amounting 
 virtually to a chain of government savings banks, has been 
 established. 
 
96 
 
 Jji the not overly elegant vernacular oi' the street, 
 we are great chumps! 
 
 15 ut nevertheless, the day of individual money, both 
 gold miner's and banker's, and the day of the privately 
 owned savings bank will soon come to an end. Grad- 
 ually collective money is developing, and must event- 
 ually crowd out of the monetary field the last votig'- 
 of individual money. It is simply a question ol' time, 
 and that not far off from all indications. 
 
 A test of whether certain moneys are of a collective, 
 or of an individual character may be found in a reflec- 
 tion upon who gains by its destruction. 
 
 Suppose that $2, <><)<), half composed of gold coin, 
 and half of treasury notes of government, goes down 
 with a steamer to the bottom of Lake Michigan. 
 
 In the case of the gold coin, which is individual 
 money, no one would be the gainer, whilst in the case 
 of the treasury notes, which are collective money, not- 
 withstanding the fact that they are redeemable in gold 
 coin, the nation would be the gainer. 
 
 Let $1,000 in national bank notes, which are in- 
 dividual money, be consumed in a conflagration, and the 
 nation is none the gainer. The individuals who are 
 permitted to perform a government function in issu- 
 ing such money gain however just as they do when, 
 through the death or disappearance of those who 
 deposit it, money deposited with them for safe keeping 
 remains uncalled for. 
 
 The nation should in all cases gain by the destruc- 
 tion or loss of money which it is impracticable to re- 
 place, and also by the moneys upon deposit which re- 
 mains uncalled for. 
 
97 
 
 This would be the case were there no o'her than 
 collective money in circulation, and were the receiv- 
 ing of the moneys of the people on deposit made, as 
 it should be, an exclusive function of government. 
 
SOCIETY. XVII. 
 MONEY CREDIT-REDEMPTION. 
 
 ^ The use of coined gold is in reality merely part and 
 parcel of the ancient system of barter. When we pur- 
 chase any material thing with gold coin we simply ex- 
 change commodity for commodity. No element of 
 credit whatever attaches itself to such a transaction. 
 
 Credit has been utilized in various forms from 
 times immemorial, and it is a singularly striking fact 
 that, outside of material things, it is the only economic 
 element which, like coined gold, can hold wealth in 
 abe} r ance so that we may not be compelled to purchase 
 the necessaries or comforts of life until needed for use. 
 An employe of a great department store might, for ex- 
 ample, say to the proprietor who tenders him fifty dol- 
 lars in gold coin for his month's services: ''This 
 money is bulky and inconvenient to carry about, and 
 I have no confidence in banks. I will soon need a 
 number of things that will about equal its amount in 
 cost which I can purchase out of stock so that it will 
 suit me just as well if you will let the amount remain 
 to my credit on the books." With subsequent purchase 
 of the things he needs the credit would be cancelled by 
 an off-set. 
 
 If we reflect upon that transaction \ve observe that 
 if this credit had been evidenced by a due bill on the 
 
 store, it might through its transfer to a third person, 
 
 98 
 
99 
 
 by him to another, and so or., be made to serve the pur- 
 pose of a circulating medium, and the liquidation of the 
 indebtedness which it represented would have amount- 
 ed to its redemption. In these exchanges the use of gold 
 coin would, as we have seen, be entirely dispensed with. 
 
 The use of credit, however, oui of which to con- 
 struct a circulating medium, and a provision for its 
 redemption, go hand in hand. 
 
 But redemption in its broadest sense is neverthe- 
 less nothing more nor less than a process of liquidation 
 or cancellation of indebtedness, which can be brought 
 about in various ways other than by the payment of 
 money. 
 
 Moreover, indebtedness can be cancelled or liqui- 
 dated by the off-set of things both tangible and intan- 
 gible. 
 
 Thus if one holds the obligation of a baker calling 
 for the payment of a dollar it is possible to liquidate 
 that obligation by the delivery of an equivalent in 
 bread. If one held the obligation of a theatrical man- 
 ager for a similar amount it might find redemption in 
 a ticket of admission to the opera. A landlord might 
 redeem his due bills in house rent, and so on. Such 
 cancellation of indebtedness if arranged for beforehand 
 might be correctly designated as specific redemption. 
 
 The great Plato maintained that "the state is but 
 the individual on a larger scale, the individual is but a 
 miniature state," and in nothing to which it may be 
 applied does the soundness of that philosophy become 
 more apparent than in the respective use of their 
 credit by nations and individuals, and in the smu- 
 
100 
 
 larity of the manner in which they redeem their obli- 
 gations. 
 
 All nations make more or less use of their credit, 
 and their obligations find redemption in a number of 
 ways other than by liquidation through the payment 
 of coined gold. 
 
 An early application of the principle of specific re- 
 demption in connection with the use of the public 
 credit as the base of a circulating medium was made 
 in the construction of the Guernsey market house, an 
 incident which has become famous as an advance in 
 monetary science. 
 
 The citizens of the parish of St. Peter, Island of 
 Guernsey, at a town meeting resolved upon the erection 
 of a market house in the borough, and intimated to 
 Governor De L'Isle IJrock by petition their desire thai 
 he issue "interest bearing bonds to be negotiated iu 
 Paris or London for money wherewith to erect the 
 building. The committee of freeholders who present- 
 ed this petition found no difficulty in convincing the 
 governor that the enterprise would be a paying invest- 
 ment, as the rent income from market stalls would in a 
 series of years fully repay the outlay for the building. 
 The governor, however, was not a conservative fossil, 
 and determined on making an innovation which, be- 
 side serving as a valuable lesson in finance, would save 
 the interest on the cost of the market house to the 
 towns-people. 
 
 Instead of negotiating interest bearing bonds, he 
 issued currency scrip for twenty-two thousand dollars 
 the estimated cost of the building. 
 
 This currency in bills of various denominations was 
 made receivable at par with legal tender money for 
 
101 
 
 rent of the stalls, and was paid out to the mechanics 
 who erected the building, and for rock, lumber, brick, 
 lime and other needed material as the work progressed. 
 
 it circulated in the island at par. Every month's 
 rent reduced its quantity and in less than ten years 
 all was back in the treasury and marked "cancelled." 
 Tlie house had been built and paid for without resort 
 to interest bearing bonds or the use of other money 
 than the governor's currency as a means for its con- 
 struction. 
 
 To impress the incident vividly on the minds of the 
 people and commemorate it for the benefit of future 
 generations, the governor appointed a special day to 
 celebrate the anniversary of the building of the market 
 house. 
 
 When it came around, a bonfire was built in the 
 main thoroughfare, and after an address by the gov- 
 ernor in which he enlarged upon the benefits which a 
 community derives through the use of its credit, when- 
 ever practicable, as the base of a circulating medium, 
 the currency which had so well served its purpose was 
 publicly destro}^ed. 
 
 If we analyze that currency we find that it con- 
 n-ted of the public credit in circulation, and that the 
 bills of various denominations were small separate 
 divisions or portions of its aggregate volume. We 
 full her ol>erve that the income from the rent of mar- 
 ket stalls constituted the one specific resource which 
 made its complete scientific redemption possible, the 
 public credit carrying the venture until this resource 
 became available. 
 
 And long before the birth of our republic, while 
 Vet' the America]] colonies were dependencies of 
 
- 102 
 
 England, various states issued a considerable volume 
 of legal tender currency not redeemable in coin, which 
 was put -into circulation through loans to the people 
 on land and other securities. 
 
 These currency issues were made receivable for 
 taxes due the state, which constituted the only specific 
 source of redemption available in those days. 
 
 The State of Pennsylvania continued a volume of 
 $400,000 of such currency in circulation for thirty 
 years until it was prohibited by the home government 
 in 1775. 
 
 The money power of England was, of course, greatly 
 displeased with a currency which was rapidly placing 
 the finances of the colonies beyond its control, and 
 through its influence the use of such a circulating 
 medium was interdicted by the English government. 
 It is a historical fact that the supression of the Colonial 
 currency, particularly that of Pennsylvania, contri- 
 buted more than any other cause toward arousing that 
 spirit of resistance to external interference which cul- 
 minated in the war of the revolution. 
 
 This was but natural considering that it had proved 
 in every way an unqualified success. 
 
 Benjamin Kranklin defending the Pennsylvania 
 colonial paper money before a committee of the 
 English Parliament in 1TG4, said: "On the whole no 
 method has hitherto been found to establish a 'medium 
 of trade, in lieu of coin, equal in all its advantages to 
 bills of credit founded on sufficient taxes for discharg- 
 ing it at the end of the time, and in the meantime 
 made a general legal tender." 
 
 In volume 4, page 85, of his works, the same author- 
 ity says: '"'Gold and silver are not intrinsically of 
 
103 
 
 value with iron. 'Their value rests chiefly on the 
 e-teein they happen to be in among the generality of 
 nations. Any other well founded credit is as much an 
 equivalent as gold and silver. Paper money, well 
 founded, has great advantages over gold and silver, 
 being light and convenient for handling large sums, 
 and not likely to have its volume reduced by demands 
 Tor exportation." 
 
 In this declaration that "any other well founded 
 < -red it is as much an equivalent as gold and silver" the 
 philosopher-statesman enunciated the true theory of 
 redemption, which is simply the cancellation of in- 
 debtedness. And it is as true to-day as it was then that 
 "paper money, well founded, has great advantages over 
 gold and silver, being light and convenient for hand- 
 ling large sums, and not likely to have its volume re- 
 duced by demands for exportation." 
 
 The importance of the specific source of redemp- 
 tion of currency through its receipt for taxes was real- 
 i/ed as well by another of the great founders of Ameri- 
 can democracy. 
 
 Kef erring to this resource Thomas Jefferson in his 
 letter to Mr. Epps said: 
 
 "11 is the only resource which can never fail them, 
 and it is an abundant one for every necessary purpose. 
 Treasury bills, bottomed on taxes, bearing or not bear- 
 ing interest as may be found necessary, thrown into 
 circulation, will take the place of so much gold and 
 silver." 
 
 Such a currency issued by the states at various 
 times for nearly a century did never fail them, was an 
 abundant one for every purpose, and would have re- 
 mained so had not the revolution brought about a 
 
104 
 
 change in government under which the states were 
 not permitted to issue money. 
 
 But it had been demonstrated that government 
 might with unqualified success put the public credit 
 into circulation by means of a paper currency redeem- 
 able in a certain specified resource other than the gold 
 commodity in minted form. 
 
SOCIETY. XVIII. 
 MONEY-COLLECTIVE CURRENCY. 
 
 A proviso of the Constitution empowers Congress 
 to borrow money on the credit of the United States. 
 
 In accordance with that provision Congress has 
 made liberal use of the public credit to replenish the 
 treasury from the very beginning. To that end it has 
 issued both interest bearing and non-interest bearing 
 treasury obligations, and has tided over emergencies in 
 this manner at short intervals throughout our entire 
 career as a nation. 
 
 Iut again, "the state is but the individual on a 
 larger scale." An individual makes the best possible 
 use of his credit. 
 
 So ought the state. If it can borrow money at six 
 per cent it is not justified in paying ten. If its credit 
 improves and it can refund its outstanding indebted- 
 ness at a lower rate than three per cent there is no 
 good reason why it should not do so. 
 
 And if it gain in power and strength so that in the 
 fullness of its prime it becomes possible for it to dif- 
 fuse its credit, by means of a paper circulating me- 
 dium, among its own people so that it may not be com- 
 pelled to call for external aid, such would be an en- 
 tirely rational and proper course for it to pursue. 
 
 Like an individual the state is weak and unable to 
 
 do but little for itself in its infancy, and like an infant 
 
 105 
 
106 
 
 it falls down repeatedly, so far as its financial strength 
 is concerned. Before it is able to stand upright. 
 
 The currency of the Continental Congress earned, 
 the war of the revolution to a successful issue. Bui, 
 unlike the currency of the American colonies which 
 had been made redeemable in a specific resource other 
 (ban coin, the currency issued by the provisional gov- 
 ernment of the federated states was made redeemable 
 in metallic money. Government did not possess the 
 individual money the gold and silver coin for its re- 
 demption, and because of this and other unfavorable 
 conditions the entire volume of currency was event- 
 ually repudiated.* 
 
 Coin is also a specific source of redemption, but as 
 long as we arrange so that bankers become the sole 
 judges of the soundness of the public credit only a lim- 
 ited volume of paper can ever be floated redeemable 
 even in coin. 
 
 Scanning the pages of American financial history 
 we find that the first volume of non-interest bearing 
 collective currency issued by the permanent govern- 
 ment of the United States was put into circulation to- 
 ward the close of the war with England in 1815. 
 
 Other issues made during the three preceding years 
 
 *A number of things contributed to the annihilation of 
 the currency of the Continental Congress. The currency in 
 the first place was not issued by a stable government but 
 by a section of a nation striving for independence. There 
 was no certainty that the revolt would succeed. At times 
 it seemed as if the effort -would certainly prove a. failure. 
 The currency was crude, easily counterfeited, and when, 
 through the machinations of the money power, it was 
 stripped of its legal 'tender quality, which in effect was a 
 disclaim of its being money by the power that issued it, 
 it became utterly worthless. 
 
- io7 - 
 
 of the war bore interest, and the fact that government 
 had dared to put a volume of non-interest bearing 
 treasury bills into circulation aroused the indignation 
 of all the banks in the country.* 
 
 Pressure was brought to bear on Congress by the, 
 banking combine which resulted in the repeal of the 
 law authorizing the re-issue of this currency, and with 
 the charter of the second United States Bank power 
 to issue a paper circulating medium was relinquished 
 to this and other banking corporations for the private 
 gain of individuals. 
 
 The state was weak and could not carry out its orig- 
 inal purpose. On the other hand, the money power had 
 proved itself stronger than the nation. 
 
 And this banking monster, like an insatiable vam- 
 pire, is still draining away the life blood of the nation 
 at its very source. 
 
 Interest bearing treasury notes were issued at 
 various times during the financial panics of 1837-184^, 
 once to carry on the war with Mexico in 1847, and 
 again to tide over the financial convulsion of 1857. 
 
 And then came the non-interest bearing notes of 
 the Civil War, 346 millions of which have been re-issued 
 and are still in circulation. 
 
 This collective government currency is the most 
 popular money in use, and when we look upon a treas- 
 ury note it is difficult to realize that when the premium 
 on gold was at its highest during the war of the rebel- 
 lion, fifty dollars and over in just such treasury bills, 
 
 *The issues referred to were: June o, 1812, $5,000,000; 
 February 25. 1813. $10,000.000; March 4, 1814, $10,000,000; 
 March 4, 1814, $10,000,000; December 26, 1814, $25,000,000; 
 ami February 14, 1815, $25,000,000. 
 
108 
 
 which government pledged itself to redeem in coin on 
 demand, were freely given in exchange i'oi- twenty dol- 
 lars of the same kind of coin in which that treasury 
 paper was redeemable. 
 
 Yet such was the fact. 
 
 As was remarked, gold could not have gone to a 
 premium without the presence of a monetary measure 
 capable of measuring the artificial value of the gold 
 commodity. The money stamp impressed upon the 
 greenback supplied such a measure, and two conflicting 
 monetary standards in use at one and the same time 
 naturally tended to complicate the monetary situation 
 and embarrass government. 
 
 The following discourse never took place; yet the 
 situation was actually reproduced on a many times en- 
 larged scale, and illustrates how redeeming collective 
 money in individual money operates on occasion. 
 
 Treasury official to battle-scarred veteran: 
 
 "No, sir. We do not pay your arrears in gold. 
 Gold is a commodity with no fixed value. It is now 
 worth $2.80. You might as well ask us to give you 
 $2.80 in flour or potatoes for every dollar government 
 owes you as to ask us for payment in gold. This cur- 
 rency is now the only money in circulation the only 
 money in the land. It will procure you anything you 
 desire to purchase at a hundred cents on the dollar. 
 It is good money." 
 
 The veteran takes his departure and a banker, who 
 has listened to the conversation while awaiting his 
 turn, now throws down a bundle of greenbacks before 
 the same official with the remark, "Redeem these, 
 please." 
 
 "But, iny dear sir, you bankers have made gold a 
 
109 
 
 commodity and have raised its value. Besides we 
 )ia\rii't the coin on hand." 
 
 "What if it is a commodity," the other replies, "if 
 government had agreed to redeem this paper in flour at 
 a dollar a hundred pounds and flour went up to $2.80 
 per 100, government would be at the loss, that's all. 
 If you haven't the coin it does not matter; an interest 
 bearing bond will do as well/' 
 
 And the bond, which had been specially prepared 
 for such occasions, was forthcoming.* 
 
 Now, the information imparted to the old soldier 
 was entirely correct, and yet the very next financial 
 transaction was guaged by a conflicting monetary 
 standard. 
 
 Had it been possible to demonetize gold at that 
 period the banking fraternity could not have pro- 
 cured $2.80 worth of any commodity for a single dol- 
 lar in money. 
 
 But it was not practicable to demonetize gold at 
 that time. A war period, when the public credit is at 
 its greatest strain, is not the proper time to inaugurate 
 
 *The following letter to Congressman Gaines (Tennes- 
 see) bears directly on this point: 
 
 Department of State, Washington, Feb. 7, 1898. 
 Hon. John W. Gaines: 
 
 Dear Sir Your note of this date is received. You ask 
 me whether, during our Civil War, the bonds of the United 
 States were paid for in United States notes, commonly 
 called greenbacks. 
 
 During our entire Civil War we received United States 
 notes in payment for bonds. The interest on the notes was 
 paid in coin and to enable the treasury to do this the duties 
 on imports were made payable in coin. 
 
 Very Truly Yours, 
 
 JOHN SHERMAN, 
 
110 - 
 
 currency reform. This can best be done when the 
 country is at peace. 
 
 The fact remains, however, that if even a single 
 treasury note of the millions of "greenbacks" issued 
 during the civil war could have found redemption in a 
 resource of government other than metallic money, 
 such a note could not be properly aligned as redeem- 
 able exclusively in coin. 
 
 Suppose for example that John Jacob Astor had 
 turned a $10,000 greenback into the treasury in pay- 
 ment of his income tax, that bill' would certainly have 
 found perfect and complete redemption. 
 
 And inasmuch as any particular note or bill might 
 have found perfect redemption when returned into the 
 treasury in liquidation of the income tax; in the pay- 
 ment of revenues and customs; by the individuals and 
 firms on whom was levied a special tax for the privilege 
 of carrying on their vocations; through its receipt in 
 payment for public lands, and through its receipt in 
 payment for either postage or revenue stamps, it fol- 
 lows by a sound and logical process of reasoning that 
 the entire volume of war greenbacks were not redeem- 
 able exclusively in coin, but in other available resources 
 of the nation, not specified, as well.* 
 
 In fact, were we to retire the treasury notes now 
 in circulation as is being urged by banking interests 
 we would be discarding a collective currency a gront 
 portion of which is now, day in and day out finding 
 
 *Gold certificates issued during the war, redeemable ex- 
 clusively in gold coin, are still in existence. In fact and 
 ef ect these were specifically redeemable in a resource con- 
 sisting of gold coin as it became available, 
 
Ill 
 
 perfect redemption in resources of the nation other than 
 coin. 
 
 And considering the various ways in which treasury 
 paper finds redemption might we not with propriety 
 even now change the phraseology on our currency so 
 that instead of being a promise to pay exclusively in 
 coin, which now means gold, it would become redeem- 
 able in any available resource of government? 
 
 The nation is weak no longer. If it allows itself 
 to be overcome by a coterie of money changers it is 
 only because its people do not understand the situa- 
 tion, and what is required or necessary to be done. 
 
 We are nationally strong, but we must exert that 
 strength and shape our monetary system so that it will 
 bring the greatest good to the greatest number. But, 
 as has been remarked, we must do this in a time of 
 peace; not in a war period when our credit is at its 
 greatest tension. The outstanding volume of treasury 
 paper, though finding other than gold redemption, is 
 construed as being specifically redeemable in gold. Let 
 it remain so for the time being. 
 
 Side by side with it we should circulate a volume of 
 currency redeemable, at the pleasure of government, in 
 any available resources of the nation. 
 
 The reserved option of ivdempt ion would, in effect, 
 l>e no departure from the existing policy of redemption, 
 because when gold is not available in an emergency gov- 
 ernment su-pends specie payments. At other times, 
 with gold available for the purpose, u~o\ eminent might 
 and no doubt would redeem its improved treasury paper 
 in coined gold on demand, while every form of treasury 
 paper would be redeemable interchange-ably in any re- 
 source of the nation. 
 
112 
 
 The weight resting upon the gold base of our 
 monetary system is altogether too great, and it would 
 Kvin the part of wisdom to distribute the strain over 
 as many new piers as can possibly he inserted under- 
 neath the monetary structure. 
 
 Had we a government telegraph, or a collectively 
 owned railway system they would constitute sources of 
 currency redemption additional to those that now exist 
 and by so much reduce the volume of currency that 
 would otherwise be subject to redemption in coined 
 gold. 
 
 It is said Uncle Sam is a pauper, and one would 
 think so in view of the fact that he has so frequently 
 been compelled to borrow a monetary tool, and pay 
 an interest charge for its use. 
 
 lie who is unable to help himself is poor indeed. 
 lut what shall we say of him who being able to help 
 himself goes a borrowing! 
 
 Let the people construct their own monetary tool 
 out of the public credit. Xot some of the people as 
 under the national banking system, but all of the peo- 
 ple under a government system. 
 
 Let them gradually reinforce and strengthen the 
 public credit which they put into circulation with 
 tangible resources having an earning power, and Uncle 
 Sam would, for the first time in his career, have gained 
 financial, independence. 
 
SOCIETY. XIX. 
 MONEY PUBLIC WORKS. 
 
 Every form of money is issued in accordance with 
 law its appearance must be preceded by legislation 
 which creates its 'money quality, so that were govern- 
 ment to emit bills of credit in the form of the paper 
 currency now in use, redeemable in any resource of 
 which government may be possessed, the provisions of 
 the law authorizing such an issue rather than the word- 
 ing upon the treasury bills would cause it to be gener- 
 ally received as a circulating medium of exchange. 
 
 \Ve will now suppose such a law to have been placed 
 upon the statute books, and assuming the prosperity 
 welfare and happiness of the people to be the primary 
 object of government, we will consider how such an 
 improvement in our monetary system would operate 
 to bring about a decided betterment in social condi- 
 tions. In fact, whether or not it would eil'ect such re- 
 sults ought, in reason, to be the only measure of its 
 success or failure. And if it be demonstrated that it 
 would bring to our people permanent prosperity on 
 what ground could it possibly be rejected? 
 
 A people that would not reach out for the means of 
 deliverance from industrial servitude is not tit to enjoy 
 industrial freedom, and whether or not we will throw 
 
 off the shackles of the financial slavery in which we are 
 
 113 
 
114 
 
 held when shown the peaceable way, will determine the 
 real stage of our advancement and intelligence as a 
 people. 
 
 But we may rest assured the people will not con- 
 tinue the use of an antiquated circulating medium 
 when fully convinced that a more modern and perfect 
 is to their advantage. 
 
 But we are digressing. 
 
 It would seem on a survey of the situation that the 
 first thing to be done is to provide employment for the 
 people. This in turn would supply a channel through 
 which a volume of collective currency could be put into 
 circulation to the best advantage. 
 
 Let us suppose government, to these ends, under- 
 took the erection of a splendid postoffice building in 
 each of 200 cities.* (the more pretentious to be erected 
 in the more populous cities) at the following estimated 
 cost: 
 
 50 buildings at $ 200,000 each 
 
 50 buildings at 150,000 each 
 
 50 buildings at 100,000 each 
 
 50 buildings at 50,000 each 
 
 This would sum up 25 million dollars for the 200 
 buildings., a mere bagatelle compared to the sums the 
 nation is frittering away in interest for the use of the 
 individual money of gold miner and banker. 
 
 Government would not be justified in venturing up- 
 
 *According to the census of 1890, there were in that year 
 448 cities of over 6,000 population in the United States. In 
 the spring of 1898 there were 247 completecl government 
 buildings in as many cities, and in 9 other cities postoffice 
 buildings were in course of construction. 
 
115 
 
 on the erection of so many public buildings at one and 
 the same time, under existing monetary conditions. 
 
 In fact, where conditions are such that government, 
 as now, is compelled to borrow money at stated inter- 
 vals to maintain its credit, all public improvements are 
 virtually made at an interest charge, so that undeni- 
 ably we are paying interest on the cost of a number of 
 the public buildings already erected. 
 
 To erect these 200 buildings with individual money 
 would increase taxation, and arouse the opposition of 
 property holders. At the same time the mechanics and 
 laborers of the country would look upon their erection 
 as a god-send for the work it would give them. 
 
 But, embarrassed as it is financially, government 
 does not, on an average, erect more than four or five 
 public buildings a year, so that, at the present rate of 
 progress, it would ta.ke at least forty years for the na- 
 tion to erect 200 public buildings. 
 
 Such being the case, we will now consider how we 
 might erect these 200 buildings with an improved col- 
 lective currency, and the status of affairs that would 
 exist on their completion. It is customary in city, 
 county, state and nation for appropriations for expense 
 of administration and for public works to be made at 
 the beginning of each and every fiscal year. This is in 
 accordance with city, county, state and federal laws. 
 The constitution itself provides that "no money shall 
 be drawn from the treasury but in consequence of ap- 
 propriations made by law: arid a regular statement and 
 account of the receipts and expenditures of all public 
 moneys shall be published from time to time." 
 
 Congress, as we have 'assumed, determines to erect 
 
116 
 
 these 200 buildings. An appropriation to defray their 
 cost is made, and it is ordered thai $'35,000,000 in paper 
 currency redeemable in any resource of government, be 
 issued to carry on the work. 
 
 An army of steel workers, stone cutters, brick layers, 
 plasterers, carpenters, roofers, tinners and other skilled 
 and unskilled laborers are set at work, the sum of 
 money appropriated, in newly printed treasury notes, is 
 paid out on the work as it progresses, and in a year or 
 thereabouts the buildings are completed. 
 
 The buildings would be paid for; the laborers of 
 the country benefited; each of two hundred cities im- 
 proved by the erection of a beautiful structure for pub- 
 lic use; the nation enriched to that extent; the volume 
 of money in circulation measurably increased; and not 
 an additional dollar of currency could be issued until 
 an appropriation for public expenditure otherwise 
 would be determined upon. 
 
 With individual money in use the people would have 
 been taxed either directly or indirectly through revenue 
 and tariff impositions both for the cost of the build- 
 ings and the interest upon the money with which they 
 were erected, but with an improved collective currency 
 in use, strange to say, there would not a dollar of bur- 
 den be placed upon the people. And this as a result 
 of the use of an improved monetary tool in which the 
 money stamp of government would be separated from 
 the valuable commodity, instead of calling upon gold 
 miners, as we now do, to supply us with an implement 
 with which to carry on industry. If we imagine our- 
 selves compelled to use tbe gold commodity as a me- 
 dium of exchange we are in furn compelled to obtain 
 
117 
 
 it at any cost. And bonds mean bondage. In contra- 
 distinct ion to gold coin, which is a commodity in cir- 
 culation, such an improved collective currency would 
 be a monetary tool constructed of the public credit in 
 circulation, and the distinction between such a cur- 
 rency and the government paper now in use would be 
 that while the latter is construed as being redeemable 
 exclusively in coin, the former would be redeemable 
 in any available resource of the nation other than coin, 
 and in coin only at the pleasure of government. 
 
 The credit of the na-tion at the present time is based 
 directly upon the taxing power of government through 
 wjnch it may seize upon the last vestige of individual 
 property to liquidate its obligations payable in the gold 
 commodity. Every other commodity would, were pre- 
 vailing monetary theories carried out, be sacrificed, in a 
 contingency upon the altar of gold. 
 
 And have not wheat, corn, cotton and other com- 
 modities and the labor wealth of the country been so 
 sacrificed lo these many years? The credit of the na- 
 tion needs to be continually bolstered up because of the 
 known impossibility of the governments of earth to re- 
 deem their obligations in gold. The gold is not in ex- 
 istence, and not even the taxing po\yer of government 
 can bring to light that which has no existence. And 
 si.ch a monetary plan is considered neither fatuous nor 
 ridiculous by those who profit by its continuation. 
 
 But with a demonstration of the wealth which per- 
 fected monetary tools not made of gold would create, 
 the credit of government would develop its mature 
 strength as if by magic, and all doubt of the ability of 
 government to deal justly with its creditors would for 
 all time disappear. 
 
118 
 
 Then, with a change in monetary tools, a change in 
 creditors would take place. 
 
 With the gold commodity retained in monetary use, 
 the creditors of the nation are a handful of hankers 
 and capitalists who take little interest in the people 
 beyond studying up opportunities to exploit them and 
 their government. 
 
 With a currency in use redeemable in any resource 
 of the nation all financial leeches upon the body politic 
 would be shaken of, and the people themselves would 
 become the sole creditors of government. Xor would 
 it lie in the power of any individual or combination pf 
 individuals to discredit the currency through whose use 
 society as a whole was being benefited. 
 
 The two hundred public buildings so erected would, 
 at least in the judgment of the new creditors of govern- 
 ment the citizens of the nation be worth their cost, 
 and representing that much additional wealth would to 
 an equal extent strengthen the national credit. 
 
 The channels of redemption of currency issued to 
 defray the cost of public works would necessarily equal 
 the total of government receipts, and these in turn must 
 be made 'to cover the total disbursements of government 
 including the cost of public works. 
 
 All that would be necessary would be to make sure 
 that whatever amount of currency was issued was put 
 into circulation for the purpose for which it was ap- 
 propriated. Its redemption would go on unconsciously. 
 
 As it circulated among the people until received 
 back into the treasury it would, in the same manner 
 in which gold coin is redeemed, find redemption di- 
 
119 
 
 rectly in commodities and service, and the conveniences 
 comforts and accessories of life. 
 
 Only the small percentage of gold coin taken out of 
 circulation and used directly in the arts and industries 
 finds final redemption; the great bulk of minted coin 
 while circulating among the people now finds what may 
 be designated as an intermediate redemption. 
 
 A volume of gold coin sufficient for all purposes of 
 exchange is supposed to remain in continuous circula- 
 tion; and similarly were consecutive issues of collective 
 currency to displace gold entirely, a volume of such 
 currency sufficient for all purposes of exchange would 
 remain in continuous circulation. 
 
 However, aside from the intermediate redemption 
 which currency issued in the construction of public 
 works would receive as it passed from hand to hand, 
 and its final redemption by government, it would receive 
 economic redemption otherwise. 
 
 Individuals perform more or less labor to increase 
 their personal comfort, as when a man erects his own 
 habitation for which labor he is compensated solely in 
 its use and enjoyment. So with society. It creates its 
 public works for its own convenience, and, like the 
 obligation of the theatrical manager which found re- 
 demption in an operatic performance in an intangible 
 pleasure or enjoyment so would the continuously out- 
 standing volume of collective currency find an equivalent 
 of redemption in the use and. enjoyment by the people 
 of the public buildings, bridges, levees and similar im- 
 provements whose construction would become possible 
 only through the use of that very currency. 
 
 Xo such burdens as now weigh upon individuals in 
 
120 
 
 the construction of public works would then be im- 
 posed. 
 
 Does a tax-payer ever receive back the money he 
 contributes toward the erection of a court house or 
 the construction of a public park? And does there not 
 seem to be an incongruity in the circumstance that the 
 people of one generation pay in full for public conven- 
 iences which succeeding generations as well enjoy? 
 In the natural use of the volume of currency in contin- 
 uous circulation those that come after would contribute 
 as did their progenitors toward the construction and 
 maintenance of public works, and without incurring a 
 modicum of hardship on any, exact equity would be 
 meted out to all. 
 
 As individuals we favor the free construction of 
 public works of every description. It is simply a ques- 
 tion of ways and means, and, as herein outlined, such 
 means are ready at hand if we but make use of them. 
 Possessed of its own monetary tools no necessity need 
 ever arise for society to compel a considerable portion 
 of its membership to go idle because of the lack of em- 
 ployment. 
 
 Heretofore, men have asked, How can w r e make 
 these improvements when we have not the money? 
 Where, and at what rate of interest can we borrow the 
 capital to do this work? 
 
 Never again would such questions be asked with 
 an advanced collective currency in use. It might then 
 be asked, Have we the men, and the material, and the 
 machinery to do this work, were it not for the fact that 
 the existence of a nation of eighty million of the most 
 industrious and intelligent people on earth command- 
 
121 
 
 ing the six million horse powers of Xiagara, the twenty 
 additional millions of our mountain streams, cataracts 
 and rivers, and the inexhaustible resources of our com- 
 mon country would render the asking of such a ques- 
 tion a superfluity. 
 
SOCIETY. XX. 
 MONEY-MUNICIPAL PUBLIC WORK. 
 
 In the same manner that we could erect 200 post- 
 office buildings for government, we might construct a 
 splendid library building, a public museum structure, 
 and an auditorium in each of 200 cities. Nor does a 
 good reason exist why we might not so construct 
 200 city halls, 200 court houses, 200 street car systems, 
 200 electric lighting plants, or 200 systems of water 
 supply in as many municipalities, in case they were 
 needed. 
 
 An impecunious individual once remarked that, if 
 he had nothing he, at least, did not owe a dollar in the 
 world* 
 
 So with cities. There are some municipalities pos- 
 sessed of a very limited amount of public works, that 
 are out of debt. These are like individuals who might 
 procure for themselves certain comforts of life but re- 
 frain from so doing because they have an aversion to 
 going in debt. 
 
 As a rule, municipalities that have many costly pub- 
 lic works are deeply in debt. 
 
 The public buildings and other conveniences of 
 most cities are constructed with borrowed capital, and 
 
 *How many business men would have little or nothing 
 if they did not owe a dollar in the world? 
 
 122 
 
123 
 
 the citizens find the interest charge upon such indebt- 
 edness a burdensome thing which it is difficult to shake 
 off. Year in and year out they are compelled to pay in- 
 to rest, interest, interest! 
 
 If the nation is a pauper, whose credit, with gold 
 ;i> a monetary basis, needs strengthening, so are its 
 children, the cities, and as long as it is at best a family 
 matter why not let the head of the family the nation 
 attend to all financial affairs? 
 
 Though controlled by the municipality the streets 
 of a city are public property. Why should a handful 
 of individuals be compelled to defray the cost of their 
 maintenance? They are public highways, and as such 
 should be constructed, improved, and maintained by 
 the nation. And why should a limited number of indi- 
 viduals be taxed for the cost and maintenance of the 
 public parks of a city which though vested in the mu- 
 nicipality are enjoyed as common property? 
 
 All public work the country over should be carried 
 on by the nation by means of collective currency speci- 
 fically appropriated. It would now be carried on in 
 this manner had a collective policy in regard to land 
 been instituted by the founders of our government. 
 
 From time to time, as additional industries would be 
 undertaken by government, it might, on requisition for 
 same approved, supply school districts with the text 
 books, furniture and other belonging^ of the school 
 room, all of its own manufacture, and the school house, 
 no matter how costly or elaborate, included, free of 
 charge. 
 
 If it could supply municipalities with their public 
 buildings it might in a similar manner supply them with 
 
124 
 
 their fire apparatus; with an electrical clock on every 
 street corner;* with a telephone system; and with any 
 and all utilities otherwise for the convenience of the 
 people. 
 
 The conflicts between our federal and state courts 
 and the useless duality of our civil and criminal juris- 
 prudence has not escaped the notice of observing minds. 
 All judges upon the bench, the magistrates of our 
 towns and villages not cxcepted, and individuals other- 
 wise connected with the administration <>!' justice, 
 should, and of right ought to be directly in government 
 employ. We should endeavor to, as much as possible, 
 simplify our unwieldy and complicated machinery of 
 government. 
 
 Suppose we could readily make the changes sug- 
 gested, would there be any necessity at this stage for 
 keeping up distinct municipal or city government? 
 With firemen, policemen, judges, auditors, clerks, and 
 all those engaged in caring for the public streets and 
 buildings taken over into government employ we could 
 entirely dispense with our unsatisfactory and expensive 
 city administrations. 
 
 And what object would be attained by continuing 
 our equally unsatisfactory and expensive state govern- 
 ments were congress to enact a uniform code of civil 
 and criminal laws for the entire country? 
 
 On reflection we cannot but perceive how little good 
 is accomplished by our state governments, and if we 
 
 *Clocks connected by wire with a chronometer centrally 
 located are becoming quite common. At an advanced col- 
 lective stage a time piece so connected might be installed 
 in every business place, factory and home. 
 
125 
 
 look into the matter deeply \ve find them to be to a 
 great extent responsible 1'or the polluted political at- 
 mosphere in which the country is enveloped. 
 
 But neither city administrations nor state govern- 
 ments can be abolished in a jiffy. Changes of so vast 
 a nature involving the doing away with charters and 
 constitutions and the remodeling of our entire form of 
 government could only be approached slowly and grad- 
 ually. They are not immediate steps to be tal<en, but it 
 is well for the people to think seriously and deeply upon 
 the subject. If they do, they must conclude that such 
 changes would be a good thing, and an advantage to 
 the nation, and that eventually they will have to be 
 made. 
 
SOCIETY. XXI. 
 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Near an English settlement in Africa were located a 
 tribe of natives whoso chief was a powerful young giant 
 in strength and stature. In a conflict with neighboring 
 tribes he fought courageously, but, though he made full 
 use of his strength and power in battle, no persuasion 
 could induce him to make use of his splendid physical 
 qualities in the cultivation of the rich soil over which he 
 held sway. His savage nature wa*s aroused by war., while 
 the arts of peace held no attraction for him. 
 
 From tho way we manage, one would be led to be- 
 lieve that the nature of the savage still lurked in our 
 make-up as a nation. Were a foreign invader to come 
 to our shores, we Avould put up every dollar of wealth 
 we possess and impress every man capable of bearing 
 arms if necessary to repel him. 
 
 We are a young giant in war, but as a nation, we 
 turn from the arts of peace even as the young Xe^p- 
 refused to turn up a furrow in the soil of Ethiopia. If 
 we may carry on war collectively why not industry in a 
 time of peace? 
 
 Why not conquer nature by united effort instead of 
 each, in cannibalistic fashion, striving to carve a com- 
 petence for himself out of the life and blood of his fel- 
 low? We squander vast sums in works of destruction 
 
 126 
 
- 127 
 
 and collectively make but the slightest progress imagi- 
 nable in works of construction. 
 
 Let us, for example, see what might have been ac- 
 complished in works of construction by a sum equaling 
 the interest charge alone which we have paid upon the 
 cost of the war of the rebellion. A great iron and steel 
 plant complete in every detail can be constructed for 
 say $5,000,000. 
 
 We will now imagine that Congress has authorized 
 the construction of one such plant in each of the states 
 of Alabama, Colorado, California, Illinois, Missouri, 
 Michigan, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Texas. This 
 would make ten great national iron and steel plants in 
 all costing fifty million dollars. 
 
 We will further imagine that congress has author- 
 ized the establishment of one thousand other great 
 manufacturing industries at an average cost of one mil- 
 lion dollars each. We will suppose these to be just 
 such concerns as are now being operated in the various 
 cities of the country north, south, east and west, and 
 imagine them to include plants for the manufacture of 
 wire and electrical apparatus; of locomotives and other 
 rolling stock; of bridges; of hardware, furniture, crock- 
 ery, glassware, men's, women's and children's wear; of 
 paper stock; of dairy products and breadstuff's; of text 
 books and school furniture; of painters', plumbers' and 
 druggists' supplies, and so on, the thousand plants sup- 
 plying every manufactured product that a limited pop- 
 ulation might require. In addition to these, were gov- 
 ernment to construct twenty-five splendid modern 
 ocean steamships at a cost of $3,000,000 each; one hun- 
 dred elevators and warehouses for the storage of cereals 
 
128 
 
 throughout the country at a cost of $1,000,000 each; 
 an electric lighting plant costing $500,000 in each 
 of 300 cities; a street car system costing $500,000 in 
 each of 300 cities; a public newspaper plant costing 
 $500,000 in each of 300 cities; a waterworks system 
 costing $500,000 in each of 300 cities; a postoffice 
 building costing $500,000 in each of 300 cities; an im- 
 posing railway station costing $500,000 in each of 300 
 cities; an ornate library structure costing $500,000 in 
 each of 300 cities; a magnificent opera house costing a 
 .similar amount in each of 300 cities; and a telegraph 
 system for the country at a cost of $75,000,000, were 
 government to construct all these in addition we repeat, 
 it would not have expended by $3.2,096,903 a sum equal- 
 ing the $2,532,096,903 which according to official re- 
 ports we paid as interest upon the public debt from 
 January 1, 1862, to December 31, 1893. 
 
 The interest we have paid since the latter date on 
 account of this same war debt amounts to considerable 
 over a hundred million dollars. 
 
 Let us waive the excess and call it that amount in 
 round numbers. For such a sum, at a cost of $10,000 
 each, we might have erected TEX THOUSAND sub- 
 stantial modern school buildings throughout the coun- 
 try. 
 
 And all of this vast wealth and the opportunities 
 for the better enjoyment of life by the many which it 
 represents has been frittered away in interest upon the 
 cost of the civil war! 
 
 The original cost of the war exceeded the vast in- 
 terest charges we have paid on its account by consid- 
 erable over a hundred million dollars. At present rates 
 
129 
 
 of construction $15,000 will grade, bridge, and double 
 track a mile of railway. So that for a sum equalling 
 the $>.'; 7 :V23fi,173 at which our public debt stood at 
 the close of the rebellion we could today (1898) not 
 alone duplicate, but double track the 180,000 miles of 
 railway now existing in the country, and still retain 
 upwards of seventy three million dollars to be applied 
 toward extension of the system. 
 
 \A'c have already disbursed over two billion dol- 
 lars in pensions on account of the war of the rebellion. 
 
 In mentioning this subject we must not be under- 
 stood is intending to convey the impression that there 
 is the slightest impropriety in these funds being so 
 disbursed. 
 
 What we do intend, however, is to suggest how we 
 might proceed to eliminate the prevailing industrial 
 warfare which is a great deal more destructive of life 
 and wasteful of wealth than is its less insidious proto- 
 type. 
 
 But to return to our main subject. In a complex 
 civilization, like that in which we live, it becomes ut- 
 terly impossible for each individual to acquire a home 
 through his own exertions however well directed. 
 
 The people, through their government, can and 
 ought to provide themselves with homes in a way 
 that society would eventually become the sole landlord. 
 
 Let us imagine government undertaking the erec- 
 tion of a great number of ornate and substantial brick, 
 stone, and tile structures, ranging say from two to eight 
 rooms in interior space, intended as habitations for the 
 people. 
 
 The designs of these dwellings would admit of be- 
 
130 - 
 
 ing varied to an unlimited extent; they might be far 
 better supplied with the conveniences of modern life 
 than are a majority of homes owned by their occupants 
 at the present time, and, while each might stand in 
 the center of a spacious lawn, and front upon a parked 
 and shaded boulevard, their average cost need not ex- 
 ceed, say, two thousand dollars. 
 
 Calculating upon that basis, for a sum equalling 
 the two billion dollars we have disbursed in pensions 
 we might erect two million such homes, or five thous- 
 and beautiful dwellings in each of four hundred cities. 
 
 At an average rental charge of ten dollars a month, 
 were each and every habitation continuously occupied, 
 government would receive, in rentals, a gross income 
 of 240 million dollars per year, so that their original 
 cost might be fully re-earned within one short decade. 
 
 It is not at all improbable that the cost of the civil 
 war, including interest and pensions on its account 
 which are still running on, will in time reach the 
 enormous aggregate of ten billion dollars. 
 
 And the question arises, If we may expend such a 
 stupendous sum in liquidating the cost and the after- 
 math of a single war, why may we not expend a sim- 
 ilar amount or more in a time of peace, when our credit 
 is at its best, in works of construction and usefulness? 
 
 Again, "the state is but the individual on a larger 
 scale/'' What an individual may do to make life more 
 agreeable that may society do for its own well being. 
 Hence, when a state has so far advanced as to be en- 
 abled to produce readily all that is required to keep its 
 people in material comfort, and has in addition ac- 
 quired the knowledge which enables it to construct its 
 
131 
 
 own monetary tools, there is nothing within the limits 
 of its resources and the wealth producing capacity of 
 its membership, from a great railway system permeat- 
 ing every village and hamlet in the land, down to the 
 manufacture of a shoestring, which it may not for the 
 well-being of its people create. 
 
SOCIETY. XXII. 
 MONEY RAILWAYS-AN INDUSTRIAL CENTER. 
 
 It would not have been necessary to carry the idea 
 of collective control of industry conveyed both directly 
 and by suggestion as far as we have in the foregoing 
 pages were we merely considering the interests of some 
 of the people, and not -the best interests of society as a 
 whole. 
 
 A law authorizing the issue of currency consisting 
 of the public credit, redeemable in any resource of the 
 nation, would relieve the nation of its financial em- 
 barrassments, and the opening up of a certain amount 
 of public work would, at least somewhat, improve the 
 industrial status of the country. 
 
 But even were we to acquire the telegraph in addi- 
 tion, the nation would still be in the toils of the railway 
 dragnet, our inequitable system of taxation would still 
 continue, agriculture on the whole would still be im- 
 remunerative, labor would still be despoiled of the 
 wealth it produced, and the great syndicates, trusts. 
 and monopolies of the country would still remain in 
 control of industry. 
 
 And though the remedy for these conditions would 
 have been provided in an improved collective currency, 
 it would still remain for that remedy to be further ap- 
 plied. 
 
 132 
 
_Loo "" 
 
 When we begin the erection of a new social struc- 
 ture it will not suffice to leave it uncompleted for any 
 length of time. If we do, some will seek the shelter of 
 the portions well along, while others will still remain 
 exposed to the blighting storms of the social elements. 
 We must, to do justice to all, carry the work to com- 
 pletion. At the same time the work should not be hur- 
 ried to an extent that it can not be well done. 
 
 Yet, no good reason exists why we should not make 
 whatever inroads we can upon each and all competitive 
 pursuits at the earliest possible moment. But before 
 we do this, we must confront and overcome the rail- 
 way problem, because private ownership of our trans- 
 portation systems stands as a barrier to the develop- 
 ment of collective production and distribution. 
 
 Government ownership of railroads means, as it 
 does in other advanced nations, government ownership 
 of the means of constructing and equipping a railway 
 system as well. And the question arises whether it 
 would not be better to begin by either constructing out- 
 right or acquiring by purchase the various industrial 
 plants required for the manufacture of rails, metallic 
 ties, bridges and rolling stock, and for that matter, 
 of steel and iron poles, and wire for the extension of the 
 telegraph, and of structural iron for our public build- 
 ings as well. 
 
 It hardly seems the right thing to duplicate the rail- 
 ways and telegraph already in existence, and yet in 
 order to bring the' owners of these properties to realize 
 the fact that we could get along very well without ac- 
 quiring their properties at all, it might become neces- 
 tarv to construct a few stretches of road and wire con- 
 
184 
 
 necting, say, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Balti- 
 more and Chicago, just to demonstrate what we could 
 do if we tried. 
 
 There is little doubt, however, but that we would 
 acquire existing properties through the exercise of our 
 right of eminent domain. They would be subject to 
 the same law which made their existense a possibility, 
 and under that law they would be condemned, ap- 
 praised, and paid for. 
 
 Nevertheless, it might be deemed expedient to lay 
 out one or more entirely new industrial centers, on 
 some newly constructed line of railway owned and ope- 
 rated by government, in the very beginning. 
 
 These newly located centers of industry might be 
 planned on a magnificent scale, and be laid out so as 
 to permit of their development into populous cities 
 replete with everything essential to a happy and en- 
 joyable existence. 
 
 Were such a course decided upon, corps of survey- 
 ors, civil and electrical engineers, architects, sculptors, 
 decorators, florists, landscape gardeners, and other 
 workers having special training would be set to work, 
 and a city would be laid out in consultation, just as 
 was the "White city," at the Columbian Exposition -jf 
 1893. Every requirement for the health, pleasure, 
 comfort, and convenience of the people would be pro- 
 vided for, and before long, by the hands of an army of 
 eager workers, a city beautiful as a dream would rise 
 as if by magic. 
 
 Locate in such a city, which would be built upon 
 government land, a great iron and steel plant which 
 with its auxiliaries and departments might cost five 
 
135 
 
 million dollars, and fifteen varied manufacturing plants 
 costing a million dollars each, 'and we would have in- 
 vested a total of 20 million dollars, a sum no greater 
 than we expended pursuing a shadow in preparing the 
 grounds and buildings of the world's fair at Chicago. 
 Construct, at a cost, say, of two million dollars each, a 
 sewerage and drainage system, a system of paved boule- 
 vards, a system of water supply, a tramway or street 
 car system, and an electrical light, heat and power 
 plant, and we would have expended ten million dol- 
 lars more. Erect, at a cost of, say, five million dollars 
 each, one hundred splendid public buildings. Includ- 
 ed among these might be a great court house, a city 
 hall, a post office building, a government savings bank 
 structure, a telegraph and telephone exchange,* a 
 home for a public newspaper plant, a medical exchange, 
 a dental exchange, a lawyers' exchange, and a number 
 of great trade bazaars in which commodities in general 
 would be on sale. 
 
 Set each of these hundred structures erected of 
 stone or other substantial material in the center of a 
 square of parked ground and we would have the 
 nucleus of the most magnificent city of either ancient 
 or modern times. 
 
 Every street in such a city might be a boulevard lined 
 with the habitations, variegated in design and pleasing 
 in general effect, which government would erect 
 as homes for the people. Not many years ago, the 
 great city of Philadelphia, with a million population, 
 contained, as near as could be ascertained, in the neigh- 
 borhood of fifty thousand separate habitations. Were 
 
 *A11 wires would be out of sight under ground. 
 
136 
 
 each such structure to cost, say, two thousand dollars 
 on an average, government would expend in the erec- 
 tion of a similar number of homes in such a city a 
 total of one hundred million dollars. 
 
 The items enumerated which would represent the 
 expenditure of years of labor by an army of men, 
 would sum up six hundred and thirty million dollars 
 in the aggregate. 
 
 But let us provide for statuary in profusion about 
 the public parks and along the boulevards, and for 
 other improvements until we had expended a total of 
 a thousand million dollars. And suppose every dollar 
 of this money over and above what would be expend- 
 ed in the maintenance of the population remained in 
 such a single city. Notwithstanding this, a very limit- 
 ed volume of money might be in active circulation. The 
 great bulk would find its way into the government sav- 
 ings bank; but with no speculation in stocks or provis- 
 ions, no private commercialism, and no corporation 
 ownership of public franchises, no individual could, 
 in the nature of things, have an extraordinarily larg<> 
 bank account. Men would perform useful labor, as 
 they do now, to earn a livelihood, and individuals 
 would still retain as their private property all that they 
 could by industry and thrift accumulate. But under 
 collective control of industry it would become impossi- 
 ble for individuals to amass inordinate wealth, and the 
 comforts of life would, as they in all sense and reason 
 should, be more evenly distributed than at the present 
 time. 
 
SOCIETY. XXIII. 
 MONEY-RAILWAYS-LABOR. 
 
 We have depicted an industrial center founded by 
 government as it would appear when well matured. 
 We will now return to its first stage as simply a series 
 of plants for the production of various commodities. 
 \\ <> mentioned off-handedly in our illustration that six- 
 teen such plants might be located in such a city. 
 
 They should not be located within its boundaries 
 any more than one would place his kitchen stove in his 
 drawing room. "But," some will say, "cities in the 
 past have been built around manufacturing plants.*' 
 Yes, and western pioneers have in the past thrown 
 parlor, sitting room, kitchen and bedroom all into one, 
 and that not overly capacious. That is no reason men 
 should still continue to live cramped., unsightly and 
 uncomfortable. 
 
 But men will harp upon what has been in the past, 
 instead of looking to the future. "We have always had 
 bi-metallism therefore it will always stay with us." 
 "We have gold mono-metallism now, therefore we will 
 always have it." "We have planing mills and junk 
 yards and rendering establishments in the heart of Chi- 
 r-ago and other cities, therefore they will always be so 
 located." 
 
 Such logic is positively fatiguing. 
 '137 
 
13$ 
 
 A modern city should not contain manufacturing 
 industries of such proportions as to render it unsightly. 
 
 Suppose a dinner plate represented the area of a 
 great metropolis, and sixteen silver dollars round 
 about separated by short distances from the plate rep- 
 resented that many industrial centers; would not that 
 be a better arrangement than if the industries were lo- 
 cated within the boundaries of the city itself? 
 
 There is a deep purpose, and appropriateness in the 
 arrangement of the solar system. We observe an exist- 
 ing reciprocity between the planets that revolve about 
 the great luminary of day and the orb of light itself, 
 and likewise there would exist a close reciprocal relation 
 between such a metropolis and its industrial satellites. 
 
 The great Aristotle, who was a pupil of Plato, ba^-d 
 his philosophy on the principle of experience, that is 
 to say, the principle that all our thinking should be 
 founded on the observation of facts. 
 
 Were we in search of a practical demonstration of 
 the ease with which an industrial center may be estab- 
 lished and successfully maintained, the town of Pull- 
 man with the manufacture of railway coaches as its 
 main industry would furnish us with one of the many 
 examples to be found the world over. And applying 
 the philosophy of Aristotle in another direction, we 
 observe how the men who create useful things by their 
 labor, are oppressed and tyrannized over when sucli 
 enterprises are carried on by cither individuals or cor- 
 porations. Apply that philosophy again, and we ob- 
 serve than the scrip which corporations so isolated issue 
 to their employees finds complete redemption in com- 
 modities or any resource of the corporation when pre- 
 
139 
 
 sented at the company store. Thus it would find re- 
 demption when turned back to the company for house 
 rent, for medical attendance of the company physicians 
 and surgeons,,for illuminating gas supplied, for water 
 service, and so on. 
 
 With the exceptions that government would com- 
 pensate its employees in legal tender money instead of 
 scrip, and could supply every want of the people in- 
 stead of the few which corporations supply, the indus- 
 trial organization of such concerns seems like a minia- 
 ture of those which society would adopt on an extend- 
 ed scale. Instead of being employed by corporations, 
 lawyers, doctors, and the working people would be em^ 
 ployed directly by government, and it would redeem its 
 paper obligations directly in cither commodities 01 
 service without an intermediate exchange into any 
 commodity whatsoever. 
 
 With one or more industrial centers for the manu- 
 facture of rails and railway equipment established, the 
 construction of railways might be carried on without 
 cessation. 
 
 An individual possessed of a great farm might obll 
 gate himself to pay his hands a fixed stipend and re- 
 deem that promise or obligation in the wealth the labor 
 of his employees would create. 
 
 Similarly the nation would so direct the use of its 
 collective currency as to cause it to create the resources 
 for its redemption. 
 
 Thus money expended in the construction of a rail- 
 way and telegraph system for the country would create 
 in telegraph tolls and railway charges a mighty source 
 of currency redemption. 
 
140 
 
 Were the acquirement of a sufficient quantity of the 
 gold commodity at its present artificial value a condi- 
 tion predecent to government carrying on such an 
 abundance of public work, the vast wealth, which it 
 would represent, and the incidental change for the bet- 
 ter in social conditions generally would be impossible 
 of attainment. 
 
 With a perfected currency in use we could readily 
 abolish the slums and the haunts of vice of our cities, 
 transform our bill-boarded and shabby-looking streets 
 into attractive thoroughfares, erect magnificent struc- 
 tures for public use, provide ourselves with elegant 
 homes, and gratify our sense of taste and of comfort 
 by creating round about us an agreeable and pleasure- 
 able environment. 
 
SOCIETY. XXIV. 
 LAND-AGRICULTURE. 
 
 With such a currency in use we could accomplish 
 all this and more. By means of it the nationalization 
 of the soil from ocean to ocean, and from lakes to gulf, 
 could he eventually brought about through condemna- 
 tion and purchase. 
 
 But there would be no immediate necessity for a 
 general change In land ownership. Government might, 
 without disturbing existing land titles for years, put to 
 collective use the lands of which the nation is still pos- 
 sessed. 
 
 This land, located mostly in the so-called arid 
 regions of the west, needs only water introduced upon 
 it to make it capable of bearing never failing crops. 
 
 Under collective control, great systems of irrigation 
 would be constructed by government to prepare this 
 fertile yet neglected portion of our domain, for cultiva- 
 tion.* 
 
 Then again, some of the states have vast tracts of 
 
 * Collective control of land is the only solution of the 
 otherwise unsolvable question of water rights. While these 
 lines are being penned, the newspapers make mention of 
 the preparation of papers for a suit by Kansas farmers 
 against the state of Colorado and its people for a diversion 
 by the latter of the waters of the Arkansas river, for pur- 
 poses of irrigation, to the detriment of Kansas agriculture, 
 
 141 
 
142 
 
 unoccupied land under their control which they would 
 no doubt willingly surrender up to the general govern- 
 ment to be put to collective use. 
 
 With collective methods in agriculture and manu- 
 factures introduced, the state of Texas alone could 
 easily maintain a population greater than that of the 
 United States at the present time. The nationaliza- 
 tion of agriculture the country over would be brought 
 about by degrees. 
 
 Government might proceed in this regard just as 
 a colossal syndicate would which determined upon con- 
 trolling, say, the grain and cotton commodities. 
 
 This would be to purchase the entire cotton and 
 wheat product of the country, which it would distribute 
 to its mills and factories, receiving and storing the 
 surplus in great elevators and warehouses which it 
 might erect the country over. 
 
 In purchasing these staples government might fix 
 a uniform price to be paid producers, say, one dollar 
 a bushel for No. 1 wheat, and ten cents a pound for cot- 
 ton delivered at elevator or storehouse, and on the 
 whole establish an absolute monopoly of these products 
 not alone in the interest of the farmers and planters, 
 but of every citizen of the nation as well. Such a plan, 
 however, must be considered merely as one of the many 
 ways in which government might proceed while keep- 
 ing in view the ultimate aim, which is the collective 
 control of industry. 
 
 But, by the time that the lands still collectively 
 owned by the people were brought under cultivation, 
 the advantages of common ownership of the soil would 
 become so evident that there would be but few unwill- 
 ing to dispose of their holdings. 
 
143 
 
 Such would be reluctant to part with their landed 
 possessions merely through sentiment, because the re- 
 tention of their lands would only entail a burden upon 
 them of which others would be relieved. 
 
 We are only transients upon the earth, and claim 
 ownership of the soil merely to secure a fairly com- 
 fortable existence. If we were assured that, it would 
 make little difference whether we owned the soil or not. 
 
 How many of our farmers would refuse a position 
 at a fair salary to superintend an experimental agricul- 
 tural station established by government? Were it 
 tendered them few indeed would decline to accept such 
 an offer. 
 
 Under collective control of industry those engaged 
 in the department of agriculture would, like the work- 
 ers in other departments, be employees of government, 
 and inasmuch as their wage compensation would en- 
 able them to enjoy the comforts of life on an equality 
 with other wage earners, the object sought to be com- 
 passed tb rough land ownership would be otherwise 
 attained. 
 
SOCIETY. XXV. 
 LAND AGR.CULTURE MONEY. 
 
 In a consideration of territory that might and ought 
 to be put to collective use we must not overlook that 
 great body of land, lying partially within the arctic 
 circle, which the nation acquired by purchase from 
 Kussia, and which still remains unsubdivided and in- 
 tact, a common collective resource of the nation. 
 
 Including its outlying islands this vast territory is 
 nearly equal in area to all the United States from the 
 Atlantic ocean to the Mississippi river, and from the 
 St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 Notwithstanding the supposedly rigorous climate 
 of Alaska, the tillable lands of the great Yukon valley 
 are capable of producing fruits, grains, and vegetables 
 in profusion during the short hot summer "in which 
 the sun shines for about twenty hours every day. 
 
 These vast areas are naturally adapted to cultiva- 
 tion on a large scale, and present an opportunity for 
 collective agricultural production of which we should, 
 at an early day, take advantage.* 
 
 *A writer in the San Francisco Morning Press speaking 
 of the Yukon Valley says: "A very large portion of it is 
 similar to the Red River Valley of Minnesota in formation 
 and in soil. Where the river makes its exit from the moun- 
 tains are immensa level tracts of deep, rich soil which are 
 only slightly broken at long intervals. So level, indeed, 
 
 144 
 
145 
 
 No man can lawfully claim any portion of the soil 
 of Alaska, and no individual should ever be permitted 
 to absolutely own a single foot of the land within its 
 borders. 
 
 With such an aim in -view the policy which con- 
 gress ought to pursue as regards the temporary use and 
 occupancy of land in the territory is clear. 
 
 It should compel those wiio have squatted upon the 
 public domain to take leases, and pay a rental to gov- 
 ernment for the ground upon w T hich they have erected 
 their business houses and their homes. 
 
 With government retaining the ownership of land 
 no speculative advantage could ever be derived by any 
 individual through the natural increase or the gather- 
 ing of population. Land then would, as it should, have 
 no value except for whatever use it might be put by 
 government. 
 
 It would be a comparatively easy matter to inaugu- 
 rate collective control over industry and commerce in 
 the territory of Alaska. 
 
 The very rapids which now tend to make the naviga- 
 tion of its rivers, in certain localities, dangerous, could, 
 by means of their water powers, be made to generate 
 electricity sufficient to operate the railway system that 
 government might construct, turn the wheels of the 
 factories, foundries, and mills which it might erect, 
 and supply the light, the heat, and the means of local 
 transportation in the cities which it might found. 
 
 By means of issues of improved collective curren- 
 
 are these flats that the eye can seldom detect any change in 
 the surface on them, and a furrow 25 miles long might be 
 turned in many places without a break. 
 
146 
 
 cy previously estimated ami appropriated, govern- 
 ment might establish such manufacturing plants in 
 the sea-board settlements as would be required in the 
 upbuilding of these and other industrial centers, there- 
 by providing a working base for the development of 
 the country in general. 
 
 It might construct, say, a rolling mill, an iron 
 foundry and machine shop, a planing mill and wood 
 working plant, and a few auxiliary industries in each 
 of the more important settlements along the coast, es- 
 pecially as the people collectively own every foot of the 
 ground upon which they are located. Government 
 might supply every convenience and accompaniment 
 of civilization such as water works, gas and electric 
 light plants, street tramways, court houses, town halls, 
 lecture rooms, libraries, hospitals, schools, colleges, 
 theatres, art galleries, museums, parks, and so forth. 
 By not continuing the regulations of the past permit- 
 ting private ownership of land, the people would no 
 more be compelled to bond themselves and posterity 
 to pay interest upon the cost of such public works, and 
 in their helplessness take on the fetters of financial 
 slavery. 
 
 Government could erect its own business structures, 
 in which it might keep on sale such wares and mer- 
 chandise as it produced, and commodities otherwise 
 purchased in the open market, which it would supply 
 at a profit to its employees and the public in general.* 
 
 It might erect a number of not very costly dwell- 
 
 * It would purchase these just as it now purchases 
 supplies for the army and navy in times of either peace or 
 war. 
 
147 
 
 ings in these cities just as a combination of capitalists 
 would do did they own the ground, to meet the demand 
 for same which would be created by collective control 
 of industry. 
 
 One or more milling or flouring plants would be 
 an early requirement, as would also be a number of ele- 
 vators or warehouses for the handling and storage of 
 the grains and cereals which government would, before 
 long, produce. 
 
 It must be clearly seen that the upbuilding of these 
 and other cities of the nation, and the carrying on of 
 industry by society as a whole through the use of an 
 improved collective currency would give the people 
 steady and dignified employment at a wage compensa- 
 tion which would enable them to procure and enjoy 
 every obtainable comfort of life. Every once in a 
 while there is a deficiency in the revenues of govern- 
 ment, and whenever this occurs it is plain that every 
 dollar additionally expended for a public building or 
 other improvement would have, by so much, increased 
 such deficiency. As it is, government undertakes but a 
 minimum of public work in order to avoid a deficiency. 
 When we limit our public work, as we now do, to the 
 quantity of a single scarce commodity we are enabled 
 to procure by and through which the cost of construct- 
 ing that public work may be defrayed, it naturally fol- 
 lows that the labor power of the country which remains 
 inactive when with an improved collective currency in 
 use it might find continuous employment, is being need- 
 lessly if not wantonly wasted. 
 
 With the gold commodity continued in use as a 
 monetary tool it would be difficult for the nation to 
 
148 
 
 acquire its utilities or conveniences, and inexpedient 
 for it to engage in either manufactures or agriculture 
 at any time in the near future. Consequently a remod- 
 eling of our monetary system is the first reform to be 
 accomplished. 
 
SOCIETY. XXVI. 
 OUR COLONIAL POSSESSIONS. 
 
 Since the foregoing was written, the Spanish-Amer- 
 ican war has crossed upon the stage of the world, and 
 has passed into history. 
 
 Once again the cause of human rights has heen ad- 
 vanced, and incidentally we have acquired new terri- 
 tory with millions of population to whom we will grant 
 the same voice in government which we enjoy. 
 
 The masses in our newly acquired colonial posses- 
 sions are poor and weak, and like the masses in all 
 countries, their poverty and weakness has heen taken 
 advantage of by the cunning, the shrewd, and the strong. 
 
 Now that they have become citizens of our republic, 
 they confidently expect that they will no more be sub- 
 jected to the hard conditions under which they labored 
 under Spanish rule. 
 
 Will their hopes and aspirations be realized, or will 
 they awaken to a bitter disappointment? 
 
 We might under the stars and stripes introduce a 
 new civilization that would be a real blessing into our 
 newly acquired colonial possessions. 
 
 We might, particularly in the Philippines establish 
 national workshops, factories and mills in charge of 
 
 trained American artisans and mechanics in which the 
 
 149 
 
- 150 - 
 
 native population might be instructed in modern man- 
 ufactures, and thereby become a power for good. If 
 we may transport an armed troop to garrison our new 
 tropical possessions why may we not transport an indus- 
 trial army into such territory for fhe uplifting of its 
 helpless millions? 
 
 We can readily teach the young natives how to 
 construct and operate railways, telegraph and tele- 
 phone. Will we do it? After rescuing these people 
 from the extortions of an office-holding horde, bearing 
 the insignitia of royalty, ought we to turn them over to 
 the tender mercies of commercial and industrial brig- 
 ands for exploitation? 
 
 Imagine a strike of natives who would receive, say 
 ten cents a day for their labor in a factory owned by 
 capitalists. 
 
 Naturally there is lawlessness, and a detachment of 
 the regular army appears upon the scene. The superin- 
 tendent of the factory hobnobs with the colonel of the 
 regiment for a while, who soon steps up and orders the 
 mob to disperse, at the same time informing them that 
 the corporation has the law on its side. The native 
 women, pale, ragged, half-starved and in their des- 
 peration unmindful of the danger which threatens 
 those they love, make an appeal to the soldiery. 
 
 Will you men from the ranks of the working people 
 shoot down without provocation our husbands, fathers 
 and brothers who are merely asking for a living wage? 
 
 But the provocation soon comes. Some one throws 
 a stone which strikes down a soldier and the order is 
 given to fire. 
 
 Are all those peaceably inclined responsible for the 
 
151 
 
 lawless act of some one individual? Whether they are 
 or not they are invariably held so in cases of this kind. 
 
 This is a danger which threatens every gathering of 
 the working people who seek a redress of their griev- 
 ances otherwise than at the ballot box. 
 
 It is a matter of self-preservation for the soldiers, 
 and a volley of death is meted out indiscriminately to 
 human beings who believe that the strike is the only 
 way in which they can better their condition. 
 
 It is horrible, even in imagination, yet we would 
 only have transplanted to the Philippines our existing 
 American industrial methods. 
 
 Thousands of miles away from where ^the wives, 
 mothers, sisters and sweethearts of those slain are sob- 
 bing over their dead,, the Associated Press, the mouth- 
 piece of plutocracy has sent out a highly colored ac- 
 count of the affair, winding up with the interview of 
 some martial martinet who alludes to the desperate 
 character of the Filippinos, and suggests that, 
 in view of the troubled industrial situation existing in 
 the archipeligo, the permanent garrison of Manila be it 
 least doubled. 
 
 Tin 1 poor, weak yet fairly intelligent natives of the 
 Philippines as well as those of our other colonial pos- 
 sessions may yet learn if commercial interests succeed, 
 as it seem> they will, in shaping the destiny of those far 
 away territories, that corporations will compel them to 
 accept the measure of civilization which they will pre- 
 scribe if they have to kill off the population in droves 
 to maintain their control over industry. 
 
SOCIETY. XXVII. 
 AN EVOLUTIONARY ADVANCE. 
 
 With the annexation of Hawaii we have incorpor- 
 ated as part of the collective institutions which we con- 
 trol, the postal savings bank of Honolulu. Every pro- 
 gress ive nation of earth, our own excepted, has for two 
 or more decades maintained a system of postal savings 
 banks in which the moneys of the people have found 
 absolute security, and the fact that with such an ex- 
 ample before us we have for so long put up with the 
 bank failures that have been continually occurring 
 whilst an endless train of misery, ruin and suicide has 
 followed in their wake, has been a disparagement upon 
 the fair name and fame of the repuolic. 
 
 But we had annexed Hawaii, and the postal sav- 
 ings bank at its capital had become an American in- 
 stitution. 
 
 What to do with it became the. question for the ad- 
 ministration to answer. 
 
 If former policies had been adhered to, it would 
 have been abolished without ceremony, and its two mil- 
 lions of deposits consigned to the tender care of the 
 banking fraternity. 
 
 Such a course would, however, have appeared un- 
 seemly in view of the fact that over a million voters 
 had, in 1892, cast a ballot favoring the establishment of 
 
 a postal savings bank system. 
 
 152 
 
153 
 
 s this, in to doing we would have been taking 
 a >iep backward in abolishing a collective institution 
 where other governments had for so many years made 
 the care of the peoples' savings a government function. 
 John Brown brought the anti-slavery agitation to a 
 crisis. When the hour has come in time something 
 out of the ordinary happens which brings on a decided 
 evolutionary advance, and in our time that some- 
 thing has been the war with Spain. By how much the 
 acquisition of the government bank of Honolulu influ- 
 enced the decision of the administration we do not 
 know; but we do know that shortly thereafter an order 
 went out from the postmaster general with the sanction 
 of the president which virtually established a postal 
 savings bank system throughout the United States and 
 its possessions. If we reflect upon its meaning and pos- 
 sibilities we find this to be one of the most important 
 steps in the direction of society's control over its inter- 
 nal affairs ever undertaken by our government, and 
 once again illustrates the steady course of the evolu- 
 tionary drift toward collective control of industry in 
 general. 
 
 In the month of September, 1898, an individual 
 might have remarked to another: 
 
 "These debates as to whether or not government 
 ought to engage in banking are simply a waste of time 
 and effort. We have in the country a thousand sav- 
 ings institutions, and they are amply capable of caring 
 for the people's savings. And it will never be other- 
 wise. Not in a thousand years will government go in- 
 to the banking business." 
 
 In the month of October, of the same year, he would 
 
154 
 
 have discovered that beside these one thousand savings 
 institutions carried on by private enterprise, upwards of 
 thirty-five thousand government savings banks had 
 sprung into existence. 
 
 Under the new regulations by which every money 
 order postoffice in the land becomes a government 
 savings bank the treasury of the United States will be- 
 come the great central depository of the system. 
 
 This is as it should be, and this central depository 
 and its branches ought to be made the sole repositories 
 of public moneys. 
 
 Administration officials have in recent years kept 
 public funds aggregating as much as fifty million dol- 
 lars on deposit in various banks of the country. These 
 moneys of the people, consisting for the most part of 
 treasury paper, form a convenient means by which the 
 bankers having them on deposit raid the gold reserve, 
 the status of affairs being a great deal like a man who 
 furnishes the club with which he is knocked down and 
 robbed. 
 
 Not a dollar of public money ought to be placed on 
 deposit in private hands. 
 
 Now that a great chain of government savings 
 banks has been established, it will become possible for 
 the nation to protect the currency which it will no 
 doubt before long adopt, from the attack of any and all 
 antagonistic elements. A treasury note consisting of 
 the public credit in circulation will then be received on 
 deposit at its full face value, and the public treasury 
 will no longer be utilized as a storehouse for gold, sil- 
 ver or other commodities. 
 
 When the vast sum, which in the aggregate the peo- 
 
155 
 
 pie leave on deposit in corporate savings banks and 
 other financial concerns shall, as it eventually will, find 
 its way into government banks, the public credit will 
 not alone be immeasurably strengthened, but such 
 funds would at the same time be at the disposal of gov- 
 ernment to be utilized in various ways for the public 
 good. As it is, it piles up in bank vaults at the very 
 time a general depression exists in the land, and not 
 even the banks can find for it profitable investment or 
 a way of putting it into circulation. 
 
 According to statistics there is over four billion dol- 
 lars on deposit in the so-called national banks and the 
 savings banks of the country. 
 
 What an amount of public work might be under- 
 taken by government with this money had it access to 
 its use as it would were it deposited in the great central 
 bank of a postal savings system! 
 
 Nor would the amount on deposit be much if any 
 depleted through its use in such manner, because as it 
 would be paid out to mechanics, artisans, professional 
 men, and laborers on government work, it would be re- 
 deposited with government by those who would so re- 
 ceive it, for safe keeping. 
 
 One need not be profoundly wise to discern that, a 
 governmental policy under which public work virtually 
 comes to a standstill while the life blood of the nation 
 congeals in bank vaults is perfectly idiotic and suicidal. 
 
SOCIETY. XXVHI. 
 AN OPPORTUNITY FOR FURTHER PROGRESS. 
 
 Another institution which has come into our pos- 
 session through the acquisition of territory formerly 
 controlled by Spain is the government telegraph of 
 Porto Rico. 
 
 In its construction the Spanish government but fol- 
 lowed the example of more progressive nations which 
 the world over are making the transmission of intelli- 
 gence by wire a government function. 
 
 In fact, of all the governments of earth the only 
 countries beside the United States in which private or 
 company telegraphic systems exist are Bolivia, Cyprus, 
 and the Honduras republic. 
 
 Sixty-eight nations, including all the governments 
 of the earth, great and small, except those mentioned, 
 own and control the telegraph which serves them, and 
 in view of that fact would it not be a remarkable cir- 
 cumstance if we, the greatest nation of earth, should 
 make no effort to supply ourselves with a government 
 telegraph until after each of these three weak puny lit- 
 tle nations shall have taken such a step, so that we 
 would be the verv last of nations to throw off the yoke 
 of the telegraph monopoly to which we now tamely 
 submit? 
 
 Oh, the shame, disgrace and humiliation that is con- 
 veyed in the verv thought! 
 
 156 
 
157 - 
 
 The telegraph was originally (18-M-iT) a part of the 
 postal system. It was owned by the nation, and its 
 surrender into private control was earnestly opposed 
 by Henry Clay, the great whig leader, and by Cave 
 Johnson the democratic postmaster general, at that 
 time. But the capitalists who conspired to secure it 
 for their private gain succeeded in so doing, and it 
 passed out of national ownership and control. The 
 construction of a government telegraph, even though 
 paid for in gold, has been urged by statesmen for years. 
 
 In a speech on the floor of the senate January 20, 
 1883, Senator Edmunds said: "What the United States, 
 in regard to its postal affairs and the welfare of the 
 people, needs more than anything else, is the construc- 
 tion of a postal telegraph beginning moderately be- 
 tween great points in the country and all intermediate 
 points, and then extending it just as we have the mail 
 system as the needs of the community and fair economy 
 would require until every postofh'ce should have, or be 
 "within the reach of, a postal telegraph. 
 
 "But I beg the stock operators in New York not to 
 suppose that I, for one, am in favor of the United 
 States buying out any telegraph company anywhere. I 
 am in favor of the United States building its own pos- 
 tal telegraph and managing it in its own way, and leav- 
 ing the gentlemen who are engaged in private pursuits 
 to pursue their operations in their own way as private 
 pursuits." 
 
 Senator John Sherman, of Ohio, in a speech on the 
 senate floor, stated his views on this subject in the fol- 
 lowing language: "I should rather also, in this con- 
 nection, consider one other subject of infinitely greater 
 
158 
 
 importance than even this proposition (to reduce pos- 
 tage), and that is, whether the time has not arrived 
 in this country when the government should assume to 
 convey intelligence by electricity, not the management 
 of the present telegraph lines, but when we should 
 transmit through our postoffices and our post roads 
 communications by electricity, by wires constructed by 
 the government itself. 
 
 "The government of the United States might dupli- 
 cate all the wires and all the means of transportation by 
 electricity for about $20,000,000 or $25,000,000. 
 
 "If therefore we wish to do an actual good to our 
 people, if we wish to confer upon them an enormous ben- 
 efit, we should assume that which we have a right to as- 
 sume as a part of the postal service of the country, the 
 transmission of intelligence by electricity." 
 
 Other expressions by statesmen, of a similar tenor, 
 might be quoted, but the desirability of a government 
 telegraph as part of the postal service is so evident as 
 to make their use superfluous. 
 
 One great reason why the telegraph service should 
 be made a public function is found in the censorship 
 which a private corporation exercises over the matter 
 sent over its wires, especially where the perpetuation of 
 its control of this branch of the public service is in- 
 volved. 
 
 Imagine Abraham Lincoln as living to-day, and urg- 
 ing upon a great concourse of the common people th<? 
 importance of the construction of a government tele- 
 graph. Were he to show how the nation could con- 
 struct its own telegraph system through government 
 
159 
 
 cuironcy redeemable in telegraph tolls, would the As- 
 sociated Press send out a report of that speech? 
 
 If it quoted any portion of his remarks at all, it 
 would l)e sonic <|iiaint story or anecdote told to put his 
 ainJknce in good humor, or other unimportant passages, 
 bur reference to such portions as it thought imperiled 
 its sinecure would certainly be suppressed. 
 
 And in this manner the arguments for government 
 currency, and for public control of public utilities, 
 many of them gems of oratory and all of them irrefuta- 
 ble, are being daily and hourly either suppressed or 
 garbled so as to become unintelligible. Banking inter- 
 ests, railroad interests and the trusts and combines of 
 the country have bagged the people, and the telegraph 
 monopoly with a thread of wire has sewn up the sack. 
 
 It was this that the martyred Lincoln foresaw when 
 he remarked in 186-i: 
 
 "Yes, we may all congratulate ourselves that this 
 cruel war is nearing its close. It has cost a vast 
 amount of treasure and blood. The best blood of the 
 tlower of American youth has been freely offered upon 
 our country's altar that the nation might live. It has 
 been indeed a trying hour for the republic; but I see in 
 the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me 
 and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. 
 
 "As a result of the war corporations have been en- 
 throned, and an era of corruption in high places will 
 follow, and the money power of the country will en- 
 deavor to prolong its reign by working upon the preju- 
 dices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in its 
 hands, and the republic is destroyed. I feel at this 
 moment more anxiety for the safety of my country 
 
160 
 
 ilia n ever before, even in the midst of war. God 
 grant that my suspicions may prove groundless." 
 
 How prophetic those words! But the republic will 
 not be destroyed. It is the reign of the money power 
 which must cease. And the telegraph monopoly which 
 can make the press dispatches deny the existence 
 of an overwhelming sentiment in favor of a government 
 telegraph and other collective conveniences, is the first 
 of the corporations that have been enthroned which 
 must be deprived of its power. 
 
 What disposition will eventually be made of the sys- 
 tem of telegraph we have acquired in Porto Kico can 
 only be conjectured at the present time. The telegraph 
 lobby will of course urge that the government dispose of 
 it to the highest bidder at public sale. This would mean 
 its acquisition by the telegraph monopoly. 
 
 "We cannot consistently begin to carry out our 
 avowed purpose of bringing a betterment of social con- 
 ditions to the people of Porto Rico by disrupting a 
 government institution in which they take a natural 
 pride and turning it over to a private monopoly. 
 
 And the same holds true as regards the government 
 telegraph and railways of Cuba. 
 
 The administration has made a good beginning by 
 giving the country a system of postal savings banks in 
 spite of the opposition of the money power. 
 
 It should continue on by retaining and gradually ex- 
 tending the collective institutions we find already estab- 
 lished in our newly acquired possessions. 
 
SOCIETY. XXIX. 
 PROBABILITIES OF THE FUTURE. 
 
 The wheels of progress seem, just at this particular 
 time, to be accelerating in the speed of their revolu- 
 tions. During the progress of the Santiago campaign, 
 we were informed of the intention of the government 
 to construct a military telegraph along the eastern coast 
 of Cuba. 
 
 Since then, various points of more or less impor- 
 tance have been connected by wire. A dispatch sent 
 out from Washington under date of October 12, 1898, 
 informs us that the secretary of war will recommend to 
 congress that the existing railway system^ in Cuba be 
 extended so as to form a line running directly from 
 Cape Maysi, at the east end of the island, to Cape An- 
 tonio, on the western extremity. The dispatch fur- 
 ther states that he will recommend that this work bo 
 undertaken by the United States government, and 
 that congress appropriate the necessary funds. 
 
 The dispatch continues: "The road is a military 
 necessity, and moreover its construction will give work 
 to many of the unemplo3<ed native laborers. As the 
 road progresses, sections of the country will be opened 
 up that are now inaccessible to trade." 
 
 Government ownership is coming. A government 
 
 stretch of railway must of course be operated by a 
 
 161 
 
162 - 
 
 government telegraph. And so the powers of gov- 
 ernment, in accordance with the natural drift, will be 
 continually extended. 
 
 'Benjamin Franklin said (hat "the wisest measures 
 are seldom adopted through previous wisdom hut are 
 forced by the occasion. "' 
 
 Tin- railways and telegraph of most European 
 countries were acquired as a military necessity, and it 
 seems that the start of government railway and tele- 
 graph construction, to extend the systems we have al- 
 ready acquired in our tropical possessions will be made 
 on a similar claim. 
 
 Judging from the tenor of the dispatch quoted, the 
 railway and telegraph systems we have acquired will be 
 retained, and, perhaps before these lines are scanned 
 by the eye of the reader, conductors in government 
 uniform will be collecting fares on a railway owned by 
 the American people, Cuban, Porto Kican, Hawaiian 
 and Filippino Americans being included. 
 
 Such a railway in Cuba, may, shortly after its 
 transfer to our government, be operated by United 
 States railway train crews, and the men in the machine 
 and repair shops, the section men, train dispatchers, 
 the men who handle freight and baggage and necessary 
 clerks, accountants and officials be in society employ. 
 
 Once advanced to this stage, would we let contracts 
 for the construction of locomotives and cars to private 
 manufacturing concerns? We might for awhile, but we 
 may rest assured that we would not do so much longer 
 than it would take for government plants for the man- 
 ufacture of rolling stock to be established. And 
 
163 
 
 plants for the manufacture of rails and telegraph wire 
 would soon follow. 
 
 Of course it is desirable that the English tongue 
 shall become the predominating language in Cuba, as 
 well as in our other colonial possessions. Public schools 
 and colleges will therefore, in all probability, be estab- 
 lished immediately under government auspices. 
 
 There is an element of the population, in Cuba par- 
 ticularly, which 011 account of lack of opportunity to 
 gain a livelihood under Spanish rule, has become 
 completely demoralized and irredeemably addicted to 
 the drink habit. 
 
 As a police regulation, government will therefore 
 no doubt place the traffic in intoxicants under national 
 control. 
 
 Government has appointed civic officials, magis- 
 trates and judges, both Spanish and American, 
 throughout Cuba and her sister colonies. They 
 should be succeeded by government civic officials, mag- 
 istrates and judges elected by the people. 
 
 In the cities and at stations along its railway lines 
 government would, of course, establish eating houses 
 to accommodate the traveling public. These should 
 be on a scale extensive enough to accommodate 
 the resident public, a not inconsiderable percentage of 
 whom would be in government employ, as well. Con- 
 nected with these public restaurants might be hotel 
 rooms like those in depot hotels at the present time. 
 
 To keep its engines supplied with good fuel, gov- 
 ernment would open up coal deposits along the exten- 
 sions of its railway system, and it is reasonably certain 
 that it would before long open up iron deposits to sup- 
 
164 
 
 ply its blast furnaces, and stone quarries to supply ma- 
 terial for its public buildings. One or more bridge build- 
 ing plants, glass factories, wood working plants beside 
 other constructive departments would soon become a 
 necessity in connection with government production of 
 railway equipment, and in this way collective pro- 
 duction will be locally extended as rapidly a> warranted 
 l-y prevailing conditions and circumstances. Of course 
 we will introduce our government savings bank system 
 into Cuba, as well as our other colonies and money-order 
 departments of the postal service, will receive on deposit 
 any form of currency our government may deem fitting 
 and proper to adopt. 
 
 And some day we may put into circulation a lim- 
 ited volume of government currency redeemable in the 
 service of this Cuban American railway and telegraph 
 or other resources of the nation at the pleasure of gov- 
 ernment. And when we ascertain by experience that 
 such money is a good thing; that it will carry on pub- 
 lic work in Cuba as well as gold, we will have taken a 
 step that, followed up, will not alone bring prosperity 
 to our people but to mankind the world over as well. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 "The grandeur of this civilization has won my ad- 
 miration from the beginning," said Rodney Holeomb at 
 a home gathering in the drawing room of the Burtons 
 a few clays after the arrival of Arthur and the immc- 
 .diate members of his household, "and had I not read 
 your treatise on ' Society' I could never have conjec- 
 tured how it was ever approached/' 
 
 "Bnt you readily perceive how it was possible to 
 bring these changes about through the use of govern- 
 ment currency/' remarked his son, a tall, dark-haired, 
 well-built personage in the very prime of life, a smile 
 meanwhile playing upon his open, straightforward 
 countenance; "with gold as the money of the world 
 they could never have been accomplished." 
 
 Just before the conversation had taken tins turn, 
 the wives of 'Silas Burton and Arthur Holeomb had 
 been discussing the woman phase of the old social or- 
 der, and had agreed that the raising of charity funds 
 was the main public work allotted to the women of 
 that day. 
 
 From her youthful appearance, one would not have 
 taken Gertrude Holeomb to be the mother of four 
 thriving children of whom Clarence, a fine strapping 
 young fellow of nineteen years was the firstborn. 
 
 At the moment he found congenial companion- 
 ship in Edna Burton, with whom, in a spacious al- 
 
 165 
 
- 166 
 
 cove, containing cabinets of the coins of the competi- 
 tive era and other curios Tecessed between wide spread- 
 ing plants of native growth, he was discussing the flora 
 and fauna of the country. 
 
 The younger offshoots of both families were rolling 
 hoops and spinning tops in the open. 
 
 "It seemed as if the new order was a spontaneous 
 development in several countries,'' remarked Silas 
 Burton, who had made a close study of the chancres 
 which time had wrought, "but I think that after all, 
 the American people are entitled to as much credit as 
 those of any other country for speeding along the 
 movement for collective control of industry." 
 
 "I presume our people acted on your suggestions 
 Arthur," remarked the elder Holcomb, proudly. 
 
 "No, not mine," replied the son. The greater 
 part of what I wrote was well known to thousands, if 
 not millions." 
 
 "Xevertheless," remarked Mrs. Burton, "you point- 
 ed out the only way to nationalize industry through the 
 use of government currency." 
 
 Arthur smiled. "I remember a quotation from 
 Heine," he remarked, "in which he says that 'We do 
 not take possession of our ideas but are possessed by 
 them. The}' master us and force us into the arena, 
 where like gladiators we must fight for them.' But 
 after all," he continued, "progressive ideas in mechan- 
 ics, invention, or the science of government are merely 
 material plucked from the common store of accumu- 
 lated knowledge. They are all based upon something 
 which already has an existence. 
 
 "Very true," remarked the elder Holcomb, "but 
 
167 
 
 how did you educate the people up to the new ideas? 
 A great percentage of them were always densely ignor- 
 ant and difficult to reach through pamphlets, maga- 
 zines, newspapers and the like." 
 
 ''We voted the people," Arthur replied, "nor did we 
 wait for election day to roll around in order to do so. 
 At great picnics gotten up for the occasion; at tin- 
 meeting place of every trade or labor union in the land, 
 and at centrally located polling places in every city, 
 town, and village we had ballots taken on such ques- 
 tions as "Shall we construct a government system of 
 telegraph to be paid for in currency redeemable in tel- 
 egraph tolls or other available resource of the nation, 
 at the pleasure of government?' 'Shall money be is- 
 sued exclusively by the nation?' i Shall we, construct 
 three hundred or more public buildings with govern- 
 ment currency or with postal savings funds as they be- 
 come available? 7 We advertised the particular ques- 
 tion to be voted upon and the location of the polling 
 place, and to avoid any misunderstanding in regard to 
 the result of the vote, we arranged to have representa- 
 tives of different political parties receive and count the 
 ballots. We announced the results of the vote in the 
 newspapers, at the same time mentioning when the 
 next vote would be taken, the question to be voted up- 
 on and the location of the polls. In the states where 
 women were denied an equal voice with men in public 
 affairs we voted the feminine element of the population 
 separately on the questions which we submitted. Ar 
 first the people did not seem to take much interest in 
 the balloting, but we persisted in our course, submit- 
 ting the same questions again and again. 
 
 "We finally succeeded in awakening public interest, 
 
168 
 
 and when the people saw that the vote., whether great 
 or small, was overwhelmingly in the affirmative that 
 the majority readily saw what was best for their inter- 
 est a genuine voting craze developed which steadily 
 augmented with a force as irresistible as the avalanche. 
 
 "The women in particular were quick to perceive 
 that the proposed measures would be greatly to the ad- 
 vantage of their husbands, fathers, sons, brothers and 
 themselves as well. They had been asking one an- 
 other the question, If millions of men anxious to 
 earn an honest living cannot now find employment, 
 what are all these boys going to do when they grow 
 up? And not until the plan of collective control of 
 industry under which every willing hand would find 
 employment was submitted to them, could the question 
 be satisfactorily answered. In accordance with their 
 convictions as to what was for the best they did all in 
 their power to influence public sentiment in favor of 
 the proposed measures, and incidentally, through the 
 eager desire of the women to have their views upon the 
 questions in which they were so vitally interested re- 
 ceive recognition, the movement for woman suffrage 
 was given a wonderful impetus." 
 
 "You remember, grandpa," Gertrude Holcomb here 
 interposed, "in your time women could vote at general 
 elections in only four states, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah 
 and Idaho. They are now permitted to voice their opin- 
 ions on public affairs everywhere, and the world is the 
 better for it." 
 
 "It must be!" exclaimed the elder Holcomb en- 
 thusiastically. "But go on, Arthur, go on. This is 
 all very interesting." 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 "The next national convention of the Democratic 
 party," continued the author-statesman, "adopted a 
 platform tending strongly in the direction of collec- 
 tive control of industry. But the sentiment of the 
 country favoring such a policy was by that time well 
 known, and that the measures proposed would carry 
 the country seemed a certainty. One of these measures 
 was a demand for the demonetization of gold. The 
 Republican party admitted in turn that go-Id mono- 
 iiR'tallism was an evil thing for the country, but it took 
 the position that we could not successfully demonetize 
 ii'old alone, and that this could only be brought about 
 through an international agreement. Prominent news- 
 papers of the land denounced in unstinted terms what 
 they designated as the socialistic platform of the Dem- 
 ocratic party, but they produced no argument tending 
 to prove that the proposed measures were not a good 
 thing for the country. 
 
 "The money power rested upon the hope that the 
 people might be deluded into retaining gold as money 
 until dispensed with by international agreement, while 
 the- corporations of the country made a desperate en- 
 deavor to retain control of industry. An enormous 
 campaign fund was raised by the interests opposed to 
 the people, and every preparation made to throttle dem- 
 ocracy and perpetuate the roign of plutocracy on Am 
 
 169 
 
170 
 
 erican soil. But before election day rolled around 
 something entirely unexpected happened. Of a sudden 
 the czar of Russia determined upon demonetizing gold 
 without the consent or interference of any nation on 
 earth, and issued a roval ukase or decree to that effect. 
 This put a different aspect upon affairs. The fact that 
 Russia had demonetized gold single handed demon- 
 strated that gold could just as easily be demonetized by 
 so powerful a nation as our own, and as a result of tho 
 election the Democratic party went into power with full 
 control of the house and senate. Gold was demonetized, 
 the national banking act repealed, the construction of 
 a government telegraph begun, and elaborate public 
 work started in a number of localities. Included in this 
 iwere national factories, foundries and workshops, and a 
 great irrigating canal to bring water upon a consider- 
 able tract of public land which was then brought under 
 (collective cultivation. Through the use of government 
 money what were once arid desert lands became trans- 
 formed into garden spots and fertile fields. The en- 
 tire country is now operated as one great national farm, 
 and the world over, beside carrying on an orderly 
 system of production and distribution, men are engaged 
 in the upbuilding of splendid cities thus creating about 
 themselves a beautiful environment." 
 
 "But how did the demonetization of gold by Russia 
 and the United States affect other countries?" asked 
 the elder Holcomb. 
 
 "It created consternation in financial circles/'' the 
 son replied, "but nevertheless the price of gold did not 
 immediately fall. The people of the two countries 
 which had adopted government currency were at a 
 decided advantage over those which operated under a 
 
171 
 
 iinetallic-based monetary system. Each of these two 
 nations immediately started upon the construction of 
 an armor-clad fleet, ostensibly for purposes of a mer- 
 chant marine, k/t which could be readily converted 
 'into a fleet of warships in an emergency. This could 
 not be done by nations which still retained a gold cur- 
 rency. These saw no way of liquidating the principal 
 and interest of their gol^. indebtedness, while the prob- 
 lem was effectually solv d by the two nations which had 
 adopted a paper government currency. They exchanged 
 legal tender currency at a parity for non-legal tender 
 gold coin, SBC! government currency purchased such 
 [additional quantities of the gold commodity as could 
 be obtained. Thru again, as wealth accumulated in the 
 hands of a few in a conservative nation it sapped its 
 vitality, and the nation grew weaker, while under gov- 
 ernments where every citizen became interested in the 
 institutions which yielded him a livelihood, and the 
 margin or profit on the nee ^ssaries of life became social 
 capital, the nation invariably grew in wealth and 
 strength and power. 
 
 "Within a year after Russia had taken the initiative 
 in currency reform the Emperor of Germany was de- 
 posed, and the social democracy which before the close 
 of the last century had won over to its cause more than 
 a third of the population of that country acceded to 
 power. 
 
 "Re volution- followed revolution throughout Europe, 
 and in every instance the monarchy was transformed 
 into an industrial republic. Singularly enough the 
 czar refused his aid to suppress the social revolt in 
 other countries. He frankly acknowledged that govern- 
 ment by the people was the only true theory of govern- 
 
172 
 
 ment, and announced that while he survived he would 
 use his power for the best interest of his people without 
 regard to the succession. And to-day, the last of the 
 sovereigns of Europe to remain in power, he is carrying 
 out the policy which he outlined for himself at the 
 beginning. He has founded great cities through the 
 use of government currency, has given his people remu- 
 nerative employment, and has proven himself in every 
 way a wise and noble ruler. Many years ago the nihilist 
 organizations of his country publicly disbanded, and 
 though still living, a statue of him occupies a con- 
 spicuous position in every European capital. Every in- 
 dustrial democracy proved a success from the beginning, 
 and government currency proved itself the magic wand 
 which dispelled the world-wide misery of the proletariat 
 and brought happiness and contentment in its stead. 
 Conservative England was the last of modern govern- 
 ments to succumb to the inevitable trend of evolution. 
 
 "As nation after nation demonetized gold and 
 adopted government currency liquidation of the world's 
 indebtedness began. A veritable stream of gold poured 
 into the strong boxes and money vaults of London. It 
 came in the minted coin of every nation of earth, and 
 in the form of bars and bricks and ingots of gold with 
 their weight and fineness stamped upon them by the 
 various governments. The financial center of the world 
 was fairly deluged with the yellow metal. As fast a.s 
 received it had been credited up at its old time mint 
 valuation. But it could neither be invested nor loaned 
 out at interest in amy foreign country. What to do 
 with it became the great problem. The home market 
 for money was broken down. Individuals of means did 
 not want to borrow, and those who would have borrowed 
 
173 
 
 could give no security. Wliile every other nation was 
 prosperous the general depression and industrial stag- 
 nation throughout Great Britain was rapidly becoming 
 unbearable. Had the nations liquidated their indebted- 
 ness in food products the hungry populace might have 
 seized upon these and prevented the starvation of thou- 
 sands. But the liquidating nations insisted upon carry- 
 ing out the letter of their contracts, and the people 
 could not eat gold. And all of the golden stream which 
 still kept pouring in belonged to individuals, not to 
 government. The people at great mass meetings finally 
 demanded the demonetizaton of gold. No alternative 
 was left government but to comply, and the starting up 
 of a number of collective enterprises brought relief to 
 the masses. As a result of its complete demonetization 
 the artificial value of gold rapidly declined, so that be- 
 fore long it was offered at a third of its former monetary 
 valuation. 
 
 "When, the indebtedness of the nations had been 
 paid off, an international conference of the representa- 
 tives of the various governments fixed the valuation 
 at which gold of standard fineness might be exchanged 
 the world over, at ten dollars per ounce troy; of silver 
 one dollar per ounce troy; of wheat of standard grade, 
 two dollars per hundred pounds; of number one corn, 
 one dollar per hundred pounds, and of standard cotton, 
 ten cents a pound. It wa.s further understood that the 
 selling price of other commodities would be fixed by the 
 respective governments, and that the compensation of 
 all employes in public service should be fixed at three 
 dollars for a day's work not exceeding eight hours. 
 
 Since that conference others have been held, with 
 the result that the wage compensation in every depart- 
 
174 
 
 ment of the public service has been fixed at five dollars 
 per day, and the exchange value of commodities in gen- 
 eral has been fully established." 
 
CHAPTEK VIII. 
 
 In an adjoining apartment clustered about the sit- 
 ting room table were gathered the youngsters of the 
 lloleomb and Burton families. 
 
 Since an hour or more they had tired of out-door 
 play, and Eddie Holeomb a bright lad of fourteen had 
 just concluded reading to his attentive juvenile audi- 
 ence an account of the independence day parade in Des 
 M nines, Iowa, the home of the Ilolcombs, as given in a 
 newspaper received from there in that day's mail. 
 
 "Was'nt it. lovely!" exclaimed little Elsie Burton 
 when Eddie, having finished reading detailed descrip- 
 tions of Hie many tableaux which appeared in the turn- 
 out, laid the paper aside. 
 
 "What was so lovely?'' asked tbe elder Holeomb 
 smiling, thinking to have a time with the children. 
 
 The chat in the drawing room had broken up, and 
 lie had entered the sitting room in time to hear Elsie's 
 remark. In a moment Arthur, Mr. Burton, and the 
 ladies also put in. an appearance. 
 
 "I have just Ix'en reading the account oi; the fourth 
 of July parade in our home town, grandpa," spo.kc up 
 Eddie Holcomb. 
 
 "And it had be-autiful floats and ev-erything in it/' 
 added Elsie with a childish drawl. 
 
 "The children seem to have been interested in the 
 pageant/' remarked Arthur Holcomb picking up the 
 
 175 
 
176 
 
 , "but let me read you an extract J'roiu the editorial 
 comment upon it," and when the grown people had 
 seated themselves in the chairs the children had vacated 
 to gather about a structure of blocks one youngster pos- 
 sessed of more than ordinary architectural genius was 
 erecting upon the floor, he began: 
 
 "What changes in social conditions that have oc- 
 curred in less than a quarter of a century are suggested 
 by that turn-out, composed in greater part of labor 
 organizations every member of which is an employee 
 of government 1 \Vhen we reflect upon how orderly 
 every department of industry is now carried on; how 
 little of friction occurs, and how much of good feeling 
 on the whole prevails, it is difficult to realize that it ever 
 was otherwise. Yet the files of the press of those days 
 reveal an industrial status that to us seems positively 
 apalling. Glancing through these files we ran across 
 an account of a. strike of the building trades at St. 
 Louis, of the stereotypers in Chicago, of the packing 
 house employees at Omaha, of the street car men in Mil- 
 waukee, of the wire makers at Cleveland, of the garment 
 workers in Xew York, and of the coal miners in Ohio 
 and Illinois all within a comparatively short period of 
 time. 
 
 "So it went on continually, now a lock-out here 
 and a walk-out there, and from all the evidence at hand, 
 we glean that throughout the duration of these labor 
 disturbances the capitalists never missed a meal, while 
 the men who went out starved. 
 
 "Looking backward we find that the moneyed class 
 strenuously opposed the introduction of the prevailing 
 industrial system. Xor did they present any solution 
 of the capital and labor problem for the good reason 
 
177 
 
 ihat, being possessed of the capital, the conditions :v< 
 they then, existed were largely in their favor. 
 
 "But in this statement we are not entirely correct. 
 There is in existence indubitable evidence that they did 
 offer a solution of the industrial problem. 
 
 "Through the prominent newspapers of that time 
 they intimated that the way for the working people to 
 better their condition was to turn the issue of the 
 currency over to the capitalists of the country! It was 
 well for the masses that they did not remain blinded 
 to the importance of an exclusive government currency, 
 else the bread and butter problem would for them have 
 still remained unsolved." 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 After a month's sojourn in the tropics, Arthur Hol- 
 comb and his family accompanied by grandpa Holcomb, 
 embarked on the palatial ocean liner "Columbia''' of the 
 American maritime service, for their native land. 
 
 From the deck of the splendid armorclad vessel, 
 with the stars and stripes floating proudly from the 
 mast-head above them, the Holcombs waved their last 
 adieus to the little group upon the pier who stood wav- 
 ing handkerchiefs in return until the hull of the 
 great steamer stood well out upon the horizon, and no 
 object on board except two black funnels belching forth 
 smoke could be distinguished. 
 
 But not all of the Holcomb family had embarked 
 for their native heath. 
 
 Among the little group upon the pier stood Clarence 
 who at his own request had been left behind, and who 
 now r accompanied the Burtons as they wended their way 
 homeward. 
 
 For him the skies of the tropics seemed sunnier, the 
 flowers brighter lined, and the earth in general more 
 fair than in his native land; but then, there was Edna. 
 
 He entered the public service in the department of 
 journalism where he laid the foundation of his later 
 successes as a writer upon questions that still remained 
 to be solved. But many a time, during his earlier news- 
 paper work, did pleasing memories of recent strolls with 
 
 178 
 
179 
 
 Edna along shaded lanes, and country outings of young 
 people in which she was the central figure, come be- 
 tween him and his manuscript. On such occasions his 
 immediate work would be deferred for a short pleasur- 
 able meditation, which not infrequently terminated in 
 a long drawn fairly audible sigh. 
 
 And as for Edna, how blissful were the speeding 
 days of love's young unclouded dream! 
 
 But his attentions to Edna did not prevent Clarence 
 from steadily perfecting himself in newspaper work, in 
 w r hich he had determined from the start to become pro- 
 ficient. 
 
 However, time passed on, and one fine day about two 
 years after his arrival upon the coast, there was a quiet 
 but ever so happy wedding in the Burton home. 
 
 Clarence and Edna had started upon the voyage of 
 life together. 
 
ADDENDA, 
 
 Were free coinage of silver resumed in the United 
 States at once, government would not own the money 
 coined, nor could an additional dollar's worth of public 
 work be undertaken on its account. 
 
 And even were an international agreement for the 
 general remonetization of silver brought about, these 
 relations of silver to government, like that of gold 
 
 which bears a similar relation, would not be changed. 
 * * * 
 
 Had some of our modern politicians lived in the par- 
 ish of St. Peter at the time the Guernsey market house 
 was built they would have undoubtedly opposed its con- 
 struction in some such resolution as this: We have no 
 sympathy with the party which Governor De L' Isle 
 Brock represents in its attempts at paper inflation and we 
 predict that its declared intention to put its theories of 
 fiatism and greenbackism into practice will prove disas- 
 trous to our people. Governor De L' Isle Brock's cur- 
 rency proved a success. Government currency would 
 carry on public work even more satisfactorily. 
 
 :;: :]! * 
 
 Were government to erect homes for the people it 
 would not be the first to enter upon such an innovation. 
 The municipal government of Glasgow, Scotland, has 
 erected a number of dwellings which a portion of the 
 population occupy at a rental charge. Besides being a 
 landlord on a, large scale the city owns and operates its 
 tramway or street car system and other utilities of a 
 public character. 
 
 180 
 
How much does it take for an average i'amily to live 
 in comparative comfort? 
 
 Let us make an estimate of their main items of ex- 
 penditure for a year. 
 
 House rent $120.00 
 
 Food for man 120.00 
 
 Food for wife > 120.00 
 
 Food for two children 120.00 
 
 .Raiment for man ' 120.00 
 
 Raiment for wife 120.00 
 
 Raiment for two children , 120.00 
 
 Very scant incidentals 60.00 
 
 Total $900.00 
 
 Let the excesses if any of the items of raiment go 
 to replace worn out furniture. 
 
 To meet these expenditures would require a wage of 
 three dollars a day for three hundred working days. 
 
 The census of 1890 gives the average wage earned in 
 the United States at a few cents over one dollar a day, 
 and it follows that our people live in anything but ma- 
 terial comfort. Under competitive industry men al- 
 ready wealthy gather in the comforts of the masses. 
 Under collective production the readjustment of wages 
 would enable the many to enjoy the bounties of nature. 
 * * * 
 
 We owe a billion dollars in interest bearing govern- 
 ment indebtedness. In a little over thirty-three years 
 at three per cent per annum we would pay on this debt 
 a billion dollars in interest with nothing to show for it. 
 Why not adopt perfected government currency and ex- 
 pend that billion dollars in public works? 
 
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT. 
 Hon. Win. McKinley, President of the United States: 
 
 Respected Sir Believing that as much as lies in your 
 power you desire to advance the interests and promote 
 the welfare of the American people, the undersigned 
 with due respect for yourself and the high office to 
 which you have been called, addresses to you these 
 lines. 
 
 All good citizens realize with gratification that as 
 Commander in Chief of the army and navy you have 
 creditably discharged the duties of your position 
 throughout the war with Spain just brought to a suc- 
 cessful termination. 
 
 And that you have otherwise as Chief Magistrate of 
 the nation served society to the best of your ability is 
 evidenced by the clean untarnished record you have 
 made. 
 
 Yet a builder might do excellent work in the con- 
 struction of a habitation until half-way reared, and 
 then by indifferent workmanship mar the beauty of the 
 whole. 
 
 And there may be sins of omission as well as of com- 
 mission. 
 
 From your expressions in regard thereto you are evi- 
 dently aware that our monetary system is not what it 
 should be, and, as do our people, you deplore the neces- 
 sity of the issuance of interest bearing obligations of 
 the nation to maintain the policies of government both 
 in times of peace and war. 
 
 182 
 
183 
 
 The manner in which the currency may be improved 
 and bond issues avoided in the future has been sug- 
 gested in the essays which precede this letter and they 
 are respectfully submitted for your earnest and thought- 
 ful consideration. 
 
 That the remedial measures suggested will meet the 
 disfavor of banking interests is granted. But do the 
 American people to-day disapprove or applaud the ac- 
 tion of President Jackson in defying that same money 
 power which ever since his day has partially succeeded 
 in circumventing the nation? 
 
 With the object in view of relieving government of 
 embarrassment on account of future possible raids upon 
 the gold reserve you have recommended that treasury 
 paper once redeemed in gold be not re-issued except in 
 exchange for gold. 
 
 Such a regulation would unquestionably result in 
 the retirement of the entire volume of treasury paper, 
 and a well grounded fe'ar exists that in such a contin- 
 gency associated individuals will, under the national 
 banking act, be accorded the privilege of supplying 
 the shortage of money. 
 
 We may tear down a habitation unfit for use, but we 
 ought to know in advance how we will arrange for 
 another, and that a better, to take its place. 
 
 You are aware that every method of raising rev- 
 enue to meet expenditures of government creates a 
 source of currency redemption, and this is as true of the 
 existing system as it would be under the most advance*! 
 system with only a collective paper currency in cir- 
 culation. 
 
 There have been no raids upon the gold reserve dur- 
 ing your administration, consequently, at least the 
 
184 
 
 great bulk of the treasury paper in the hands of the gov- 
 ernment has found other than gold redemption. 
 
 Such being the case, the currency is evidently of a 
 serviceable character, and ought not to be retired until 
 finally superceded by a currency made by law redeem- 
 able, at the pleasure of the government, in any avail- 
 able resource of the nation. 
 
 Improved collective currency of such a nature 
 should be issued to meet the lawful disbursements of 
 government, included in which would be, as now, the 
 cost of all public work. Were such currency adopted 
 it would circulate side by side with treasury paper re- 
 deemable in gold on demand, and with gold coin itself. 
 
 No embarrassment of the treasury could ever occur 
 on its account, and the chain of postal savings banks, 
 which you sanctioned, would supply ample means for 
 the protection of the public credit so put into circu- 
 lation. 
 
 As it found its way into the treasury it would find 
 redemption like the bulk of treasury paper now finds 
 redemption, in resources other than gold, but as long 
 as coined gold was available it might, under the policy 
 which government would in all probability pursue, find 
 redemption in gold. 
 
 There ought to be no doubt but what the gradual 
 introduction of such currency would forever obviate 
 the necessity of borrowing gold, either at home or 
 abroad, at an interest charge. 
 
 The matter of a gold reserve, to redeem such cur- 
 rency as would be presented for redemption in gold, 
 and the providing of a gold supply to meet the inter- 
 est upon the public debt as it matures, are propositions 
 
185 
 
 presenting no difficulties that can not be readily over- 
 come. 
 
 Were all privately owned savings institutions abol- 
 ished, as they should be, such currency as would be 
 presented would be redeemed and the interest upon the 
 public debt met with the gold deposited by the people 
 in the postal savings banks of the country. 
 
 Instead of a hundred million gold reserve we would 
 practically maintain a reserve many times that' in 
 amount. 
 
 Xor would there be need to interfere with the mon- 
 etary status of gold for the time being. 
 
 It would even be an advantage to continue its mon- 
 etary use as long as it remained on a parity with our 
 other circulating mediums; but gradually displaced by 
 perfected government currency the time would come 
 when its demonetization would no more disturb our in- 
 dustrial relations than did the discontinuance of the 
 free coinage of silver. The introduction of perfected 
 government currency would, however, of itself cause 
 gold manipulators to realize that if we could demon- 
 etize silver because of its plenteousness, thereby forcing 
 its commercial value down below the monetary value 
 assigned to it, we may equally as readily, should the 
 occasion present itself, demonetize gold because of its 
 scarcity and because of the fact that it was selling as a 
 commodity at a premium. 
 
 Were you to recommend to congress the erection 
 of a number of public buildings, or the construction 
 of a telegraph system for the country, the cost of such 
 public work to be defrayed with a currency consisting 
 of the national credit, would not your action be en- 
 thusiastically endorsed by the entire population? 
 
186 
 
 The amount of public work that might be thus un- 
 dertaken would be limited only by our natural and ma- 
 chanical resources, and would afford a legitimate chan- 
 nel through which the currency of an improved mon- 
 etary system, to succeed the crude and complicated 
 financial system now in use, might be put into circula- 
 tion. 
 
 Why not enter upon the construction of an elab- 
 orate system of public works by means of a perfected 
 government currency and solve both the financial and 
 industrial problems at a single stroke? 
 
 Under competition, commercial banks are a neces- 
 sity, therefore a revision of the national banking act 
 to correct its imperfections becomes a proper subject 
 for consideration when we look to reform of the cur- 
 rency. 
 
 No right-minded person will insist that we, as a 
 nation, ought to lo r an bankers the capital with which 
 they engage in business. 
 
 Xational bank currency, notwithstanding the in- 
 scriptions upon it and the signature of ban.k officials, is 
 nothing more nor less in effect than treasury paper, and 
 legislation should provide that national bank currency, 
 like other treasury paper, should not be issued to bank- 
 ers except in exchange for gold. 
 
 And why should not commercial bankers be com- 
 pelled to deposit in the national treasury government 
 bonds to cover unsecured deposits? 
 
 Those who engage in banking would be at no loss 
 under such a regulation, as they would continue to 
 draw interest upon the bonds so deposited. 
 
 On the whole, an opportunity to do vast good, such 
 as rarely conies into the life of any man, lies before you. 
 
- 187 - 
 
 Your recommendation to congress, urging the 
 starting up of public work by means of government cur- 
 rency would go a long ways toward bringing about leg- 
 islation which would bring joy and gladness into the 
 hearts of millions who now despair. 
 
 In fact, the gradual introduction of a perfected 
 government currency is a necessary step which must 
 be taken before, through the co-operation of the peo- 
 ple, our common society can be elevated to the plane 
 of a higher civilization. 
 
 I most respectfully subscribe myself, 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 Abraham Benjamin Franklin. 
 * * * 
 
 Competitive industry is chaotic in its nature. It 
 breeds dishonesty, hate, tyranny, oppression, deception, 
 fraud, misrepresentation, hypocrisy, embezzlement, rob- 
 bery, murder, arson, greed, avarice, penuriousness, filth, 
 disease and moral degradation. 
 
 * * * 
 
 When society controls its industrial affairs it will 
 stand for order, system, justice, honesty, equity, truth- 
 fulness, straightforwardness, hope, sympathy, beauty, 
 progress, comfort, leisure, health, and nobility of .char- 
 acter in the individual. 
 
 #' * * 
 
 There should be only one kind of money, one code 
 of laws, one government, and one common soil afford- 
 ing an existence to every citizen of the republic. 
 
LETTERS. 
 
 The letters that follow are imaginary. Yet they are 
 not altogether unreal because they voice sentiments that 
 actually have an existence in the minds and hearts and 
 souls of thousands of the population. 
 
 In addition to these expressions favoring a better 
 social 'order, how many personal appeals from those who 
 as Hamlin Garland says, "halt weary and hungry out- 
 side lighted windows and hear laughter and song with- 
 in," might be imagined as being made by the disin- 
 herited! 
 
 FROM AN EMPLOYE OF THE MAIL, SERVICE. 
 
 Employes of the nation participate in government 
 both politically and industrially. As units of the col- 
 lectivity they have a voice in determining the hours of 
 their work aird the compensation they shall receive for 
 their labor. 
 
 Those in the employ of individuals and corporations 
 have virtually no say in that regard. 
 
 We are the advance body of the great industrial 
 arrfly to follow as soon as the working people become 
 sufficiently enlightened to vote themselves,, through 
 money reform, into government employ. 
 
 FROM A LADY SCHOOL TEACHER. 
 
 Being engaged in a pursuit carried on by the people 
 collectively I can perceive that such work is more dig- 
 nified than at least the greater part of the labor per- 
 
 188 
 
189 
 
 formed for individuals and corporations under privaiv 
 enterprise. 
 
 Tin- extension of collective control over every de- 
 partment of industry would effectually solve the capital 
 and labor problem for all the world. 
 
 FROM A MERCHANT. 
 
 To succeed under competitive business methods 
 means, to wreck and" ruin the lives of others, and the 
 greater the success the more individuals have been sacri- 
 ficed in the struggle for commercial supremacy. 
 
 Men would not be virtually compelled to inflict in- 
 jury on others in order to obtain a comfortable exist- 
 ence in a co-operative commonwealth. 
 
 FROM A LAWYER. 
 
 To lay the country off into squares, like a chec' 
 board, and set up a different set of laws for each squai 
 is a social arrangement which can not be long continu, 
 by an enlightened nation. 
 
 We so provide that the people of certain sections of 
 country bounded by imaginary lines frame each their 
 own code of laws as if they were separate nations, and 
 not citizens of a common country. 
 
 A child, aware that our government extends 
 throughout our territory, would declare without hesi- 
 tation that laws should be uniform in all parts of the 
 country. 
 
 When we enact social regulations for all the people, 
 we shall be enabled to dispense entirely with separate 
 state governments. 
 
 FROM A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 Medical practitioners know that a large percentage 
 of working people do not receive a wage upon which 
 
190 
 
 they can subsist in any degree of comfort, and few can 
 lay by anything to meet the exigencies of sickness or 
 accident. To live at all they are virtually compelled 
 to accept any work offered without regard to compen- 
 sation. And this is what those who produce the wealth 
 of the world have come to under competitive methods 
 of carrying on industry! As sensible beings let us dis- 
 card this abominable system and have the co-operative 
 commonwealth instead. 
 
 An improved collective paper currency will bring it. 
 * * * 
 
 In view of the existing status of things which of the 
 various political organizations ought to receive the sup- 
 port of well meaning public spirited citizens? 
 
 From events that have already transpired there re- 
 mains no doubt but that the machinery of the Republi- 
 can party has been selected for the promotion of the in- 
 terests of capitalism. 
 
 Within its organization banking interests, railroad 
 interests, and corporation interests in general, inimical 
 to the welfare of society as a whole, have found lodg- 
 ment; for that reason it should be shunned by every 
 true lover of his country who favors the establishment 
 of progressive institutions. 
 
 The Democratic party as a consequence should log- 
 ically become the true vehicle of reform but if those who 
 control its destinies should persist in going back to a 
 period ante-elating the printing press for a monetary 
 system to the barter and exchange of commodities 
 even though they be stamped as money it can ne\ 7 er ac- 
 cede to power. 
 
 As a party of the common people it should urge the 
 adoption of government currency and specify a definite 
 
191 
 
 amount of public work to be inaugurated through its 
 use. 
 
 With such a platform, omitting all other issues, the 
 entire population would flock about its standard, and 
 it would unquestionably carry the country. 
 
 But until such a declaration of principle has been 
 adopted by the party of Jefferson and Jackson it should 
 receive no support from citizens who favor a progressive 
 policy. 
 
 In such a case let these affiliate with the newly or- 
 ganized Social Democracy which advocates collective 
 control of industry. 
 
 In the meantime those who have become convinced 
 of the direction in which true reform lies may enter the 
 councils of the old party of Democracy and by influenc- 
 ing its course cause it to stand for progress and human 
 rights. 
 
 A call is hereby made for a succession of ballots under 
 the auspices of the labor organizations of the country 
 upon the following question: Shall the government enter 
 upon the construction of a telegraph system for the 
 country and erect a substantial, commodious postoffice 
 building in every city and town where no such publicly 
 owned building now exists, the cost of such public work 
 to be defrayed by and through the issue of government 
 currency specifically appropriated, such currency to be 
 made redeemable at the pleasure of government in any 
 available resource of the nation? 
 
 Ballots shall contain the words "Yes" and "No" in 
 separate lines or spaces underneath the question to be 
 voted on and a cross mark in a square opposite one of 
 these words shall indicate the judgment of the voter 
 upon the question submitted. 
 
192 
 
 Any labor organization may fix the time and place 
 of the taking of a ballot which shall be cast at its ex- 
 pense, and such balloting may, at its option, be confined 
 to its own membership or include the general public. 
 
 Other propositions may be similarly submitted, and 
 it is recommended that wherever practicable women be 
 allowed to participate in the balloting. 
 
 The following days of each year are hereby desig- 
 nated as general voting days: 
 
 The third Monday in March. 
 
 The first Monday in .May. 
 
 The first Monday in July. 
 
 The first Monday in Sept ember. 
 
 The third Monday in October. 
 
 In case no labor organization shall give due notice 
 of its intention to poll the vote of a given locality the 
 balloting as suggested may be initiated by individuals 
 who favor advance in government. 
 
 It will be difficult to summarize results of the ballot- 
 ing the country over and for such information in that 
 regard as may appear it will be necessary to consult the 
 columns of local newspapers and particularly the many 
 excellent journals of the reform press in which accounts 
 of the progress of the collectivist movement in general 
 may be found. Prominent among the latter are "The 
 Coming Nation," a reform journal published at Euskin, 
 Tennessee, the "Appeal to Reason/' published at Girard, 
 Kansas, the "Chicago Express" and the "Social Demo- 
 cratic Herald" published at Belleville, Illinois. 
 
 For suggestions how the balloting may be conducted, 
 and for copies of this work that can not be otherwise 
 readiy secured, address the author, A. B. Franklin, P. 0. 
 Box 277, Pueblo, Colorado. 
 
Point The Way 
 
 Any of these books will be ..- 
 
 Pull catalogue free.' ^v.. 
 
 CHARLES H. KERR & COMPANY 
 
 Publishers of Social Reform Literature, 
 56 FIFTH AVENUE, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 
 
YC 0693& 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY