i lifornia Lonal lity /' \ I R«.v. ,1. A WONDERFUL EXPOSITION OF THE PROPHECIES AND COMPARISON WITH ANCIENT AND MODERN HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL EVENTS, TOGETHER WITH AN AMPLE, THOUGH CONCISE HISTORY OF MONEY FROM KING SOLO- MON'S TIME TO THE PRESENT By LYMAN E. STOWE Author of: " Poetical Drifts of Thought or Problems of Progress, »♦ "Dynamite and The Torch," "The Agnostic's Lament," "My Wife Nellie and I," Etc Etc. Etc. DBTBOIT, MICHIGAN: 1896. To the person who parch ases a copy of thig book and Assists in abolishing interest on money to the invidual, thereby destroying; the curse of the world, this book is dedicated. Entered according to act of Congreu In the year 1896 By LYMAN E. STOWE, In tbe office of the Librarian of Concrew at Washington, D. a — 1— PINAJ(CIA.L PHILOSOPHY. INDBX. VAOB, Why do we have hard times? 1 Are men mean enough to make iif . ... 1 What is money? 1 Evidence that moaey is a creation of law 2 What is a pound?. . . 2 What is a fool? 2 What is a bushel?. 2 Whal Is a gallon? 2 What is a dollar? 2 Should commodities of a high intrinsic 8 or qualiiy value lie used a8 money? 2 Whal is intrinsic value? 2 Where can intrinsic value be found?. . 2 What constitutes utility value? 2 What is commercial value? 2 Where did the term dollar origlaate?.. 9 Laws on coinage , 0-11 Making foreign coins, 11 When was the first coin struck In this country? 11 Coinage laws continued 12 How many governments use the term dollar? 14 Extract from Ingall*8 speech 15 Life of paper money 17 A dollar abioad 17 United States Silver Commission... ... 19 Vcdue of gold in old Peru 20 Table of fluctuation of gold during the war ' 21 Jevons on gold 22 Adam Smith on gold 23 Colwell on gold 23 OonspirMcy agfdnst gold 24 Value of gold and silver compared.,. . 25 Evidence of conspiracy 25 Interest on money 26 Wheie does interest differ from usury 27 Biblical quotations on usury 28 29 Murray on usury 29 The Pope becomes a usurer 81 The Pope deflnes usury 32 What iniei-est means 83 Peter Coop r on interest 34 Would it destroy commerce to change our system of money 35 Can interest be governed by law? 37 Volume 87 Volume and civilized countries com- pared 88 11 Would prices settk to a small volume? 42 Money in bistory 43 . Hebrews or Israelites 43 Ancient Greece, Homer, Hesiod, CsBsar and Lycurgus on money ^i^ Carthage 47-48 Rome 49 'i be murder of CsBsar 52 Bank of Venice 54 Bank of Genoa 56 Bank Amsterdam fiS Bank of Hamburg 56 The Tally system of England .- 57 The Bank of England 60 The John Jjhw money 67 The Frencli assignat 74 Bank of France 75 England's conspiracy against Napo- leon.. 76 Colonial money 77 Continental money 84 Terrible conspiracy 86 Suppression of truth 86 No independent j)re8s 89 Money of the Islo of Guernsey 91 Sketchley, the English statistition, on the Bank of England ,. „2 National Banks 95 Crucify him 97 Amendments of the Constitution .... 100 Alexander Hamilton steps towards the English system and the first United States Bank 108 Quotation from Burkey on the old United States Bank 105 The crash of 1819 106 Jackson's fight and the attempt to assassinate him 107-110 The wdd cat banking system Ill Pennsylvania issues relief notes 113 Panic or 1857 , 114 Panic of 1861 118 The great conspiracy at work 119 The Hazard circular and its aiders by traitors in Congress 119-136 Ihe banker's fraud and first demand notes 137 Lincoln's letter 139 The conspiracy in favor of an empire 145 Evidence that the^bankers are in it... 146 The bank circular 147 What the New York Tribune and Times say 148-9 The election conspiracy of 1868 149 Senator Sherman shows the cloven foot 152 Ill FINANCE IN I'ROPHECY. INDEX. PAGB TheBiDie dealiugs witli governments. . 265 Time space and matter 266 Space aud matter 267 The hypnotic state 268 Four elements 269 The student and ps3'ch|c phenomena... 271 Man and the Bible. 273 'J o develop a cliaracetr 276 Man not what he seems 277 God 279 God, labor and reel 280 Man's descent from heaven 281 Rc-innarnaliou taught in the. Bible. . . . 284 God's week 287 luierest on money in the Bible 294 The church and usury 299 Sketch of Rothschilds 301 Daniel's Prophecy 303 Evidence of the last days 313 The Uniied States in prophecy 313 End of Daniel's prophecy 314 The United States in God's plan 319 Christ's kingdom on earth 322 The Great Red Dragon 323 The English money power, the dragon 328 And reasons therefor from page... 329-34 The Mother of Harlots and btn^t. restored 335-38 The Roman Catholic church adopis pagan forms and ceremonies. 338-42 Morse's discovery of conspiracy 342 The seven headed beast 345 The future of the papacy 347 The woman sitting on the scarlet beasi 348 The seven headed dragon 352-54 The image of the beast 354 The flag of England 355 The dragon, the beast aud the lmag< 355-6O The prophetic dales explained 360-64 And his number was 666 365-66 (IV) FINANCE IN PROPHECY. INDEX. Extent of money power 253" Form of money 254 What is money? 259 The Bible dealings with govern- ments 265 Time, space and matter 266 Space and matter 267 The hypnotic state 268 Four elements 270 The student and psychic phenom- ena 271 Man and the Bible IIZ To develop a character 27'6 Man not what he seems 277 God 279 God, labor and rest 280 Man's descent from heaven 281 Reincarnation taught in the Bible. 284 God's week 291 Interest on money in the Bible... 294 •The church and usury 299 Sketch of Rothschilds 301 Daniel's prophecy 303 Evidence of the last days 306 United States in prophecy 313 End of Daniel's prophecy 314 The United States in God's plan. .319 Christ^s kingdom on earth 322 The Great Red Dragon 323 The English money power, the dragon 325 And reasons therefor 329 to 334 The mother of harlots and beast, restored 334 to 338 The Roman Catholic church adopts pagan forms and ceremonies. . . .338 Morse's discovery of conspiracy. . .342 The seven-headed beast 345 The image of the beast 354 The flag of England 355 The dragon, the beast and the image 356 The prophetic dates explained. .. .360 And his number was 666 366 Repeated in lecture form... 367 to 422 Our flag in the Bible 307 to 416 Political history of our country — Part 4 450 Treason — now we're to have a king 471 (V) INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS. Of Tables and Illustrations. Frontispiece. Table of dollars of nations 14 Table of fluctuations of gold 21 Table of interest 34 Money per capita 38 Illustrations. The tally system 58 Colonial money 82 Continental money 83 Money in circulation 172 Prosperity of Greenback days 184 Prosperity "of Bimetalism 185 Gold backs 185 Egyptian coin 202 Celtic coin 202 Coin of Athens 203 Different periods 203 Coins of Carthage 204 Coins of Rome Wampum 205 The money power — the dragon... 253 An ideal dollar 254 Illustrated idea of the universe. . .279 The Zodiac 373 The scales 373 The Sun, Venus 374 Uranus 375 Nebuchadnezzar's vision 378 Stone cut without hands 379 The winged lion 381 The bear 382 The four-headed beast 382 The beast with ten horns 383 The three-crowned hat 384 Neptune 387 Three signs of the Zodiac 387 The ram 387 Paul Jones' flag 401 The first stars 402 The rattlesnake flag 403 Betsy Ross making the flag 404 The flag that Betsy made 405 Old Glory 406 The woman who fled to the wil- derness 410 The dragon and the man child.... 411 The seven-headed beast 418 The image of the beast 419 The ten-crowned beast 421 The harlot and the beast 422 The financial cancer 468 The body politic 469 The traitor's king 471 His coat-of-arms 472 His flag 474 The woman sitting on the beast.. 348 Mystery 350 10 usurers' countries or horns 353 Ring money 202 A safe, reliable plan 255 — A— PREFACE. In writing the j)reface of this book I will say that I had no idea of writing so extensive a work. Though for twenty- years I have been gatlienng the matter for an extensive treatise on finance, 1 concluded that it would best reach the masses in an abridged or condensed form, 80 I compromised between ttie primer 1 set out to write and the extensive work contemplat- ed for the future, and produced the forcible though condensed work in hand. I will frankly admit I was led into the discussion of finance in prophecies by unseen forces, as stated elsewhere, and I will also frankly say that on the night of December Brd, 1895, I was visited by a spirit and an angel in my own bedroom. I saw them as distinctly as I ever saw any earthly beings, and I was in the full possession of all my faculties. They came in answer to a prayer. I was thereby more fully assured of the righteousness of my course and encouraged to pursue my plans. To many this will seem the positive evidence of insanity or erankism. 13ut to those who carefully read the work I>cau feel assured they will, at least, admit there is very much method in my madness, as no book was ever written contain- ing more and better evidence of authority. With the evidence the history of the world shows of opposition to reformers and advanced thinkers, especially when their reforms strike the rich, I may expect, first to be ignored; with fair success, ridiculed; with freater success, all manner of Preface j>2. obstacles will be thrown in my path; and if the work is pro- ductive of great effect, my repu- tation, my liberty and my life will be put in jeopardy. "In parts superior what advantage liesT Tell (for you can) what is it to be wise? 'Tis but to know iiow little can be known; To see all other's faults, and feel your own; Condemned in business or in arts to drudge, Without a second, or without a judge: Truths would you teach, or save a sinking land? All fear, none aid you, and few under- stand. Painful pre-eminence: yourself to view Above life's weakness, and its com- forts too." — Pope. That there might be some who would not care to read a work, on theology, though it encomposed a part of the finan- cial question, I recognized and 80 placed that part ot the work bv itsflf. Upon revising this book I saw the necessity of deviding the book into four parts and of repeating that part of pro- phesy, tho in lecture form, and I invite all who wish to use the lecture, to do so, and to take orders for the book, and to send the orders to me, and I will devide the profits on your sales with you, when two or or more books are ord erd at one time. It is to do good that I seek. Price, mani- 11a board 75 c'ts. Cloth $1.50 Nearly 500 pages, over 50 ilustrations with two large charts, for lecture purposes. Lyman E. Stowe 131 Cath- erine st, Detroit. Mich. PART ONE FINANCIAL PHILOSOPHY Having long seen the necessity of a work of reference or defini ■ tions used in the discussion of economic questions, and on July 3, 1894 being seized with an in- spiration to write a series of questions and answers, that if read must enlighten the public on mauy points, I dropped all other matters and bent my en- ergies to producing the follow- ing catechism, which I believe, will throw more light on the great questions of the day than anything heretofore given to the public: Q. Why do we have hard times in a land of plenty, where undeveloped wealth is unlimited ready to pour out at the touch of man, and with plenty of idle men ready and willing to work? A. Because naen who deal in money reduce the volume of money so low that A waits for B and B for C and so on down the alphabet, and business is stagnated and Labor thrown out of employment and the prices of all property reduced until forced sales enables the privileged class to centralize wealth and enslave the people through the control of money. Q. Are these men mean enough to do that? A. Yes; for if men will cor- ner railroads, wheat, pork, lard and all otlier commodities to make money out of, they will corner money for the same pur- pose. Q. What is money? A. John Stewart Mill, the economist, says, "Adoney is a — 2— creation of law." Blackstone, the English Law Giver, also says, money is a creation of law and defines money thus: "Money is a measure of value by com- parison whereby we ascertain the comparative value of all commodities. Therefore money is an ideal thing and stands in relation to the measurement of comparative values the same as the yardstick, the gallon and pound do to weights and mea- sures of quantities." Q. Have you any other evi- dence that money is a creation of law ? A. Yes; because you cannot pay a debt by force of law with any other commodity, A man may refuse to take wheat, corn, cattle, houses, gold, silver, or any other commodity, and sue and get a judgment, payable in money of the realm. But if money is tendered him he can never get a judgment pay- able in any other commodity in the world, unless the contract creating the debt so specilied. This has been proven in many a Supreme Court decision, quoted in a pamphlet published by Eichard F. Treveiiick, Detroit, Mich. Q. What is a pound? A. A pound avoirdupois is a unit of measure by weight and is subject to divisable units. It must of necessity be tixed by law, otherwise there would be no stable measurement, and the pound vary according to the various estimates of more or less generous natures. Q. What is a foot? A. The foot is a unit of run- ning measure, originally sup- posed to be the length of a man's loot. iiut men's feet vary in length and a more stable meas- urement was sought. The foot as tinally adopted was composed of 12 inches, the inch based upon — 3- th8 measurement of three bailey- grains lying lengthwise. This was not SMtisfactory and the foot in America was established by law and is equal to 12-391,012 of the length of a second's pendu Inm in the City Hall of New York City. In other countries it differs somewhat from this. Q. What is a bnshel ? A. The bushel is the unit of value of dry measure. It and its subsidiary multiples are fixed by law. In New York the bushel measure must coniain 80 lbs of distilled water at its maximum density at the mean pressure of the atmosphere at the level of the sea. This is the measure the law recognizes in settling all disputed measure- ments of dry measure, j'^et no one would be foolish enough to demand that every tool called a bushel measure should be tested with so much distilled water, or that the tool should be made of any specified metal, unless they desired to control the number of bushel measures, when they would demand that bushel meas- ures should be made of some scarce commodity so the number of measures may be limited that they might better control them. Q. What is a gallon 2 A. The lawful gallon is the unit of liquid measure. Inthe Uni- ted States it is the standard Win- chester wine gallon of 2.31 cubic inches and contains 8.H8S8 avoir- dupois lbs, or 58.372 — 1754 troy grains of distilled water at 39.88 Falirenheit, the barometer beiug at 30 inches. Q What is a dollar? A. A dollar is a unit of meas- urement of comparative values. Like all other measures it is fixed by law, to prevent bicker- ing and strife, and like all uther measures it is an ideal ihmg. Its fractional proportions are mills, ccuts, dimes. .No one ever saw a mill, coined yet it exists in the ideal and proves that tbedoilnr and its fractional proportions like all other meas- ures are ideal. But the tool which represents the idea is an entirely different thing. Q. Should any of these tools be made of material possessing intrinsic value ? A. There is no substance but what contains intrinsic value Some substances contain a higher intrinsic value than others, as for instance, iron possesses a great- er intrinsic value than gold so if intrinsic value is required iron should be used for any or all of these tools rather than any other substance. Q. What is intrinsic value ? A. Intrinsic value is that quality inherent in a substance making it useful for many pur- poses, and it exists just as much in the article if 10,000 feet under ground as when fulhlling its function in the hand of man. Q. Can intrinsic value rest in anything but a natural product or the raw material ? A. No; for the moment the raw material is converted into a manufactured article it possesses a tool value and until the desire for the tool falls below the desire for the substance to till some other purpose the intrinsic value is as much lost at though the metal or commodity were still 10,000 feet underground. When the jeweler or dentist melts up a gold coin it is because the in- trinsic value of the metal is worth more to him than the tool value. But he, like the mur- derer has committed a crime, though of less degree, because he has taken what he cannot re- store or give back. Bt-cause money belongs to the whole peo- ple, as it was created by law, and law belongs to the body politic. This is why Lycurgus of of old Spartia steeped his iron coin in — 6— acid destroying its mallea- bility thereby destroying its in- trinsic value that it might not be directed into other channels and its fool value lost. Q. What constitutes tool or utility value ? A. Utility value rests alone in a manufactured article or a natural product appropriated for a special use and is separate from intrinsic or commercial val- ue. Q. Now you have given us a definition of intrinsic value and of utility value, please define commercial value? A. Commercial value depends entirely upon the law of supply and demand and is applicable to any commodity, natural or manufactured that is des^ired by man — thus a thing may possess intrinsic or utility value and still command no commercial value . Q. Please give us an illustra- wherein the three values may play a distinctive part ? ' A. Mr. Brown is one of a thousand men living upon an island. He manufactures plows, but few are required on the island but he has manufactured a large supply for sale on the main land; but the island is surrounded by an hostile fleet, and so his plows cannot be got to market, the island can make use of but few plows and as commercial value is a thing of conditions, the plows have been deprived of their commercial value as ])lows. But the utility value remains the same, so Mr. Brown chooses some one of his plows and makes use of it to cultivate a piece of ground to sustain life until he can go back to his former occupation. Mean- time the people of the island have determined to defend them- selves, but they need iron to make cannon, and shot, and timber to make carriages, and for other purposes. Someone suggests they use Mr. Brown's plows. Now the intrinsic viilue of the wood in the })low handles has been nearly spoiled altogether in consequence of cutting h up in so small pie- ces, MS it cannot be replaced in its original mass. But the iron being fusible into one mass has not lost its intrinsic value for it can now be converted into any purpose required, and the de- mand for the iron has given com- mercial value to that substance far above the commercial value of Mr. Brown's plows. He hast- ens to dispose of his plows to reimburse himself for the loss sustained in the labor of manu- facture, as the labor of manu- ture of plows is lost; which proves that labor does not al- ways create wealth and that wea'th is a thing purely con- ditional. Aristotle says; "And we call that thing wealth that tills the desire of man, lands, houses cattle, money." Thus money is wealth and depends upon conditions for its commer- cial value. But Mr. Brown wish- es to obtain every dollar for his iron that he can, so sells his last plow. Now he must have a plow, he creates one from a piece of petrilied wood, which answers the purpose. Others see him do this and do the same so the island is supplied with plows which pos- sess a utility value. But as no one wishes to purchase plows, being able to supply their own, there is no commercial value worth speaking otattached to the plows, and the material contains but little intrinsic value, as it is not lusible and can be converted into few if any other purposes. In California mining districts are dead cities, large stores, ho- tels and mansions entirely de serted, the mines have petered out. In consequence of the changed conditions the commerc- ial value has been swept away— — 7— the utility value has been some- what impaired by the tooth of time so that it would require la- bor to restore the utility to it, the iijtrinsic value of the iron and stone remain the same though it is far removed from the use of iiian. There may be thousands of otherillustrations but this is suf- ficient to show that commercial value is a thing of conditions. It shows us that money being an ideal thing it is a stable meas- urement of comparative value. Eut the tool representing the measure depends tor its exchange or commercial value, entirely on the law of supply and demand. This is as much the fact as that a yard stick measures three feet and that A may give a hundred dollars for a yard stick to be used in a great commercial tran- saction providing that yard stick is the only known correct yard stick available. Thus it is shown thiit it is an accurate representa- tive of the ideal that is sought, and that the commercial and in- trinsic value bear no relation to the ideal or utility value of the tool. Then it proves that when the government creates money it creates commercial value as it creates a tool that posseses a commercial value. But let the government create too many of the tools called a dollar and it re- duces its commercial value, though the nominal or compari- tive value remains the same. Ten mills make one cent, ten cents make one dime and ten dimes one dollar just the same. If t he government issue too large a volume of money little damage is done. -But it the government allow the volume of dollars to fall below the required necessities of legitimate business great damage is done, for the dollar represent- ing all commodities is in greater demand than any other com- modity, as it is a house, a horse. -8- demand than any other commod- ity, as it is a house, a horse, clothing or any other commodity in a nut shell, and people will sacrifice all other commodities for that dollar, or sacrifice honor, virtue and all that is noble and good for money. Thus when money is sciirce the tendencies of civilization are backward. I heard some one say money is not wealth, you can't make a house of money, it is only a rep- resentative of wealth. No; mon ey is wealth because men will sacrifice every other thing for money, thus the desire for it, under the law of supply and demand gives it value. It is true you cannot make a house of it, nor can you make a pair of boots out of a saddle, but that does not prove thai the saddle is not an article of value, a unit of wealth. This is different, however, with the note of hand, the bank note or mortgage as all of these things are mere promises to pay mon- ey, and are not wealth but rep- resent that the person who gave them, either has wealth or has made a misrepresentation. If however, there are too niany of these promises on the market it is a very dangerous thing, for it shows there is too little money iu ciiculation and debts are paid in promises so wtien these pro- mises fall due, unless there has been an increase of money, the demand for the tool (do Jar) is so great that its commercial value goes up and every other thing is sacrificed for money that debts may be i)aid and so save some- thing out of the wreck caused by too ismall a volume of mon^^y. Q. You have explained that the promisary note and the bank note are merely a promise to pay money and are not money-please explain what is currency i A. Money may be currency but currency is not always mon- ey. A note of iiand is neither — »— money nor currency. A bank note is currency as it owes its existence to certain legislative enactenents, though it is not mon- ey but a promise to pay money. Drafts and checks are also classed as currency, though they pass current but to a limited ex- tent. Q. Where did the term dol- lar originate ? A. Some writers claim the dollar was known or term used for money by some nations as far back as the year 1609, and cons so named of various value circulated in England at that date. The term dollar is taken from the Latin daleros, dale and the coin called dollar was first struck in the dale or valley of Joacliim, in iiohemia. The dol- lar, the money unit of the Unit- ed States was taken from the Spanish milled dollar so called because the edge was raised above or stamped. It was es- tablished under the confedera- tion by resolution of congress July 6, 1786 fixing the silver dol- lar as the unit of American mon- ey and to contain 37o-64:-100 graius of pure silver and author- izing a mmt. This remained a dead letter and was fiually abro- gated by the following enact- ments April, 1792. Section 9, Aud be it further en- acted, that there shall be from time to time, struck and cuiued at the said mint, coin, of gold, silver and copper, of the foilowiug denominations, values and descripLioiis, viz: Eagles; each to be of the value of ten dollars, or units, and to contain two hundred and forty-seven grains and four-eights of a grain of pure or two hundred and seventy grains of standard gold. Half Eagles; each to be of the value of five dollars, and to contain one hun- dred and twenty three grains and six- eights of a grain of pure or one hundred and thirty -four grains of standard gold. Quarter Eagles; each to be of the —10— value of two and a half dollars and to contain sixty-one grains and seven- eighths of a grain of pure or sixty-seven grains and four-eighths of a grain of standard gold. Dollars, or units; each to be of the value of a Spanish milled dollar as the same is now current, and to contain three hundred and seventy-one grains four-sixteenths parts of a grain of pure or four hundred and sixteen grains of standard silver. Half dollars; each to be of half the value of the dollar or unit, and to con- tain one hundred and sixty-five grains and ten sixteenths parts of a grain of pure, or two hundred and eight grains of standard silver. Quarter dollars; each to be of one- fourth the value of the dollar or unit, and to contain ninety-two grains and thirteen-sixteenths parts of a grain of pure, or one hundred and four grains of standard silver. Dimes; each to be of the value of one-tenth of a dollar or unit, and to contain thirty-seven grains and two sixteenths parts of a grain of pure, or forty-one grains and three-fifths parts of a grain of standard silver. Half dimes; each to be of the value of one twentieth of a dollar, and to contain eighteen grains and nine-six- teenths parts of a grain of pnre, or twenty and four-fifths grains of stand- ard silver. Cents; each to be of the value of the one-hundredth part of a dollar, and to contain eleven penny weights of cop- per. Half cents; each to be of the value of a half a cent, and to contnin five and one-half penny weights of copper. Section 20. And be it further en- acted, that the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars or units, dimes or tenths, cents or one-hundred ths; and mills or one thousandths; a dime being the tenth part of a dollar, a mill the thousandth par of a dollar; and that all accounts the in public oflBces, and all proceedings inthe courts of the United States, shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation. These enaclments alone should forever settle the question that —11— money is the creation of law, and that it is an ideal Ihin^, and that various substances may be used as a tool to represent the ideal. Q. When was the first coin struck in this country ? A. The first coin was not struck until 1794. Thus show- ing that for at least nine years this country was without the tool called a dollar, or unit of measure of comparative values. As a substitute for the legal tool the people used foreign coins and other commodities. But foreign coins, while they were legal money in the realms that stamx)ed them, were not money in this country; and that we might havealegal representative of our ideal unit of measurement of comparative values, certain foreign coins were made legal tender in this country by enact- ments that will be mentioned farther on. In 1793 all foreign coins, except the Spanish milled dollar, were demonetized or de- clared not a legal tender in this country. March 2, 1799 there was an act passed regulating foreign coins, making them legal tender and acceptable for custums dues at certain lixed rates. This proves again that money is a creation of law and that the money of one country is not money in another country, ex- cept it be made so by an enact- ment of law. Again March 3, 1801, the law fixing the value of foreign coins was revised; and again April 10, 1806, and declaring them a legal tender. Again March 30, 1823, the enactment was revised, so far as gold coins were concerned; again June 25, 1834 the silver coins, dollars of Mexico, Peru, Chili and Central America of not less weight than 415 grains each — and those restamped in Brazil of like weight. -12- Act January 18, 1837, coinage laws revised the standard for both grold and silver coin changed Act of July 27, 1842. fixed the legal value of the English pound sterling fit ($4.84.) Act of March 8, 1843, again re- vised and fixed the value of foreign coins. Act of March 3, 1849, author- ized the issue of gold double eagles and gold dollars. Act of March 3, 1855, silver three cent pieces were a u t horized. Act of Feb. 21, 1853, silver coins, excepi the dollar, demon- etized and the weight reduced. The half dollar or fifty cent piece was fixed at 192 grains, before 20ij grains. All smaller coins re- duced in proportion — made legal tender in suras not to exceed $5, Section 31 of this enactment pro- vides for the issue of $H gold pieces. There were few if any of this coin ever struck oflf. Act of Feb. 21, 1857, all former acts making foreign coins a legal tender were repealed and section 34 made the Mexican dollar and a few other foreign silver coins a legal tender. Act of April 22, 1864, the small penny or cent and two cent pieces were authorized, the cent made a legal tender to the amount of ten cents and the two cent piece legal tender to the extent of twenty cents. Act of March 3,1865, the three cent nickel piece was author- ized and made a Ii-gal tender to the extent of sixty cents. One and two cent pi(?ces were made a legal tender for only four cents and all other laws repealed. Act of May lv3, 1^66, nickel five cent pieces were authorized and made legal tender to the ex- tent of one dollar. Up to Feb. 12, 1873, silver was considered the standard metal of this country, fnt by the en- actment of this aate the silver dollar was wiptMkl out as the —18— standard of onr unit of meas- ure and a gold unit subsritatc-d and the weight of the gold coins increased. Section 2 of this en- actment provided for a trade dollar of 420 grains, leaving the subsidiary coins at the original weight-^ and making all a legal tender in the sum of five dollars. This enactment was very clearly stolen through and was probably paid for with British gold. See article on conspiracy further on. Act of March 8,' 1875, silver twenty cent pieces authorized. July 13, 1876, the trade dollar was demonetized. Jan. 25, 1878, the following resolution passed both houses of Congress. That all the bonds of the Uni- ted t^ tales issued or authorized to be issued under the said acts of Congress hereinbefore recited are payable, principle and in- terest, at the option of the gov- ernment of the United States, in silver dollars of the coinage of the United States, containing 412^ grains each of standard sil- ver; and that to restore to its coinage such coins as a legal tender in payment of said bonds, principal and interest, is not in violation of the public faith, nor in derogation of the rights of the public creditor. The Bland bill restoring the old silver dollar of 4124^ grains of silver, passed over the President's veto and became a law Feb. 28, 1878. This did not restore silver to its former position of a free coinage with gold, but it gave us com- pulsory coinage of two million silver dollars per month, payable for both principal and interest of the public debt. Through trickery and influence the con- spirators have prevented thegov- ernment ever paying a dollar in silver for interest or principle of the bonded debt. Undoubtedly the money changers had determined to get —14— rid of silver as soon as possible consequently the following trick was perpetrated: The Sherman bill that became a law in 1890 stopped the issne of silver dollars and instead provided for the purchase of four million of ounces of silver per month, to be used as a se- curity for silver certificates to be issued by the treasury depart- ment. The trick lay in the pro- vision in the Sherman bill, for the repeal of the Bland bill and in 1893 the money changers shipped gold out of the country for the purpose of bringing on a panic that they might charge it to the Sherman bill and get up a popu- lar cry for its repeal. Mr. Sher- man voted to repeal his own bill and with its repeal the purchase and coinage of silver ceased, and we v^^ere left vv^ith the single standard of gold. Q. How many governments are there that use the term dollar and do they all contain the same amount of silver? A. The following table was published by the United States Treasury department: Bremen, dollar valued at 73|c Prussian, " " " 69c N. Germany, '' " 69c Saxony, " '' '■ 69c Denmark, " " * I05c Norw;iy, " " '• l()6c Sweeden, " *' '' l()6c Mexico, '' .. - 99 8c Liberia, " " •" loOc Ecuador, " " " 91 o Bolivia, '♦ " '"95 5c Central America, " '' 91c Peru, " '' •' 91-8o Here are thirteen different na- tions using the term dollar as their unit of measure of compara- tive values, with dollars of light weight and valuations. Now which is the dollar of the world? Is it the 78 cent dollar of Bremen, weighing 305 grains? The 100 cent dollar of Liberia weighing 450 grains or the 100 —15— cent dollar of the United States, weighincr 412| grainsi Does this not prove that there is no such thing as money of the world, as these dollars are not money ex- cept in the realm that issued them? Q. If the government makes a dollar that costs but 5 cents and pays it to A for a day's work and A pays it to B and B to 0, and so on through the al- phabet to Y, and Y pays it back to the government for taxes, who has lost anything? A. Kobody. Q. Then vvho has gained 1 A. The whole people. Q. What are some of the ar- guments in favor of a cheap material over a costly one for our tool, the unit of comparative value? A. I have before stated that a costly commodity cannot be used for two purposes at the same time, therefore when a sub- stance is used for a specitied pur- pose it is wise economy to use that substance that costs the least, in time and 'abor to pro- duce, fur when it is lost or worn out the loss is only to the indi- vidual, and will not cost the producer so much to replace. In a speech delivered by John J. Ingalls, February 15, 1878, he says, "No enduring fabric of na- tional prosv)erity can be builded on gold. Gold is the money of monarchs; kings court it. * * Its tendency is to acuraulate in vast masses, * * in such volumes as to unsettle values and disturb the finances of the world. It is the instru- tuent of gamblers and specu- lators, and the idol of the miser and thief. * * When- ever it is most needed it always disappears. * * o No people in a great emergency ever found a faithful ally in gold. « * * It makes no treaty it does not —16 — break. It has no friends it does not sooner or later betray. Ar- mies and navies are not main- tained by gold. « * • No nation ever fought a great war by the aid of gold; on the contrary, in the crises of great perils, it becomes an enemy more potent than the foe in the field; but when the battle is won and peace secured, gold reappears and claims the fruits of victory. In our own civil war it is doubt- ful if the gold of New York and London did not work us great- er injury than the powder, lead and iron of the rebels. It was the most invincible enemy of the public credit. Gold paid no soldier nor sailor. It refused the national obligations. It was worth most when our fortunes were the lowest. # # • It was in an open alliance with our enemies the world over. * but as usual, when danger has been averted, gold swaggers to the front." I will add that it murdered two of our Presidents, (see con- spiracies) and that it was cheap paper money that carried on our war and saved the nation. Mr. Ingalls further says, "The gold value of the nickel five cent piece is exactly four sevenths of one cent; and the government has made a profit to this date of four million, six hnndred and eighteen thousand dollars by this coinage." ''I have heard these pieces called tokens." "They are tokens just as the sil- ver dollar or the double eagle are tokens." They are convert- ible into any other lawful money. A nickel, worth four-sevenths of one cent will purchase five cents worth of any commodity just as certainly and cheaply as five cents worth of gold, because the nation has so decreed. The same is true of our subsidiary silver coinage, which h;i8 been alloyed to such an extent that the coud- — 17- try is nearly six million dollars richer by the seigniorage." Money which represents the comparative values of all com- modities is a creation of lav^r. Gold and silver require labor for their production. They have there uses in the arts and for ornaments, bur as coin no person wants them, except to enable him to obtain other com- modities. The holder of a paper dollar does not prize it because he can exchange it for gold, nor does the holder of the silver dol- lar value it because it contains a ceri ain number of grains of metal. The life of paper money aver- ages but seven years. Had the government never issued a dol- lar of metal money, but all pa- per how many hundred millions of dollars better oflF would the government have been? The cry that I want a dollar that is money if I go abroad is only (he cry of knaves and fools for there never was a money of the world. The gold eagle is not money in London, it is not money in Paris or in Berlin. True it may be sold for English, French, or German money. So might wheat or any other com- modity. The man who travels abroad does not usually load himself down with gold, but deposits his money in bank and takes a letter of credit to a foreign bank and the foreigner does the same thing and the American uses the Englishman's money and the Englishman us'-s the American's money. And it is the sauje when the Englishman sells his silk for American gold or the American sells his wheat for English gold, the Englishman uses the Ameri- can's money, and the American uses the Englishman's money, and even balances, are seldom settled in gold and never as mon- ey but the gold is weighed out —le- as so much bullion or a commod- ity. Q. Then if it makes no differ- ence what material money is made of, will not at some times gold and silver as commodities rise or fall in value above or be- low the monetary value of the commodity in the coin, as the case might be? Can you state when such • thing ever tool*^ place ? A. Yes; goia and silver as well as any other commodities are subject to the law of supply and demand. But either end of the law may be effected by arti- ficial means, and as Ingalls says, gold and silver is the tool of the gamblers. Men who deal in money will corner it the same as men who deal in wheat or other commodities. During our late war, says Sec- retary Fessenden: "Experience cannot have failed to convince the most careless observer that, whatever may be the effect of a redundant circulation upon the price of coin, other causes have exercised a greater and more deleterious influence. In course of a few days the price of these articles rose from |l .50 to $2 85 in paper for $1.00 in coin and subsequently fell, in as short a period to $1.87 and then again rose as rapidly to $2.50; and all without any assignable cause traeoable to the increase or decrease in drcuUtr tion of paper money. ^^ The work of the gold gambler's of course, cornering it; and this is a nice thing for a basis for the people's money. That gold and silver depend as much upon the law of supply and demand,l'or their commodity value as any otht^r substance there is any amount of evidence to show. I will quote further in proof of this matter. From the beginning of the Christian era to the fifteenth century, the precious metals —19— were used almost exclusively for money. The mines tailed and as the coins wore out and disap- peared the contraction was so great that suffering was unpar- rallelled. But rather let me give it in the words of the U. S. SILVER COMMISSION OF 1876, VOL. I. "At the Christian era the metalic mon- ey of the Roman Empire amounted to $1,800,000 000. By the end of the fif- teenth century it had shrunk to less than $200,000,000. During this period a most extraordi- nary and baletul change took place in the condition of the world. Popula- tion dwindled and commerce, arts, wealth and freedom all disappeared. The people were reduced by poverty and misery to the most degraded con- ditions of serfdom and slavery. This disintegration of society was almost complete. The conditions of life were so hard that individual selfishness was the only thing consistent with the in- stinct of self preservation. All public spirit, all generous emotions, all the noble aspirations of man shriveled and disappeared as the volume of money shrank and prices fell. History records no such disastrous transition as that from the Roman Em- pire to the dark ages. Various expla- nations have been given of this entire breaking down of the frame work of so- ciety, but it was certainly coincident with a shrinkage in the volume of mon- ey, which was also without historical parallel. The crumbling of institutions kept even step and pace with the shrinkage in the stock of money and the falling of prices. All other attending circum- stances than these last have occured in other historical periods unaccompanied and followed by any such mighty dis- aster. It is a suggestive coincidence that the first glimmer of light only came with the invention of bills of exchange and paper substitutes, through which the scanty slock of piecious metals was in- creased in efficiency." This is pretty good evidence that everything depends upon —20— the volume of money. But let us pursue this subject until we run it down to a certainty. Prescott in his history of Peru tells US that gold was found so plentiful there by Pizarro that it fell in value to an enormous ex- tent. The natives did not use it for money as their trading was all by barter, article for article. One of the Spanish soldiers traded a hatchet for his two handsful of gold and the native ran away for fear the man would want to trade back. Says Prescott, "A quire of paper was gold for tea pesos-de-oro. eleven dol- lars and sixty seven cents of our mon- ey. Therefore the quire of paper ex- changed for $116 70 in gold, reckoned In our money of to-day. A bottle of wine sold for sixty pesos-de-oro. a sword for fifty, a cloak for a hundred and sometimes more, a pair of shoes for forty, a good horse for twenty five hundred." Figuring in our money it would look so: A bottle of wine, $700.20 A sword, $466.80 A cloak, $167.00 A horse, $29 175.00 A pair of shoes, $350.10 All payable in gold and silver. A thing that fluctuates like that is a nice thing for a basis for money, a'int it ? Bnrkey on money in his ap- pendix, page 381, gives the following table of sliding scale of prices of gold in New York for 14 years and he quotes from the Tribune Almanac for 1876. The left hand column of each year shows ihe lowest price and the right hand column the high- est. >o t> CO I-H • U & h) P»- CO P^ CD 00 w " Eh in •s> 00 T-t W- co JO CO :o » e» s » h -< —21— eCiOt-iOCDt^ t~T»«-+♦«*» ^ (f« *o -t« IK -t. •¥» i-HCOTfi'^lOCD i-iOlMTti'r?^ ;^;; .ot^ntn-^vH^ -»» -«i +♦ .i* ■•• »» oi eo CO ■<*< cc (M ooocxMO^ r-«o «!» -t* ..,^t't» -^ .j*!0|rti-^^ -i» ■^loooojooju ;d:d •-o^O'?* ,-H-( l-H ■— I —I — 1 -^ "-< - H i-H — « eoeococo.eo ^222222^ '** =*o »=»» -«N-*« 1?— >:£':?'_ S? ,-1 ■— I i-H ^ ^ .^ — ' ^^ -^ —' '^ -^ i-W«st«>H«>nW'-too*» -H-tci-tB^ ^3? eocce«eojoe<9 -f-^-^socccc ri I— I l-l ■-! ^H 1-4 — < "H -H -^ -^ -^ ^ r-PQ'-iODOO O 5^ CO lO — • t^ rH 1-H ~ .-I tH >H — t^ — — ' <-i »^ ©»t-ro(M-^CD SS^SfcSS eoeoccxeooo xcc'^'^coco '*"<*C05^'^CO OiC'*OTf'«*l ■ffHB ^*o«5 -♦>•-*«•-»•-•• -(* tt> lO 'O iri lO t» - XI so >ra f- -H ecoo(^^wj5ep •*-*"**'«*» -c-to -**5»» ■«*i CO .H O « t- X> » I£2 3S » » IMC^C^— <-^— ■ -<— ■—!—. — —I t«000-<*'3QO »iO'M-<»' -SrH cococcoooi'O ■o:Oio5?cO'* lOioiocDccoo ^^cc^5xo'H "^-1— '■^^>< '-«-i'Mn «<^ _4k --<- .-Ij) KM -)» cW •«• CS'Mr-taSinOO "J^iMO^I^ CD l~ O lO "* "# ^M tC .Q lO 'O •<«' eo c» CO ec o ecm « •«i< -^ -"jt •* ^a t- o M t- M -M M -# Tt< -* oooc i o O X) •* t- . Tj< ?1 — 1 CO ""J CO g, ,^ -00 -«» -,i TJt P (M ^ _ ->) -f < o ooo o A* .^ -H .-< r-t -H -IP'-IP' 3> -N O M 35 => 3 -1 -< -M >» >0 is * -? i-^%^ P.JS 5 3 = 2-0 0^ —23— John A Loojan, in the appen- dix to the Congressional Record for 1874 says: "The price of gold is regulated just as the price of any other article of merchandise by the supply and demand." And then he gives us a table showing the difference in per cent in the rise and fall of gold from 1865 to 1874, which is sub- stantially the same as the table here given. Kow our gold gambling friends will tell us that it was not gold that fluctuated in price from day to day or month to month, but it was the paper money that fluctuated. But this is easily proven false, as paper money bought the same amounts of the necessaries of life from day to day while gold would buy more or less as the case might be. There was a policy of contrac tion of paper money adopted as early as April, 1865, and steadily pursued and the volume of paper money was growing less from day to day and all other values were shrinking in proportion, except gold, and that was fluc- tuating. What should make it go up 26 cents in June, 1866, fifteen months after the war, and the next September fall 24 cents? Why shoiild it rise 17 cents in Agust, 1868, and then fall 17^ cents the nexi November? Why should it rise 25 cents in Septem- ber, 1869, four 3'ears after the war, and a steady contraction of paper money was going on, and then fall 31 cents the following month? Tliere is no other pos- sible answer than that the money changers were cornering it to gamble on. A nice thing for a bpsis for money, is it not? William S. Jevons professor of political economy in the Owens University, England, says: ''There is plenty of evidence to prove that inconvertible paper money, if carefully limiied in quantity, can re- —28— tain Its full value. * * But there is abundance of evidence to prove that the value of gold has undergone extensive changes. Between 1789 and 1809 it fell 46 per cent. * JFrom 1809 to 1849 it rose in value 145 per cent." Now this is not from a fanat- ical Greenbacker but from one of the great English professors and writers on the hard money side of the money question. Adam Smith, another cele- brated writer on political econ- omy, says: "The metals constantly varying in their own value they can never be made an accurate measure of value of other commodities." And so I could pile up vol umes of quotations from the most reliable men to show that the so-called precious metals are neither tic for money or a basis for money. Colwell, in his- ''Ways and Means of Payment," speaks as follows: "Another attribute, generally given to the precious metals, is that they are a standard of value. This is inaccurate: *'Gold cannot in the mint be made the standard for silver, nor can silver be made stand ard for gold. Much less, takjog the whole range of articles for human consumption, can they be made a standard of value to which all can be referred." I have here given plenty of evideoce that gold and silver fluctuate and are a poor thing to use for money and a worse thing as a basis for money, and they cannot even be held at a parity with one another. Are the bank- ers who insist on a gold basis blind to all of this; T hen why do they cling to the old barbaric system and demand a gold basis ? It is because by that means they can control the volume and there- by own the people, and control them as serfs and slaves. The proof of the fact lies in all his- -24- torical records, and the evidence in what we behold before us. If mountains of gold and silver were found these selfish men would be demanding a diamond basis or some of the more expen- sive metals, of which there are a number of metals more valu able than gold or silver. In 1894 when gold was dis- covered in California the bank- ers got so scared for fear money would become so plentiful that the people would become com- mercially free, that a short time after, the bankers of Germany, Austria, Belgium and Holand prevailed on those governments to demonetize gold, and adopt silver for a basis. But as it be- gan to look as if silver would be the most plentiful metal, gold was remonetized and a system- atic war waged against silver and one of the most damnable conspiracies the world ever knew has been organized to down all the government paper money, and silver as a basis, for a prom- issory bank notes, or as mone\' above five dollars. When they were indeavoring to demonetize silver they worked upon tlie pre- judice of the people, by declaring that there was but 58 Cr-nts worth of silver in the dollar and as poor men received most of their wages in silver it wronged labor, as the laborers dollar should be worth as much as the niillionair's dol- lar. The redicu'ous and dishon- est phase oi this is the fact, that before the demonetization of sil- ver the silver dollar with onl}' 58 cents worth of silver would pur- chase as much of the necessaries of life as the gold di-llar, but af- ter they complete the demone- tization of silver down to five dollars, silver will still be the money of the laboring man, with less purchasing power and gold will stand at a premium and be the raillionair's money, a money that will measure his income —26— and rhe tax imposed upon labor. On the interesting testimony of Thomas Barring, we are assured that it was found impossible dur- ing the crisis of 1H47 in London to raise any money whatever on a sum of £00,000 of silver. This would be equal to $300,- 000, but silvHi- wat^ not a legal tender and money wasscarceand silver was not even considered worthy as a security. In 1855 Holland made silver the standard of value but coined gold without the legal render quality and after about $18,000 worth of gold had been C(tined the demand entirely ceased During a panic in India in 1864 silver was the basis, and in Calcutta you could not get a single rupee, 46 cents, on £20,000 of gold. This proves beyond a doubt that people seek after legal ten- der money regardless of the ma- terial of which it is made. Another of the dishonest ar- guments of the conspirators and their idiotic followers is that we want an elastic currency and that the gold basis promissory bank note system fills the want. But the fact is that the bankers contract the money, and expand the volume when it suits, their interest. For example I will quote from Freeman O. Wiley, who quotes from the JNew York Tribune and other papers: J^ovem'ber 18, 1880 the Trib- une editorially says: "Money is unu>u;illy easy for the season. The loans are $324,970,900, the largest ever reported in the ciiy" This is certainly a glowing account but note what followed one month after. On December 15, quoting again from the same souice: "The bankers of this city have made a creditable effort to set themselves right. Loans were contracted $11,741,' 000 last week." Here, did space allow, I would .-26— like to quote the whole range of Mr. Wiley's art^uraent and quo- tations, showing the disaster this contraction brought and the aclinowledgment of the same by the press of the country. The New Yorli daily exchange says: "Notwithstanding the stringency of the money market, tiie banks retired their circulation." Oil, yes! They want an elas- tic currency that they may con- tract the volume of money at their sweet will; and that is really all there is to an elastic currency. Mr. Wiley quotes from the N w York Mercantile Journal as follows: ••What about the future? This is a question we are beginning very often to hear. When for call loans men have paid one-eighth to one-fourth per cent per day, or say at the rale of luO per cent per annum, for a little while, they are very anxious to know what is com- ing next." So much for the banker's howjl for an elastic currency; elastic for their benetit. If we have a volume of money large enough to meet the requirements of the people it will lind its way to the proper channels at the proper time, and the bankers will not be able to corner it just when their interests can be best served at the expense of the people. This brings us to the subject of volume. But we must first discuss INTEREST ON MONEY Q. What is interest on mon- ey 'i A. Interest is any surplus advantage in returning what has been received. JSow mark the distinction. Any surplus advantage is in- terest. You rent a house. You pay for the wear and tear and to keep up taxes, and other expenses. —27— That is not interest. But if the use of the money invested ia that property is reckoned in, that is interest. Therefore, in- terest always means the reckon- ing of a return of a percentage for the use of money, borrowed or invested in an enterprise in- tended to return a profit. There is no subject more del- iciite to handle than that of in- terest. One reason, because all profit is reckoned as interest. When in fact there is nothing in interest except a percentap:e on money loaned or promised for property received, or added to profits on account of money in- vested. Thai profit that comes naturally to the shrewd in trade or mechanics, as the result of industry, energy, perseverance and foresight, do not rightly be- long to interest. Q. Where does interest dififer from usury ? A. In reality there is no dif- ference. Usury means a per- centage for the use of money, loaned or invested purely for interest, "Take thou no usury of him or in- crease, but fear thy Gcd that thy brother may live with thee." Levit- icus XXV, verse 36. Thus according to old Jewish teaching the charge of anything for the use of money was pro- hibited. Thou Shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase. " Leviticus, XXV, 37. If thou lend money to any of my people thut is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shall ttiey lay upon him usury." Ex- odus XXII, 25. "Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother, usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of anything that is lent upon usury." Deutoionomy XXIII, 19. One would think this settled the question as what constitutes usury. *'I rebuked the nobles and the rulera and said unio them. 'You exact usury every one of his brother, and 1 sit a great assembly against them.'' Nehe- miah V, 7. Here we cannot help asking of our ministers of the gospel, "Can you say that you 'rebuked the nobles and the rulers?' " They must answer, "Well hardly " "I pray you let us leave of this usury." Nehemiah V, 10. "In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedilv gained of thy neighbor by extortion and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord God." EzekielXV, 5. Here are buc few of the quo- tations that may be taken from the Old Testament. But our church people try to excuse themselves for taking usury on the ground that those commands came under the old Jewish law and that there is not a word in the New Testament against usu- ry, and then they quote the parable of the ten talents, Luke XIX. Now if the reader will scan this chapter closely he will find Christ did not uphold the noble- man in taking usury. But he was illustrating to the people that they must not hide their light under a bushel, but go and spread it and obtain more light or they would fall into indo- lence and lose what light they did have. As well accuse Christ of up- holding murder because he gave us the parable of the good mas- ter of the vineyard who sent servants to the tenant and they were misused and sent back, then he sent his own son and he was murdered. Now this is the way our good church people try to get out of a bad scrape. Christ said he did not come to do away with the law but rather to fulfil it. If we are under no obligation —29— to the old law on usury we are under no obligation to live under the ten commandments. As for the New Testament con- taining nothing against usury, let me quote from Matthew XXIII, 24, 25. '•Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat and swallow ;t camel'' "W.o unto you! Seiibes and Phar- isees, hypocrites! Fur you make clean the outside of the cup and of the plat- ter, but within they are full of ex- tortion and excesses." How applicable this is to the many church people of today. No wonder they preach to small congregations and the church is losing its influence. '•And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thanks have yeV For sinners also lend to sinners to re- ceive as much again." Luke Y, 34. So much lor usury iu the New Testament; and much more may be found by him who reads with care. Murray on Usury, and he defends interest, says: "There was no attempt at the de- fence of urury for fifteen hundred years after Christ.'' I will here give several quo- tations from "Murray on Usu- ry." "Some writers have even gone so far as to place usury in the same category with the crime of murder. Cicero says that when Cato was questioned on the the subject, his only reply was: 'What is murder?' " One Dr Wilson, in the reign of James I, in a discourse upon usury says: "I well wish some penal law of death to be made against the usurers, as well as against thieves or murtherers, for that they deserve death much more than such men do; for these usurers destroy and devour up, not only whole families but whole countries and bring all folks to beggars that have to do with them." St. Ambrose, in discussing it seems to think that it was con- —so- fined to the Jews as an instru- ment of vengeance, to be used against their enemies, and says: •'Take usury from him whom you may lawfully kill." Sir Edward Coke in speaking of this same text, describes it as a means confided to the Jews either to exterminate or pauper- ize their enemies, so that they should not be able to invade or injure God's people. The English must look upon this matter in the same light, for they are the greatest usurers of the whole world. The ancient Fathers of the church were very bitter against usury. St. Bazil portrayed the hypocricy of the professional money loaner in very strong language. He called them dogs, monsters, vipers and devils; and then proceeds to advise any sacrifice rather than borrow money upon usury. Says he, "Sell thy cattle, thy plate, thy household .stuff, thine apparel; sell anythinu; rather than thy liberty; never fall under the slavery of that monster, usury.'* It seems that in all history in- terest or usury has been the disturbing element of all nations at one time or another. The concentration of wealth in Attica 500 B. C. was due to the enorm- ous rates of interest, 18 per cent, and it caused a clash between the oppressed and the oppress- ors: and Solon tried to abolish it but the people would not have it. The Roman Empire was for- ever in trouble between the pat- tricians or privileged classes and the plebeian or poorer class; and interest or usury was one of the bones of contention. Many attempts were made to prohibit interest by law and many times the rates of interest were changed. Among the Romans twelve —31— per cent was the rate estalished by the Decemvirs, who compiled the laws of the Twelve Tables. In Rome interest was payable every month and was one per cent; hence it was called usura centisima, because in a hundred months it doubled the capital. So in reckoning the twelve months twelve per cent was paid. This law was afterwards abolished and interest laid under a total interdict. It was subse- quently revived by the tribunes of the people in the 369th year of Rome. Ten years after in- terest was redn'*"'^ to half the sum; but in '6 -^t 411 of Rome all int^^ et wa prohib- ited by decree. "Among the Roma is usury was treated, duriug most p rio.o o. lUtiir history, as an aggravated species of theft and was punished with the Ut- most severity. The punishment of theft was only a forfeiture of double the value of the thing stolen; whereas ia Usury, the crimin il was punished by condemnation, and forfeiture of four times the value of the usury taken. And the law in this respect seems to havt been grounded on reasons of stHle; lor, it is said, that usury was one of the most frequent causes of se- dition and discord among men, and Cati), Seneca, and Plutarch inveighed against it, both at the bar and in the senate chambers. Cicero tells us in what abhorence it was held in Rome in his day." For several ages the struggle against usury was carried on in England, until money loaning became an occupation so dis- reputible that it was left, alone, to the Jews to follow, until the 12th century "At that period there was a company of Italians in London who called themselves merchant strangers'' and who were the agents of the Po]iein collecting his revenue in England. This company exacted four hundred and tifty percent, perannumfor —82 — the money they lent, and were guilty of the most cruel oppres- sion. They evaded the law by charging nothing for the first three months, covenanted to receive fifty per cent for every month afterwards that it should remain unpaid and said they were no usurers, for they lent their money absolutely without interest, and what they were to receive afterwards was a contin- gency that might be defeated. They live in security, and were not kept in perpetual dread of being plundered, as the Jews were, being themselves Chris- tians, and moreover, being em- ployed by the head of the Chris- tian church, their extortions were the more scandalous in the eyes of the people, and writers of the time complain that thd Pope, by means of the Caursini, was as bad as the Jews. At lenght so grossly oppres- sive were their extortions, that they drew down upon them- selves the censures of the Eng- lish clergy; and Koger, the then Bishop of London, having in vain admonished them to desist from their oppression, excom- municated them A. D. 1235. But through the Pope's protec- tion, and their interest at Rome, they shortly afterwards caused the Bishop to be cited there to answer for his conduct, which induced the suspicion that the Pope was both their accomplice and partner in their spoils,*' (Murray.) In 1730 Pope Benedict the XlVtb addressed a brief to his subjects in which he, in affect, disclaimed the right of the church to interfere on the subject of usury and allowed the practice and settled the rate of interest and finally decided that unlawful interest alone was usurj'. Thus usury became a thing of geographical propor- tions, and what would be usury in one state would not be usury in another; and in some of our states rhere could be no such thino as u u y as there are no usury lawsm &iich states. Father 0'Callaa:han, who wrote upon the subject in 1840, tells how he was persecuted and driven from place to place and told by the bishops he must stop preaching on that subject or leave their diocese. He refused and so was driven from pillar to post; until finally summoned to Rome, but never received fair treatment. Reader do you know the pow- er of interest, do you know what it means? "Interest means nothing more or less than conveying or stealing fiom the many to fill the purses of the few. The word itself is no other than a daring highwa man disguised in the garb of a legalized business. The harvests reaped by the swords of At- tilla and Tamerlain were but as the gold dust swept Irom the floor of a western gambling saloon compared to the worlds of wealth wrung from the sweat of toil, by this relentless, ever- ready highwayman, called interest. This monster has not the decency of a common thief, a respect for his pal, but like the savage brute, tlie stronger live on the weaker, atid the petty usurer of to-day is swallowed up by the giant usurer of to-morrow. This horrible system of legalized robbery is upheld and fostered for no other pur- pose than to satisfy the hell-begotten greed of man; and is tolerated only be- cause each individual hopes to become a millionaire usurer. Vain hope. "— Dynamite and the Torch. To show the enormous concen- trating power of interest note the table here given and figure for yourselves. When that class of people who are always howling, there is money enough, and condemn finance reformers, understand the difference be tween 3 and 12 per cent com- pounded annually, they too will At 1 per cent, " 2 a " 6 (( "10 tt "12 u "16 (i " 18 t( "24 »4 —34- get np and howl for more mon- ey. The following are the sums tbat$l will amoant co in 100 years,, loaned at the rates of in- terest mentioned and compound- ed annually 2.75 19.25 340 00 13,809.00 84,675.00 1,174,405.00 15 145,207.00 251,799,494.00 And at 60 per cent it would eat up the world. But many a debter will look at these figures and say I do not pay compound interest. Oh no, yon poor fool, nor do you live a hundred years. But that class of bankers that are trying to destroy the people's money, take compound interest, daily and on tbe people's money at that, and banking corporations do live hundreds of years and they are vampires without feel- ing or conscience. Peter Cooper was always a careful business man. He was strongly opposed to the methods of many merchants who launch- ed into extravagant enterprise on borrowed money, for which they paid exorbitant rates of interest. Once, while talking of a pro- ject with an acquiniance, the latter said he would have to bor* row the money for six months, paying interest at the rate of three per cent per month. "Why do you borrow money on 80 short a time" Mr. Cooper asked? "Because the brokers will not negotiate bills for long- er." "If you wish" said Mr. Cooper "I will discount your note for $10,000 for three years at that rate." "Will you do it? "Of course I will," said the mer- chant. "Very well" said Mr. —35— Coofier, '*Jast sign this notp for $10,000 payable in three years, and give me your check for $800 and the tranfer will be com- plete." ''But where is the mon- ey for me?'' asked the astonish- ed merch:int. *'You don't get; any money," was the reply, "Yonr interest for thirty-six months at three per cent per month amounts to 108 per cent or $10,800; therefore your check for $800 makes us even." Is it any wonder that through this engine of oppression the wealth of the world is becoming centralized in the hands of the few ? I^or is this the worst of it. Through the money dealers con- trolling the volume they will expand it, and the business brightens, and under encourage- ment people will delve to get something ahead, and at three dollars per day and other things^ according, they can afford ta borrow money at even ten per cent for a short time, they think,, and they get in debt. But all at once the volume of money is drawn in. A waits for B and B for C, and sacrifices are made to meet obligations, and values shrink, wages fall, everything goes down in price except debts and interest. Labor brings but a dollar a day now, consequent- ly debts treble, increased obliga- tions are given and finally all their earnings, their hopes, their care for existence, is sacrificed to satisfy obligations, and even the poor innocent small banker, the product of the system, is in turn himself gobbled up by the great money kings who control the volume of money and says, "An elastic currency is neces- sary." Yes; neses-ary to his purpose to rob the masses. Q. To abolish our present system of currency, would it not destroy commerce ?'' A, No; for the moneyed men would be driven into the ranks of -36- the producers. They would want au expanded volume of money, labor would be employed, busi- ness would boom and everybody would accumulate and be happy. Q. Jiut would we not have to have banks of exchange and de- posit ? A. Yes; and the laborer is worthy of his hire, and the banker is a useful meniber of the business world. His pay should be a salary, lixed and paid by the government, as by nature of his business he handles the people's money, and money belongs to the body politic, con- sequently there is no branch of governmental function that so thoroughly belongs to the gov- ernment to manage as the bank- ing business. Q. Would not interest have to be paid to the government, and would that not be usury as well? A. No; for interest paid to the government would not mean interest but a system of taxation to defray expenses and the sur- plus, if there was any, would come back to the whole people. Q. Would not such a system beget; fraud ? A. Ko; no more than the United States mailing system begets fraud. But of course that fool argument is used by the money mongers and their hireling press to deceive the people. Q. Why is not money loan- ing as righteous a business as commerce and traded A. Again I say because mon- ey belongs to the people, and the temptation to the banker to make money scarce is forever a menace to business and a block in the way of civiUzaiion. Aristotle said, ;hat '*Money being naturally tdrren, to make it breed money is preposterous, and a perversion from the end of its institution, which was only -87— to serve the purpose of exchange and not of increase." Q. Can the rate of interest be governed by law ? A. Only in one way can the rate of interest be resulated by law and that is by the govern- ment issue of a volume of money suflBcient for the demands of trade and by loaning direct to the people at a fixed rate, then no one would likely pay more than he would have to pay the government. In the city of Detroit there is a very large workshop, costing many thousands of dollars, that is said to have been built with the interest on the wages of the men which had been kept back as a guarantee that the men would not leave without due notice Though volumes might be written in proof of the evils of usury or interest on money, yet I have said enough to set any reasonjible man to thinking for himself, which if followed is better than all of the written books in Christendom. We will now proceed to discuss VOLUME. The Scriptures fell us "The love of money is the root of all evil." They might have added the want of money is produced by the love of money and is the visible expression of the evils. As I have explained elsewhere money is a legal tender, an ideal, a thought, a substitute for legal demands, and hence i s name, which means established by law, because it is in our power to change it and render it useless. It has no productive force. 1 1 can only pay debts. It was invented by man to be the insirument of exchange, but not the object. But the lovers of the money have made it the object of life, they have made it --38— Bcaroe and brought want and ruin to millions of people. Money has not the power to increase. It does not grow, but is crea- ted by law — fiat. It it the result of a legal cus- tom and may consist of any sub- stance. When it is plenty people re- joice and prosper. When it is scarce, people are distresj^ed and want and ruin comes upon them. The usury of money is a curse to the human family. The want of money Has debauched the world. Has wrecked nations. Has blighted industries. Has been the chief source of crime. Has filled alms houses and prisons. Has driven women to pros- titution. Has driven both sexes to in- sanity. Has filled thousands and thousands of suicide graves. It is one of the great factors in all the differences among men. In proportion to the volume of money is civilization rated. A few y»^ars ago when every- thing of interest on the money question was being sought out, 1876 I think, the director of the mint in his re]>orts gave the following amounts per capita of money in the United States and countries having a larger pro rata volume: United States, . $22.29 Great Biirain, - . 2H.76 Belgium, - 27 85 Netherlands, . ^0.73 Fiance, - 44.34 The amount of circulating medium in the degraded nations was as follows: —39— India, - - ^n 42 Mexico, - - T) 51 Peru, . - - 4.85 Russia, • - - 1-45 Turkey, - - 1.78 Columbia, - - 2.10 Sweeden. - - 5.73 These are the amounts that were in actual circulation, not including bank and treasury hoards. Q. In what way can the volume of money be a test of civilization ? A. Because as money is plen- tyful the products of labor are rapidly exchanged and con- sumed. This keeps labor euj- ployed and the mind busy, for you know enforced idleness is the "devils workshop." Under favorable circumstances the ten- dency of man is upward, and the voluntary idle man has always something to attract his attention, and unless warped by an extreme greed for money, he finds an occupation that leads upward. Besides when money is plenty and labor employed, invention is stimulated, men's wants incrense until the luxuries of our forefathers become our necessities, as our luxuries be- come the necessities of our pos- teri t}'. Our forefathers of a hundred years ago had no carpets on the floor, very ft'W books and news- papers, very few if anj^ pictures on the walls, a stove was not known, the photograph and the album that holds it, the piano, the house organ, the sewing machine, thr) beautiful chanda- lier, lamps, and the thousands of articles that we now think our necessities were unknown to our forefathers of that day, or enjoyed but by a very few, and not one in a hundred of the pop- ulation could read. All of this too besides the vast amount of machinery necessary to create -40- these things were unknown, and if it were not for our macliinHry we never could create such a vast variety of commodities and at no date was sucli progress made in invention, science and art as during our late war and the following decade. We then had nearly $80 per capita in circulation in the Northern States alone, and nearly every- body were getting homes of i heir own, and many of the hi boring classes bad homes furnished more luxuriently than the homes of the wealthy of our grand- father's days. But oh! what disaster was broiiuht on by ihe money kings' policy of con- traction of money, which will be referred to again farther on. Through the instigation of this class the volume of money was contracted, people could not pay debts or exchange commodities, as money is necessary, a barter system is too slow, and thou- sands were thrown out of em- ployment, factories went to de- cay; and suffering was iinpar- allelled in this country, for the people once enjoying the com- forts and luxuries oi life suffer more when brought down to poverty than one wtjo never knew those comforts. But the jjeople were told there was an over- production that had caused the hard times, and then again they were told that i hey liad been too extravagant, that they must economise and live cheaper be- fore they could hope for better times, and the foolish })eople be- lieved this paradoxy; and they began to economise, an>i when their shoes and clothing were worn out they did not replenish, bu: suffered in rags or bought poorer, cheaper goods anU thus economized the shoemaker out of employment. The shoemaker had but little to do and so heiped him to economise clothing, and soon economised the tailor, the —41 — weaver and the farmer out of employment. And if this sys- tem is continued the sequence is that the carpets on the floor would go. Our forefathers had none. The music that cheers the heart of the little one must go, the pictures from the walls, and all those comforts that aid in refining man and softening his heart cease to be in demand and like in the dark ages, which I have shown were brought on by want of money, these things of beauty and enlightment will be classed among the lost arts. Such enforced economy lessens the books and papers and closes the doors of the school house and church. The house tumbles down and for the want of means to rebuild; a hovel is erected, or the people are driven to the raw hides and poles and they are back with the barbaria'ns of the plains. You pay this is over- drawn ? True, it is to suppose it to take place in a decade or two, but it would be the natural consequence of carrying such a false and pernicious system of contraction to its conclusion. But before the last stage would be reached the suffering by war, pestilence and famine could not be pictured; such is the direful results of continued contraction of the volume of money. While on the contrary a plentiful sup- ply of the circulating medium will make a people independent, studious, patriotic and hapj3y. What man will not fight for the wealth in his own p(jcket, even though it be paper, if it will pay his taxes ? He knows it will pay his debts and exchange for what he wants, he cares nothing lor gold and he is happy. But the man who lives in a hovel and sees the wealth of the <;ountry represented in bonds, and the}'^ in the hands of a few, or of the foreign money kings has little or nothing to live for —42- He soon loses his love for bis country and all is lost. ''Ill fares the land to hastening Ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates and men decay." The Socialist reformers show their weakness and lack of un- derstanding of finance by de- claring we could get along with- out money, then they immediat- ly assert that we should use la- bor tickets, or printed slips rep' resenting a day's labor or its multiple. This is redicnlous, as it would merely substitute an untried, clumsy system of cur- rency for an old and well tried system. As both systems would require watchfulness and regu- lation it would beeasir-r to regu- late a system already understood than one that must be tried and learned. Q. Would not prices finally settle to a small volume of money and 80 the country be as well ofiE as with a large volume? A. No; for when a people are accustomed to a large volume of money they can never safely go back to a small volume and I have shown that the nations using a small volume of money are the degraded nations. The volume of money should be so large that every man could have a fair supply in his pock- et. During the war and for some years after, this was the case, and our people were the most independent and happy people on earth. Now there is not one man in ten with a cent in his pocket and the people are rap dly losing their independ- ence and becoming abject slaves. Q. Can you give us some his- torical facts to uphold this the- ory ? A. Yes. But before I pro- ceed with the history of finance let me say that owing to the suppression of information by the privileged class, historical facts of ancient history, and even of naodern history, are hard to obtain. While still nnder the head of Volume we will discuss finance IN HISTORY. If we had ever so much history to draw from in a work of this namre it would be desirable only to give the salient points. Of the financial history of China, India, Egypt, Assyria and Babylonia we have nothing worthy of note. Even Phcenicia, a strictly manufacturing and commercial people, there is nothing of their financial his- tory to be obtained. Bat we know that all of those nations that exist today the volume of currency is small and they are degraded nations. Of the HEBREWS OR ISRAELITES We have nothing of finance un- til we reach Solomon's time. Solomon obtained much wealth from commerce, to which he gave much encouragement, and for several years kept his people at work on public works. Then he stopped and only looked after the pleasures of Solomon, aping the arrogant styles of foreigners, taking wives from among foreigners and aping their customs to please them. He demonetized silver, thus reduc- ing the volume of money and brought distress and a rebellion headed by Jeroboam. It is said that this distress and disatis- f action was brought on by ex- cessive taxation. But the peo- ple do not mind taxation when DQoney is plenty, for then there is prosperity and they can afford to be taxed. But this trouble came with a contraction of the voluihe of money. The Bible -44- says of this time, silver was of no account. Josephus says Sol- omon demonetised silver; that it was neither used to buy or sell. But We know that it had been used for money before that, for Abraham used silver to pay for the cave of Machpelah, which was used for a sepulchre for Sarah. Silver was used afier that, because Judas Iscariot sold Christ for thirty pieces of silver. So it is evident that Solomon did what ihe money kings of today are doing, contracted the volume of money by demonetiz- ing silver. And he ruined his country. Money became so scarce that usury became the curse of the land. This caused old Nehemiah to cry out, ''I pray you let us leave off this usury." Neh. V. 10. And he say8, "I rebuked the nobles and the rulers and said unto them: ' You exact usury, evfery one of hia brother, and I sat a gieat assembly against them." Neh. V. 10. In Ezekial, chapter XXII, God tells why he drove the Jews out of the land he had given them. I recommend the reading of this whole chapter carefully especially verses 12 and 15 where God says: "In thee have they taken gifts ta shed blood. Thou hast taken usury and increase and thou hast greedily gi.ined of* thy neighbors by extortion and hast forgotten me, sayeth the Lord God. And 1 will scatter thee among the heathen, and disperse thee in the countries ai d will consume thy filtbi. ness out of thee. Can any one now deny the evils of a contraction of the volume of money and the con- sequent curse of usury or in- terest on money ? The scattering of the Jews among the nations is the spawn that hatched the Bed Dragon, the Jew money power, centered in Lombard and Thread needle s.reets, London, England, and -Ab - which the people of the world will arise and crush out, and the Jews with other people, will be made to see that the essence of selfishness, deception and dis- honesty lies in usury or interest on money. We gather enough from ANCIENT GREECE To know the people were large- ly tinctured with Socialism, and undoubtedly, like our Socialists of today, thought that money must be based on something and that something must be labor or the product of labor, conse- quently oxen were largely used as money and a basis for curren cy a cheap metal. Undoubtedly the Augean stables, belonging to king Augeus of Elis, and said at one time to have contained 3,000 oxen, was his treasure house, 1194 B. C. Homer and Hesiod never speak of gold or silver money. They express the value of things by saying they were worth so many oxen. Homei- values the golden armor of Glaucus at one hundred oxen, and the brazen armor of Democles at nine oxen. CiBser issued a cheap metal money, receivable for taxes and based upon cattle and bearing the devise of a horse, an ox, a hog, an ear of corn, as th^> case might be, to denote the different values of the pieces. Some of the states or colonies of Ancient Grece adopted iron money as their medium of ex- change. Lycurgus the Law Giver of Sparta adopted a system of iron money, and that it might not be withdrawn from its legitimate purpose to be used in the arts, for iron was a scarce article in tho>e days, he steeped it in vine- gar to destroy its malleability. Xenophon states that "most of the states of Greece have iijoney which is not current ex- cept in their own territory." —46— Plato recommended a double currency in every nation : "A coin, " he said "for the purpose of domestic exchange it must have value among the members of the state but no value to the rest of the world." For visiting and using in other states he proposed a coin of in- trinsic value, which would p^ss current in foreign states. But in this age that is not neccessary as foreigners will take our paper money if they can bny our goods with it. But the money changers have always fought a cheap money, and when they are successful the people must suffer. In At- tica 595 B.C. they had destroyed cheap money, aud interest was high. There was a mortgage scone at the corner of nearly every piece of land, the njoney loaning class had their grasp on everthing, and they and their victims were about to clash and deluge the land with blood. But they finally agreed to arbitrate and consented to leave the mat- ter to the philosopher Solon. He said he could do nothing for them except to draw up a code of laws, which it they accepted and obeyed, would save Attica from ruin. They consented. First he abolished all interest. The foolish people, hoping to some day become wealthy money loaners, refused to accept this as well as did the money loaners. He then ordered the mortgage stones taken up and the debt for- given wherever the payments had relumed a sum to the lean- er equal to the principle first loaned, then to make it possible for the debtor class to meet their obligations he increased the vol- ume of money by calling in ail of the coins of the realm and re- coining them and nearly doubl- ing the volume by reducing the amount'^of metal in the coin. —47— This saved Attica from blood- shed and ruin. Solon was asked by Croesus, king of Lydia if the laws which he had made for the Athenians were ihe best that could be given them he said: "Fes; iAe best they were capable of receiviug. ' ' All through the history of man there has been a continual war between the people Jin