Show THE NATIONAL DEBT Is small compared with the regate regale of el private debts ONE CAUSE or THESE HARD TIMES A populist Po theory of turning tig interest into the public treasury instead of private hands A great Z areat amount of speculation has been andul indulged 0 cd in with regard to the aggregate 10 of debt which burdens the people and its effect upon their social and financial nn ancial condition E everything very thi ng wb which ich lias been heretofore said upon upon the hie subject has been without reliable data and no exact fi figure ure had been available upon which to build an ar argument ament or base conclusions at last through the labors of tile the division of farms homes and mortgages attached to the census bureau information has been bee n gathered which will vill furnish the long desired data much of k this in formation has hag already been published but a vast amount is yet in process of of compilation pi lation the value of which to the ahe people in proc practical inestimable for it will furnish the only means by which you can gain a clear insi insight into existing conditions and arrive at reliable conclusions conclusions as to the probable results which will be developed in in the future if present systems are continued as well ivell as enable us to ori originate binate the most desirable and effect effective tive means of relief from the information gathered gatli ered by this breau bread it may inay be stated as certain that the alie debt secured by mortgages upon real estate alone amounts to more than T the investigation of this class of debt is the especial duty of this force and the figures may be depended pendeton pen dedon on the aggregate will certainly reach this enormous sum and may go some beyond it at least this is a fair estimate upon which to base calculations there still remains in addition to this class of debt those secured by chattel mortgages open accounts notes crop liens unsecured debts corporation debts municipal county state national etc estimates have been made for all of these various clas classifications siti cat ion s indeed every char actor of debt but an analysis and detailed statement would cons consume too much space later on this detail will beset be set out in full I 1 suffice it is to say that the aggregate of the private indebtedness of all kinds amounts to more than 16 and the aggregate private and public to about 19 this array of figures za looks very inno innocent on paper and conveys very little idea to tile the average mind of the momentous consequences represented the expression a billion is often flippantly aled but how bow many earl can wasp grasp the magnitude 1 of the quantity it is al I hobt beyond human comprehension and yet vot this amount is multiplied over and over again to express the magnitude of the debt bu d ii borne by the people lct us endeavor to comprehend something of this crushing 0 burden the people are compelled t to 0 bear first the interest charge must be met and this is unavoidable interest rates run from 5 and 6 per cent in the east to 12 and 14 per lier cent in west all and south besides the interest in open accounts account crop liens etc ls is i r represented e ted by the profits of t the he ta editor creditor r which often run as high as per cent or more let us take a fair average say 8 per cent which is low for the file south and west this would give an annual interest charge 0 of and this sum is added to the principal prin cipul to be compounded against tho the next years charge and right here is an object lesson in the effect efrece of interest which will be set out further on this enormous debt represents a burden of about i 2112 to every debtor family as estimated in our last article and the tha interest charge of debt of about annually now th alus s debtor class in a large proportion is a tenant class and in addition to this charge rent must also be met so that before the unfortunate citizen can appropriate anything 0 of his earnings to his own necessities he must satisfy these demands the relation of this sm enormous 0 amous debt burden to the producing n capacity of tile the nations industry is a clear evidence of its ruinous effects ell acts not only upon the ile people ople as individuals but upon tile the nation and our social institutions the producing capacity of the industry v of 11 the 0 nation or in other word tile the agg aggregate regate of value produced ly all classes of industry an Dually is ia about of this sum about are required for consumption leaving only annually to be added to the na nations eions wealth of this thir ania tile the interest charge up upon on the volume of debt consumes over one half leaving less than surplus to be distributed tri buted armong b go 65 of people and of these 70 per cent must pay par rent for their shelter now here comes the object lesson in interest the producing capacity of labor is limited by physical ability and various other influences even if we admit that it increases at all it is 13 by fi a small email ratio according to increase in population and in mechanical ec hanibal appliances while it is retarded by the accidents of climate ard vr various ious other causes interest on tho the other hand goes on accumulating in geometrical progression taoan the annual charge paid into the lianda of the creditor class going again t to the producers in its turn charged with interest thus continually increasing creasan cre asin the charge against the producing classes in a ratio far 11 greater than production can possibly be increased so that ever every dollar thus paid upon the interest charge se serves i arves to increase tho burden of debt instead of relieving it this reduces the problem to t a simple mathematical proposition we have on land hand the luding capacity of the nation gro growing wina by simple ratio and on the 0 other t her hand tile alic interest charge growing by geometrical pro progression it is evident to anyone with half a mind that a time will come when the demands of interest will bo be greater than the capacity of the people to produce and all will be swallowed up what then may be expected fron from a people pauperized robbed enslaved by this insatiable and ever growing demand Is it to be imagined imagine that any people much less such a as s ours would submit to this intolerable oppression already the demands are almost equal to the surplus at the ratio of increase the time is not far distant when a crisis will arrive does it require a prophet to predict what the result will be the producers take all risks t they hey bear the burdens nature placed upon them unfavorable seasons cause the crops to fail death and disease destroy stock fire and hood flood wreck on oil every land hand the husbandman fails faila to reap the reward of his labor theve the ve station of god but interest never fails to gather its harvest the creditor runs no risks night and day t through flood and crowth through all tho the misfortunes that are the lot of man interest steadily 0 gathers to itself an everi increasing ng proportion of values it is like a rolling 0 snow ball insignificant at first bu but t growing as it moves it would finally take up all it comes in in contact with the explanation of the general u unrest and uneasiness is in this simple fact financial tinkering is simply nonsense with the present money system only one result is possible and that result merely a question of time interest will eventually gather all values into hands of the creditor class if the volume of the currency is large it will require longer for interest in to gather it all if production is increased the same is true but as inevitably as aa death a ti time fmc will come sooner or later when the demands of interest will consume the entire product of industry will any people submit to uch such absolute slavery the knowledge of the facts as they actually exist suggests tile the natural remedy it is not a question of the kind of currency or of tari tariff fl or all any v other form of taxation it is rather a question as to the nature of money its means of distribution trib ution and the contrelli con controlling of its unnatural increase in undue proportion to the capacity of energy to produce the turning of its earnings to the common good instead of into private fortunes it is a mathematical impossibility with any kind of burrene currency y to go 90 on compounding interest agai against 0 the producing class without in the end reaching a point where the demand will exceed the power to produce and that is the limit of existence for any form of government a crisis must inevitably follow the touching of this point lut but liow how are we to co control atrol this feature of the money system first our ideas of money and its power roust must be materially changed the currency of a nation is not property and it need have no intrinsic value it simply reli represents resents power to pay debts it is tile the standard by which the value of the products of labor are arc measured and should be accessible to all at tile least cost it should not be allowed for use as as a power to compel tribute from oue otte individual to another less fortunately situated and such earning of interest as the volume of currency is capable of should go to tile tho benefit of tile the en tire nation or in other words word to instead of into the pockets of shrewd individuals leaving the field of productive industry alone the arena upon which each individual should work out ins his success in in life instead of the government paying interest to private individuals for money all citizens should pay interest to the government for the use of its currency the currency should be based upon actual values and go direct to tile people at the lowest possible cost coet the government thus deriving its revenue instead st le ad of taxation through 0 itsuye tem instead of a etea steadily dily increasing burden of debt against the producing classes and the continual ont inual compounding of interest as the revenue ine increased reasel so is as to leave 1 a I surplus the rate of interest could be reduced ani the volume or debt controlled or even wiped out the question should die a natural death is as sufficient revenue could thus lie bo derived from the currency and tile the class which now escaped the burlen burden of ta taxation action would be compelled to bear its legitimate share the power of money to oppress would b y g batly curf curtailed ailed I 1 these su gez estion 8 op open e n a wide field for discussion of coul course I 1 sc in in such a brief article it is ible to more inore than give t imp a limit oatlie of the theory there are two subjects to be granted in ill this thi way sway one tile the prevention of the compounding of interest against the producing 0 classes and thus controlling the volume of debt the other the turn in ing 0 of this revenue into the hands of government for the common g od iod incidentally removing the possibility of the amassing of great fortunes and the certain pauperizing pauper izing of the masses let the interest charge upon the volume of the currency lie be turned into the treasury instead of into private pockets and immediately the financial question would take another phase the material of which money should hould be made would become of very little consequence the interest charge should be reduced to such a sum as governmental expenses require and tile the burden would be borne in proportion by those bene fitted the currency belongs to the nation and the nation should be bene fitted instead of oppressed by it J A COLLINS |