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did series of newspaper articles, and we have not heard of anybody disputing Mac’s fig ures. Has any of the water been squeezed out of the stock and bonds of the Central? Os the Southern? Os Uncle Jake’s Georgia? If so, when and where was it done? As a matter of fact each of these roads is robbing the people by compelling them to pay rates which are fixed with a view to getting dividends on this fictitious capitalization. j ' ik rnal knows this —° r at least, did * W wrong for the people to be stock last year, why isn’t it wrong And if it is the reformers stop their work bes ore^WhKpon g is righted? Th's is a fair question, ana the Jeffersonian will thank the Journal for an answer. Another thing: The Journal appears to com mit itself to the proposition that if the Central cannot earn dividends upon its capitalization, then the rate fixed by the Commission is con fiscatoty and must be raised. Docs the Journal mean to go over to the corporations in that matter of contending that their property is confiscated, when they cannot earn net profits? Does the Journal mean to contend that property is confiscated when the owner is still in possession, with title unimpaired? The Tariff laws, banking laws, and corpor ation laws have knocked the profits out of farming, for the last forty years—but no farm er has resisted - these unjust laws upon the ground that they confiscated his farm. The freight charges levied by the railroads and express companies have often knocked the profits out of orchards, truck farms, orange groves, and melon patches, but no victimized shipper has resisted the corporation statutes upon the ground that they confiscated his land. Does the Journal want to help the Corpor ations create holy ground, to be occupied by themselves, only? Shall money invested in railway securities be given an advantage not claimed by nKfriey invested elswhere? Does the Journal not realize that such a con cession to the public service corporations puts all other property on a lower plane—and at their mercy? The Journal can take its own course, but the Jeffersonian will hew to the line. Last year we thought we were together. It would seem that we were not. Laws and rates which do not give to ev ery citizen a chance to make reasonable prof its are unjust, and ought to be changed; but the Jeffersonian contends that such a law or rate, is not confiscatory. There can be no con fiscation where neither the possession nor the title is disturbed. The Jeffersonian stands by what all the Hoke Smith supporters were saying last year —that the fixing of rates so that dividends shall be earned upon dishonest issues of stocks and bonds is robbery. The amount of it was beautifully figured out by the Hon. S. G. McLendon, and his fig ures were accepted as demonstrating the facts. The Jeffersonian has no idea that the Hon. S. G. McLendon has changed his opinions, since he was appointed a member of the Com mission. This being so, Mr. McLendon must now be exactly where the Jeffersonian is—against al lowing the railroads to tax the people to earn dividends on dishonest capitalization. P. S. Hon. S. G. McLendon: Dear Guyt: Take a seat and hand out the names of those fellows who are riding on Free Passes. We want to know who they are. k n n You will miss it if you don’t read Premium Offers, which appear on another page. WAWTS WEEKLY JKEFEKSONIAN. Daily Paper Finance. Our jovial neighbor, the Washington, D. C., Herald, says, “Why should Mr. Thomas E. Watson ad vocate the issuing of a measly billion dol lars in gieenbacks? That would" be only some ten or eleven dollars for each inhabitant of the country. Why not give us enough to have a good time, while the government is about it?” That’s the way a daily paper editor dis poses of public questions of vast importance. “Mr. Watson advises one billion dollars in treasury rotes —Why not ten billions?” That settles it. Ask a question that may cause a smile, and thus depose of your adversary. Could not any proposition be reduced to the absurd in the same way? J. P. Morgan advises the President to is sue $150,000,000 in bonds. Why not $15,000,000,000,000,000? Mr. Roosevelt recommends an army com posed of 100,000 men. Why not a million? Hobson clamors for several hundred war vessels. Why not several thousands or several mil lions? The Gold Standard lunatics demand a gold reserve of at least $100,000,000. Why not ten times that amount? At the close of the Civil War, nearly two billions of our national paper currency were destroyed. Why not restore to circulation the SIBO,- 000,000 which Hugh McCullough and other Secretaries of the Treasury burned? If tile country was prosperous, just after the war, on more than two billions of paper currency, why would one billion not be a good thing now? Population has more than doubled, business has quadrupled, the necessity for an abun dant currency is greater than ever before. Why not let the Supply meet the Demand? Increase of real money never caused a pan ic, or a failure. Never. Contraction is what causes panics. Public Confidence, so neces sary to the bogus money which the Na tional bankers have increased by the billion, is not a: all necessary to sustain real money. IT IS THE LEGAL TENDER QUALITY WHICH SUSTAINS REAL MONEY. Gold was worth nothing during the great crash in India, in 1864, because silver and not gold, was the legal tender. Silver is worth nothing in a panic w r here gold is the legal tender. This was demonstrated in London in the crash of 1847. Neither gold nor silver would be worth having, in a bank where paper only was legal tender. In Holland silver was made legal tender in 1855. Gold was also coined as money but was not made legal tender. The gold money did not ciiculate at all. .Silver, alone, carried on business. Yet duiing the panic in London, in 1847, Thomas Barring had 60,000 pounds sterling of silver money and could not raise a loan on it because its legal tender quality was limited to twenty shillings. Haven’t we got a billion dollars of bank notes and bank credits constantly afloat, do ing business as money? Why not call in this bogus currency, and put out a billion of real legal tender money? There is one reason—only one. The National bankers want to keep for themselves the enormous power and profit of compelling the country to use their notes as money. The gist of the matter is this: the Nation al bankers get the use of the national credit for their own personal gain; and we contend that the national credit should be used by the Government for the benefit of the whole Nation. , JVr. Stockton 9 s Proposition. Our friend, Mr. J. N. C. Stockton, of Jack sonville, Fla., is out in an open letter to the President of the United States recommend ing a plan of banking and of loans which re sembles broadly, the Sub-Treasury plan of the Farmers’ Alliance. Mr. Stockton is him self a retired banker. It is said that he while in business was the most successful banker in Florida. We know him personally and regard him as a man of fine ability. In brief, his plan is to have established in each state of the Union a Sub-Treasury or National Bank. These Sub-Treasuries or banks located in the leading cities of the states are to be given available funds in accordance with the population and commerce and needs of the people of the state. They are to have power to lend money on absolutely good se curity to banks, corporations, and individuals, at 6 per cent interest, with power to increase the rate of interest on the order of the Sec retary of the Treasury if it be found necessary to curtail loans. The interest over payment of the expenses is to accumulate as a guarantee fund in case of any loss. The loans are to be restricted as sums not to exceed S4O on each SIOO of gilt-edge commercial paper issued against actual value; not to exceed SSO on each SIOO worth of imperishable merchandise in warehouse, or in actual transit against bill of lading, insured against loss by fire or other wise ; not to exceed SSO on each SIOO worth of improved real estate, insured against fire or ligktning, and producing an income of 6 per cent; not to exceed SSO on each SIOO worth of actual value of first class Railroad bonds is sued not in excess of actual cost of constitu tion and equipment, provided said Railroad is earning operating maintenance, renewal, and interest, not to exceed 80 per cent market val ue of any state and county and a first class state bond, paying interest promptly. The law should absolutely prohibit banks, corporations, or individuals from receiving this relief for the purpose of loaning directly or in directly on the stock of any bank ®r corpora tion. The present trouble can be traced to this unsound method of banking. This plan proposed by our friend Mr. Stock ton is not the ideal of the Jeffersonian, but it would work a vast improvement over the present system and would be of immense bene fit to the whole country. The Jeffersonian does not believe that any Government has a right to tax the money out of the pockets of one man for the purpose of leading it to anoth er. We believe that, if we had a volume of cur rency of SSO per capita, issued directly by the Government without the intervention of banks, every dollar being the equal of every other dol lar and full legal tender in payment of all debts and dues public or private, private indi viduals and corporations needing to borrow money would find it easy enough to borrow from other private citizens and corporations. With the plentiful supply of money, and the present system which allows the metropolitan banks to concentrate into great cities destroy ed, the law to supply the demands would soon restore healthy conditions, and everyone who is able to furnish the collateral required by Mr. Stockton’s plan could get all the money he needed without paying a higher rate of inter est than Mr. Stockton proposes. n h m As To Uncle Jake's Railroad. What is the truth about the Georgia Rail road? The Augusta Herald and the weekly Jeffer sonian persistently charged that the physical condition of this public highway was a dis grace to Col. Scott’s management, and a grave public peril. t Col. Scott and Maj. Cumming bitterly de nied these statements—stoutly declaring that the road was in good condition. (Continued on Page Twelve.) PAGE NINE