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Public Opinion Throughout the Union
THE AMERICAN MONETARY LEAGUE
ENDORSED.
Resolved, That we heartily endorse the ed
ucational work of The American Monetary
League and recommend its principles to the
consideration and investigation of all those
seeking for the abolition of existing monetary
evils. Its demands are thoroughly in harmony
with the fundamental teachings of Populism
and indicate the general direction that mone
tary agitation and legislation should pursue in
order to secure a monetary system in accord
with logical scientific finance and fully respon
sive to the just and equitable needs of the
various wealth productive and distributive
forces of the nation.
Adopted unanimously at a meeting of the
People’s Party National Committee, St. Louis,
Mo., November 26, 1907.
The American Monetary League, an organ
ization devoted to the purpose of educating
and arousing the people in behalf of the
Monetary and Financial demands outlined in
the following Declaration of Principles:
We demand a complete recognition of th*
economic and legal truth —that the issuance of
money, the regulation of its volume and the
determining of the material to be used are
governmental functions of supreme importance
to the welfare of the nation and should never
be delegated to individuals or corporations,
and we denounce and condemn the many mea
sures in actual and proposed operation having
for their purpose the transfer of such power
from popular to private dominion.
We demand a like acceptance of the fact
that the governmental sovereignty over money
imperatively requires that every monetary in
strument, obligation and contract be subject
and subordinate to whatever regulations or
changes the government should from time to
time determine. We hold that any clause in
a monetary instrument, obligation or contract,
calling for the payment of a specific kind or
form of money, is by nature null and void,
and that all monetary instruments, obligations
and contracts are justly and lawfully payable
in the legal tender money current at date of
payment, irrespective of all attempts to pri
vately usurp or annul the governmental pre
rogative.
We demand the speedy demonetization of
all metallic money, except such volume of sil
ver dollars and the subsidiary coinage re
quired by convenience for actual circulation,
the gradual retirement of all Coin Certificates,
U. S. Notes and the so-called National Bank
Currency and the issuance by the national
government of a uniform full legal tender
national paper money, not specifically or in
ferentially redeemable in any particular sub
stance or other form of money, its volume to
be regulated to meet the demands of business
and maintain a stability ctf average prices.
We demand that such money shall be issued
direct to the people upon deposit of national,
state and municipal bonds, mortgages, ware
house certificates of staple products, or other
THE JEFFERSONIAN. '
form of adequate approved security through
the medium of a complete system of govern
ment banks and at a nominal interest rate
sufficient only to meet the actual expense of
supplying the monetary service, one of the
most essential universal and beneficial of all
public utilities.
We demand, as a measure to supplement and
carry out the provisions of the foregoing, that
there shall be effected a corresponding gradual
reduction in the power of private and corpo
rate banking institutions to make loans or
discounts upon a marginal cash reserve, until
eventually all such 11 hocus pocus” money is
practically eliminated and replaced with real
money and the nation be freed from a de
pendence upon a most expensive, treacherous
and unstable currency that not only virtually
subjects the wealth producers to a confiscation
of a large portion of their product, but places
it within the power of moneyed cliques and
speculators to throw the energies and indus
tries of the nation prostrate at their whim
or decree.
We demand that the proposed government
banks shall be organized and conducted so as
to afford an absolutely safe place of deposit
for the savings of the people, for the facili
tation of exchange in general, and we favor
the installation of a postal check currency
specially adapted to the transference of small
sums by mail.
If in substantial accord or sympathy with
the above declarations, you are cordially in
vited and urged to become a member of the
League and to co-operate in the work. Send
your name and address to the secretary and
get others to do likewise.
A CALCULATION.
Small things are sometimes sufficient to il
lustrate large things. Suppose there were de
posited with some banker one hundred dollars
in gold. He issued to the depositor certifi
cates of deposit to that extent. These certifi
cates came to pass from hand to hand in set
tlement of debt, so that only a certain propor
tion of the certificates were periodically pre
sented for redemption. Say the banker found
that fifty dollars of the gold was abundant to
meet the demand of ordinarily returning cer
tificates. Evidently the banker could issue
one hundred more of the certificates, and still
have enough gold in his vault to meet the or
dinarily returning certificates. But it is evi
dent that the moment the banker issues one
dollar in excess of the deposit of the original
hundred, it would be a document dependent
merely on his own credit, and not at all upon
the gold deposit. Suppose, however, the
practice were countenanced, so that the hun
dred of certificates issued in excess of the orig
inal hundred came to be accepted in circula
tion in satisfaction of debt. It is evident
that in this case this form of credit issued by
the banker would come to enjoy the privil
eges of money. This simple illustration is suf
ficient to show that to the extent that the
credit of a person in excess of the money
actually held on deposit in trust by that per
son circulates and is accepted in satisfaction
of debt, to that extent is the credit of that
person privileged as money. To that extent
is the special privilege of issuing money, of
using his credit as money, made over to that
person. An effort may now be made to com
pute the value of this special privilege in
particular instances.
A recent statement placed the total of mon
ey, cash and credit, in the United States, at
twelve billions. It was said that about eight
per cent of this consisted of reserves. I be
lieve that a considerable portion of the “re
serves” is itself credit, but let it go for the
present purpose. Say irTround numbers, there
are one billion dollars “on deposit” actually
in the banks. Say then, credits to the extent
of eleven billions enjoy the privilege of cir
culating as money. The answer seems to be
that individuals are allowed under the exist
ing regime to* use their credit as money to the
extent of about eleven billion dollars. Six per
cent on this amount would be $660,000,000.
If so, a special privilege is granted to those
'a hose credit circulates as money in satisfac
tion of debt, of precisely that annual value
(at six per cent). This would entail a tax
of something like eight dollars a head on the
whole population of the United States.
It looks as if the banks ought to gee along
fairly well.
Charleston, S. C., Jan. 21, 1908.
ANNOUNCEMENT.
To the Voters of the Northern Judicial Cir
cuit :
I announce my candidacy for the office of
Solicitor-General of the Northern Judicial
Circuit, subject to the primary to be held for
that purpose. I assure you that I will appre
ciate your support.
L. D. M’GREGOR.
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