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THE JACESON ECONOMIST Official County Organ. OFFICIAL ORUAN OF WINDER. OFFICIAL ORGAN OF GEORGIA. (Pending referendum vote ) PUBLISHER EVERT THURSDAY EVENING JEFFERSON OFFICE: With the Ordinary in the Conrt House P. W. will represent the paper and take subscriptions. SubscriDtion Rates. Oxx Year, - - SI.OO All subscribers outside of Jackson oounty will remit through the national paper CLUB, Atlanta. Ga. See club advertisement in another column A. G. Lamar, Editor. Geo. D. Bennett, Bus. Manager. THURSDAY. JANUARY 12, 1899. Legal Advertising. All legal ads not settled for will be dropped after second insertion. Parties interested will take notice. Your Neighborhood. Just think, doar reader, a minute Think over the names of vour friends who do not take The Economist in your neighborhood. Hand them your paper and try and get them to subscribe. Ycu could help us a great deal in this way without much effort or trouble and feel the better by it. The great trouble is that you will read this and agree to help us in- croase our list, but you forget to keep this resolve. No man can work out his own salvatiou otherwise than by labor ing for the salvation of others.— Mazzini, The Walton News has been pur chased by Col. Joseph H. Felker, of Monrue, and it and the Messen ger will be consolidated. Almand. the conyers Merchant, has been brought back from Cali fornia by the officers. It is thought lie will make a settlement with his creditors. Every farmer should resolve this year to use less guano, plant lass cotton, buy less goods on a credit, raise every thing at home and study economy in all things. The Economist congratulates the editor of the Plow Boy for the dis tingushed honor centered on him by the citizens ot Buford in making him mayor of that prosperous little city. Brother Wilson knows how to edit a paper and we feel assured knows how to make the best mayor Buford ever had. The increased output of gold will change the minds of the goldbugs, and in a few years it will not sur prise us to find this class advocat ing silver as the standard. We would regret this very much on account of a few men we know, who have delighted in being known as gold standard men with no prospect of ever handling any of the precious metal. It would be extremely humiliating, we im agine, for these WISE financiers] to be forced to advocate a silver standard. Universal Brotherhood. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” If you recognize the brotherhood of mau this question of Cain’s is one of importance to you, my friends, for the brotherhood of man teaches you to consider the welfare of your neighbor. And until the world embraces this doc trine of Universal Brotherhood there is little hope for bettering the conditions of humanity. Would that all men were broad enough and freed from greed and self interest to that extent to real ize this truth and embrace it, What a change there would be in this old world of ours. The suf fering, the misery, the poverty and distress that hovers over our land to day, and that is blasting the lives of its millions, would soon be unknown. Oil For Bad Roads, Maj. M, Meigs, a civil of Keokuk, is of the opinion that the use of crude cil may prove a paracea for bad roads. Maj. Meigs says it is no trouble any where to keep dry roads in good condition at minimum expens Oil prevents the earth from be coming wet by forming a water proof crust. So far his experi ment* have proven very satisfacto ry, and he claims no other mate rial is so cheap and that no other will prove so effective. Prosperity True and False The volume of trade in the United States duripg 181)8 was the greatest in its history, All this great business is due directly to the farmer. This may be questioned as an extreme statement; but it is one. notwithstanding, that will stand the test of scrutiny. Let it be tested this way: Suppose the magnificent of 1897 and 1898 had been instead failures —where would our boasted prosperity be? This great traffic of the railway, which today is the cause of 95 per cent of the activity m the financial world, is due directly to the great crops of the two years last past. But has the farmer reaped any thing like the harvest of prosperity which should of right be the share of one who has created the better ing condititious of the nation? Not. an intelligent man in America but knows better. Then where is the trouble? It is world-wide and itis as old as trade and exchange. Shakespeare said of it — “Bid distribution undo excess And each shall have enough 1” Distribution 1 That is the word. The failure properly to distribute the world’s good things is the cause of the lopsided prosperity which we see today, not only in our own laud, where food wastes by millions of tons while men and women and children starve, but all the wide world over. And the cause of in equitable distribution? Monopoly back to monopoly can be traced every economic ill which today works such sad havoc of tee world’s social fabric, and makes of men who are brothers antagonists and fees in the great struggle for bread. Trade volume is not an index to real prosperity. An equitable dis tribution of products, which rec oguizes to the last point that the “laborer is worthy of his hire,” that what he produces is his, is the only basis for a true and enduring prosperity. Farmers Voice, The Reason 'Why. {pV*?So> , /./ F Here is an interesting con tribution to the currency discus sion. W. E. Curtis in his Washington letter to the Chicago Record, says: “In reply to an inquiry I would say that ‘the reason 45 cents’ worth of silver circulates at the same value as gold’ is because it bears the stamp of the United States and and is interchangeable with gold. For the same reason a worthless piece of paper is interchangeable at par with gold,” Now. if Mi. Curtis had gone on to show the reason why, when w hat he declares here to be the truth is the truth, the powers that be are trying to destroy all the paper cur rency the government’s fiat makes good as gold and turn over to a few bankers a mouoply greater than any despot in the history of the world ever had, his matter would possess real interest and value. And if he had gone farther, and informed the people why we should be selling bonds and paysng inter est to the tune of millions annually wheu the people are ready and anxious to take the government’s notes in all needful amounts with out interest, in payment for ser vice of all kinds the government might desire, he would earn the gratitude of millions of his fellow countrymen who can’t for the life of them comprehened the thing. Farmers Voice, Four brothers of one family were married last week at the vil lage of Trail, Ohio, to four sisters of another. The ceremony of marrying the four couples occu pied almost an hour, the same clergyman performing all. The Mother of Republics. John L. Peak, ex-minister to Swit zerland, has been telling that association of nincompoops called the Commercial club of Kansas City some strange (?) things about civil government in Swit zerland. It was an eye opener to those profit mongers that any people were wise enough to take an interest in pub lic affairs aside from the American method of how they could skin the great, big blubbering public. The press gives the following synopsis of his ad dress: The study of government has reached its greatest perfection in Switzerland. Switzerland has an area of less than one-quarter that of Missouri, and has within its border but 3,000,000 people, but its intelligence, progress and states manship are by no means in proportion to its size. Switzerland has been called the playground of the world. However,, it would be a mistake to imagine that Switzerland’s chief inter est lies iu her scenery, for she stands among the foremost nations of the earth in arts, science and progress. She is in teresting because of the great men she has given to the world—intellectual giants who have marched resplendent down the highways of fame. She has sometimes been called the mother of re publics.—Appeal to Reason. Silver'* Chance. This talk of the United States being unable to maintain the free coinage of silver without the oonseut aud co-oper ation of other nations is all nonsense. I would adopt free coinage without a care as to whether or not any other na tions affirmed the policy. A little his tory right here is pertinent. From 1861 to 1878, while the United States was not coining or using any silver money, the Latin union and a few German states that combined did not produce one-half as much exchangeable products as the United States does today, but they maintained the free coinage of sil ver at the ratio of to 1, when, too, the production of silver bullion was as great as it is today, and that alone and unaided by any other government. Then why can we not today, without the consent of any foreign power, maintain silver at the ratio of 16 to 1, when the productive industries exceed those of the German empire, France and the | United Kingdom combined? The ability of the l nited States to use silver will be greatly enhanced if it assumes the responsibility of furnishing the cur rency for the Philippines, Cuba aud Porto Rico, in addition to our own pop ulation.—General Aquilla Wiley. Municipal Ownership and Taiei. The municipal operation of the street railways of Dover, England, has en abled the city to reduce the tax rate two pence in the pound. The town began the construction of the system in 1896. THE TRADE BALANCE. ■ - ■ ■■■■ ■ EXPLANATION OF THE CLAIM THAT IT IS AGAINST US. The Peculiar Kind of Bookkeeping Employed Id the United State* Treasury Department—Mr. Van Vor -1 kta Answer* Some Questions. I have received from different locali ties a number of letters making inqnir les and suggestions concerning the tabh published in The Nonconformist o Nov. 24. I have answered most of then briefly with the promise that I would answer more fully through your col umns. Professional engagements have caused a longer delay in doing so than I had anticipated. I am not surprised that the table of exports and imports of merchandise aDd money metals, in the face of the exult ant claims that have been made by the gold standard press, has been read with some astonishment if not incre dulity, particularly by t'-oee who thus had their attention called to the matter for the first time. It has been so gener ally the claim that our foreign trade re lations show a balance in our favor that wheu attention is called to the truth, that in 25 years ending June 30, 1898, there have been but two years during which the balance was not against ns, that truth so surprises many people that it seems to them unbelievable. It is difficult to understand how it has come about that the American peo ple have for so long been so misled in regard to the bookkeeping of our foreign trade that they have mistaken the loss column for the gain and the gain col umn for the loss. They are astonished when told that the bookkeeping of the treasury department in 25 years really shows an aggregate loss of $3,622,100,- 564 of the wealth produced by this country within that time. It has been the almost universal cus tom to consider only the merchandise we have sold and exported as indicating a balance of trade in our favor. The inquiry has rarely been made, “What did we get for it?” It is impossible that a man in business can in any way or for any purpose part with more than he receives and have a gain. It cannot be less impossible for a nation to do so. It is perfectly clear that in the book keeping of the treasury department in the summary the column that shows “excess of exports over imports” is the loss column, and the column that shows “excess of imports over exports” is the gain column. In opder to determine whether in our foreign trade there is a balance in our favor or against us we must find the sum of all commodities exported and also the sum of all com modities imported. The difference be tween them will indicate the loss oi the gain during any given time. It must be remembered that in oui foreign trade bookkeeping no such thin; as money is or can be properly includ ed, for money cannot be either exportet or imported. In foreign trade gold anc silver are as much commodities as an wheat and corn. In the treasury department are tbret tables—one covering all “merchau dise, ” one covering “gold ore bullioi and coin” and one covering “silver on bullion and coin.” These three tablet include all exports and imports. Whei they are consolidated, the result must show whether there has been a balanct in our favor or against us. If the tabh shows an excess of exports over imports, it is a baianoe against us and clearly a loss of our wealth. If the table showt an excess of imports over exports, theii balance is in our favor, and clearly a gain in our aggregate wealth. Id the tables which you publish in your num her of Nqv. 24 the balance is shown tr be largely against us. This balanct 6hows a large aggregate loss during tb< last 25 years to the people of this couu try. I quote from one of the letters I bav< received: “I think that if the United State treasury is a complete measure of tb entire results of exports aud imports o merchandise aud precious metals, yoi are correct. But is it a complete meas ure?” In what way can these three tables, merchandise, gold and silver, fail to in clude all exports aud all imports? There are no commodities except gold and sil ver not iucluded under the term “mer chandise, ” and these three tables in clude all commodities that it is possible to exoort or to import. The only way that the treasury reports can fail to he a “complete measure’’ is that gold or silver or some article of merchandise should escape the attention of the de partment in getting in or out of the country and thus fail to be included in either of the tables. Under the statutes, rules and regulations of the treasury department it is intended that every export and import shall pass under the observation of the officials and that an account will he taken of it. The only possible omission, so far as I am able to see, is the gold and silver that are car ried each way in the pockets of travel ers and articles of merchandise pur chased for personal use by visiters pars ing to and fro. Suck omissions cannot invalidate the conclusions to he drawn from the tables. It is generally conced ed, I believe, that wo lose more than we gain by this interchange made by the traveling public. The same writer also asks: “la it not true that the money paid for merchandise exported oomes directly to the manufacturer or to the produoer, and being paid out by him goes Into circulation by our people without being measured or reported by the treasury department?” | It would not be possible for thia to be trne unless the exporter went with hia goods and brought home gold and silver in his poobets; a not very proba ble occurrence. If exported merchandise is sold in a foreign oountry, and gold and silver received for it and returned to this oountry, it will show In the treasury reports as an import of gold auu silver ae oertainly ss any other commodity will show as merchandise. This question, and others of a similar obaracter received, indicate, I think, that many persons fail to remember that money is a purely national creation and that it is impossible that money can appear as an export or import, be canse it is impossible to either export or import it. The moment an American coin passes the limit of our territory it ceases to be money. It is nothing but metal. There is nothing that can be the subject of foreign trade except commod ities. The metals, ores, bullion and coin are no more money in foreign trade because they are estimated in dollars (our money of account) than merchan dise is money because it is estimated in dollars. Exported merchandise sold in a for eign country is often paid for by bills of exchange, sent home possibly in the mail. The treasury department of conrse takes no account of this, because a bill of exchange adds nothing to the wealth of a country. It brings nothing into the country. It is simply an order from somebody outside for somebody inside to transfer property that is already in the country. It is an order for some bank that is here to pay the exporter for his products sent abroad. If the drawer of the order has nothing here with which to pay, he will have to send it. He must send it in either merchandise, gold or silver. It will then appear as an import upon the books of the treas ury department. This same writer asks another ques tion: “So far as money reports of the treas ury go, do they not refer only to the money belonging to the treasury?” Most certainly not. As stated, the so called “money reports of the treasury” are the reports of exports and imports of gold and silver not as money, but as commodities. Aside from thi3, however, it is not the property of tbej?overnment any more than the merchandise export ed and imported is government property. The tremendous force of the awful showing made by the figures of the treasury reports is fully appreciated by the part of the gold standard advocates who really know anything about the subject. They know full well that it is the direct result of the falling prices of merchandise and the increas ed purchasing power of dollars that has brought this condition of things about. In their complete inability to make an answer they coin a lie to meet it. They know that the bal ance shown by the tables as an ex cess of exports over imports represents an exportation of our wealth for which we have received nothing. They have lately set up the claim that this grr *t sum stands to our credit in foreign countries and pretend to believe that it is a balance in our favor, from which we can draw when we desire. This lie, manufactured for the purpose of decep tion, is the foundation for the claim that we are now a creditor nation, a claim which no man that is not either a knave or a fool will make. I am glad to have received such com ments and inquiries. They are suggest ive and instructive. If in anything lam mistaken in either my facts or my con clusions, I certainly desire to be cor rected, and I will thank anybody who will correct me. No right thinking man oan possibly have any interest in being deceived or in deceiving himself. What we all desire or ought to desire ie to know what are the exact facts and then to be able to draw correct conclu sion from them.—Flavius J. Van Vorhis in Omaha Nonconformist. Bnaliiaa la Bnatneaa. Banker Perrine of Indianapolis is a genuine, all wool annexationist, who deserves commendation for bald frank ness. He does not waste time talking about our duty to oppressed races, and our mission as a world civilizer, and our self election as the avenger of wrong, and our remarkable declaration that if we hoist the American dag on the stadt haus in Berlin it must stay there, and so forth and so on. He says: “There are 400,000,000 Chinese, and every mother’s son of them ought to have a folding bed and a bicycle. Indiana is the state to furnish them.” There is a man for you! His words ring like the chant of the silver throated bugle amid the raucous maunderings of the annexa tion gabfest. Banker Perrine does not explain how the acquisition of the Pa puan infested Philippines will sell fold ing beds and bicycles to the Chinese, but his heart is in the right place. There are 1,050,000,000 folks in other parts of the world. Every mother’s son of them needs canned beef and ohunks of dead hog. Chicago is the town to furnish them. It is our duty to proceed to grab the earth.—lconoclast.