The Road to Prosperity a Treatise on Political Economy (1898)

T(imothy) W(ard) Wood  ~ The Road to Prosperity a Treatise on Political Economy (1898)

A treatise on Political Economy, written upon various subjects, with a view of aiding in creating permanent prosperity and the contentment of the people.

Great Confusion Has Arisen in Regard to Money.—Through the action of capitalists, there has arisen great confusion of ideas in regard to money, which confusion did not exist a few years ago. A new set of people called ”gold standard men" or "mono-metallists" has sprung up, who, instead of desiring the money that has been used for generations, wish to reduce it to one metallic money (gold); and notwithstanding the fact that the constantly enlarging trade of the world requires far greater capital than it ever did before, they wish to contract it by destroying half the money.

 Conferences and combinations of capitalists have been formed with the determination to control money, one of which, "The Gold Standard Defense League," is a most influential and powerful organization which has unlimited means at its disposal. A very effective way of curtailing money was considered to be the destruction of silver as a legal tender money, and the issuing of circulating notes by bankers. Hence the determined efforts which have been made in that direction, and silver will only be saved to bless the world by the continued earnest effort of the friends of mankind, who are opposed to the selfish ways of men who "love money, which is the root of all evil." How much better it would be to adopt the motto of "Live and let live."

The Bland Act 0f 1878 and the Sherman of i870.—After the Bland Act, restoring silver dollars to legal tender, was passed, the currency of the country began to be enlarged, and this resulted in gradually increasing prosperity, causing factories and people to be employed. Further enlargement of the currency took place in 1890 by the passage of the Sherman Act, which further aided flourishing conditions; but the loss, of the control of money, which might occur through more money, incensed capitalists to such a degree that they made a determined attack on silver. Congress had expected silver to be coined and the Sherman notes to be redeemed in silver, but the Harrison administration, apparently influenced by capitalists, decided that these notes should be paid in gold. These, with the greenbacks, made about $500,000,000 of notes payable in gold. The banks had, up to this time, paid nearly all import duties in gold, but in August, 1890, the first Sherman notes were issued, and in the same month the banks gathered up $454,541, and paid them into the Custom House for duties. At the end of the next month, $1,734,404 had been paid into the Custom House. Gold payments declined monthly, and Sherman notes increased, until, in June, 1893, they amounted to thirty-five per cent, of the receipts and gold receipts ceased.

 Parity.—The coins themselves will keep parity without any difficulty unless the Government interferes and discredits its own issues, as it did when it refused to accept greenbacks and trade dollars which it had issued. I illustrate this by inserting the following comparison, slightly altered, which I used last fall: Two reservoirs were filled by two different streams, which had their origin in different parts of the country. One of these streams was called the gold stream, and the other the silver stream. The reservoirs which these streams filled were kept to supply the wheels of commerce. To keep up a parity and constant supply, a pipe was fixed which communicated with both reservoirs, so that if one stream ran low, which was sometimes the case, the other stream supplied the deficiency, and the reservoir remained at the same level, or on a par. This arrangement worked well for hundreds of years, and there was a uniform power, but after a time this connecting pipe was partly cut, and the supply to the wheels of commerce began to be fitful and deficient, and the people employed were often out of work, because as one reservoir was partly out of use, and the supply from the other was choked, there was not sufficient power to turn the wheels except very slowly. For this reason the people demanded that the connecting pipe be repaired, and that both reservoirs be used to supply fully the wheels of commerce that there might be constant employment. The streams at present are both running heavily and the reservoirs are well filled, but as those in power will only let out a small quantity, the wheels of commerce are nearly at a standstill, but after the free coinage bimetallic pipe is repaired, a full supply will be turned on, and this will cause plenty of employment for all the people, and they will rejoice in prosperity.

It may be said that income taxes are unconstitutional. I admit that they are now, though from the foundation of this nation up to two years ago the Supreme Court decided they were constitutional. The people's representatives in the last Congress passed a law, the President: approved it, the Supreme Court declared it constitutional, but when it came up again in the same court a few days later, one unstable judge changed his mind, for some reason, probably a weighty one. But I ask is it a reasonable arrangement to allow one man to thwart the wishes of the people expressed through their representatives?