FARMERS' ALLIANCE AND INDUSTRIAL UNION. 179 



modification in the detail of their execution. The Govern- 

 ment and the people of this country realize that the amount 

 of gold and silver, and the certificates based on these 

 metals, do not comprise a volume of money sufficient to 

 supply the wants of the country, and in order to increase 

 the volume, the Government allows individuals to asso- 

 ciate themselves into a body corporate, and deposit with 

 the Government bonds which represent national indebtedness, 

 which the Government holds in trust and issues to such corpor- 

 ation paper money equal to ninety per cent, of the value of 

 the bonds, and charges said corporation interest at the rate 

 of one per cent, per annum for the use of said paper 

 money. This allows the issue of paper money to increase 

 the volume of the circulating medium on a perfectly safe 

 basis, because the margin is a guarantee that the banks 

 will redeem the bonds before they mature. But now we 

 find that the circulation secured by this method is still not 

 adequate; or to take a very conservative position, if we 

 admit that it is adequate on the average, we know that the 

 fact of its being entirely inadequate for half the year 

 makes its inflexibility an engine of oppression, because a 

 season in which it is inadequate must be followed by one 

 of superabundance in order to bring about the average, and 

 such a range in volume means great fluctuations in prices, 

 which cut against the producer, both in buying and sell- 

 ing, because he must sell at a season when produce is low, 

 and buy when commodities are high. This system, now 

 in vogue by the United States Government, of supplementing 

 its circulating medium by a safe and redeemable paper 

 money, should be pushed a little further and conducted 

 in such a manner as to secure a certain augmentation of 

 supply at the season of the year in which the agricultural 

 additions to the wealth of the nation demand money, 

 and a diminution in such supply of money as said agricul- 

 tural products are consumed. It is not an average adquate 



