124 Wisconsin State Agricultural Society. 
then he must sell his products on a market, where interest being 
high, prices are low, and what is the result? Unless he has an 
enormous capital to bridge over these fluctuations and enable him 
to carry through his products, and not sell them upon a nine per 
cent, money market, but to hold them until the rate of interest is 
reduced to three, money plenty, and prices good for his products, 
then the sheriff comes in, his property is sold under the hammer, 
and who is it bought by? It is bought by the few great establish¬ 
ments, and the big fish eat up the little ones. This is the condi¬ 
tion of the financial and commercial affairs in Great Britian. A 
system under which, at a recent date, there were forty-three millions 
of pounds sterling of circulating bank-notes, including the Bank of 
England, the private banks, and the joint-stock banks of England, 
the banks of Ireland, and of Scotland. Forty-three millions of 
pounds sterling of bank-notes in circulation, thirty millions of which 
is unsecured. You have been told that behind that forty-three 
millions of pounds sterling of circulating notes in Great Britian, 
there is pound for pound, dollar for dollar of gold to redeem them, 
and you will hold responsible those who should know better, who 
have told you repeatedly this falsehood. Of the forty-three mil¬ 
lion of bank-notes in circulation in Great Britian and Ireland, 
there is just thirteen millions of gold and silver coin, available for 
its redemption. Thirteen millions of coin with which to redeem 
forty-three millions of paper. v 
Common sense is a systematic arrangement of facts and correct 
conclusions derived therefrom. Science is uncommonly good com¬ 
mon sense; wider arrangement of facts, and more careful conclu¬ 
sions derived therefrom, and anything that is inconsistent with 
common sense is not scientific. Now it is unscientific to say that 
forty-three millions of paper can be redeemed with thirteen mil¬ 
lions of gold, and any system which is based on such an assumption, 
is an unscientific system, and it is not a common-sense system. 
Venice was carrying on a war with the Emperor of the East, and 
with Greece in the twelfth century more than seven hundred 
3 T ears ago. Venice needed ships; needed clothing and munitions 
of war. It called upon its people, “Bring in your treasure, bring 
in your coin to the loan-department of this government. The 
country is in danger; we purpose to save it; we need and we com¬ 
mand your contributions;” and the people and the merchants of 
