duced in any and every commodity he needs or desires. No one could become excessively rich, for he could not accumulate by exchanges-for they would be equal; and none need be poor or dependent, for, based upon the equality of exchange, the race for wealth would be free and open for all.

To show the benefits of a true monetary system and the evils of a false one, and the power of money corporations to rob and enslave the people, the following definitions and illustrations will suffice:

Market value is based on intrinsic or real value, and is determined by the law of supply and demand, and is simply the money expression [price] of such value. The variations of supply, the demand remaining fixed, or the variations of demand, the supply remaining fixed-such variations determining the price-are expressed in money; and as money represents value, as long as the volume of money remains fixed aggregate values remain unchanged. If supply increases, prices go down just to that point that any given quantity will amount to the same money value. Thus, if the money volume be one million dollars, and all commodity values one million bushels of wheat, the price will be one dollar a bushel; if the supply of the commodity

is doubled, the value it represents (one million dollars) remaining fixed, the price is reduced to that point that the given quantity will amount to the same money value-that is, two million of bushels at half a dollar a bushel just equals one million at one dollar a bushel. The converse is equally true: the supply reduced one half, the price will be two dollars a bushel. In a season favorable for production, the increased supply will bring only the same money value; the low price is supplemented by increase of commodities. In a season unfavorable, the diminished supply will bring the same money value; because it will be supplemented by high prices.

Free from all modifying conditions, this is the law of market values. Fluctuations of supply and demand are in a great measure beyond human control; but by the increase in the power of production, as science and the arts advance, and facilities for transportation increase, these fluctuations can be materially controlled.

On the other hand, the variations in the volume of money affects prices as effectually; and this volume is wholly under human control; for so long as it is uniform, its representative value remains fixed, but any change in volume carries with it a corresponding change in value. Thus, in the illustration above given, doubling the vol

ume of money would reduce its value, as expressed in units, to one half, and the money expression in wheat would be two dollars a bushel; reducing the volume to one half would double its unit value, and wheat would be half a dollar a bushel. By changing its volume we change its unit value; and since prices are expressed in units of value, market price is changed to correspond with changed value of the unit, and though aggregate values are not affected, prices are, which enable those who control the money volume to take advantage of the fluctuations they create.

The evils arise from the unsteady and fluctuating volume of money, whereby prices, which are money expressions of value, change without change of supply of commodities. Prices are thus controlled by those who control the volume of money, thus leaving the wealth-producer at the mercy of the money-changer.

Since the unit value of money increases as the volume diminishes, and debts are estimated in units of value, their value increases in proportion as the volume is reduced. If A contracts a debt when the volume of money is $50 per capita, and the volume is reduced to $25 per capita, the value of his debt is doubled; if it would require a thousand bushels of wheat to

pay it at the time he contracted it, upon a change of volume, as above noticed, it would require two thousand bushels, the supply of commodities remaining the same.

The total amount of debts in the United States -public and private-is over twenty billions, most of which was contracted when the volume of money was double its present volume. Besides interest, it will cost the debtors nearly double that amount to pay their debts.

With an adequate volume of money, prices are firm and steady (for demand is very nearly uniform from year to year), and industry is stimulated and encouraged, and wealth increases. Diminish the volume, credit for a time takes the place of money, and business goes on for a while; but obligations must be met, money increases in value as it diminishes in volume, and debts increase in the same proportion. Prices go down, the demand for labor diminishes, industry languishes, and thus what the wealth-producers lose the money-changers gain.

After debts have been paid and balances adjusted on the basis of increased money value, the volume is increased; prices go up, business is revived, enterprises are extended, and everything begins to prosper, and will continue so long as the volume of money keeps up. Another con

traction, and the same evil results to the people follow. The control of supplies—that is, power of production-is in a great measure dependent on the facilities afforded by an adequate volume of money; but as a rule, price is controlled by the volume of money and determines the amount of values that go to the money-changers, or that which remains in the hands of those who produce it.

If the law declares that money shall be stamped on only one material, and that material limited in quantity, it can be controlled by individuals and corporations, and thus labor and all its products will be controlled and its net profits go to them; but if the material upon which it is stamped be abundant and merely nominal in value, the volume of money can at all times be adjusted to the requirements of the industrial interests of the nation, and controlled by the people for their use and benefit.

The first theory of creating money (that of intrinsic value) is open to several serious and one fatal objection. Among the serious ones are the limited supply of the material, the cost of its production, and the destruction of its commodity value when coined into money. Its fata! objection consists in the power it has to measure all values by representing them thus giving