i«.- HGf6V5 031 New York State College of Agriculture At Cornell University Ithaca, N. Y. Library 88. TWENTIETH CENTURY LIBRARY June, 1897. Published Monthly. Subscription Price, $4.00 a Year. THE GUERNSEY MARKET HOUSE PLAN OF PAYMENTS ALBERT KIMSEY OWEN (Copyright iSgy by the Author) NEW YORK The Humboldt Library' 64 fifth avenue PRICE 15 CENTS Entered .it the New York Po.st Offlee as Second Class MlujBRAR T MAY 16 1946 DEPT. OF AGRIO. ECONt 9 9 } } 9 Over 100,000 Copies Sold. 9 I THE FABIAN ESSAYS. J 9 9 ^ Essays by G. Bernard Shaw, Sydney Olivier, ^ 9 SidneyWebb, Wm.Clarl y The writers of the " Fabian Essays in Socialism " have /) 3 produced a volume which ought to be read by all who t wish to understand the movements of the time. — Daily © News. *■ ^ ^ By far the bcKt account of the basis of Socialism yet -, A published in England, and by their temperate and "evo- ^ V lutionary" spirit cannot fail to be of great service in dig- u ^ pelling much misunderstanding of current Socialism.— J. m The Academy. ' ^ ^ After a careful and conscientious perusal one is com- f 1 pelled to admit that they are written with conspicuous ^ (7 ability and sagacity from the S(*ciali8tic point of view, / (^ and that they must mark a departure as notable in social f \ politics as the famous Assays and Reviews were in theo- £> (J logy. —The Scots Observer. x 3 Paper. ^ cents: Cloth. 't5 cents. f ^ ^ d 9 The Humboldt Publishing Co. f 5 ^ ® e The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013814441 ^ ' My Dear Mr. Owen : I have been tardy in acknowledging your courtesy, but this has been in part on account of the close study which I have been giving to your elucidation of the money question. I have reproduced your ideas frequently in con- versation, and have never found any one who was able seriously to criticise your plan. ******* With many thanks. Very truly yours, H. D. LLOYD.* Sept. 33, i8g6. •Author of "Wealth Against Commonwealth." If you make money your God, it will plague you like the devil.— Fielding. Plato, in his "Republic" recommended a national money which had not a market value and an international bullion standard which had a market or "intrinsic " value ; and Lycurgus, the legislator of Sparta, ordered money of iron because it would be too heavy to carry out of the country. An Exportable Commodity is not Fitted to be Money. — Money should be a thing of, or belonging to, a country, not of or belonging to the world. An exportable commodity is not fitted to be money, and nothing could be more monstrous than England's principle — followed by the United States up to the war— her legislation forcing her people to be buyers of gold— one of the scarcest articles in the world— the condition of their being able to furnish themselves with food and clothing. — Hon. Isaac Buchanan (Canada). Fichte, Germany's great philosopher, finds the wealth of the nation in the equilibrium of the three great industries, and regards it as the function of the government to produce and perpetuate it by sufficient legislation. Regarding the interchange of national pro- ductions, save of those that cannot be produced in all latitudes, as a remnant of the barbarism and free trade that reigned in Europe before the existing nations had taken shape, he would at once put a stop to it by substituting paper money, current only within national bounds, for gold and silver that pass current between the nations. As to cosmopolitanism and the possibility of a world-state, it will be time enough to talk of that when we have really become nations and peoples ; in striving to be everjrthing and at home everywhere, we become nothing and are at home nowhere. Our present prosperity cannot be permanent, because it is based on the same false money system that has resulted disastrously every five or ten years since we became a nation ; and that system is the issuing of paper money with a promise to redeem it in coin. Coin, being an exportable article, renders us liable to every com- mercial fluctuation in Europe, without regard to whether we are doing a prudent business or not, and it is certain to be exported as soon as the balance of trade is against us. Thus the foreign trader who does only five per cent, as against ninety-five per cent, of home trade, by his recklessness, because of our false system, can plunge the whole country into commercial distress. — E. M. Davis, March, 1880. International Bimetallism would be worse than folly — it would be a high crime against the American people. To make the money of the people largely out of commodities which may be largely useful to the arts and which are almost wholly used to offset international balances, would be to court periodical disasters to home industries by adding to or taking from the home currency to which business has adjusted itself.— A. K. Owen, " It is the right, it is the duty of every man of learning who has a conception of the world to express that concep- tion, whatever it may be. Whoever thinks he knows the truth must tell it. The honor of the human mind is at stake. The rights of the mind are superior to everything. If doctrines like that of evolution be pernicious it is not the fault of the philosopher." — Marquis Ito. " By accepted custom, long practiced, loans are made upon bonds and mortgages. Bonds are secured by being based upon railroads, canals, bridges, electric plants, water works, gas works, etc. ; mortgages upon houses, lands, etc. ; and the net revenues for the uses of these are always pledged to pay back tho loans, including interests, commissions, discounts, bonuses, etc., and in this way net revenues do pay back the money in about every five or seven years. The plan here proposed will issue the money needed for necessary public conveniences, directly in payment only for labor and material actually used to complete con- structions, which will have an assured revenue, will make the money issued a mortgage upon the constructions com- pleted and a lien upon the net revenue of the construction for which it will be issued, say for five or ten years, by which time every dollar of the money will be canceled, after which the net revenues will become an ever increas- ing source of revenue for the city, or state, or nation, which constructs and manages such public work. In this way, direct taxation of every description can be stopped ; bonds and mortgages will have no further use, and pri- vate credit, made current, will no longer be necessary." — Albert Kimsey Owen. CONTENTS. PAGE. Preface, - - i The Guernsey Market House Plan of Payments, 2 How TO Obtain Spot Cash, 3 How TO DO Away with Interest Bonds, 8 How TO DO Away with National Banks, - - 14 How TO GET Rapid Transit, 19 How TO GET A Dry Dock, 26 How to Pay for the Nicaragua Canal, 30 How TO Build the Pan-American Railroad, 40 What Abraham Lincoln said about State Owner- ship of Canals and Railroads, - 41 What Gen. Ulysses S. Grant said about the Na- tion's Ownership of Railroads, 42 How TO get Good Roads, - 52 How to Pay for Expositions, 63 Aztec Civilization and Trade, .... 69 Letter to President McKinley, - - - - 73 PREFACE. There have been three great economic epochs among civil- ized mankind — the slavery of the ancient regimds — the serfdom of the feudal centuries — and the existing merciless strife for commercial supremacy by means of competition and the ex- ploitation of labor by means of incorporated companies, syndi- cates and trusts, which, by means of special legislation, confis- cate products and seize public revenues for their own private greed. The question is. What is the remedy for this state of things ? The answer is this — the producer can never be free to enjoy what he produces before his cities, his states and his nation be- come his bankers and his employers. There can never be free- dom of opinion and a highly developed individuality by a per- son who is employed by other persons, be these persons incor- porated or otherwise ; therefore, every person must be guaranteed occupation by his or Ijer own agent — by his, or her city, or state, or nation. There can be no middle course if equities in employ- ment are to be attained. It is an axiom as old as recorded history that " the borrower is a slave to the lender," therefore a citizen must not be be- holden to another citizen, associated or single, for money ; but must through his, or her own agent — through his, or her own city, or state, or nation — be paid for what he, or she does — for what he or she has to sell. Again, there cannot be wealth without labor — all debts, home and foreign, are paid with labor services, or labor products. Governments stand firm, or totter exactly in the proportion that labor is protected and advanced, or as labor is discouraged and demoralized. Money has no value except that given it by labor ; it follows therefore that there cannot be strong govern- ment, or " honest money " without labor — that there cannot be comforts, luxuries, or security for life or property without there is labor ; hence, it is the part of wisdom to encourage and foster and diversify and perfect labor in every way possible — for general prosperity is only possible when there is general employments given to every willing arm and brain in the nation. Therefore, the motto above all others, just now, should be "■put the people to work" by means of their own agents— by and in and for their own cities, states, and nation which, in their own respec- tive names, will issue a home money based upon home works of public necessity to employ the home people at home. A. K. OWEN. " Put the People to wor^."— QuEEN ELIZABETH. ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo THE GUERNSEY -f riARKET HOUSE * PLAN OF ... * PAYMENTS ...•}• o o o o o oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo By ALBERT KIMSEY OWEN Copyright, by A. K. OWEN. Shakespeare says we are creatures that look before and after. The more surprising that we do not look round a little, and see what is passing under our very eyes. — Cab.i,yi,E. A hen, which had become blind, continued to scratch for food as she had been used. What availed it, the industrious fool ! Another hen that could see, but wished to save her tender feet, never forsook the side of the former, and, without scratching, enjoyed the fruits of scratching ; for as often as the blind hen turned up a corn ; the seeing one devoured it. — I^^BSSING. I^ok at this locomotive, inspect that steamship, examine the works of this watch. Did the moneyed man make them ? " No, " it is answered, " but he caused them to be made. He found the means. His money was the creative power. " Be it so. Then labor will make its own money, and the capitalist will no longer be needed. — Edward Kbi,ione with the other, not only in their politico-foreign policy but in their industrial, com- mercial and monetary union ; and to this end the following plan is suggested for the consideration of those who are thinking upon how best to act in the line of the great amount of talk 48 The Guernsey Market House Plan of Payments. and sentiment that has been and is being expressed upon the subject. THK PLAN. 1. That the president of each of the seventeen republics of Pan-America appoint two of his countrymen, one to be a civil engineer, to serve as directors for the Pan-American Railroad and Telegraph ; that each of said governments appropriate $20,000 (gold) for preliminary expenses, and give concessions and rights of way, and lands for stations and termini, etc., etc. 2. That said directors meet, within one month after their respective appropriations have been made, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to organize the board of directors of the Pan-American Railroad and Telegraph, by electing from their own numbers a president, treasurer and secretary ; to establish a headquarters, and to take immediate steps to make preliminary examinations and studies, maps and estimates, in each of the seventeen re- publics, to the end that an intelligent idea may be had, within six n\onths next following, as to where the construction should be commenced, as to the points which should govern the said routes, and as to their approximate lengths and costs. 3. That the mileage in the United States is not to exceed 5,000; Mexico, 3,000; Central America, 2,000; and South America, 15,000; — in all 25,000 miles. 4. That the trackway be standard gauge (4 ft. 8 in.); that the rails be steel and not less than 60 lbs. per yard ; that the ties and bridges be iron ; and that the cost of surveys, manage- ment, construction, equipment, rolling stock, stations, machine shops, etc., etc., be not more than $12,000 per mile completed. 5. That the labor, skill and management, employed, be citizens, and that materials and finished articles of manufacture used be such as may be furnished by the industries of the Pan-American Republics. 6. That the money to pay for the said services and materials be engraved and printed, by the bureau of engraving and print- ing of the United States, at Washington ; that it be in denomin- ations of 25c, 50c, $2, $5, and SJSio; that it be upon specially patented paper ; that it be signed and paid out by the president, The Guernsey Market House Plan of Payments. 49 treasurer and secretary of the board of directors of The Pan- American Railroad and Telegraph ; and that the words engraved upon its back be as follows : " This (one dollar) is issued in the name of the Pan-American Railroad and Telegraph for services and material used to construct and equip the same ; is receivable for all dues, at par, to The Pan-American Republics (names of republics in the compact) and for all dues to said railroad and telegraph at a premium of 10 per cent over all other money of the United States ; and will be cancelled by the net receipts from tariffs of the said railroad and telegraph." 7. That it be punishable with death to counterfeit said money, or to utter it except for the purposes for which it is expressly created ; and that all of said money received for dues to the Pan- American Railroad and Telegraph,in excess of that which may be necessary for operating expenses, to be cancelled and destroyed. 8. That the said directors be paid $500 per month ; be allowed five cents per mile travelled during their incumbency ; and that the moneys first appropriated by the said republics for preliminary purposes be returned, dollar for dollar, with the money issued by The Pan-American Railroad and Telegraph. 9. That the seventeen republics of Pan-America hold one share of stock for each mile of said railroad that is constructed within its territory, and, that each sends its mails, expressage, troops, telegrams, etc, over The Pan-American Railroad and Telegraph, and pays for the same in the money of The Pan- American Railroad and Telegraph, which may come to it for taxes and other dues ; and that The Pan-American Railroad and Telegraph receive the said money from the said governments, at a premium of 20 per cent over metallic money of every descrip- tion. Remarks. The " greenback " dollar was issued for war — it was based upon destruction. When ruined properties and dead men covered thirteen states of our union and a million armed sol- diers marched with devastating forces with intention only to destroy and to kill, the "greenback" dollar was issued to its greatest volume, and, yet even under such distressful and 50 The Guernsey Market House Plan of Payments. destructful circumstances there was never a day that a person within the states which issued the " greenback " dollar, could not get a good 50 cent-dinner and fifty cents in change for a one dollar " greenback " — the " greenback" dollar was never worth less than one hundred cents. The Pan-American dollar would be issued for peace — it is to be based upon construction. Every one hundred thousand of these dollars paid for well-directed services upon a work so essential to Pan-American comity and unity, as the work in question, will create a wealth of not less than one million of dollars ; and after paying expenses for operation and mainte- nance, the net revenues, from said railroads and telegraphs, should, within ten years from the operation of each section of one hundred miles retire every dollar issued for the con- struction and equipment of the same ; and after that the money, which in all like works now goes to pay interest on bonds and dividends on stocks,enormous salaries and perquisites to presidents, directors and attache's ; can go directly to the Pan-American Republics to relieve the direct taxation upon their citizens — can be used to construct other works of necessary internal improvement. The " greenback dollar was a promise to pay." The Pan-American dollar would be a guarantee to receive. The "greenback" dollar was in part repudiated by the government which issued it. The Pan-American dollar would be received by the power which issues it at a premium of 10 per cent, over any other dollar that exists ; and when tendered by a Pan-American Republic the same is to be received by The Pan-American Railroad and Tele- graph, at a premium of twenty per cent over that of any coined dollar ; and if friends will but think, they will see that by this provision the Pan-American dollar will be kept along the line of the said railroad, because a dollar will mostly stay where it is most useful, most valuable, most honored ; and it is just in these new sections of country that it is most needed to encourage new industries and necessary developments which are always incident to the opening of virgin fields for diversified home employments. The Guernsey Market House Plan of Payments. 5 1 The Pan-American dollar would not be associated with interests or dividends, but rather with benfits and profits. Every Pan-American Republic which may become a member of this compact, league or union, after the said Pan-American dollars have been returned and cancelled, should have other works of necessary internal improvement constructed within its own limits, with these funds directly by each government, the amounts available to be in proportion to the number of shares of stock that each republic may hold. Thus in a thousand-and -one-ways may Pan-American dollars be utilized to encourage and sustain home employments at home. The " greenback" dollar had at its back only a part of one Republic, which was at war, desperate and doubtful, with the other part, with the English monarchy upon three sides and the French empire on the fourth side menacing its institutions and its existence — and, at best, it had but a fragment of one continent to pledge for its redemption. The Pan-American dollar may have at its back seventeen republics, all at peace with themselves and with others ; almost the areas of two continents and 120,000,000 of people to make good the guarantee that the work will be completed and that the net revenues of the said railroad and telegraph will be amply sufficient to take up and retire the said dollars. The republics South can have no misgivings as to the earnest purposes of the United States were such a plan adopted, for it would give them thirty-two directors out of thirty-four — and a mileage of 20,000 out of 25,000 ; and the United States should be mindful that the advantages which would accrue to its manu- factures and commerce by opening up such vast and rich and populated regions of continents would give it a new life and a new purpose in all the affairs of brain and employment Finally, the Pan-American dollar would be a dollar paid for service ; and by service, in exchange, the said dollar would be cancelled. This is a service for a service — this is equity in pay- ments, and the equity in payments must be practiced by a people and by peoples before they may hope to become honest and progressive in their relations one with another. " Take thou no usury of him, or increase ; but fear thy God, 52 The Guernsey Market House Plan of Payments. that thy brother may live with thee. Thou shall not give to and lend him thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy victual for increase. — Leviticus xxv. 36, 37. A. K. Owen. GOOD ROADS THE GUERNSEY MARKET HOUSE PLAN OF PAYMENTS. How to Construct and Pay for Cycle and Motor Roads to Con- nect every City and Hamlet in the United States at once. In answering the up-to-date question, we say ; Yes ! " Life is worth wheeling ; " and it can be made delightfully so if action is taken to make cycleways exclusively and especially for wheelers. In the world's history there has never been before as sudden a revolution made for individuals, by their own individual action, to get from place to place over this planet of ours as has been made during the past five years in the United States by the ad- vent of the bicycle ; and this new method of locomotion is only started — the new chick has only as yet peeped its shell. New demands will quickly bring out new inventions ; home competi- tion will perfect existing wheels, and will bring prices for im- proved machines down so that all who wish may own one ; and the day is near when every man, woman and child, in the United States, will think it just as necessary to have a set of wheels as they now judge it necessary to have shoes. Wheels for individual locomotion will become an essential part of every American's outfit. Two years ago there were so few bicycles in the United States that those who rode them were looked upon as " feather-brains " — business men mocked at the idea that bicycles would ever be- come anything more than playthings, just as the locomotive engine on its advent was thought to be a toy fit only to amuse children ; and yet, to-day, we are told that there are 4,000,000 persons within our states who ride bicycles — that in New York city there are 200,000 who go awheel, and that in Chicago there The Guernsey Market House Plan of Payments. 53 are even a greater number pro rata, to its population — that there are 250 large bicycle manufacturers, with a capital of jS6o,- 000,000 and 70,000 employes at work ; that there are 50,000 persons engaged in the manufacture of bicycle sundries ; that there will be 800,000 bicycles sold, at an average price of $80 this year; that there will be consumed for rims as much as 6,000,000 feet of hard wood this year ; and that those who in- dulged in going awheel last year paid something like $200,000,- 000 for this amusement. Hence we may well ask ourselves, what may five years more do in getting us all on wheels — each for himself and herself. What will the tandem, the sextet, the epicycle, the self-propelling bikes, the motor carriage and wagon do to put us on the common roads of this country and into every nook and corner of this land, individually a controller of quick independent locomotion ? And this being the case, does it not at once impress every one who glances at the subject that we must have cycle and motor ways to connect every city, hamlet and out-of-the-way retreat on seacoast, lakeside and in woodland. The motor carriage and wagon have passed their experi- mental stages, are being rapidly made to meet the require- ments of pleasure and commerce, and are sure to bound as quickly into general favor and use as the bicycle has done. These will put the horse, with his noise and dirt and enormous expenses, entirely outside of our cities, and, to a great extent, quickly from off our improved highways in the country. This indeed will be a great advancement toward regularity, cleanli- ness and decency. Full seventy-five per cent, of the filth, dust, mud, and nastiness in our cities are consequent to allowing horses to be inside of them. The motor carriage and wagon will do away with this dirt, and with probably five-sixths of the expenses which are now a necessary part of our haulage in cities. In these better days which are almost with us, a street once thoroughly made will last a generation, for the pneumatic- tired wheels of our horseless carriages, etc., will move without noise and with very little wear. The census shows that there are in the United States about 15,000,000 horses, 2,000,000 mules and 49,000 asses. The 54 The Guernsey Market House Plan of Payments. annual cost of feed for these animals is put at ^1,576,000,000. On fine stone roads one horse can haul as much as three horses can haul over the average dirt road of this country ; but even if one-half of the draft animals can be dispensed with by the build- ing of good roads there will be an annual saving of $738,000,- 000 in feed bill alone. This would pay cash for 123,000 miles of improved roads every year, costing $6,000 per mile. This is a big showing, but is only a small fraction of what can be done if our towns act in a concerted and methodical way to connect themselves with a system of approved highways. For instance, on the steel trackway it is estimated that one horse can draw twenty times as much as on a dirt road, and five times as much as on a macadam ; but why should horses figure at all in road economies after the motor wagon and carriage come into accepted use with steel ways, for even now there are motor wagons which run 15 to 20 miles, carrying three or four pas- sengers, on ordinary roads, at less than one-half cent per mile cost for fuel. What may be the motocycle's speed and capacity on steel trackways when electricity or compressed air, etc., are stored at natural cascades in the mountains or by tide force at our seashores and put into portable storage boxes to furnish the power to drive wagons and carriages, etc., and when these come into gengral use who will be so antiquated and such a spendthrift as to use horses. The roads in the United States are proverbially a disgrace to all concerned — a reflection against the management of public highways by a sovereign people ; while those of France, for in- stance, 'are known for their system, smoothness, shade and attraction. France, which is not as large as Texas, has 22,000 miles of national roads — roads which belong to the nation and which are kept in perfect condition by a specially organized highway department. The roads are mostly of that class known to us as telford, or macadam roads ; that is they are made with foundations of from 6 to 10 inches of small broken stones which are compactly crushed and rolled, well drained and methodically attended, repaired, added to, inspected and reported, so that every year adds to their uses, completeness,. soHdity, shade and attractions. The Guernsey Market House Plan of Payments. 55 I would require fully 1,000,000 miles of good macadam roads to put the United States on a par with France, and this would cost from ^4,000 to $7,000 per mile ; but as enormous a work as this would be, there is more labor and skill to be had by the employment of the idle men who are roaming over these United States begging for work, than would, within one year, build five times one million miles of macadam roads as good as the average of those in France. Until lately there has not been any organized plan to attend to the people's roads. Massachusetts took the lead, we believe, in getting order out of chaos in this particular. Connecticut has followed, and under its system the state, the country and the township pay each one-third of the cost ; but, everything is handicapped by the law prohibiting the townships to spend more than $3,000 in any one year and the state over $75,000 in the same period. This is child's play — a disgrace to any people who pretend to be farther advanced in civilized ways than Hottentots. The townships have to keep the roads in repair after they are made. There are 186 townships in Con- necticut and about one-half of there are expected to be suffici- ently awake to take advantage of this encouragement and to tax their citizens to the extent of $3,000 in one year to improve the people's highways ; in fact, we have seen it reported that thirty of these townships have actually made sections of new roads under this act. The State of New Jersey, however, has gone at good road-hiaking in a better way. Mr. Henry T. Budd, the commissioner of public roads for the State of New Jersey, after discussing the amount and character of the work which has already been accomplished in the way of making good roads, makes this suggestion : " As all progress should be along the best line, and as some of the best authorities predict, the coming highways will be of steel, it would be well for New Jersey, as she is the pioneer in state aid road improvement, to take the lead in inaugurating a system of steel roads, and thus ascertain by actual experience whether it is the most efficient and economical highway. The claims as presented are that the average cost of a macadam road-bed sixteen feet wide, is about $7,000 per mile. The cost of a double track, steel railroad S6 The Guernsey Masket House Plan of Payments. sixteen feet wide, filled in between with broken stone, macadam size, is about ;^6,ooo per mile. The cost of a rural one-track road is $2,000 per mile. The rails to be make of st^el the thickness of ordinary boiler plate and to be formed in the shape of a gutter, five inches wide, with a square perpendicular shoulder half an inch high, then an angle of one inch outward, slightly raised. This forms a conduit for the water, and makes it easy for the wheels to enter or leave the track. The advan- tages of steel rails are : first, longer wearing qualities than stone; second, one horse will draw on a steel track twenty times as much as on a dirt road, and five times as much as on macadam. "The Jerseymen got stirred up upon this subject in the latter part of the eighties, and in 1888 they passed a law auth- orizing the people of the townships to place their roadways under the control of the town committees and to raise money by bonds for grading, macadamizing, or improving the roads. Various supplements to this law have been added from year to year, until last year when, on March 22d, the governor aj)- proved a bill appropriating jS 100,000 a year from the state funds to be distributed among the counties to aid in road making, the state to pay one-third of the cost of such roads as may be built under the general provisions of the act. This latest law was, however, but a legitimate outgrowth of the State Aid law of 1891, which went into effect in 1892, and was adopted because of the good effects which the people of the state had found were produced by the older law. Under the provisions of these laws Union and Passaic counties have been covered with a network of excellent stone roads, of which the stone road at Asbury Park and others at Morristown were among the earlier ones ; and in the reports of the last two years it is evident that nothing will limit the amount of solid road making that New Jersey will do now except the smallness of the state appropriation." Now, let us see what Hon. John O'Donnell says about his new invention, the steel trackway : " It is going to work a small social and industrial revolution. It consists of a steel track for wagons and other vehicles, including bicycles and horseless The Guernsey Market House Plan of Payments. 57 carriages, laid on an ordinary dirt road. Some time ago he says he read a little item in a newspaper which said that a team of horses could haul twenty times as heavy a weight on a metal track as on a dirt-road. He did not believe it, and wrote to the editor of a scientific journal in New York city asking about it. The editor sent him ample proof of the fact, and Mr. O'Donnell's brain insisted on dwelling upon it. The result is his invention of the steel trackway ; and he took this with him to Atlanta, Georgia, where he went as an appointee, by Gover- nor Morton, to represent the Empire State, at the Good Roads' Parliament. When those there assembled saw what the in- vention was, they passed unanimously the following : ' Resolved, That we recommend the construction of experi- mental lines of steel track highway at various points through- out the states for public travel, in order that the practical value of such system be determined.' " Mr. O'Donnell says it was the only plan presented that elicited no objections. If it be true, as the Department of Agriculture has been saying, that it took $946,000,000 to haul the nation's products over the public roads last year (not count- ing railroad and water ways), it is worth while to look into a proposition, which is claimed to save about nine -tenths of this cost. " Mr. O'Donnell in describing the steel trackway says it is simply a horse railroad with a gutter track instead of a raised track. The track is five inches wide on the bottom with half inch raised sides. It is laid on a longitudinal timber resting on ties. The middle between the tracks is filled in with stone and rounded up, the water running into the tracks and to the sides of the road by conduits from the steel track. The great diffi- culty in all railroad construction has been to take care of the rainfall on the road. If the water penetrates the crust of the road the frost inevitably follows and the road is ruined. This gutter track takes care of the water perfectly. It costs less than a macadam or a telford road. The steel track, ties and timber will cost less than $2,500 a mile. To this must be added the grading and filling in between the tracks with stone or other suitable material. A first-class steel track road with the best 58 The Guernsey Market House Plan of Payments. macadam surface will cost less than $5,000 a mile, and a good country road with lighter materials can be built for less than JJ3,ooo a mile. And this road when built is practically a rail- road to every man's door, for it is a perfect road for wagons, bicycles, and the coming road motor, which is now being manufactured by over 100 firms in the United States, " And what will this new motor do on such a steel track in the economy of freight and passenger travel ? Nothing short of a complete revolution in the internal commerce of the nation is to follow the steel track highway. It will be a godsend to the prairie farmers of the West and South in their long hauls to and from the railroads. To the cities it means a great deal. The boundary line fpr trade and manu- factures is now about 25 miles. With a steel-track highway the circle would be widened 100 miles. The morning newspapers would be delivered by the swift road-wheel courier to distant points not now reached, and the country itself would be a great suburb of the city, and the reflex social influence would alike benefit the country and the city, elevating and promoting gen- eral prosperity. " The Department of Agriculture, in a report just issued, shows that it costs the United States $3.02 to move a ton 12 miles on the public roads. I can move ten tons of freight on a steel-track road 12 miles for $2.50, to wit, a team of horses one- half day's work at $5 per day. " The beginning of the decline in agriculture," Mr. O'Don- nell continued, " is contemporaneous with the beginning of the era of railroads, twenty-five years ago. These corpora- tions, which have been fostered by the nation and by individut al states, have become the rulers of the land. The barons of the rail are the masters of the nation. They control politics, legislatures, and courts. The farmer suffers first. Not a dollar of his produce goes to market, or a pound of provisions comes to him in return, but is taxed " all the traffic will bear " — in other words the price of transportation is fixed a- the will of the party who is most selfishly interested, and the producer has not a word to say, but must submit to these exactions with no hope of better terms. In short T%e Guernsey ^Market House Plan of Payments. 59 transportation changes have destroyed the farmer and the foundations of national prosperity has been destroyed. Was ever slavery more abject ? The New York Central Railroad but a few years ago, by buying a legislature, got its stock watered $22,000,000 and the farmers of the empire state are paying their share yearly in quarterly interest. This is only one instance out of many in this and other states. " Fixed charges" is the name given gen- erally to this water and the interest on " fixed charges " is always paid before dividends on stock. I give you one illustra- tion of " fixed charges." When the Harlem road, now a part of the Central system, was merged with the latter, ^12,000,000 of seven per cent bonds due in 1900 with a covenant to renew them were issued and turned over to the Vanderbilts. This sum mainly represented water, and is one of similar transac- tions by that and other railroad corporations upon which the farmers are annually paying quarterly interest. All the profits of the farm go to meet these charges, and the farmer is impov- erished and the nation suffers. " Mr. O'Donnell, when asked about the commercial arrange- ments he has in mind, said he could without difficulty secure a corporation to take up the matter, but he is averse to placing an invention which he regards as of so much public importance in the hands of a corporation to bleed the public with. He prefers to have communities build their own steel tracks and pay him a royalty. Unless he finds this impracticable he will refuse to put his patent in the hands of any corporation." The new suggestion is this : "Life is worth wheeling," and it is wheel or it is woe for us all ; hence, our states and every township and city should unite and act upon a fixed plan to make a complete system of steel ways for motors and other vehicles, and ways for cycles — each township and city to build east and west, or north and south, as the case may be, one half the distance necessary to connect with the townships and cities adjoining. Each township and city to elect one commissioner for highways ; the ten commissioners for highways of the geo- graphically nearest associated townships and cities to meet and organize a District Board of Highways by electing from their 6o The Guernsey Market House Plan of Paymenls. own numbers a president, treasurer and secretary, establishing a headquarters and engaging a civil engineer and a draughts- man ; the presidents of the district boards of highways to meet at the capitals of their respective states and there organize state boards of highways, by electing from their own numbers a president, treasurer and secretary ; establishing a headquar- ters at each of their respective state capitals and engaging a civil engineer and a draughtsman ; and the presidents of the state boards of highways to meet in Washington, D. C. and organize the national board of highways, by electing, from their own number, a president, treasurer and secretary, establishing a headquarters in Washington and engaging a civil engineer and a draughtsman. This would give a complete system — would complete a series of organized district and state boards of highways centered in and guided by the national board of highways, so that, at once, surveys could be made, and plans, estimates and reports — in- cluding population, traffic, cycles, motors, etc., — could be sent in from every district and state, to be acted upon comprehen- sively and in fixed detail by the national board of highways ; and the most important road or roads of every section of our nation could in this way be dealt with methodically, effectually, without delay, and in the best and most thorough way ; for the commissioners are to be elected fully authorized to take pos- session of existing roads, to straighten or add to, or to open new ones, etc., etc., and are to be prohibited from acting with, or for, or in any political organization, or from attending to any other business than the making of highways ; and a person is ineligible to be a commissioner of highways if he is interested in any factory, quarry or land with which the district board of highways deals. The minimum class of highway is to be 50 feet wide, to have grades not more than 30 degrees, to go over or under all rail- roads, to have five feet devoted to shade and ornamental trees five feet to foot walks and seven feet to cycle ways on either side of a sixteen feet wide roadway. The foot walks to be paved with bricks or laid with stone, concrete, or asphalt ; the cycle ways to be laid with the best asphalt or concrete, etc. The Guernsey Market House Plan of Payments. 6i and the roadway to be occupied by double steel trackways for motor and other vehicles, such as have been suggested by Mr. O'Donnell. The foot walks to be free to all persons ; but for the use of the cycleways and trackways toll to be charged, say, S cents a day or for any part of a day, $12 for one year for a bi- cycle : 5 cents for an hour or any part of an hour, or fifteen cents for a day, or $20 a year, for a motor or other vehicles weighing a ton or less with load ; and something additional for heavier motors and vehicles. This will give a revenue sufficient to pay for all repairs and " fixed charges " and to retire and cancel, within ten years, the current warrants — say $6,000 to $t 0,000 per mile of highway built ; after which the tolls to be lowered or entirely abolished as may then be deemed best by the vote of the people. The highways leading from each township or city to be in charge of its respective commissioner, who is to employ local labor, by the day, and to use, as far as possible, materials found in his own neighborhood; district commissioners to be paid |2ooper month, state commissioners $300 per month and 3cents a mile for distance travelled and national commissioners $400 per month and 3cents per mile for distance travelled. All service and materials to make the improved highways to be paid for in full with National Highway Warrants — appropriately engraved and guardedly issued (see details in former publications descriptive of the Guernsey Market House Plan of Payments) in denom- inations and forms to best serve for currency — the warrants to be the first and only liens upon the said highways and a first and only mortgage against the net receipts from all tolls over the same. The warrants to be prepared and issued by and in the name of The National Board of Highways, to not exceed $10,000 per mile of highways opened to travel, to be issued to and vouched for by the state boards ; and by the state boards issued to and vouched for by the district boards ; and all tolls received to be returned over by the district boards to the state boards and by the state boards to The National Board of High- ways, that full accounts and checks upon expenditures and re- ceipts can be made, and monthly reports published for the in- formation of every one concerned. The warrants to be received 62 The Guernsey Market House Plan of Payments. at lo per cent premium, over all other currencies, for tolls and to be retired and destroyed at the end of every month, by the net receipts of the same. For preliminary expenses con- sequent to the organization of the different boards and to issu- ing the warrants, the townships and cities to appropriate ;Ji,ooo each, one fourth to go to the district boards, one-fourth to the state boards, and one-half to The National Board of Highways. REMARKS. Cyclists, farmers and those who wish to see improved high- ways are asked to form clubs, to send for literature relating to the Guernsey Market House Plan of Payments and to urge action upon their respective townships and states to organize to build their local cycle and motor ways. It is not necessary for townships, or cities, or states to wait for a general movement to take place such as has been outlined. That is not likely to be done before some one or more inde- pendent townships and cities and states take the initiative by ssuing their own warrants to make local cycleways, etc., charg- ing tolls and retiring the warrants with the same. The move- ment will rapidly spread and can be guided and centralized along the line of thought suggested as soon as there have been half a dozen local toll cycleways put into use. There should be enough push in the cyclists themselves, numerous and intelligent as they are, to demand that cycle- ways be made and to offer to pay tolls for the use of the same, either in the warrants issued to make them or in say, twelve days, labor upon the same under the direction of township or city commissioners for highways. Twelve days work, or $12 in said warrants should pay for one year's use for one cyclist. One determined movement by one resolute township, or city to have improved cycleways at a spot cash cost and without paying tribute, in the shape of interest, to any credit mongers, be they ever so influential and respectable, will inaugurate a new era in payments for public improvements which can return in cash the money paid out to construct them. It is of course understood that the credit-mongers will de- mand that their special monopoly to issue currency be pro- The Guernsey Market House Plan of Payments. 63 tected and that 10 per cent be paid for the current warrants which the townships, cities, or even states undertake to issue in their own right and name ; and to this we say let the 10 per- cent be paid to the United States government under protest, while it is shown that the said law was made by and for an ex- clusive class of our citizens for their own exclusive and private interest — greed if you please, and that it is a special privilege and against the public good and therefore is unconstitutional and can be repealed and the money paid under it be refunded. No vested rights can stand in this Republic in the way of the public good if the public are intelligent enough to know their rights and are sufficiently brave to demand and to stand up for them. A. K. Owen. THE WORLD'S EXPOSITION. an open letter to hon. hugh j. grant. 32 Nassau St., New York, i August 6th, 1889. I Hon. HnGH J. Grant, Mayor of The City of New York. Dear Sir : ^ It is thought that the great exhibition for 1892 will be held in the Empire city. It is certain that there are large and attractive areas within or adjacent to the incorporated limits of the city, which are in every particular desirable for the exhibi- tion, and that there are at command material, labor and skill sufficient to make the grandest and in many ways the most instructive world's fair ever before given. To do something great on this occasion should be the desire and the pride of the citizens of New York. Mr. Grant, in virtue of your high trust as Mayor, you must be the leader in making the exhibition a success. To be a success the exhibition must be superior in its details to every fair of like character which has ever been held. Should you offer no more than equal attractions to other fairs of like import the people at home and abroad would be disap- apointed. It were better not to attempt to do it at all than to 64 The Guernsey Market Mouse Plan of Payments. fall short of doing something unquestionably great — great and superior even in the criticisms of those who are now visiting the Paris International. We will take it for granted that you, Mr. Grant, are a leader, broad, wide and deep enough to control the details necessary for the occasion. If such is the case, then it is necessary to supply only one other factor — that is money to pay for the necessary material, labor and skill ; and it is to present a plan for the ways and means of payment for the exhibition that this letter is written. It will require at least $10,000,000* to make the exhibition what it should be. To raise this money requires a determined purpose and good management on your part. Nothing more. It is assumed that it is not for the purpose of making money that the exhibition is to be given. The London Exhibition, of .1851, made a million dollars over its cost and expenses, but the world's fairs since that have, I believe, not paid back the money advanced. The plan herein proposed is to provide the necessary cash to make the exhibition a success without having a deficit or a surplus ; and to leave the buildings and the grounds the property of the city free from debt. However the money to be made by the celebration will be for the citizens of New York in general, as many dollars will be paid outside to one paid inside of the exhibition ; and the merchants, hotels, rail- road and street car companies, come in for the major part of the profits. The plan is this : Mr. Grant, you, as Mayor of New York, be authorized to issue twenty million 50 cent " tickets." The " tickets " to be the size of, and having the general appearance of the United States paper fifty cent currency issued during the war ; and to be engraved and printed, for instance, by the Inter- national Bank Note Company, so that it will be impossible to counterfeit the same, and with these words upon the back of each "ticket" : " This fifty cent (500.) ticket is issued by The City of New * The Vienna Exhibition, 1873, cost 19,850,000. The Centennial, Philadelphia, 1876, cost $6,744,350. The Guernsey Market House Plan of Payments. 65 Ybrk in payment for materials and services used to build and operate the exhibition of 1892. " It is receivable, at par, for all taxes levied by The City of New York, and for rentals and leases by and for dues and ad- missions to the exhibition." The tickets are to be issued in payment only for services and materials directly used in building, perfecting and operating the exhibition. To make the tickets acceptable, at par, to merchants, hotels, railroad and street car companies, it is but necessary to make it a rule that every admission to the exhibition be paid with one of these tickets, or with 60 cents in money. Likewise that all rents, leases and dues to the exhibition must either be paid with these tickets, at par, or with money at a discount of 16^, i. e., that for every dollar due in said tickets it will require $1.20 if paid in money. As all know, it was necessary to have " a silver half dollar " to enter the Centennial at Philadelphia. Two quarters would not do. One silver dollar would not pay for two persons. Many know, to their inconvenience and expense, who had to buy the necessary " half dollar " from men who stood around to sell the same, at from ten to twenty-five cents premium. This simple little ticket paid for materials and services, directly received by The City of New York, and cancelled by services given in return by The City of New York, would give our people their most important lesson in exchange, and would teach many that while the law says what shall be accepted in pay- ments (what shall be money) // is the uses for which the ticket (or money) can be exchanged which give the ticket (or money) its value. This simple and inexpensive plan would give The City of New York a safe, convenient and needed fractional paper currency.* * After the McCuUoch dynasty retired and burnt the United States paper fractional currency, issued during the war, the citizens of Gal- veston, by common consent, used the five cent tickets issued by the street car companies of Galveston in their daily exchanges. Also, in St. Louis, the hotels and theatres agreed with the street car com- panies to accept, at par, the five cent tickets issued by the latter, and these uses gave the said tickets a par value for all exchanges in St. 5 66 The Guernsey Market House Plan of Payments. It would encourage home industries ; facilitate our citizens in the exchange of their services, and the tickets would be readily accepted by our merchants, hotels, railroad and street car companies for their uses, and because of their premium over all other currencies in paying dues to the exhibition of 1892. Consequent to losses, which necessarily follow the varied uses and risks of fractional currency, there would be, probably, 5 per cent., or $500,000, in these tickets, which would not be offered for redemption ; and if it should happen that the re- mainder, which is not probable, should not be received and cancelled by the admissions,^ rentals, leases and dues to the exhibition ; the leases, rentals and admissions received by the city from the permanent grounds, buildings, privileges, etc., which would remain after the celebration of 1892 had passed, would soon cancel the same and absorb the tickets which might have been paid in for taxes ; for the city would pay out again the tickets which came to its treasury for taxes, and would destroy the tickets " only after they had been received directly by the works for which they were issued in full payment." Inclosed is a published letter* addressed to the Mexican Government, upon a similar occasion. In it is given the way in which Daniel De Lisle Brock, Governor of Guernsey, built and paid for the market-houseat St. Peters. It is the greatest lesson ever given in the ways and means of payments. Respectfully, A. K. Owen. l/ouis. And it was the same in the State of Georgia with the tickets of several denominations issued by the railroad companies passing through the State, and every person was greatly benefited, and no person was ever inconvenienced by the uses of the same. X Chauncey M. Depew says : "That there will be at least 20,000 - 000 Americans to visit the Exhibition of 1892, and many foreigners." This is a very conservative estismate, for there were 10,000,000 people visited the Centennial of 1876, and our people have increased largely since then, and have become more than ever a people who move about when there is much to be seen. * Extract from a letter by A. K. Owen, dated Mexico City, Mexico March 25th, 1879, addressed to Senor Don Vicente Riva Palacio Secretary of Public Works. [See page 2.] The Guernsey Market House Plan of Payments. 67 SSAU St., Nbw Yo: August 8th, 1889. 32 Nassau St., Nbw York, 1 Hon. Hugh J. Grant. Mayor of the City of New York. Dear Sir : In a letter dated August 6th, the amount of money for the exhibition in 1892 was put at $10,000,000. It is possible that you will need $20,000,000. This would require the City of New York to issue forty million 50c. " tickets." This would be more currency of this denomination* than the people would use at this time. It would therefore be in order to make the " tickets " of several denominations and inter-convertible with city bonds, bearing 3 per cent, interest. These bonds should be a special issue for this particular purpose, and should be in denominations of five, ten, twenty and one hundred dollars. These bonds, like the " tickets," should be made receivable, at par, for dues to the exposition and for taxes levied by the city. These bonds would become a favorite investment for persons of small means. The " rentes," or current bonds of France are but 25 francs, or five dollars. It was the encouragement for investments which the " rentes " gave to the French peas- ants that made them a money-saving people. These bonds would largely take the place of the small paper bills, issued by private banks, now used in our payments, and would greatly facilitate the cash business of our citizens, as they would sup- ply a much needed currency. Mayor Grant, do not permit those who deal with credits only to mislead you from the true interest of the city, and for their own private gains. Those who have wares to sell will neces- * It may be that there will be days set apart for the working classes, when 25 cents, and days for children, when 10 cents will be charged for admission to the exhibition. It is suggested, therefore, that part of the tickets be issued in 25c. and loc. denominations to meet these demands ; and ac there is great want of paper fractional currency, by all persons who have orders to make by letter, She City of New York would be a public benefactor if it would issue this special series of tickets in sc, loc, 15c., 25c., 75c. and |i denominations. ^68 The Guernsey Market House Plan of Payments. sarily plead superiority of their own, to the damage, it may be, of much superior goods in the same line of material. The plan suggested to you in the letter of August 6th, is plain, simple and sure. The Guernsey Market House stands in proof of its practicability. The plan cannot be disproved. " Tickets," or counters paid for labor and material received, certainly are based upon solid security, particularly when the work is one of great public sentiment and demand, and which will return a revenue equal to, if not far in excess of its cost. Anything which will pay taxes levied by The City of New York, will be eagerly accepted by the people not only inside but outside of the city and of the State of New York. And yet there is no compulsion suggested. The people would take the " tickets " and " bonds " for their own convenience, just as they now do the National bank notes, which are not a legal tender between the people themselves, but simply between the people and the government. Can you. Mayor Grant, doubt for a moment, that if you were to make it a law that these " tickets " and " bonds " alone should be received for admissions, leases, rentals and dues to the exhibition, that the " tickets '' and " bonds " would not be collected, hoarded, and sold at a premium from their issue to their cancellation ? Can there be a doubt of the value of " tickets " and " bonds," limited by the actual cost of an inter- national exibition, where at least 20,000,000 persons will struggle for admissions and leases, etc. ? It is to prevent speculators from hoarding the " tickets " and " bonds," and from taking advantage of the people, during the excitements of the exhibition season, that the suggestion is made that admissions to and leases by the exhibition, be paid also in money at a small discount. So it is not because you. Mayor Grant, cannot keep these " tickets " and " bonds " at par, that should cause you the least fear, but rather that you should so curtail their special and unique privileges so as not to permit speculators to exact more than a small premium for them. When the United States made it a law that " gold coins " should be received at its custom houses to the exclusion of all other coins currencies, the "gold coins" were hoarded The Guernsey Market House Plan of Payments. ^ 69 and sold only to the highest bidder, who had customs dues to pay, and in consequence the premium on " gold coins " went as high as 185 per cent, over their par value. In the same way, Mayor Grant, you have in your power to send the " tickets " and " bonds " to double and even quadruple their par value did you not have the common interest of the common people in your trust. In the pamphlet sent you, with the letter of August 6th, please read the paragraph in which I show that in Mexico, chickens were made obligatory for one-eighth of a tax, and how the speculators cornered the chickens, refused to sell any eggs and forced the Indians to buy the necessary chicken from them at a price equal to many times the value of the tax in money. Respectfully. A. K. Owen. The following is an extract from a letter by A. K. Owen, June, 1879, entitled, "Aztec Civilization and Trade :" " And then there was Velasco II. (1589-95.) He established the manufacture of coarse stuff in cotton and wool. He built the Alameda in the City of Mexico, and gave the Indians work ; and he it was who ordered the ' chicken money,' which is so important as bearing upon our late history of the gold and greenback dollars, that I will give it, even at the risk of crowd- ing columns, which I was cautioned not to attempt. Even chickens were made a legal tender for taxes, and the demand and scarcity made them, like our gold coin, sell at a premium several times over their par value. " In 1594, Philip II., finding himself straightened for means to carry on the European wars in which he was engaged, re- curred to the unfortunate and unjust system of forced loans to increase his revenue. He did not confine himself in this odious compulsory tax to the old world, which was most concerned in the result of his wars, but instructed Velasco, Viceroy of Mexico, to impose a tribute of four reals or fifty cents, upon the Indians 70 The Guernsey Market House Plan of Payments. in addition to the sum they already paid his majesty. Velasco reluctantly undertook the unwelcome task ; but, anxious to lighten the burden upon the natives as much as possible, and at the same time to foster the raising of poultry and cattle among these people, he compounded the whole tax of a dollar which they were obliged to pay, for seven reals, or eighty-seven and a half cents, and one fowl, which at that time was valued at a single real, or twelve and one-half cents. " This, it will be perceived, was amiably designed by the Viceroy, but become immediately the subject of gross abuse. The Indians are slowly moved, either to new modes of cultiva- tion or to new objects of care, even of the most domestic and useful character. " Instead of devoting themselves to the raising of poultry with an industrious thrift that would have saved one-eighth of their taxation, or twelve and a half per cent, they allowed the time to pass without providing the required bird in their homestead, so that when the tax-gatherer arrived they were forced to buy the fowl instead of selling it. This of course raised the price, and the consequence was that the Indian was obliged often to pay two or three reals more than the original amount of the whole taxation of a dollar. It is related that one of the oidores (tax- collectors) who had taken eight hundred fowls, reserved two hundred for the use of his household, and through an agent sold the rest at three reals, or thirty-seven and a half cents each, by which he contrived to make a profit of two hundred per cent. Various efforts were made to remedy this shameful abuse, or to revoke the decree ; but the system was found too profitable among the officials to be abandoned without a struggle." New York, August 20, 1889. Hon. Hugh J. Grant. Mayor of the City of New York, Dear Sir : Inclosed please find a printed and corrected copy of two letters which I had the pleasure to address to you during the first week of the present month. The Guernsey Market House Plan of Payments. 71 I will send to each member of the committee on finance a copy of the same as printed and corrected. In further testimony of the soundness of the plan suggested to pay for the labor and material used for the exhibition of 1892, I wish to say that General Ulysses S. Grant approved the plan when I suggested the same to President Diaz as a ways and means of payment for the public works of Mexico. In proof of this I herwith inclose a copy of a letter [see page 42] which General Grant gave to Major-General Alfred T. A. Torbert, after he and I had explained the details in full to him at his summer retreat in the mountains of Colorado. Allow me to add that President Diaz had, with the advice of Senor Matias Romero, then Secretary of the Treasury, appointed a committee to receive and report upon the plan and would have carried it into execution had not we been wrecked and General Torbert drownd in "The City of Vera Cruz," which, as you may recollect was torn to pieces in the cyclone of August 31st, 1880. So well satisfied was General Grant with the plan which I then detailed to him to build the public works of Mexico, that, during the fall of the same year, he offered to take General Torbert's place as president of " The Mexican Syndicate " and to construct the public works of Mexico as contractor under and for the government and to receive pay in treasury notes at par, for labor and material directly used for the construction of said government works. The Fish-Ward party, however, assisted others in persuading General Grant to give his attention to old methods of business, and Mexico lost his great influence ; and what those, who per- suaded him from the right course, gained is a matter of history. One word further. Popular subscriptions are a sham and a failure when called to pay for public works. The Philadelphians, with all the sentiment and popular enthusiasm of the Centen- nial in full and patriotic accord, could not raise a million dollars. The government came to their aid and all lost money. Bankers, ever alert to sell their only stock in trade— their credits — and sharp business men, who know the power of in- corporated capital and experience acting under special privi- 72 The Guernsey Market House Plan of Payments. leges for public necessities, of course wish to devise some plan by which The City of New York may be retained as a debtor, and be prevented from taking advantage of the popluar senti- ment of this great occasion to utilize her own credit for the employment of her own labor and to pay for her own public works. Therefore, Mayor Grant, again I appeal to you as the custodian of the interests of The City of New York to act upon this simple, sure and just plan and to utilize the credit of the whole people of the Metropolis to the exclusion of the credits of a few of those who enjoy great privileges under acts of incorporation. If New York uses its own credits as suggested, in case of a financial panic (Since January ist, 1889, about $59,000,000 in gold coin have been exported, the work on the exhibition would not falter. The banks of the world might go down in one great crash, as they are at any time likely to go, and all the gold in all the treasuries of America, England, France and Germany might be dumped into the deep sea, and yet The City of New York would be undisturbed, and her " tickets " issued direct for labor and for material, would be always at a premium over any money used within her incorporated limits, simply because they would have specific uses for all the people. Again, this plan would give to the citizens of New York a great and permanent series of public buildings and grounds free from debt, and they would become a source of ever-increasing revenue to the city treasury and a source of pride, admiration and pleasure to patriotic Americans at home and abroad. Respectfully, A. K. Owen. The Guernsey Market House Plan of Payments. 73, THE GUERNSEY MARKET HOUSE PLAN OF PAYMENTS. Appendix No i. 38 Wall St. Room 4. New York City, Dec. 31, 1896. Hon. William McKinley, President-elect of the United States. Dear Sir: In wishing you a Happy New Year, permit me to call your attention to a happy new plan' to protect the home people at home : First — In regular and remunerative employments. Second — In the right to enjoy the products of their own labors. The Guernsey Market House Plan, of Payments, together with The Plan for a Current Money of the Realm to which, in a letter dated Dec. 7th, I invited the attention of the President- elect, will put this people to work in every district from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from Canada to Mexico, and when this people are put to work, by means of a currency based upon their own labors — by a currency which is absolutely free from interest-bearing bonds and from National Bank control — then and only then will the United States be a nation worthy of its pretensions. The people must have more money before their general in- dustries can be generally put into motion ; but any act, or acts of encouragement sufficient to generally start up the mills of this people under the present system of bank-credit despotism will be an act, or acts which will encourage the general confis- cation of mills and other properties. In other words, if this needed currency is issued on bonds, or through National Banks, 74 The Guernsey Market House Plan of Payments. then the more the people work "the stronger will the people bind themselves and their families, hands and feet to the credit sell- ers — the sooner will all properties and all the products owned and produced in the United States be confiscated by the Na- tional Bankers' trust, which in return will give the people only the liberty to work as the slaves of this trust. God forbid that the destiny of the American people should be that of the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and Venetians. As a Pennsylvanian Quaker — as a person who has trained in the Pennsylvania school of home protection to diversified home industries — as an associate of Henry C. Carey, William D. Kelley and Henry Carey Baird, I urge upon you, who are to lead this people in their next attempt at self-government, to make it your first and single purpose to advocate a plan which will put the people in every district, be it ever so small, to work by means of currency based upon the products of their own labors : First — A current money of the realm, issued by the nation and based upon a half-dozen, or more, principal staple National products. Second — Currency issued by our cities, by our States and by our nation, each in its corporate capacity as trustee of and for its whole people, in payment for labor and material used to construct works of public necessity, which will each be of such a revenue-earning character that the net receipts of each will redeem and cancel the respective currency issued to complete it. Such a comprehensive plan of just and prompt and cash pay- ments would be beneficial to society as a whole — it would give general employments in diversified home industries at home — - it would make home prosperity at home general — it would give to each and every worker the full benefits of what each does — it would unite the home people at home for the general pub- lic interests of the nation as no people have ever been united — it would give the United States an invincible prestige abroad which navies and armies, be they ever so strong, can never secure for us. Respectfully A. K. Owen. I NK^V BOOK I 8 By the Author of ''LOOKING BACKWABD." EQUALITY*- EDWARD BELLAMY After years of preparation, Mr. Bellamy now puts forward a work whloli will command universal attention. The new book is larger and more comprehensive than " Looking Backward.^* The scene is the same— that is to say, the world of the twentieth century— and the same characters reappear, But while the new book tells us much that is fresh about the institutions of the world of tomorrow, its especial purpose, as distinguished from that of " Looking Backward,^* is to account for these institutions by explaining not only a righteous- ness and reason, but likewise the course of historical evolution by which they were born out of the very different order of things exist- ing today. In this part of his work the author has much to say of the meaning of the events of our o\^n limi's, which he links with the future by predictions of changes now upon us. CrOTH, 413 Pages, Sl.%5 The Humboldt Library | 64 Fifth Aventae Ne>aw York g THE KINGDOM OF THE UNSELFISH OB EMPIRE OF The Wise BY JOHN LORD FECK BRIEF MENTION A remarkable hook.— Udward Bellamy. It Is radical and unique.— The Northwestern. The book is from a widely-read man, and Is written for a high end.— rA« New Ideal, Shows wide research, original ideas, and what might be almost called inspiration.— 5«7M2ay Times. It prophesies a new age, and exhorts to the life which shall further its coming. — New Church Messenger. The effort is noble, and the author has not escaped saying many profound and true things. — The Outlook. A real contribution to original and advanced thought upon the highest themes of life and religion.— y/ic UniUnrian. It is in ho sense an ordinary work. It makes strong claims and attempts to carry out the largest purposes. - Chicago Inter- Ocean. Many passages in Mr. Peck's work strongly suggest the lofty teachings of those noblest of the ancient philosophers, the Stoics.,— The Arena. PAPBB, 462 Pages, 50 CUNTS ■ CLOTS, $1.00 The Humboldt Library 64 Fifch A.-vemj.e Ne-w Yoric q THE NEW DEMOCRACY ® A Handbook for Demooratio Speakers and Workers AN OUTLINE OF THE METHODS OF THE NATIONAL TOLTTNTEERS OF DEMOCRACY AND OF THE TOLUNTEEB SPEAKERS' BUREAU BT WALTER VROOMAN Author of ** Government Ownership in Production and JHatributiOTV' " I shall be glad to receive the Honor Roll of Volunteer Speakers who labor to increase the devotion to onr Government, • • * The honor of victory must be shared by soldiers as well as by the com- manders. In fact, it is much easier for soldiers to select command- ers than it is for commanders to secure soldiers. Your plan of keeping a record of the work done by each in this great contest enables honor to be given where honor Is due.^' W. J. Brtak PAPER, 25 CENTS CLOTH, 75 CENTS The Humboldt Library 63: Klftti A. venue Nb-w York INTELLECTUAL PURSUITS OB CULTURE BY SELF-HELP By ROBERT ^WATERS PRESS NOTICES Contains many excellent thoughts.— .Bostore Advertiser. Full of verbal illustrations and anecdote.— 5)!. Zouls Htpvblic. Full of anecdotes apt, and freshly chosen — Philadelphia Public Ledger. A mine of good things pertaining to the intellectual life. — Metho- dist Remrder. There is a world of useful knowledge and sound advice in this 'hQO\i..--lndia7ircl Do-v^. EDITED "WTTH BIOGRA-PHICA-L SKETCH BY Nothing more remarkable than the history of this book, except the book itself, has occurred in literary history. To it Henry George is indebted for the wonderful discovery of the single tax. Dove was a generation in advance of George in propounding this momentous doctrine, and the charge of plagiarism made against George by Benjamin Tucker and others grew out of this fact. Dove, however, a deep scholar, and profound thinker, champions the single tax on land from quite a different standpoint than George. In this respect the work will startle single taxers. It has been edited, not garbled, by Alexander Harvey, who prefaces the book with a life of the author and a mention of the remarkable circumstances that led to its suppression. The volume is complete and imabridged. IRaper, SO ^en-fcs. Clo-tl-i, $1.00. The Humboldt Publishing Company, 64 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK. NE>^?Sr BOOK. National Ownership of Railways. By Rev< Cha.ri.bs H. Vaii,. CONTENTS. I.— Public Highways. II.— Analogy. ni.— Aooumulatiou of Wealth, rv.— Cormptlori of Politics, v.— Discriminations. VI.— The Remedy. 711.— Method of Purchase. THI.— The Cost. IX.— Economy of Public Worship. X.— Experience. XI.— Public Safety Demands Gov- ernment Ownership. XH.— Objections Considered. Perhaps no greater question has appeared above the horizon of the industrial world than the relation of the government to the rail ways of the country. Shall the railroads be owned and operated as private or as public property? This is the point at issue. Believing with many others that public ownership la the only solution of the railroad problem, I offer in evidence of this position the followhig reasons for the faith which is In xa.— Author's Preface. Paper, IS Cents. The Humboldt Library, 64 Fifth JV. venue. Nh>-w York. :caecK(caae»»»»3ca8:e:ejc«Ke3cgce:«c THE CLASSIC OF DEMOCRACY By the Father of the Referendum Direct Legislation By The People By NIartin Rittinghausen TEANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH, WITH BIOGRAPHICAL INTEODUCTION BY ALEXANDER HARVEY This celebrated work, from the pen of the immortal fomider of the referendum, is now made accessible to English readers. It is the book which led to the establish- ment of the present form of leeislation in Switzerland. The eminent Rittiaghansen here lays down the principles of direct legislation by the people, showing it to be the only true type of democratic goyernment ; all other forms, and particularly the repre- sentative system, being shams. No social reformer, no matter of what creed, can fail to derive instruction from its pages. Paper, 15 Cents The Humboldt Library 64 Klftti Avenue NE\V YORK NO^SAT READY Modern Socialism By Rkv. Cha^rlks H. Vail Author of " National Ownership of Railways " TABLE OF CONTENTS I.— The Meaning of Socialism. II. — The Origin of Socialism, M.— The Economic Evolution, IV.— Advantages of Socialism in the Production, Distribu- tion, and Consumption of "Wealth, V,— The Postulates of Social- ism in Regai'd to Money, Value and Wages, VI.— The Question of Interest, VIT,— Competition vs. Combina- tion, Vm. — Industrial Democracy, or Democratic Government, rx,— The Moral Strength of the Co-operative Common- wealth, X,— Socialism and Modem Problems. XI,-IndustrialDepressionsand Crises, Xn,— The Condition of Labor, Past and Present— Compar- ison, Xni.— Capitalism and Economic Waste, XIV.— Misconceptions and Objec- tions Considered. XV,— Conclusion, PAPER S5 CENTS CLOTH K CENTS The Humboldt Library 6 4 Flfiti A-venta© Xe-w VoRtc a 3 ^ t 1 THE 3 Social Science Library » I? . 7 3 Paper,- Z5C. each. Cloth, extra. 75c. eacn, 3 (? 3 2 NOW READY. O ^ 1. SIX CENTURIES OP WORK AND WAGES. By ^ ^ James E. Thorold RoGERa, M. P. Abridged, with £) A chana and summary. By W. D. P. Bliss, fntroduc- x 1 tion by Prop. E. T. Elt. ^ i S. THE SOCIALISM OF JOHN STUART MILL. The « V only collection of Mill's writings on Socialism. A i 8. THE SOCIALISM AND UNSOCIALISM OP THOMAS C ™ CARLYLB. A collection of Carlyle's social writ- A 3 ings; together with Joseph Mazzini^s famous essay f A protesting against Carlyle's views. Vol. I. C) 2 4. THE SOCIALISM AND UNSOCIALISM OP THOMAS d ^ CAELYLE. Vol. II. J, V 6 WILLIAM MORRIS, FOET, ARTIST, SOCIALIST. Z) 3 A selection from his writings together with a sketch. ^ 4 of the man. Edited by Francis Watts Lee. © 9 C. THE FABIAN ESSAYS. American edition, with f A introduction and notes, by H. G. Wilshire. C 2 y. THE ECONOMICS OP HERBERT SPENCER. By ^ ^ W. C. Owen. J) V 8. THE COMMUNISM OP JOHN RUSKIN. ^ i 0. HORACE GREELEY; PARMER, EDITOR, AND SO. © ™ CIALIST. By Charles Sotheran. A 3 J^ Special dumber, 35 cen^s, ira Paper Cover. V © ^ 9 3 The Humboldt Publishing Co. ^ ALWAYS AHEAD OF THE TIMES. « A RADICAL "WEEKLY Devoted to the Discussion of e If you want a live paper read Q 1 e % :: The Twentieth Century :: ^ () SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC SUBJECTS 3 {7 "Which are Living Issues . o . . 3 The Burning Questions of the Day, a M f 3 Price, _^ cents per Copy — $2.oo a Yeat^ f i e I THE HUMBOLDT PUBLISHING CO., ^ 3 Send for Free Sample Copy to the Publishers: ( e e e MliljUil9 . Gaylora'Bro8. Makers Syracuse, K. Y. PAT, JAII.-21, 1901