People's Pilot, Volume 5, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 June 1896 — The People’s Honest Money. [ARTICLE]

The People’s Honest Money.

When man half wild goes roaming round, With all his wives and cattle, And squats upon his neighbor’s ground By dint of deadly battle; The only money that he talks Or can so much as guess of, He measures by a good fat ox, Or calf if needing less of. And when the savage takes a fit, To give up idle tramping, And vows that some congenial pit Is better far than camping, He wanders down besides the mere. For muskallonge and much pike, And trades them to the mountaineer For badger skins and such like. And later when he heeds the boys, And gives up smoky caverns, And starts a line of sharp deploys To build saloons and taverns, He hangs a sign out far and near, Where immigrant can real it: “Gold bullion only taken here; No trust unless you heed it.” At last our tramp becomes a king And cuts out scraps of metal, And says, “By jove! I’ve hit the thing, My phiz shall on them settle.” And so he calls his wives anent, And says, “Go ye, my honey, And tell the ruler of the mint That these henceforth are money.” But by and by the kingly tramp, Is gathered to his mothers, And knowledge sets a clearer lamp To guide the steps of others; And art and learning for the free A dollar have created, Whose basis is the honescy Of freemen aggregated. Let wild men trade with ox and hide, And tyrants’ heads stamp bullion, The crisp fair greenback is the pride Of the enfranchised million. Hail, greenbacks! With the sure in* j crease Of bread and meat and honey! Our friend in war, our hope in peace, The people’s honest money. —Kate Brownlee Sherwood. There seems to be a grand rush to get into McKinley’s band wagon.