"You see," said Norrena, "how the gold flowed in upon the creditors when the people were making their exchanges without its use. Among the people, it was only used to pay debts, and as the money kings owned, to such a large extent, the indebtedness, the gold supply of the country flowed in upon them until it was difficult to find storage for it. Additional vaults were built and these were soon filled. At first they sought to turn this glut of gold to profit by making improvements which gave employment to labor. Great trunk lines of railroad were built and the government borrowed vast sums which were expended on country roads, waterways, harbors and so forth. But the people, now fully established in business for themselves, continued, by their system of paying dividends to consumption, to increase the price of labor and its products. When these millions were paid out as wages and entered into circulation they speedily found their way into the people's banks and were returned to these vaults to pay debts. All this time the price of labor and its products was increasing, and the purchasing power of gold was decreasing, until in time all the debts were paid and the people ceased to exchange their products for money altogether. The purchasing power of gold was gone, and the money kings, who held on to the system to the last, were poor indeed. They found starvation staring them in the face. Then, they abandoned these useless hoards, went out among the people and found plenty of employment for their really valuable talents." From the gold vaults we passed into others where bonds, mortgages, stocks etc., had been kept. "Here," continued Norrena, "at regular intervals, clerks were locked in and kept close prisoners while they clipped coupons for their masters. You see by the labels, the kind of securities which each compartment contained. These vaults held a legal lien upon the great bulk of the wealth of the country, the interest, dividends, etc., on which, if paid in cash, would require each year a sum equal to, at least, one and one-half times the entire circulating medium of the country, and the principal if converted into cash would have required ten times the entire volume of gold in the world. Here, in potency, was held a lien sufficient to take every acre of land and personal property in the country." "That," I said, "calls to my mind a phase of the question which I would like to have you explain. How did the multitudes, especially in this city and on this coast, escape the grasp of these money-kings who also owned the real estate? The people had no land to go upon, and hence could not procure a subsistence by cultivating the soil without paying tribute in the shape of rent."