Sarah Emery

Part 1

 

PREFACE.

Would I add another to the multiplicity of books that is flooding the country ? Why not ? It is only a little book I offer, but it contains truths which if understood by the masses, would tend to awaken them to the dangers which threaten our free institutions. “ Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty,” and a people too indifferent or to self-satisfied to be mindful of their liberties are unworthy of such a boon.

Republics are lost because their guardians—the people—entrust them to scheming politicians. We did not profit by the experience of other Republics, but followed in their footsteps,—and in their downfall we see our pending doom. That such a doom may be averted, I believe to be the desire of every patriotic citizen ; and if, in the perusal of these pages, my readers are awakened to a consciousness of impending danger, I shall feel that this labor has not been in vain. A revolution is upon us. Let us see to it that it is wrought by ballots, rather than bullets.

S. E. V. E.

 

Preface To Two Hundred And Twentieth Thousand Edition.

 

Four years ago it was with many misgivings that I presented “ Seven Financial Conspiracies ” to the public. Would it be received with contempt or would the masses comprehend its plain though startling truths, were problems that I felt myself unable to solve. But the rapidly increasing demand for the book has been more than a satisfactory answer to my doubtful questionings. The cordial greeting which the little messenger has received from every State and Territory in the Union is indeed gratifying, for the profound interest manifested in its teachings gives assurance that the principles of justice are deeply rooted in the hearts of the American people. Scores of times have I been assured that the startling truths presented in this little book have revolutionized entire counties.

 

While I am gratified that such happy results have been brought about through its teachings, I take to myself but little credit for the good that has been accomplished.

 

This little work is but the reflection of a wonderful luminary from the pen of one of the purest philanthropists of this age—Col. B.S. Heath. For years I was a student of his inestimable book, “ Labor and Finance Revolution,” and sat a disciple at his feet until I became most thoroughly imbued with the spirit of his teachings.

 

To B.S. Heath this country owes a debt of gratitude that can never be paid until his teachings become so thoroughly incorporated into the life of every American citizen that he will know no duty higher than that of overthrowing the monopolistic powers that threaten the life of this nation.

S. E. V. E.

 

NOTE.—Col. Benjamin S. Heath’s book, “ Labor and Finance Revolution.” can be obtained by sending $1.00 to his widow, Mrs. Louisa M, Heath, 1081 W. Monroe St., Chicago, Ill.

 

CHAPTER I.
THE CIVIL WAR PRELIMINARY TO AN INFAMOUS PLOT.

THE Earl of Chatham, England’s great statesman, once said, “ Show me the laws of a country and I will show you the condition of its people.”

 

Starting upon this proposition, we are led to the conclusion that the laws of our country are not in accordance with the principles of justice and equality, for there is nothing in the condition of the masses that denotes prosperity, but rather a tendency to poverty and demoralization. No period of our history has been marked by such general dissatisfaction.

 

Wherever we turn is discontent ; labor idle, or at least working on short time and low pay ; mill after mill silent ; furnaces cold and unproductive ; tramps filling our highways ; the gaunt wolf of starvation staring into desolate homes, and strikes against starvation wages—those forerunners of revolution springing up on every hand. On the other side, we see granaries bursting with the abundance with which God has fattened the land, palatial mansions rising in fabulous magnificence, and mountains of wealth—the product of half-requited labor—poured into the coffers of the idle and affluent. All over the land the wail of distress comes up from poverty-stricken homes crushing out the manhood and womanhood of human kind, blighting the beauty and buoyancy of youth, and destroying the faith of mankind in an all-wise merciful father. In a land of plenty, where the willing hand of industry has created untold wealth, why should that hand be paralyzed for want of the very wealth it has created ? Why should comfortable food, clothing and homes be denied to those who have produced these things in such abundance? Reader, these are questions that must soon be answered before the tribunal of a long-suffering but much enduring people.

 

In view of these facts and the responsibilities that rest upon us as American citizens, I earnestly ask that you lay aside your prejudices, and with me briefly consider a few of the circumstances that have brought about this deplorable condition. It is within the memory of many of my readers when millionaires were not indigenous to American soil. But that period has passed, and today we boast more millionaires than any other country on the globe ; tramps have increased in a geometrical ratio ; while strikes, riots and anarchists’ trials constitute an exciting topic of conversation in all classes of society. There is no doubt but that the unequal distribution of the products of labor is one of the most fruitful sources of social and political disturbances.

 

Any rational person must admit that a nation’s prosperity does not lie so much in the amount of its wealth as in a just distribution of that wealth among those who have produced it.

 

That nation is the most prosperous whose laborers hold warranty deeds, rather than leases of their homes, and a hundred cottage homes and gardens owned by a hundred workingmen is greater evidence of national prosperity than a million of property in the hands of a single individual. The ownership of home is the great safeguard of liberty, and it is impossible for a people long to remain free who do not own their homes. History bears us out in this statement, and we trace with minuteness the connection between land monopoly and national death. God has implanted in the human heart an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and for liberty, a knowledge of that liberty which makes men free from the bondage of their physical necessities and breaks the manacles of that slavery which through all ages, the strong have imposed upon the weaker portion of mankind.

 

Since the day that Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage, crafty men have taken advantage of the physical necessities of their less artful brothers ; since that day, too, hungry men have been selling the birthright of their liberty for a mess of pottage which barely enables them to eke out a miserable existence. From the days of Esau to the present time two classes of people have existed upon this earth, the one class who live by honest labor, the other who live off of honest labor. From earliest times the one class have lived by tilling the soil, raising flocks and herds, delving in mines, working in wood, brass and iron, or deriving their subsistance from the waters over which God had given them do minion. The other class consisted of roving bandits, who under chiefs or leaders subsisted by swooping down upon and plundering the honest toilers ; sometimes a strong band would take possession of a rich territory, subdue its people and divide the spoils between themselves ; the chief became king, the brigands nobility, and the conquered people who only the day before were happy possessors of homes, became the slaves of this robber band who ruthlessly wrenched from them their homes and the products of their toil.

 

Today the same two classes exist as of old, not only in Europe but in this America, which gave such glorious promise of protection to its toiling people. True, the robber chiefs of our times have not by physical force taken possession of our toilers, and the products of their labor ; they did not swoop down upon these people with bayonets and bowie knives ; they did not say to them we have conquered your country and you are our slaves ; ah, no, the terms robber and brigand are too harsh ; civilization has advanced, and these terms are obnoxious to the refined intelligence of the age. The civilized brigandage of today is ashamed of its ancestry, but its appetite for plunder is no less ravenous and daring. Modern brigandage is carried on under more euphonious titles, and new methods of robbery are employed. Instead of “ robber king ” and “ brigand chief ” we have today the money king, the coal king, the cattle king, the railroad magnate, the telegraph monopolist and the lumber baron. Instead of spoils and plunders, we have interests, dividends, revenues and rents.

 

The system of American government as instituted by our fathers afforded little if any opportunity for robbery and oppression. Having successfully repelled their enemies across the water their prowess was established, and the civilized world stood in awe of the young republic. Not a crowned head of Europe aspired to clip the wings of the young American eagle, and for fourscore years the proud bird soared defiantly through the American heavens, or hovered above the sacred temple of our liberties. But, alas, in an evil hour the tempter came, the guardians were betrayed, and the very sanctuary of our liberties became the charnal-house of American freedom, and the market place of American honor.

 

Thirty years ago the American laborer was a prospective lord. He saw within his reach a home of plenty for his family, and an old age of comfort for himself. The bright picture before him inspired industry, economy and sobriety, and the laborer was a peaceful, sober, respected citizen. The condition of the American people less than half a century ago is graphically portrayed by Chas. Dickens, who, visiting in this country in 1842, wrote from Boston to a friend in London : “ There is not a man in this town nor in this State who has not a blazing fire, and meat every day for dinner, nor would a flaming sword in the air attract more attention than a beggar in the streets.” But today what is the outlook for the wage-worker of this country ? He sees before him only toil, unremitting, half-requited toil ; hope dies out in his bosom, despondency takes possession of his heart ; and unless sustained by a strong faith and a giant will he breaks beneath the weight of oppression, seeks relief in a suicide’s grave, or worse still attempts to drown his grief in the intoxicating cup and finally drifts into the great army of inebriates.

 

We are now led to the question, wherefore this amazing change in the condition of the working classes of this country ? There is a solution to this problem. As I have before stated the American system of government afforded little or no opportunity for robbery and oppression, but the vast plains and teeming valleys of this grand republic, with its innumerable sources of wealth, and millions of industrious population, was a coveted prize long sought by civilized brigandage. To obtain possession of this vast wealth and reduce an intelligent people to the position of slaves, was by no means an easy task. But the promptings of avarice were not to be silenced, and greed was on the alert for an opportunity to seize the coveted prize. The fatal opportunity at last presented itself. African slavery had been a source of contention from the very foundation of the republic, and its agitation finally culminated in the secession of a majority of slave holding states. The war cloud was gathering and the mutterings of dissatisfaction were portentous of a coming storm. Old men ominously shook their heads ; young men stoutly declared that “ the Union must be preserved ”; and mothers on bended knee clasped more closely their precious boys, and prayed God that the storm cloud of war might pass. But above all the prayers, wailings and forebodings, the attentive listener could hear from Wall Street the echoes of jubilant satisfaction, and harmonious preparations for an onslaught upon the industry and prosperity of the country. Nor was Wall Street alone in this exultation over a prospective civil war ; all along the line were ringing notes of exultation, even our beloved Michigan swelled the cry “ to arms !” led on by that great leader who startled the entire Christian world by his infamous declaration, “ That a nation is not worth a curse without blood-letting.” A declaration that must forever dishonor the name of its illustrious author.

 

Now do you ask why this exultation over a prospective civil war ? Do you ask why the money-kings of Wall Street and the great political chieftain of Michigan were so anxious, and positively joyous, when the guns were turned upon Fort Sumpter and the declaration of war sent its thrilling notes throughout the length and breadth of our land ? Do you ask why their hearts became like steel, and their thirst for human gore insatiable ? Why human life had lost its sacredness, and the thunderings of the war trumpet was music in their ears ? Reader, do you imagine it was because of their great love for the dusky toilers in the cotton fields of Mississippi, or because the finer instincts of their nature revolted against the cruel system of African slavery ? Do you suppose the story of Uncle Tom and Little Eva had touched their hearts and they had sworn vengeance upon the perpetrators of such cruelty ? No, no ; the money kings of Wall Street, and the great political chieftain of Michigan, were not the men whose hearts were touched with pity by the cries of distress. Their love of gain had stilled the finer instincts of their nature, and they rejoiced because they saw in the preparation for war their long-coveted opportunity for plunder. The calamity of war must bring its necessities, and through these necessities they determined to subjugate their unsuspecting brother men. To accomplish this it became necessary to obtain possession of the national finances. As blood, the circulating medium of the body, is the life of the body, so they knew that money, the circulating medium of the country, was the life of the country. Its industry, its education, its morality, in truth, its very life depended upon its medium of exchange. Controlling it, they could inflate or depress the business of the country at pleasure, they could send the warm life current through the channels of trade, dispensing peace, happiness and prosperity, or they could check its flow, and completely paralyze the industries of the country. They knew their opportunity was at hand, and the tidings of war that blanched the cheek and sent terror to the heart of the multitude was to their ears sweeter than the music of the spheres.

 

Scarcely had the war cloud broken ere the gold and silver money of the country disappeared. True to the history of metallic money in all ages, in the hour of peril, of a country’s greatest need, her gold and silver money always takes flight. What had become of it ? Why Shylock had obtained possesion of it, for what purpose we shall see hereafter.

 

The necessities of the war required vast sums of money ; but the treasury was empty, the gold and silver money of the country had fled. What was to be done ? The government was in duty bound to suppress the rebellion, to defend herself against the aggressions of her enemy. She must call out troops, clothe, feed and provide them with munitions of war. She must equip hundreds of thousands of soldiers to to defend the liberties that had been entrusted to her keeping. But where should she derive means for this vast expenditure, where, in her distress, should she look for succor and support ? Where, indeed, could the government look except to her own moneyed classes ? Did not Wall Street rejoice in the declaration of war, and loudly protest against the secession of the slave States ? Surely, Wall Street would come to the rescue, and pour out her treasure in defense of the government. So said justice, so said patriotism, but history tells usquite another story. Neither American nor foreign capitalists would loan money to the government upon any reasonable terms. True the banks would loan their notes at 20 per cent. discount, that is, they would exchange eighty dollars of their notes for one hundred dollars in government bonds, bearing a high rate of interest, payable in gold, and backed by the government ; but they had not the power to make even these notes good in the hands of the soldier. Foreign capitalists would not at that time loan us any money, for they hoped and expected to see the republic rent in twain and the star of our liberty sink in a night of anarchy and blood.

 

Words are inadequate to express the hopeless condition of the country, and it would be almost impossible to give credence to the demands of avarice, were not its authenticity sustained by the most reliable records. From Appleton’s Cyclopedia for 1861, page 296, we learn that the money kings of Wall Street graciously tendered loans to the government in her distress at from 24 to 36 per cent. interest—these same money kings whom today we hear quoted as those generous, patriotic capitalists. Why, sirs, the South itself was not more formidable and determined in the preservation of her slave property than were these Shylocks in their determination to wrench from the government in her distress, such usury as would have put to shame their world renowned ancestor. On the one hand appeared the bristling steel of the enemy ; on the other, disguised as a friend and urging on the war, stood Shylock clutching his gold and demanding therefor a rate of interest that would drain the life blood of the nation more effectually than the bullets of a Southern foe.

 

But what was Shylock to do ? The gold and silver of the country were in his possession, and they would not serve his purposes unless he could loan them to the government at exorbitant rates of interest. Knowing the necessities of the government these Shylocks determined to persist in their demands, for they had planned through the misfortune of the government to enrich and aggrandize themselves. This was why they rejoiced while others wept, this was why the tidings of war brought gladness to their hearts. By hoarding the gold and silver of the country they thought to compel the government to accede to their demands, and while the soldier was giving his life on the battle field they would gather to themselves riches and power.

 

But the great leader, Lincoln, was not to be baffled ; he loved the people better than Shylock, and justice better than oppression. From the constitution he read, “ Congress shall have power to declare war.” Again he read, “ Congress shall have power to coin money.” Then to the world he declared that Congress would coin money, and that the government, at whose head stood the fearless Lincoln, would not submit to the infamous demands of Shylock. Following this declaration came the enactments of July 17, 1861, and February 12, 1862, authorizing the issue of $60,000,000 treasury notes, not bearing interest and payable for all debts, public and private. These first issues of greenbacks constitute the demand notes, which, unlike all subsequent issues did not contain the exception clause, consequently they have always been at par with gold, and establish the fact, that had it not been for the exception clause on the greenback they would have always remained at par with gold. Wherever gold went these demand notes could go, even into the coffers of the bond-holders. They paid his interest, paid duties on imports, the millionaire took off his hat to them, and the banker made obeisance.

 

The issuance of this money at once brought relief to the country. With it the soldier was paid for his services, and his equipments furnished. Light began to break through the darkness that spread over the country, the destitution of the soldier’s family gave way to moderate comfort, and although the pall of death was frequently spread at his door, its terror was relieved by the assurance that the government had made provision for his family. With an abundance of money, not even the blight of war could check the prosperity of the country, save in those sections desolated by its immediate ravages. Commerce, industry and education received a new impetus, and flourished as never before in the history of the country.

 

But Shylock was sullen and disconsolate, having failed in his scheme to rob the people through exorbitant rates of interest, he immediately entered upon another scheme of brigandage which even the adroit Lincoln seemed unable to fathom. Having hoarded the gold and silver of the country, it was through this channel, if at all, he must despoil the country. Now, since Congress had made provision to supply the country with government money, there was no longer a demand for Shylock’s hoarded gold, and his purposes seemed thwarted. But greed neither slumbers nor sleeps, nor did Shylock rest until his bandits had an appointed rendezvous. We find that only four days after the passage of the legal tender act to supply the country with government money, a bankers’ convention was held in Washington, consisting of four delegates from New York banks, three from Philadelphia, and three from Boston. Shylock was alarmed ; he saw in the legal tender act a friend to the people, that it would transfer the monopoly of the money from his hands to the control of the people, he saw in it a precedent which, if established, would forever after enable the government to relieve itself and the people without submitting to his usurious extortions. He knew, too, that the government supplied with its own money would have no occasion to call from its hiding place his hoarded gold, unless by some means he could create a market for it. This, then, was plainly the object of that notable bankers’ convention, to create a demand far Shylock’s hoarded gold. Subsequent legislation tells us how well they succeeded.

 

CHAPTER II.
THE EXCEPTION CLAUSE.

To the busy world there was nothing remarkable in the calling of a convention at Washington. But why a bankers’ convention ? And why called immediately upon the passage of the legal tender act ? What had been done that necessitated such a speedy gathering of the money mongers ? Why, Congress had made the money of the government full legal tender for all debts, and Shylock and his gold had been ignored. The bankers must have a consultation, and have it at once. They must get control of Congress and devise some means by which the demand for their gold would become imperative. There is left no room to doubt but that the conspiracy perfected at that convention resulted in that infamous exception clause on the greenback, and was consummated by act of Congress, February 25,1862, wherein it was stipulated that the greenback should be legal tender for all debts, public and private, except duties on imports and interest on the public debt, which from that time forward should be paid in coin. Shylock rejoiced ; he had accomplished his purpose, he had created a demand for his gold. Henceforth government should bow to him, and none should question his right to wield the golden scepter of money king. He had not conquered by bayonet or bowie knife, neither army nor navy had been at his command, but he had subjugated this people more effectually than ever Alexander or Napoleon had conquered.

 

For Congress to stipulate that only a certain article should be used in payment of certain government debts was simply to create a demand for that article. Had the act read that only white pigeons should be used in payment of interest and import duties, do you not see how a demand for white pigeons would have been created ? And if one hundred men had secured a corner on the pigeon business it would have been equivalent to a corner on the government. This is precisely what Congress did for Shylock—it gave him a corner on this government.

 

But I am asked what harm if Congress did create a demand for Shylock’s hoarded gold ? The wage worker says it did not affect me, as I was working by the day, month or year. The manufacturer says it did not affect me, as I did not use imported material. The consumer says it made no difference with me, for I did not pay duties on imports, neitber did I pay interest on bonds. Well, if none of these individuals were affected by this measure I am certainly in the wrong and most humbly beg your pardon, unless an investigation reveals a different state of affairs.

 

First we will see who paid the premium which Congress offered on Shylock’s gold, and secondly how much Shylock was benefited thereby. You remember that during the war our cotton and sugar crops were cut off in the south and we were obliged to import these articles from foreign countries. At one time the duty on sugar was 76 per cent, about the same time the premium on gold was 185 per cent. That is, it took two hundred and eighty-five cents in greenbacks to buy one hundred cents in gold. Had it not been for the exception clause on the greenback the importer would have held his sugar at $1.76, but besides the import duty he must also pay the premium on the gold. One hundred cents in gold cost him two hundred and eighty-five cents in greenbacks. At the same rate, seventy-six (the import duty), cost him two hundred and sixteen cents in greenbacks, so that instead of paying 76 per cent duty he actually paid 216 per cent, or 140 per cent more than he would have paid had there been no exception clause on the greenback. This $1,40, which went directly into Shylock’s coffers, was added to the price of the sugar and paid by the wage-worker, the manufacturer, and every other consumer of imported sugar. In the same way we were compelled to pay enormous prices for tea, coffee and several hundred imported articles. In the year 1864 the American people paid, in consequence of the exception clause, nearly four hundred million dollars, or about eighty-seven dollars to each family. With wages at $2.00 per day the head of each family worked forty-three and one-half days during the year, or nearly one day in each week for the gold gamblers of Wall Street. The government never received one farthing of that enormous sum, and the masses of the people never understood why they paid such exorbitant prices. Shylock did not go to them with bayonet and bowie-knife and demand their money, but in every pound of imported sugar, in every yard of imported clothing they paid him tribute just the same. The weapons with which he conquered were statutory laws enacted solely for his benefit. Think of the situation. The soldier facing death on the battle field for $16 per month, sends that money to his sorrow stricken family to be used in supplying them with the necessaries of life ; and in the purchase of their food and clothing with this blood-bought treasure, they pay indirectly to the gold gamblers of Wall Street from 25 to 50 per cent. Where is the man or the woman whose cheek does not burn with indignation and shame as he contemplates this robbery of the soldier and his family.

 

But again, the enormity of the crime did not end with Shylock’s power to rob the people through import duties. The exception clause had depreciated the greenback. This was a part of Shylock’s scheme. I know you have been told by the popular press and orators of every reason under heaven—except the right one—why the greenback was depreciated. They have told you it was because the Democrats cried them down ; and again, because so many were issued it was feared the government would not be able to redeem them. Why, my friends, if the best man in Michigan were to give his notes and then refuse to receive them for debts due himself could it have any other effect than to depreciate them ? I tell you it was a part of Shylock’s scheme, nothing but depreciation could follow the exception clause. Now why did Shylock wish to depreciate the greenback ? Simply to enable him to get more of them in his possession with which to buy government bonds. Having purchased such legislation he could buy bonds with greenbacks at face value, and by means of the exception clause he could turn his gold into greenbacks at enormous advantage. Let us take a view of the situation.

 

It is A. D. 1864. The country is desolated by war. Scarcely a family in which death has not entered. Fathers, husbands, brothers and sons have been stricken down at the battle of Spottsylvania, or the Wilderness, and there is mourning throughout the land. The wail of the widow and the cry of fatherless children are heard alike in the homes of affluence and poverty. Mothers wring their hands and cry aloud in an agony of grief, an only son has been smitten down in the battle of the Wilderness, or perhaps a first-born, with shattered limbs, lies writhing and delirious in a distant hospital. The pall of death is over the land. But the clamor and clangor of business goes on.

 

A cargo of goods has entered one of our ports ; government requires the duty to be paid in gold. The importer proceeds at once to Wall Street, which, after the exception clause was placed on the greenback, became the great gold market of the earth, and as Judge Kelley justly said, “ It invited from all the money centers of the world their most voracious vampires to come here and fatten upon the life-blood of the American people.” Thither our importer wends his way, and as it chanced to be the month of July, 1864, he found he must pay $285 in legal tender money for $100 in gold. But there is no alternative, he pays the required sum, adds that much more to the price of his goods, and turns over the $100 in gold to the custom house officers, who duly deposit it in the United States Treasury. There we leave our importer, who has been compelled to add to the price of his goods, not only the import duty but also the enormous premium on Shylock’s gold. Let us now return to our Wall Street broker and see how he has been effected by the calamity of war. The $285 in greenbacks, which the importer paid him for the $100 in gold, he immediately invests in government bonds at face value. His next step is to draw interest on his bonds, for the act of February 25, 1862, stipulated that his interest should not only be paid in gold but in advance. Having drawn his gold interest in advance he is prepared on the morrow to sell it to the next importer, and with each exchange he clears $185 on every $100 in gold. Shall we ever cease to extol the patriotism of those Wall Street capitalists ? But our picture is not complete until we take a look at the soldier. Sixteen dollars per month seems a small compensation for one to stand before death in its multitude of forms. But the soldier’s love of country overcame his fear of death, and he braved the terrors of the battle field that he might bequeath to his little ones the inheritance of liberty ; and if not impelled by love of country, the government did not hesitate to use its prerogative of “ drafting into the service.” But did it draft money ? No. It must not interfere with the “ sacred rights of property.” Human life must be sacrificed for its protection, but property was inviolable.

 

During the latter part of the war the government paid the soldier $16 per month in greenbacks for risking his life on the battle field ; with this he could purchase just $16 in government bonds. But the government paid Shylock in gold for risking his credit, and for sixteen dollars in gold, during the month of July 1864, he could purchase $43.60 in government bonds. The question now arises, how much did the government actually pay the soldier, and how much is still due him ? Morally, and I believe legally, our government is today under greater financial obligations to the soldier than it is to the bond holder. Who will dare to say that human life is less sacred than capital ? Or that every greenback dollar paid the soldier was not redeemed by his service—perhaps his life ? Is there a quality in redemption that asks a higher price than agony and blood ?

 

President Cleveland has been greatly censured for vetoing private pension bills, but how many of those who condemn him uphold the action of the government that perpetrated this wholesale robbery upon the soldier ? And how many of them voted against General Weaver’s bill for making up to the soldiers the difference between gold and the depreciated currency in which they were paid ? It is folly to claim that the war and business could not have been carried on without Shylock’s gold. We have already shown that the government after issuing its own money—the greenback—had no need of gold, until, through strategy, the exception clause was placed on the greenback, and placed there for no other purpose than that of creating a demand for the gold hoarded by the money kings of the country.

 

During the past few years, several states have made large appropriations for the erection of soldiers’ homes. Doubtless to many this seems a very beneficent act on the part of the government, but is it beneficence when the robber restores a part of his ill-gotten gains to the man he has victimized ? Had the interests of the soldier been as carefully guarded during the war as were the interests of the money monger, there is no doubt but that many who today languish in these institutions would be comfortable and happy in homes of their own, independent of either public or private charity.

 

CHAPTER III.
NATIONAL BANKING SYSTEM.

 

THE next scheme for robbing the people was the national bank act, passed in 1863. Of all the villainous schemes of robbery ever practiced upon any people our national banking system stands preeminent. By it Shylock was permitted to invest his greenbacks in government bonds at face value ; upon these bonds he not only drew gold interest in advance but by means of the bank scheme he actually had 90 per cent of their value returned to him. While drawing interest upon the entire investment in the form of bonds, 90 per cent of it has been returned to him in the form of national bank notes, and it is with these he carries on his banking business, loaning them out upon the most advantageous terms. On the one hand he draws interest from the government ; on the other, from the same investment he draws interest from his individual debtors.

 

For instance, you borrow $100 from your national banker, he graciously loans it to you at ten per cent in advance, which actually leaves you but $90. With this $90 you supply your family with food and clothing, upon a large part of which, as we have already shown, you pay an import duty, this import duty, please remember, went into the treasury and from thence paid interest on this same banker’s bonds. Now is it not clear that your banker has been paid two interests upon the same money, one directly upon the bank notes, presented him by the government, which he loaned to you at ten per cent interest, the other indirectly as interest on his bonds, which was paid with the import duty that had been added to the price of your goods ? Now it is not for me to condemn individuals for taking advantage of this infamous law, but we do in most unqualified terms, denounce such a system of public robbery. None but the wealthy classes are able to enter upon this profitable banking business. If it is proper for the government to make the business of the wealthy thus lucrative, is it not equally just to give like advantages to the poorer classes ?

 

A wise government will look to the interests of its wealth producers who constitute the great toiling masses, and a just government would make the way to prosperity as easy for its humblest as for its most wealthy citizen. If this system is good for banking it ought to be good for every other legitimate enterprise, and every other law-abiding citizen is entitled to like consideration.

 

Let us see how this system would affect, that great industrial class, the farmer. To illustrate : Mr. Jones is a farmer in easy circumstances ; the markets are favorable and he concludes to sell his wheat crop ; accordingly he hauls 1,000 bushels to market ; having no immediate use for the money, he agrees with the buyer to sell at $1 per bushel and take in payment this $1,000 note. It is a long-time note, fully secured, bears a good rate of interest, payable in gold semi-annually in advance. Mr. Jones being well secured, feels that he has made a good exchange, in place of property idle and subject to loss in his granary, it is now safe and yielding a handsome income. He is congratulating himself upon his ability as a financier, when he is accosted by the dealer, who informs him that he —the dealer—has on hand another variety of wheat equally good as that he had just purchased, and since he had found Mr. Jones a keen, thrifty business man, he would present him with 900 bushels of it. The only expense to Mr. Jones would be the cost of handling, which would be one per cent of the value of the wheat, or $9. The wheat should be taken to Mr. Jones’ granary, where he could loan it to his neighbors upon the most advantageous terms. Nothing would be required of him for twenty years ; at the end of that time, unless they could enter into a new contract, it would be necessary for him to return the 900 bushels of wheat ; nothing would be required of him for the use of it, although by judiciously loaning to his neighbors twenty fold had been returned to him.

 

Words could scarcely express the surprise of Mr. Jones upon hearing this irrational proposition. We may imagine him taking the $1,000 note from his pocket, and scrutinizing it with the gravest suspicions, or inspecting the shining gold pieces—his advance interest—to satisfy himself that they are not spurious. But being reassured, he hastens home to carry the news of his good fortune to the partner of his joys. He playfully drops the shining gold pieces into her lap, with the assurance that they are partial proceeds of the wheat, and that they are hers to invest in the new silk she had so long desired. Mrs. Jones expresses great surprise, for she had been previously informed that a $1,000 interest bearing note would be the return for the wheat. Mr. Jones complacently taking the note from his pocket, informs her that the gold pieces are simply the advance interest on his note ; he then expatiates upon the beauties and advantages of such a system, declaring that hereafter his notes must be drawn with interest payable in advance. Then with an air of haughty indifference, he informs her that besides the gold interest and $1,000 note, 900 bushels of wheat were being returned to him, and that the very men who hauled away the 1,000 bushels in the morning were returning with 900 to be replaced in his granary.

 

This announcement was too startling for truth-loving Mrs. Jones. She threw up her hands in horror ; for twenty-eight years she had been the wife of Darius Jones, and for the first time in all these years she had occasion to doubt his veracity. But the unwelcome thought was checked as a shudder of fear ran through her frame. “ Poor Darius,” thought she, “ must be insane.” Great sobs of grief began to choke her utterance, when casually glancing out of the window, she saw a train of loaded wagons coming up the lane. She stood for a moment dazed, great beads of perspiration appeared on her forhead. She looked at Darius, at the approaching train, then nervously scanning the $1,000 note, she pushed it with the gold from her, and burst into a flood of agonizing tears. It was long before Darius could reconcile his wife to this mysterious proceeding, but there was a vein of ambition in her nature which dominated at times, and when she saw the benefits that must accrue from such a transaction, she not only became reconciled but regarded with pride the acumen that had so increased their material prosperity. From that time the Joneses moved in the most aristocratic circles, and were accounted among the “best” people of the community.

 

To many of my readers, no doubt, this little story appears like a most exaggerated fiction, but truth is stranger than fiction, and this truth is not only strange but startling. He who doubts its authenticity has only to read the laws which govern our national banking institutions, and in proof of the rapacity of the system let me add that there is today a bill pending in congress, whereby it is proposed to make the bank circulation, not 90 but 100 per cent, the full face value of the bond ; in other words, Mr. Jones proposes the return of a full 1,000 bushels of wheat in addition to his $1,000 bond and advanced gold interest. But the clear-headed, vigilant Weaver is on guard, and to him the people may safely entrust this momentous question. Further, the national banks, as depositories for the U.S. Treasury, today hold $59,000,000 of the people’s money upon which they are not paying one cent interest, but are and have been for the last 20 years loaning it at from 8 to 10 per cent, or using it for effecting corners on the necessaries of life. At one time the First National Bank of New York—John Sherman’s bank—had the free use of $43,000,000 of the people’s money, at a time when its own capital stock was less than a quarter of a million. It was thus that honest John Sherman “east anchor to windward” when he was the people’s servant.

 

The founders of our government had a salutary dread of the bankers’ influence making itself felt in shaping the national legislation. They anticipated the evils that we have seen in our days to result from allowing the banking interest to become dominant in the halls of Congress. We find, therefore, the Third Congress of the United States Senate passing the following resolution on the 23d of December, 1793:

 

“ Any person holding any office or any stock in any institution in the nature of a bank for issuing or discounting bills or notes payable to bearer or order, cannot be a member of the House whilst he holds such office or stock.”

 

The resolution was signed by the President, George Washington.

 

At that time there were only three banks in the whole country. Yet even then Congress thought that the bank influence was such a standing danger to the maintenance of legislative purity that it deemed it necessary to provide against it by special legislation.

 

The three banks of 1793 have grown to over 3,000, and the banking interest as we have seen at one time had 189 representatives in Congress, the next largest representation being that of the legal profession, while the industrial classes were comparatively without any representation.

 

It is hardly necessary to point out the results of the large preponderance of bankers in Congress. It has for years been seen in the whole tenor of Congressional legislation. The interests of the industrial classes have been constantly and systematically sacrificed, while the interests of the moneyed classes have been persistently pushed to the front. Now has the law of 1793 been repealed ? If not, are there not enough honest men in Congress to see that it is put into effect ? Unless something be speedily done to revive this law, our government will soon be openly, as it already is secretly, a bankers’ government.

 

If anyone doubts that the national banking system was not deliberately planned for the purpose of robbing the people, he may be undeceived by a careful perusal of the following private circular, sent out to the bankers of the country by their secretary, James Buell. Here is the circular :

 

DEAR SIR—It is advisable to do all in your power to sustain such daily and prominent weekly newspapers, especially the agricultural and religious press, as will oppose the issuing of greenback paper money, and that you withhold patronage or favors from all applicants who are not willing to oppose the government issue of money. Let the government issue the coin and the banks issue the paper money of the country, for then we can better protect each other. To repeal the law creating national banks, or to restore to circulation the government issue of money, will be to provide the people with money, and will therefore seriously affect your individual profits as banker and lender. See your member of Congress at once, and engage him to support our interest, that we may control legislation.

(Signed by the Secretary.)
JAS. BUEL,
No. 147 Broadway (Room 4), New York.

 

Mark you it is especially the agricultural and religious press through which the secretary designs working upon the prejudices of the people. Surely not a very tame reflection upon the intelligence of these classes, but when we hear the so-called Christian minister upholding such a system of class legislation, it is evident that at least so far as such religionists are concerned, Mr. Buell did not “ reckon without his host.”

 

Now we have no more right to condemn the men who have taken advantage of our banking laws than we have to condemn the liquor seller who complies with the requirements of the liquor law. They are both law-abiding citizens, both doing a legitimate business. The trouble is not with the individuals, but with the law. Comparatively few men will be better than the law makes them. So long as robbery is legalized, we must be afflicted with robbers. This morning the country is horrified with the news of a shocking railroad disaster, and the horror is magnified by the rumor that ghouls in human form perpetrated the most fiendish robberies upon the dead and dying ; indeed it is even asserted that these fiends planned the disaster for the sole purpose of robbing the victims. But we have another picture. The life of our nation is trembling in the balance. A million of armed men face each other on the battlefield, the roar of artillery and the thunderous note of the cannon send desolation to thousands of stricken households ; our country is one vast graveyard, and the land is red with fratricidal blood. In our nation’s capitol are assembled the law makers of the land ; among them are those who encouraged and urged on the war, who declared that “ a nation is not worth a curse without blood-letting.” These are they who sat in our congressional halls and speculated upon the most effectual means of robbing the widows and orphans of these dead and dying soldiers, who instituted laws by which the children and children’s children of these helpless soldiers should henceforth become their wage-slaves, and the bondmen of their children through all generations. Laws which, unless repealed, are destined soon to crush out the liberties of the people and the life of our Republic. Theirs was legalized robbery—the railroad bandits wrecked only a train—but these a nation.

 

CHAPTER IV.

CONTRACTION

THE third scheme of robbery was that of contracting the currency by destroying the greenbacks. In pursuance of this plan the act of April 12, 1866, was passed whereby it was provided that a regular and systematic cremation of greenbacks should take place.

 

Let it be remembered that upon this government money the greenback, the people did not pay interest. It was backed by the government, which made it safe and reliable, and issued in sums convenient for small as well as large business transactions. The money monger, with $1,000 in greenbacks, had found it necessary to employ that money in order to derive any profit from it. This added to his care, which apparently was the very thing he sought to avoid ; investments in commerce and manufacturing required his personal supervision ; investments in houses and land incurred taxation, risks, and often loss ; but investment in bonds seemed quite suited to his esthetical tastes, for they returned a rich golden harvest, without any of the annoyances of taxation, insurance or even the care of looking after his investments.

 

Is it any wonder he hailed with joy the contraction policy, and gladly gave his $1,000 in greenbacks (to be consigned to the furnace), in exchange for a $1,000 untaxed, interest-bearing bond ? But what of labor seeking employment ? Shylock has invested his property in bonds, he has no need of labor ; true, labor must pay the interest on his bonds, but he has no employment for it. While this $1,000 was in government money it could have given two men employment in some profitable business ; but with his money invested in bonds, he kicks labor into the street and growls about the inefficiency of the tramp law. He does nothing whatever to advance the interests of labor, but drains its life-blood in payment of his everlasting interest. By investing the $1,000 in bonds it is taken from circulation. There is $1,000 less for the people to do business with, and $1,000 more for them to pay interest upon.

 

Again, by contracting the volume of money it lowered the prices of other property and added that much more to the burdens of the debtor class. For instance, Mr. Burt bought a farm for $6,000, when wheat was $2 per bushel. He paid $3,000 cash, and placed upon it a mortgage for the remaining $3,000, which he expected to pay with wheat at $2 per bushel. A part of the $3,000 cash invested in the farm was Mr. Burt’s savings from his services in the army. He was a good soldier and bore testimony of having seen active service. He was one of the first to enlist, and stood by the old flag until the last shot was fired, then he returned home, determined to spend the remainder of his days in the enjoyment of that peace so nobly won ; accordingly he purchased his farm, little dreaming of the vicissitudes that awaited him.

 

Before the first pay day came the money of the country had been contracted 25 per cent, the price of wheat had been reduced in the same ratio, from $2.00 to $1.50 per bushel. Neither the debt nor interest had in any way been contracted, and Mr. B. found it necessary to hire $250 to make up his payment. He had not been disappointed in his wheat crop, it was even better than he expected, but for some inexplicable reason the price was not what he expected. He was told there had been an over-production of wheat, that the supply was greater than the demand ; and yet he knew that one of his neighbors, a day laborer, had never been so hard pushed to keep the wolf from the door. The laborer was sober and industrious, Mr. Burt had often employed him ; but since the price of wheat had declined, he must economize, and the first step in economy was to reduce the wages of his “help.”

 

When the next payment came due, wheat brought but $1 per bushel, and Mr. Burt was obliged to hire $500 to meet his payment. In applying to a national banker for assistance, he found that “money was scarce, but he would try and get it for him at one per cent a month.” Mr. Burt concluded to look farther, and after a long search found a “friend” who decided to let him have the amount at 10 per cent in advance. This, taken from the $500, left him $450. The other $50 was made up by selling a few sheep and the best cow. Heretofore the butter had furnished Mrs. B. the means for keeping the children respectably clothed, but now the cow had gone and there was no means of replenishing their clothing. Susan, John, Willie and even little Mary, were extremely sensitive, and when their clothes began to be shabby their fondness for the Sunday school declined. Mr. Burt did not renew his church subscription that year, and it was very uncomfortable for him to sit in his pew and hear the minister preach about the worldly minded man, who thought more about the price of wheat than of his soul’s Salvation, and who grew so avaricious that he would not subscribe for the support of the gospel. Mr. Burt listened to what the preacher said, but his heart grew hard, his clothes grew shabby, and his attendance at church grew infrequent and finally ceased altogether.

 

A few weeks before the third and final payment came due, Mr. Burt sold his wheat at 75 cents per bushel ; a fine crop, but it failed to meet the requirements of the contract, foreclosure followed, and Mr. Burt and family were turned penniless into the street. Setting out in search of work he unfortunately reached Michigan just after her tramp law had taken effect. Wandering from place to place, shabbily dressed and “without any visible means of support,” he was finally arrested for vagrancy, and sent to the penitentiary. Disheartened and overcome by a feeling of disgrace, he soon sickened and died. His friends, ignorant of his whereabouts, knew nothing of his sad fate. Twenty-four hours after his death, on a bleak December day, a rough wooden box was landed at the basement window of the medical department of the Athens of Michigan, and a few days later a subject with care-worn look and locks prematurely grey, was laid upon the dissecting table. The students jocosely remarked that “the old fellow must have been a soldier, judging from the number of scars upon his person.” But there was one student who did not join in the merriment of his companions. He earnestly scanned the features of the dead man, and half an hour after the dismissal of the class a missive was winging its way to the state penitentiary. The next day the expressman brought a little package to the serious student. He opened it with trembling hands ; alas, his conjectures were realities. The package contained a few articles of clothing, and in a little soiled packet he found some mementoes from his father’s house, among them the picture of a beautiful maiden, his sister Mary, and by her side a young man in soldier’s uniform. The blood curdled in his veins. He remembered when that picture was taken, though only a child ; the occasion was indelibly fixed upon his mind. It was the day that his sister was married to the soldier—Joseph Burt—the pauper of yesterday, the victim of the dissecting knife. Spared from the shot and shell of the battlefield to die a pauper’s death, and to suffer a fate that none but criminals should ever know. Ah, my country ! where is thy gratitude ?

 

Through the contraction of the currency Mr. Burt’s debt was doubled, and what is true of this unfortunate debt is equally true of the debt of the government. Notwithstanding John Sherman said to the laboring people of Ohio less than a year ago that “the debt is nearly paid off,” yet it is a fact that this debt is a greater burden upon us today than it was at the close of the war. That is, our debt-paying power has been reduced in a far greater ratio than the debt itself, and today it would take more bushels of wheat, more tons of hay, or more bales of cotton, to pay our national debt than it would have taken at the close of the war. What is true of the debt is equally true of the interest, and notwithstanding we have paid interest enough to have twice paid the original debt, it will take more pounds of beef, pork, or wool, more day’s labor to pay our interest this year than it took in 1866. The effects of contraction on the morals of the country is briefly depicted by a Georgia editor as follows :

 

In 1868 there was about $40 per capita of money in circulation ; cotton was about 30 cents a pound. The farmer then put a 500 pound bale of cotton on his wagon, took it to town and sold it. Then he paid $40 taxes, bought a cooking stove for $30, a suit of clothes for $15, his wife a dress for $5, 100 pounds of meat for $18, 1 barrel of flour for $12, and went home with $30 in his pocket. In 1887 there was about $5 per capita of money in circulation ; this same farmer put a 500 pound bale of cotton on his wagon, went to town and sold it, paid $40 taxes, got discouraged, went to the saloon, spent his remaining $2.30 and went home dead broke and drunk.

 

There is no doubt but it was the avowed policy of the party in power to retire from circulation and utterly destroy every dollar of greenback currency. Words are inadequate to express the horror that such a movement would have precipitated upon the people. It is enough to know the results of ten years of such legislation. Ten years in which our government circulation was reduced nearly fourteen hundred million dollars, and swept into the vortex of financial ruin thousands and tens of thousands of our grandest and truest men. In the words of a philanthropic journalist we will review the history of the ten years of contraction :

 

On the 12th day of April, 1866, congress passed a law authorizing the secretary of the treasury to sell 5-20 bonds, and with the proceeds retire United States currency, including greenbacks.

 

On Dec. 4, 1866, E.G. Spalding, a Buffalo, N.Y., banker, a member of congress, wrote to Secretary McCulloch as follows :

 

You, no doubt, now, to a certain extent, have control of the currency of the country, and I think that you will, of necessity, contract moderately, so as to preserve a tolerable easy money market. There may be occasional spasms or tightness for money, but generally, I shall look for plenty of money, for at least one year to come.

 

When this letter was written the country was in possession of $1,996,687,770 currency.

 

During this year, there were but 520 business failures in the whole country, involving a loss of but $17,625,000. Labor was well paid and fully employed

1867.

 

This year the work of contraction was vigorously pushed, and there were 2,386 failures, with a total loss of $86,218,000.

 

1868.

 

During this year, $473,000,000 of money was destroyed, and failures increased to 2,608, with a loss to creditors of $63,774,000. Money began to be tight, and financial “spasms” were frequent.

 

1869.

 

During this year over $500,000,000 of money passed into the cremation furnace, producing 2,799 business failures, and a loss of $75,054,900. Money growing tighter and wages lower.

 

1870.

 

This year $67,000,000 of money was destroyed, and 3,551 failures took place, involving a loss of $88,242,000. Money very scarce and wages of labor were reduced all over the country.

 

1871.

 

Thirty-five millions of money this year is retired, with 2,915 failures and a loss of $85,250,000. More men out of work and wages cut down.

 

1872.

 

Only about $12,000,000 was destroyed this year, but such had been the strain upon the business of the country for the past five years that this proved the last straw to 4,069 business firms, involving a loss of $121,058,000. More cutting of wages and strikes talked of.

 

1873.

 

This year the storm reached its climax. Business had hoped that, with every returning season, prospects would brighten and money would become plenty. Instead of this, however, notwithstanding but $1,609,000 were destroyed, the people became panic-stricken, and 5,183 business firms were precipitated, with a loss of $228,499,000. Five hundred thousand men are thrown out of employment, wages cut down all over the country, and strikes are of frequent occurrence.

 

1874.

 

Notwithstanding the terrible results of the last year, the wine-press of contraction still creaks on its hinges of death, as round and round it sweeps out of circulation $75.484,000 certificates of indebtedness, which have been made legal tender money, $85,760,000 treasury notes, $6,335,045 legal tenders, $3,000,000 fractional currency, and $1,000,000 bank notes, producing 5,832 failures, and a loss of $155,239,000 to creditors. A million idle men began to tramp in search of work. Wages still decline and strikes more numerous.

 

1875.

 

The volume of currency, this year, was contracted $40,817,418 and the failures reach 7,740, with loss to creditors of $201,060,000. Two millions of laborers out of work. Famine and hunger begin to stare them in the face, and “tramping” becomes a profession.

 

1876.

 

According to the most reliable estimates, the contraction of the currency this year, in the destruction of greenbacks, and the withdrawal of bank currency amounts to about $85,000,000, with 9,092 failures, and $191,000,000 loss, during the first quarter of the year. The aggregate failures of the year reached over 10,000, with losses not less than $300,000,000. This does not include losses to stockholders, by foreclosure and sale of railroads.

 

What a record for ten years ! Who wonders times were hard, and men idle ? Still with all this array of wreck and ruin, with the finger-board of contraction at the close of each year, pointing to the cause, the people were asleep, or on their knees praying for some interposition of Providence in their behalf, while John Sherman went marching on with the torch of death, to burn the remaining $300,000,000 of the the people’s money.

 

Three million men are out of employment.

Bankruptcies multiplying with great rapidity.

The tramp nuisance culminates.

Wages are cut down to starvation prices.

 

Strikes, riots and general consternation seize the people, and the circulation is cut down to $606,000,000.

 

1877.

 

The red torch of the vandal lighted up the country from Pittsburg to Chicago. These are the footprints of the red-mouthed despots, the money power, which is still forging chains for the limbs of American industry, with a view to enslaving the American populace by robbing them of their homes and firesides, and thus controling their life, liberty, and pursuits of happiness by controling their wages through the control and monopoly of money.

 

These are God’s truths which the people can heed and be saved, or heed not and the Republic be lost.

 

CHAPTER V.
CREDIT-STRENGTHENING ACT.

 

BUT we have not yet completed the enumeration of crimes perpetrated against the people of this country through this infernal system of legalized robbery.  Having purchased their bonds with government money, depreciated from 38 to 60 per cent (on account of the exception clause) and having exempted them from taxation, with advanced interest payable in gold, it would seem that the climax of audacity had been reached.  But who can fathom the greed of the money shark, or set bounds to the voracity of a civilized brigand

 

The fourth act in Shylock's tragedy, by which the government and this great people were sacrificed, is familiarly known as the credit-strengthening act, by which the 5-20 bonds were made payable in coin.  This act, approved March 18, 1869, added to the burdens of the people more than six hundred millions of dollars.  It is claimed by many bond holders and their leaders, that the act which authorized the issue of these bonds made them payable in gold.  But there is no such possible interpretation of the act, and if they were issued payable in gold in the first place why did they pass the credit strengthening act of 1869 ?  The very fact that they passed that act four years after the close of the war, when the country was at peace with the world and itself, is proof beyond question that they were at first made payable in legal tender, and that this law was passed for no other purpose than that of doubling the wealth of the bond holder, which, of necessity, must and did double the burdens of the people.  Further, we have undeniable proof that the act was secured through the most soulless strategy, and that Grant, Sherman and Morton were parties to it.  There is not the slightest doubt but that Grant's election to the presidency, and Sherman's appointment to the treasury were secured through their pledges to obtain the passage of this infamous act.  Those who opposed the measure were denounced as repudiators, and in his inaugural address Grant warned his party that no repudiator of one farthing of the public debt would be trusted in public place.  Immediately upon his inauguration an extra session of Congress was called.  The first bill presented, the first bill passed, the first act approved, the first document sighed by President Grant was this infamous credit-strengthening act, by which the people who placed him in power, were robbed of millions of dollars.  Circumstantial evidence also proves beyond doubt that the election of Grant and the defeat of Seymour was a bargain and sale between the leaders of the old parties, and the most villainous betrayal of public trust ever practiced upon an unsuspecting people.  There had been an attempt to pass the credit-strengthening act during the session of 1867 and 1868 but it failed.  During its pending, a presidential nomination and election took place.  The Democratic party nominated Horatio Seymour on a platform opposed to the coin payment of currency obligations.  The Republican party nominated U.S. Grant on the urgent solicitation and petition of forty capitalists of New York City.

 

August Belmont was chairman of the Democratic national committee ;  he was also agent of the Rothschilds, who were in possession of several hundred millions of the 5-20 bonds, and particularly interested in the credit-strengthening act.  As early as March 13, 1868, Baron James Rothschild instructed August Belmont that unless the Democratic party went in for paying the 5-20 bonds in gold it must be defeated.  The first step was to have the convention held in New York City, and it convened July 4, 1868.  Belmont was unable to control the convention, or at least that part of the platform pertaining to the coin payment of bonds.  But besides being chairman of the Democratic national committee, he also owned a large interest in the New York World, the leading Democratic paper in the country.  Although he had made a sale (doubtless a sham) of his interest in the paper, he could still control it more easily than he could control the Democratic convention, and on the 15th of October, only a few days before election, it came out with a double-leaded editorial denouncing Seymour as unavailable and unfit for president and advised his withdrawal.

 

This action had the effect for which undoubtedly it was intended, that of demoralizing the Democratic party on the eve of election, thus insuring the election of Grant, who had pledged himself to the money power.  During the previous session of Congress, Oliver P. Morton made a speech in which he said :

 

We would do foul injustice to the government and to the people of the United States after we have sold these bonds, on an average of not more than sixty cents on the dollar, now to propose to make a new contract for the benefit of the bond holder.

 

Hon. Thad. Stevens, in speaking of the insatiate demands of the money bond-interest said :

 

We were foolish enough to grant them gold interest, and now they unblushingly demand further advantages ;  the truth is, we can never satisfy their appetite for money.

And on his death bed, said :

 

Yes, we had to yield.  The Senate was stubborn.  We did not, however, until we found the country must be lost or the bankers gratified.  And we have sought to save the country in spite of the cupidity of its wealthier citizens.

 

Ben Wade, of Ohio, in a letter written at Washington, Dec. 13, 1867, expressed himself as follows :

 

I am for the laboring portion of our people, the rich will take care of themselves. * * * * We never agreed to pay the five-twenties in gold ;  no man can find it in the bond, and I will never consent to have one payment for the bond holder and another for the people.  It will sink any party and it ought to.

 

In regard to this policy, John Sherman, in a speech delivered Feb. 27, 1867, said :

 

I say that equality and justice are amply satisfied if we redeem these bonds at the end of five years in the same kind of money, of the same intrinsic value it bore at the time they were issued.  Gentlemen may reason about this matter over and over again, and they cannot come to any other conclusion at least that has been my conclusion after the most careful consideration.  Senators are sometimes in the habit, in order to defeat the argument of an antagonist, of saying that this is repudiation.  Why, sirs, every citizen of the United States has conformed his business to the legal tender clause.  He has collected and paid his debts accordingly.

 

And in a letter dated Feb. 20, 1868, he said :

 

Your idea that we propose to violate or repudiate a promise when we offer to redeem the principal in legal tenders is erroneous.  I think the bond holder violates his promise when he refuses to take the same kind of money he paid for the bonds.

     The bond holder can demand only the kind of money he paid, and he is a repudiator and extortioner to demand money more valuable than he gave.

 

John Sherman, at that time, was comparatively a poor man and, no doubt, an honest man ;  his appetite for pelf had not been awakened, or at least, to that degree which permitted him to sacrifice honor in its getting.

 

In 1875 John Sherman said, “ We are following in the footsteps of England,” and no one knew better than he the scheme that had brought us to that deplorable condition.  In 1879 this same John Sherman, then a millionaire, in a speech made in Toledo, said that “ To refuse to pay the bonds in gold would be repudiation and extortion, and would be scoffing at the blessings of Almighty God.”  Think of it !  A man becoming a millionaire out of a $5,000 salary, and then talk as if he had anything to do with Almighty God.  But as John Sherman grew rich, the country grew poor ;  merchants were driven to bankruptcy, farmers were driven into debt, and finally off their farms.  Workmen were driven out of employment, and tramps thronged the highways.  Despair and ruin sat enthroned in the hearts and homes of this great people.

 

The above let it be remembered, is testimony from leading Republicans of that time, but who, upon the election of Grant to the presidency, either sealed their lips upon this subject or, like Sherman, openly and shamelessly advocated the abominable swindle.

 

Here let me add, that when the bill passed, legalizing this gigantic robbery, there were 189 bankers, and many bond holders in the two houses, while as lobbyists and agents of the heavy bond holders there was an army of workers and feed attorneys, all working for the passage of that atrocious bill, while honest industry was powerless in self-defence.  One shudders to think of these vandals in the temple of our liberty.  They desecrated the sanctuary of our fathers, and despoiled the heritage of their children.

 

The blood curdles to think of Washington and that fratricidal conspirator at the head of the same government.

 

CHAPTER VI.
REFUNDING.

 

THE next and fifth step in the infernal scheme was that of refunding the national debt. Few people ever comprehended the enormity of that crime, and never was there a deeper laid plot to reduce a people to abject and hopeless servitude.

 

This act, approved July 14, 1870, provided for the refunding of the national debt. In other words, it was a scheme to perpetuate the debt and a plot against the people to keep them forever under the yoke of bondage. Webster’s definition of the funding system fully expresses the design of Congress in passing this act ; he says : To fund—to put into the form of bonds or stocks bearing annual interest. To refund is to renew these bonds or stocks, perhaps under a new contract, which changes the rate of interest, though the interest continues. Funding system is “a scheme of finance or revenue by which provision is made for paying annual interest on a public debt.” Mark you, it is a scheme, and no provision is made for paying the debt itself. The refunding of this bonded, untaxed, interest-bearing debt is a calamity upon this people, for it has placed the burden beyond the control of the generation that created it ; we have already paid interest enough to have twice paid the debt, and yet today it is a greater burden upon the people than it was at the close of the war.

 

The evil effects of this system are at this time especially apparent. With money enough in the treasury today half the public debt, the people are debarred this privilege, because the villainous act of refunding has postponed the time of payment from ten to twenty years. In consequence of this nefarious act, about $750,000,000 of the debt cannot be paid until 1907.

 

Consequently, with an enormous sum of money lying idle in the treasury (or what is still more intolerable, deposited with national banks which have been granted its free use for more than twenty years) the people are not only deprived of its use in their business, but are still compelled to pay interest upon the entire amount.

 

Now, would you have any confidence in the business ability of a man who would so arrange a large indebtedness that he should continue to pay interest upon the entire debt after he had accumulated the means for liquidating a large part of it ? And yet this is the very policy embodied in the funding act of 1870. And further, the same party that enacted this law is today putting forth every effort for the expenditure of this surplus, in any and every other way then that of liquidating the national debt. The Direct Tax bill, the Educational bill, the River and Harbor bills, the Pension bills, bills to provide for coast defences, and other innumerable bills for disposing of the surplus are, in the main, schemes concocted for the sole purpose of using this surplus in such a way as to prevent the payment of the bonds and to continue the infernal system of taxation which is wringing the life blood from the people, and which affords the only plausible pretext for maintaining party lines between the two old organizations.

 

But this is not all ; during the present session of Congress, the indomitable Weaver has made the startling discovery that this funding bill never passed Congress in the form in which it appears upon the statute books. By the changing of a single word the import of the entire bill was so changed as to make the four per cent bonds payable only after thirty years, instead of previous to that time. The anarchism of 1887, under its worst construction, sinks into insignificance before the light of such diabolical assassination of law.

 

The object of funding our debt was to establish a bond system on the same plan of England’s bonded debt. England’s debt, which commenced with the same infamous banking system which we have adopted, was established two centuries ago. The interest on her debts supports a few idle aristocrats, but it has reduced to ignorance and degradation millions of her toiling people. Another object of funding our debt was to build up a moneyed oligarchy, and an aristocracy of wealth to compete with that of our ancient foe.

 

That those who have long controlled our government are determined to carry out their plan does not admit the slighest doubt. The bill of Congressman White, now pending, to refund the entire national debt into a fifty-year 2½ per cent bond, also the bill of Senator Farwell to perpetuate the national banks, adds to the evidences of their determination to saddle this interminable burden upon the American people.

 

There is but one interpretation to the funding act ; its object is to compel our children and children’s children, through all generations, to serve the children of these bond holders. Voter, is this the legacy you intended to bequeath to your children ? Is this the liberty they are to thank their fathers for ? Born slaves to aristocrats ! And yet this is the inheritance the money king would bequeath to the posterity of labor in America ; this is what the old parties are asking you to do ; this is what for twenty-five years you have been doing, bartering away this blood-bought inheritance, selling the birth-rights of your children. And what have you received in return ? Mortgaged homes, endless taxes, unremitting and unrequited toil. Is this any better than the inheritance of slaves ? And will you permit this bondage to continue ? Are the ties of party so dear that liberty, home and family must be sacrificed upon its altar ? In the name of your homes and the children that bless them ; in the name of thousands of homes, and tens of thousands of wrecked and ruined lives I entreat you to break this party thralldom and smite down this iniquitous legislation.

 

CHAPTER VII.
DEMONETIZATION OF SILVER.

 

HAVING refunded and made payable in coin the bonds which had not cost their holders more than sixty cents on the dollar, the casual observer is satisfied that the last robbery has been perpetrated. But the busy brain of avarice is ever reaching out, not after new truths, but for gain, gain, GAIN ; and we next find these civilized brigands have consummated a scheme for the demonetization of silver. This act, passed, in 1873, destroyed the money quality of silver, and thus produced a farther contraction of the currency. The object of this act was first to prevent the payment of the bonds, and second to increase their value.

 

Never in this country had there been an investment so safe and yet so reliable. Shylock, with his hoarded millions, could rest on beds of down. Neither fire, flood, mildew nor blight brought anxiety to him. He seemed to rest in assurance of the Divine favor, having obeyed the injunction to “lay up his treasure where moth and rust could not corrupt, nor thieves break through and steal.” Indeed, the entire country had become sponsor for his wealth, for under the law every producer and millions of wage-workers had been instituted a vigilance committee to look after his welfare. Why should he not be opposed to having his bond investment disturbed ? The government held that property in safe keeping and did not charge a cent for the favor ; it collected his interest and paid it over to him free of charge ; it paid his gold interest in advance and exempted him from taxation ; the insurance agent and tax gatherer were strangers to him, they did not molest or make him afraid, and being thus fortified, he was content to let the producers of wealth eke out a miserable existence while he fared sumptuously every day. But it was not the American capitalist alone who entered into this murderous scheme for demonetizing silver. In the Banker’s Magazine of August, 1873, we find the following on this subject :

 

In 1872, silver being demonetized in France, England and Holland, a capital of $500,000 was raised, and Ernest Seyd of London was sent to this country with this fund, as agent of the foreign bond holders and capitalists, to effect the same object (demonetization of silver), which was accomplished.

 

There you have it, a paid agent of English capitalists sent to this country with $500,000 to buy the American Congress and rob the American people. In corroboration of this testimony we read from the Congressional Globe of April 9,1872, page 2804, these words :

 

Ernest Seyd of London, a distinguished writer and bullionist, who is now here, has given great attention to the subject of mint and coinage. After having examined the first draft of this bill (for the demonetization of silver) he made various sensible suggestions, which the committee adopted and embodied in the bill.

 

So says Mr. Hooper, who, at that time, was chairman of the committee on coinage, but I will further add that I heard Hon. Gilbert De Lamartyr say that Judge Kelly told him that he (Kelly) saw the original draft of the bill for the demonetization of silver, and it was in Ernest Seyd’s own handwriting. God of our fathers ! A British capitalist sent here to make laws for the American people. England failed to subjugate us by the bullet, but she stole into our Congressional halls and by the crafty use of gold, obtained possession of the ballot, and today, American industry pays tribute to England, despite our blood-bought seal of independence.

 

Not only did the demonetization of silver prevent, or at least retard the payment of the bonds, but it added to the value of the gold in which these bonds were then to be paid. Every dollar taken from circulation adds to the value of that which is left, hence the demonetization of silver increases the value of gold. After England had demonetized silver, our silver dollar, containing 412½ grains, was not worth as much in that country by at least ten cents on the dollar, as our gold dollar containing 25.8 grains of gold. By destroying the money value of silver, bonds became payable in gold only, thus adding immensely to their value. A British capitalist, holding $100.000,000 of our four per cent bonds, received an annual interest of $4,000,000, which paid in standard silver would be worth ten per cent, or $400,000 less than it would be if paid in gold. This would make a difference in his daily interest of $1,096. Is it not clear why English capitalists were anxious for the United States to demonetize silver, and why they could afford to send Ernest Seyd to this country with a capital of $500,000 to accomplish this object ?

 

Just here will the reader stop for a moment and consider why the Rothschilds, who control the financial policy of England, as the brokers and security-holders of America control ours, why they could afford to pay, not only the paltry half -million with which they bought the demonetization of silver, but many millions more had it been necessary ? Our civil war opened the eyes of England. She knew that her welfare nay, almost her existence, depended upon America’s supply of cotton, meat and cereals ; these were liable to fail, either in rebellion at home or in war with foreign nations. But she was the world’s great creditor, for she held the bonds of all nations, and if she could make them payable in the dearest money in the world, it would enhance her securities many millions, and if she could insure herself an ample supply of wheat and cotton she would be independent of us under all circumstances. Now, since she owned and controlled all India, that great wheat and cotton country, she saw that, with India’s cheap labor and the demonetization of American silver, she would have a double leverage over America and her productions. Silver money is used exclusively in India. England coins that money, and if, with eighty cents, she could buy silver, stamp and pass it for a dollar in payment for India’s wheat and cotton, she not only gained the 20 per cent from her own subjects, but in consequence of the demonetization of silver in America, her debtors here were compelled to pay her at least ten per cent more than they would have paid had not silver been demonetized. Let it also be borne in mind that this discount, whether much or little, was so much new capital with which to open up the interior of India to compete with America and her productions.

 

The injury to the people of this country through the demonetization of silver can never, perhaps, be justly estimated. The panic of 1873 which ensued, was one of the most disastrous that ever befell any people. Language fails in a description of the blighting misery that desolated the country ; the ravages of war are scarcely comparable with it. From the demonetization of silver, in 1873, to its remonetization in 1878, may well be called the dark days of our Republic. Bankruptcies and financial disaster brought in train their legitimate offspring ; and the statistics of those and the ensuing years are voluminous with the most startling and loathsome crimes. Murder, insanity, suicide, divorce, drunkenness and all forms of immorality and crime have increased from that day to this in the most appalling ratio. Will any man say that legislation has had nothing to do with the startling increase of crime in our country ? Every result is produced from certain causes, and it is certain that no more like begets like than that the increase of misery and crime in our country are the direct results of evil legislation. And it is impossible for a nation long to remain free whose laws are made granting special privileges to the few and ignoring the rights of the many. The contraction of the currency, commencing with the destruction of the greenbacks in 1866, and the stringency increased by the demonetization of silver in 1873, has been productive of more misery and crime to the people of this country than all the wars, pestilence and famine with which they have ever been afflicted.

 

In regard to the policy of contraction, Prof. Walker, of Yale College, who is not a politician, nor a statesman, but a cool, unbiased writer and teacher, says :

 

When the process of contraction commences, the first class on which it falls is the merchants of the large cities, they find it difficult to get money to pay their notes ; the next class is the manufacturer, the sale of his goods at once falls off ; laborers and mechanics next feel the pressure, they are thrown out of employment ; and, lastly, the farmer finds a dull sale for his produce ; and all, unsuspicious of the real cause, have a vague idea that their difficulties are owing to the hard times. * * We have become so familiar with these periodical revolutions in trade, that we look upon them as the natural phenomenon of business, but it is not so.

 

Ricardo, another eminent writer on political economy, says :

 

That commodities rise in price in proportion to the increase or diminution of money, I hold to be a fact that is incontrovertible.

 

John Stewart Mill says :

 

If the whole volume of money in circulation were doubled, prices would double.

The money commission, created August 15, 1876, consisting of three United States Senators, three members of the House, and three secretaries, made a report March 2, 1877, in which appear these words :

 

“ That the disasters of the Dark Ages were caused by decreasing money and falling prices, and that the recovery therefrom and the comparative prosperity which followed the discovery of America were due to an increasing supply of the precious metal and rising prices, will not seem surprising or unreasonable when the noble functions of money are considered. Money is the great instrument of association, the very fiber of social organism, the vitalizing force of industry, the protoplasm of civilization and as essential to its existence as oxygen is to animal life. Without money civilization could not have had a beginning, and with a diminishing supply it must languish and unless relieved finally perish.”

“ Falling prices and misery and destitution are inseparable companions.” It is universally conceded that falling prices result from the contraction of the money volume. U.S. Monetary Commission, Vol. 1, p. 50.

 

Again p. 51, “ The highest moral, intellectual and material development of nations is promoted by the use of money, unchanging in its value.”

 

Here we have the conclusion of nine prominent statesmen, who, after an exhaustive examination, emphatically declare that the “true and only cause” of the calamities that have befallen the people is “the shrinkage in the volume of money.” To whom, then, shall we charge these calamities that have come upon us like a flood ? Is it the extravagance of the people ? Is it because too many of the necessaries of life have been produced ? Because the farmer has been too industrious and prudent, or the manufacturer employed too many laborers in the production of his commodities ? Is it because millions of children are employed in the mines and factories of the country, denied every blessing and privilege of childhood ? Is it because the dram shop is sucking away the sustenance of thousands of families, and bringing desolation into their homes ? Is it because women are selling their souls to keep their bodies from starving, or because a band of train robbers are infesting the country and sending terror into the hearts of the people ? No, it is none of these circumstances that have brought such disaster upon our country, but it is a selfish and criminal legislation that has overwhelmed us with these alarming conditions.

 

When the fiend of civil war was desolating the land, when the great heart of the nation throbbed in agony, and the people were bowed in mourning, then a band of men, with murderous purposes, went, not into the battlefield, but into the very sanctuary of our country, the holy place of government, and there, under the guise of patriot and benefactor, pillaged the soldier, and plotted the most diabolical scheme of robbery that ever blackened a historic page. Who were these men ? Ah, history is writing their names in a most damning record, they are drenched with the blood of martyred children, and the agonizing cry of forty millions of enslaved people is ascending continually day and night. Do you ask for evidence that this people were deliberately robbed by a band of men at the head of our government, who were in league with the money power of Europe ? If so, please read and ponder the “confidential” circular which was issued in 1862 by English capitalists, who commissioned one Hazzard, a London banker, to propagate its principles among American bankers with a view of having the financial legislation of Congress pave the way for its final adoption as the settled policy of this nation. How well they succeeded is best told by millions of wrecked fortunes and ruined homes. Here is the infernal document :

Slavery is likely to be abolished by the war power, and chattel slavery destroyed. This, I and my European friends are in favor of, for slavery is but the owning of labor, and carries with it the care for the laborer ; while the European plan, led on by England, is capital control of labor, by controlling wages. This can be done by controlling the money. The great debt that capitalists will see to it is made out of the war, must be used as a measure to control the volume of money. To accomplish this the bonds must be used as a banking basis. We are now waiting to get the secretary of the treasury to make his recommendation to Congress. It will not do to allow the greenback, as it is called, to circulate as money any length of time, for we cannot control that.

 

About the middle of the present century Sir John Lubbock, of England, declared :

There is likely to be an effort made by the capital class to fasten upon the world a rule through their wealth, and by means of reduced wages place the masses upon a footing more degrading and dependent than has ever been known in history. The spirit of money-worshippers seems to be rapidly developing in this direction.

 

A few years later Abraham Lincoln reiterated the same sentiment in his message to Congress in 1861. (See Barrett’s Life of Lincoln, pages 309 and 310.) This important warning is ommitted in the later histories :

 

Monarchy itself is sometimes hinted at as a possible refuge from the power of the people. In my present position I could scarcely be justified were I to omit raising a warning voice against the approach of returning despotism. There is one point to which I ask a brief attention. It is the effort to place capital on an equal footing with, if not above labor, in the structure of government. * * Let them beware of surrendering a political power which they already have, and which, if surrendered, will surely be used to close the door of advancement against such as they, and to fix new disabilities and burdens upon them, till all of liberty shall be lost.

 

These are the words of warning from our country’s sainted martyr, but alas, how little heeded.

 

Again near the close of the war, in reply to a letter from a friend in Illinois, President Lincoln said :

 

Yes we may all congratulate ourselves that this cruel war is nearing its close. It has cost a vast amount of treasure and blood. The best blood of the flower of American youth has been freely offered upon our country’s altar that the nation might live. It has been indeed a trying hour for the republic ; but I see in the near future, a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country.

As a result of the war corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands, and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war. God grant that my suspicions may prove groundless.

What a wonderful prophecy, and how terribly it is being fulfilled.

 

CHAPTER VIII.
RESUMPTION.

 

WOULD to God that the record of atrocities against this nation might end here ! But no, with the people crushed and staggering beneath the burdens imposed upon them through the preceding robberies, we next find these vampires in Congress inflicting a seventh scourge upon the people by means of the resumption act.

 

This act, passed January 14, 1875, authorized the secretary of the treasury to destroy the fractional currency, and issue silver coin in like denominations to take its place. The people had found the fractional currency convenient, not only as a medium of exchange at home, but especially cheap and convenient for small remittances in trade. The destruction of this money was a serious injury to the business men of the country. For without fractional currency, even small remittances incurred the expense of a draft or money order. But Congress appeared to be looking after the interest of the money-monger and not to the prosperity of the country.

 

It next became necessary to issue bonds with which to purchase the silver bullion authorized for coinage. Let it be remembered that these were untaxed, interest-bearing bonds, and of such large denominations that only capitalists were able to carry them, while to the debt-ridden people was added the interest of these very bonds, which could only exist by the destruction of the greenbacks and fractional currency upon which the people paid no interest.

 

The restoration of silver as a medium of exchange was a great triumph to the unthinking masses and greatly increased their confidence in the governmental policy, but to those who studied the situation the jingle of silver was another death-knell to the prosperity of the country. Is it not clear that by destroying a non-interest bearing currency, as the greenback, and substituting an interest bearing bond, that a burden has been added to the people ? Not to the tax-payer only, but to every consumer of food and clothing. But farther, not only has the resumption of specie added to the burdens of the people, but the whole system is a miserable farce. The people have been told, and the masses believe, that their paper currency is redeemable in specie. But first, the smallest amount redeemable is fifty dollars, and secondly, the only place of redemption is the sub-treasury in the city of New York. Is not this clearly another scheme to advance the interests of Shylock ? The expense of getting to the sub-treasury, together with the large amount required, at once shuts off the masses from any advantage there might be in resumption. The people are told that the national bank currency is redeemable in greenbacks, and the greenbacks in specie ; but the fact is carefully concealed that there is not specie enough behind the paper currency to redeem one-half of it ; and should a crisis arise which gave any advantage to the holders of coin, Shylock would be first at the sub-treasury, while the masses with less than fifty dollars at their command would be compelled to lose any advantage there might be in resumption. Will some “hard money” philosopher rise and explain wherein the people have been benefited by resumption ? But it does not require a philosopher to show wherein their burdens have been increased through this infamous scheme.

 

John Sherman who was once honest and then opposed this measure, predicted the results in a speech made in 1869, as follows :

 

It is not possible to take this voyage without the sorest distress. To every person except a capitalist out of debt, or a salaried officer, or annuitant, it is a period of loss, danger, lassitude of trade, fall of wages, suspension of enterprise, bankruptcy, and disaster. * * It means the ruin of all dealers whose debts are twice their business capital, though one-third less than their actual property. It means the fall of all agricultural productions without any great reduction of taxes. When that day comes, every man, as the sailor says, will be close reefed, all enterprise will be suspended, every bank will have contracted its currency to the lowest limit ; and the debtor, compelled to meet in coin a debt contracted in currency, will find the coin hoarded in the treasury, no representative of coin in circulation, his property shrunk not only to the extent of the appreciation of the currency, but still more by the artificial scarcity made by the holders of gold. To attempt this task by a surprise upon our people by arresting them in the midst of their lawful business and applying a new standard of value to their property, without any reduction of their debts, or giving them an opportunity to compound with their creditors, or to distribute the losses, would be an act of folly without an example in evil in modern times.

 

These were the evils that would follow resumption, as prophesied by John Sherman before the clutch of the money power had dwarfed and blackened his soul. Quick to perceive the right with an intuitive love of justice, John Sherman was the natural friend of the people, but avarice perverting his nature, we find him the ready tool of the money power, bartering away his instinctive love of justice and relentlessly antagonizing the interests of the people. His prophecies remain, however, and their fulfillment is undying witness against his degenerate soul.

 

Beasey says :

 

Slavery is the inevitable result of poverty ; poverty is the inevitable result of low wages ; low wages are the inevitable result of scarcity of currency and an improper system of taxation ; and scarcity of currency and an improper system of taxation are the logical results of an unjust administration of the government.

 

Besides the testimony of Senator Sherman and Beasey against the infamous measure, I will also add the opinion of Senator Ferry, of Michigan, who, too honest to retract and take issue against the great industrial masses, paid the penalty perscribed by President Grant, and is no longer “ entrusted in public place.” Here are the words of Senator Ferry in regard to resumption and contraction :

 

It is easy to see why moneyed men want contraction ; the shrinkage then which others must suffer would find compensation in their expanded purses. It would be robbing Peter (the people) to pay Paul (the millionaire).

 

Never were truer words uttered ; the shrinkage which followed contraction ruined thousands, while the moneyed class, without an effort, actually doubled their wealth. Again Senator Ferry says :

 

The universal distres and unparalled failures which have followed these past years of trial, must sadly record the severity of the process, which has brought the country so near resumption and so close to financial ruin.

 

Through the process of contraction, all the truths stated by Senator Ferry have been verified, and all the evils predicted by Senator Sherman have befallen this people. Nor is this the end, for the train of evils brought upon us through this infernal legislation is sapping the energies of the nation and rapidly undermining the bulwarks of our Republic. But it is not necessary to quote the opinions of statesmen, politicians, or political economists to prove that the contraction of our currency has been disastrous to our national prosperity. The experience of the American people for the last twenty years has demonstrated most terribly and conclusively that any system of contraction of the currency is fatal to the industry, morality and general prosperity of a nation.

 

According to treasury reports for the last fiscal year there is, all told, in the United States $1,394,781,000 cash. On January, 1876, Treasurer Jordan reported in the United States treasury $601,102,318.10 (page 45), since that date the hoard has increased at least $100,000,000. He also reported in banks $369,475,385. Total locked up, $1,070,577,703, leaving among the people in circulation $324,103,297. This, divided among 60,000,000 of people, gives us the per capita of each the sum of $5.40. At the close of the war we had in circulation about $2,000,000,000, including the three per cent treasury certificates, compound interest notes, and 7-30 bonds, which entered into the circulating medium ; and a population of about 40,000,000, this sum divided up gave a per capita to each of about $50. Nearly ten times as much per capita as we have at present. With these figures before us who can doubt the real cause of business stagnation, and the rapid increase of pauperism and crime ?

 

Every farmer knows how much more wheat, hay, pork, corn, or wool it takes to buy a dollar now than it did at the close of the war, and many of them know by bitter experience how a mortgage of a few hundred or thousand dollars has swallowed up twice that amount invested in houses, lands or any other property except bonded securities. While property in the form of bonds, mortgages, and stocks, has rapidly appreciated in value, every other form of property has depreciated in the same ratio. Only the wealthy classes are able to hold bond, mortgage and stock securities, and for twenty-five years the great struggles in Congress have been to appreciate the value of these investments, which could only be done by depreciating the property of the masses. Consequently we have found the rich amassing colossal fortunes while the laboring classes are sinking to lower and lower depths of degradation. Since a man’s social, intellectual and moral status depends largely upon his material prosperity, is not that legislation to be denounced which impoverishes the masses, thus degrading them in all the relations of life ?