Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The Alliance-independent. (Lincoln, Nebraska) 1892-1894 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 11, 1892)
Ik V THE ALLI ANCE - INDEPENDENT. THE CURSE OF GOLD. Col. Jesse Harper Arraigns Thi3 Graceless Idol Before the Bar of Truth. Kellogg, Iowa, Jsly 6, 18G2. Col. Hauper. Some years ngo yoa printed n the Advocate ot this State an article rcview 'i5 the Secreiary ortbc Treasury on tho legal nder notes aii'l the silver dollar. It was the Dost complete review I ever saw, and aa both ilio jiartieu place them6elves on a single gold itandard in their platforms, and are dead tet igainst Treasury notca, will you please have 'aw article reprinted? I want to use it for cam saizn purposes. Your friend, J. II. Wilsox. "tho United pledged to the p fi Danville, III. , July H, 1803. JlROTiiKR Wilson. I will have tho article vintprt in thn New Fobfm. It is eood reading. .t had gone out of my mind. J . IIakpeu. "Cursed bo the man who first loved 50W." So sang old Anacron, twenty-five senturies ago. During all these years ?old has been made a curse made so by its lovers. Let the whole race of gold w orshipers be cursed. Let them find no standing ground upon earth. Let them go to their own place, where the Judas went. "Gold! Gold! in all ages, the curte of man kind, I'hy fetters are forged for the soul and the mind." Park Benjamin. Let the golden calf be buried. Let its ashes bo thrown upon the stream of death, to be borne to its native home. Let the idol that robs God of worship and man of honesty, find no rest out Bide of the pit. "A currency in which our monetary unit is coined in gold.' Secretary of the Treasury. That is the gold standard. Somi embros alia. A gold standard in the great Repub lic And the world seventy-five billion dol lars in debt. A gold standard And the Republic owing twenty bil lion dollars, registered debt. A gold standard And the nation, in its people, in dividually owing ten billion dollars. A gold standard The demand of despots. The concession of fools. "The disorders of the country chiefly arise from the operation of two enact mcnts: - 1. The act of February 28, 1878, which has been continued as a per manent appropriation for perpetual Treasury purchase of at least $24,000 000 worth of silver per annum, although from causes mostly foreign, that metal is of unstable and falling value, which must be manufactured into coins of un limited legal tender and issued to our people as equivalents' of our monetary unit. , . , 9 The act of Mav 31. 1878. which indefinitely postponed fulfillment of the solemn pledge (Marcn is. iboa; not omy nf "reriemntion hut also of "payment" nf nil the obligations of the United stntns nnt hearing interest, legalized as ftJUfi.ono naner monev of unlimited Wn.l tender, and reauired the post re riomntinn and issue and re-issue of these promises to pay dollars, as equivalent nfnnr monetary unit. But these two evils, which are each a separate menace tn the. rmhlic tranauilitv and injurious to public morals and the public faith, Thp. Secretary of the Treasury. Take that fulmination altogether and it is a nnnnauitor. There are two un truths in it and one assumption that amounts to a falsehood. The spirit that rrnvft birth to the national banks, is the nniv snirit that could make such an as sail It unon morality, justice and truth. The Secretary says these two enact ments i "Menace nublic tranauilitv." 2. "Are injurious to puDnc morais. - 3. "Are injurious to public faith." To make such a declaration as that in a State paper, under oath, is simply monstrous. 1. The United States notes (green backs) are not "unlimited" legal tender. They ought to be, they ought to have been made so; but they had two excep tions placed on them they are there now. 2. On the 18th of March, 1869 when the so called act to "Strengthen the Public Credit," was passed, gold was not 4 ".yii of our monetary measure. awrv i States is solemnly tymcnt in coin all of its obligations and the United States pledges its faith for the redempt ion of the United States notcsin cot." The Funding Act of July 14, '70, makes all the funded bonds payable in coin of the weight and fineness of the date. All this the learned Secretary well knew when he penned his wonder ful report. It was February 12, 1873, that silver was demonetized, and the gold unit established. Then ilm monev desnots got such con trol of our Treasury Department, as to change our monetary unit. On that dreadful night, when, as J udge Kelly puts it, such men as Voorhecs and Blaine were siue-tracKcu; men iuu una was secretly changed. Then our monetary unit was cuangcu from silver to gold. Then it was that the despots of Eu rope "Came, and saw and conquered. The silver unit oi dnt pure, aiz standard, was dropped: and the gold 25 grains eight-tenths standard fine, was made our monetary unit. From April 2, 171)2, wiien tne ranters established the "unit" or "dollar," all the way down our history, till the 12th of February, 1873, 371 grains of putt silver was our monetary unit. The change to a gold unit under cir cumstances that taints tho affair with indexes of conspiracy, is a danger that the secretary seems have, no conception Let the American people learn, and the sooner the better, that the act o! 1878, only partially restored our silvei money two millions a month, and no! exceeding four, but it not repeal tin clause in the act of February 12, 1873. that changed our monetary unit to gold LET IT BE REMEMBERED FOREVER, Hmt thn art which changed our mono tary unit from silver to gold is a deed J . . m m . 11 1 J 1 that will consign to miaray an who too part in it. And now the Secretary o, Vir Tfofianrv nsks to have the act o 1878, authorizing two millions a month repealed. Then we will be under the act of Feb ruary 12, 1873, with a gold unit, with s gold dollar that has appreciated (by aic of law) forty per cent in ten years. That would place us fatally on tin road to ruin. Presto change. We demand as a citizen we repeat it to the Secretary, who is but our paid clerk we repeat it to all our clerks all officials who are the agents of the peo ple, that the law of February 12, 1873, giving us the gold unit, must be re pealed, and the silver unit restored! A? long as that infamous act, creating a golden unit, remains, it will be a 1. "Menace to public tranquility." 2. "Injurious to public morals." 3. "Injurious to the public faith." This is tho road, Mr. Secretary, that justice marks out. Follow it. The recommendations of the Secretary are in the interests of tho law and against the people at large. The recommendations of the Secretary asks the repeal of just laws. The laws asked to be repealed, defect ive as they are, have saved the country from a ruin, but for them, that would have been overwhelming. The re-issueof the legal tenders, and tho giving us two millions of silver per month, has been the means of saving a remnant of liberty and property to the people. The Secretary now asks, under the guise of a nonsequitura false assumption that these laws be repealed. . These iust laws, that uniust ones may remain. Tim chancre to a gold unit after our immense debt was made on a silver unit was so unjust as to allow no paliation. TV AMSVO ft i1lVM i To repeal that law and come back to the silver unit, under Avnicn tne ueois were made, is the, demand of hustice. What is the matter with the disciples of self? What is the trouble in the camp of the armv of nelf? Does the galled jade begin to wince? Ah, ha! This crv of gold is the Siren song oi greed. This "gold standard" is the watchword of a conspiracy to rob. A secretary, just at the end of the war, said: "Come to a gold standard." The crv was raised while the ground was yet smokingwith the blood of fallen heroes. His mantle has fallen on the Treasury the dens of the bullion brokers, "Give us a currency in which our monetary is coinel in gold." The attempt to carry such a decree into actual fact, would fill tho world with a wider ruin than famine, pestilence and war combined. What do these "money changers" want? The object is not to make actual gold payments but to measure in gold then pay in something else; tbo debtor paying the agio the difference between two kinds of money. The creditor get ting the agio. Thus making gold a tyrant in the hands of a few despots, and by this trick the people are turned to helots, to fill graves of despair. This is tho feast to which wo arc invited. It is the insa tiable maw of greed proclaiming the millennium of sdf. En est alia. The legal tender quality of tho United States note (greenback) was not always looked upon as "injurious to morals." No! When national bank issue is to be "re deemed," then greenbacks is tho re- We challenge contradiction of the fol lowing: Make all the national bank issues redeemable in gold on demand, undei penalty of deaths and a national bankci could not be found in the world. Bankers do not propose to "redccm,; their notes, in fact. The promise is a sham. They never have made good their sys- turn nf fnlse nromiscs. A specie paying banking system is 8 fraud and a lie. It never existed in fact. Tt. never will. What is all this clamor about, an) way? Is old earth reeling to a fall? Here it is: -It is ta reduce the volume of legal ten der money. That is what the how' along the whole line means. What are these "single standard'' fellows aiming at? Put in another form is: To secure the exclusive right to sol! their credit on time and get pay in ad vance for the credit. To measure the credit, they want con trol of the "wnit of value." Tho smaller flic number of units, tin easier thev are controlled. The smaller the number of units, th more valuable the credit. This is all there is of the financial re form of the Secretary. The national banks and they are tin power behind the throne want tho uni of monetary value stamped on something so scarce, and so little of it, that thoj can control it. And by controlling tin material of the unit they control its vol uie of the units. And it isthevolunn of money that fixes prices. . "To keep this sly dodge in the dark my hoy" "Ways that are dark &n( tricks that arc vain" arc used. This "convertible into coin on de mand," is one of the tricks. It is the most dastardly lie that wa: ever belched from the mouth of a Shy lock to rob a helot. A specie paying banking system is a contrivance inventec to cheat labor. The record this "con tri vance" has made reads like the dian of a freehooter and meanders like tin trail of one "sot on" by the jim-jams. T.ieten "It is far better to fix the maximum o legal tender notes at $346,000,000, sup Dorted bv a minimum revenue of $100, nno nnn of coin. A demand for coin h exhaust such a reserve may not occur but if events force it, then it would jus t tify a temporary suspension oi spec navments." That is the way another secretarj puts it up. Three hundred million United States notes resting on one hun dred million coin. Three dollars ii paper to one of coin. These secretaries of the Treasury hav a way of thinking that such a plai would be a safe guardian of public moi als and a giant to smciu tne puDii iaith. ITear them talk when under the in spiring influence of their religiou fervor. "General confidence in these note (United States) would maintain them a rnr with coin and iustifv their use a reserves oi banks and for the redemptioi ot Dank notes." . - There is smecis Davment for VOU. There is a fstem of lying that beat Simon Suggs' ' based on two-thirds confidence and one third coin, as a bank basis, and thl paper money is to bo used for the re demption of bank notes. There is three-card montc. There is a "confidence game." But at this point the faitli of the in vestor of the confidence game weakened. A naner redeemer supported by two dollars in "confidence" to one dollar in "coin," to every thrco dollars might fail. So this same learned secretary, to make his bank safe beyond all doubt, made bank paper redeemable in govern ment paper money; and then prated like an owl about "redeemable paper." And said national bank money wasgood tho , best money tho world ever saw, because, "convertible on demand." When the secretary utters his man date, the idols are dumb the oracles are silent the world stands aghast. To hear tho secretary speak he has spoken let the heavens bow before him: "But all experience has shown that there are periods under any system of paper money , however carefully guarded, when it is impossible to maintain actual coin redemption. To meet this contin gency, it would seem to be right to maintain the legal tender quality of tho United States notes." , That on" paragraph consigns to the placu of Hildas, tiio Avholo ppecic basis system as a fraud un parallelled, alio un cqualed. Here is a secretary a modern Diogoncs drifting about in the sea of financial reform, in tho tub of political confusion. It is "impossiblo to mr'ntain actual coin redemption of bank notes." Oh, wisdom! Therefore, keep legal paper money under them keep legal paper money to redeem! - En cste sohquc. What is the matter with these fellows? They make as much noise as Orpheus, the god or wind, lias the "hard monev" medicine been such as to develop flatulency? The present secretary is smiermg uu acute attack of hiatus in flatus. .... . A At ...M!n 1. Tlioro is menace to me puuuu tranquility. 2. There is injury to tne puoiic mor als. . ..... 3. There is injury to the public taitn. So says the secretary; because of two enactments. One of these enactments gives us legal tender silver dollars, lnc niior finnefment offends in the "indefi nite postponement of the redemption of these same notes." rue secretary oi uiu Treasury is troubled in his dreams Unlrrlifo A nn all because or tllO United States notes the never failing redeemers of bank notes. Then the greenback comes to the rescue its re deeming power is infinite because it w fiat. This secretary, like tho weeping god dess in the valley of sorrow, is'baptizcd in his own sea of tears because the "redemption" of the never failing "re- A . . m .JI f decmcr" of bank notes, nas oecn mucu- nitcly. postponed." Let Congress pass an act an once, Rcdcmjitos alemmtos; requiring each per son to cry thirty days, and abstain from liquid stimulant for twenty-four hours, as a mark of respect to tne secretary. . mm . Then snail tne worm move gauy on. Then shall tumult cease. Then shall civil service become a. thing of beauty, a joy forever. And then the millennial years go ron- ingby- . . ..... i' Ah. me! when will tne wonu cease to bow to the golden. When will it cease to worsmp mo sil ver goddess wherever it does? Anil cease to aaopt tnesctwo mois iur money, and adopt - a Lgal tender paper money? v ... . . .1.1 i It will oe Happier man it nas uwu since Adam left paradise turned out for believing a lie. told by the author of the ipecie paying banking system. Selah, Danville, 111. J. Harper. Tanglefoot "Oh isn't this waltz divine?" Miss Smilax "Well, perhaps it is divine; but it happens to be a polka instead of a waltz, and the sooner your feet are acquainted with the fact the better we are likely to get along." . v - ' ' Violin makers prize above all other kinds of wood that which they extract from the seasoned timber of old houses. Snd for our .complete book list. Sj al rates to Alliance ciuds.
