Cbe Conservative *
latiou to bo issued uudor it , either by
the government , directly or by a. com
mon fund contributed by all the banks
to be organized under it , and by provis
ions for redemption at fixed points , but
in substance it amounts to giving the
banks power to levy a forced loan upon
the community for their own benefit.
Their notes are intended to circulate ,
not merely in the neighborhood of their
immediate issue , but all over the coun
try. They are of uniform design and
appearance , and are to bo offered to the
public , not on the credit of the banks
issuing them , but on that which they
will receive from the notorious disposi
tion of people to attribute to engraved
paper a value which is denied to a plain
draft or check.
In short , it is a schsme to reintroduce
the wild-cat currency from which the
national bank act delivered us. The
banks which would spring up under it
would be organized , if organized at all ,
not with local capital and by local share
holders , but by speculators , who , instead
of lending their circulating notes to the
agriculturists of the vicinity , would
scatter them at points as remote as pos
sible , so as to delay their return for re
demption. For , if the notes were issued
to local borrowers and by them paid to
their creditors , they would very soon
come back for redemption , and the
banks , having no assets but obligations
secured by laud , cattle and future crops ,
would at once have to suspend payment.
Reform Really Needed.
The upshot of the matter is that the
country's currency under existing con
ditions , is , with the supplement of bank
checks , sufficiently abundant and suffi
ciently elastic for all the purposes of le
gitimate business , and the scheme of
creating a multitude of little banks ,
with power to issue currency against
their own assets , would be not only use
less but mischievous. It would fail to
relieve the wants of the people for
whose benefit it is professedly advocated ,
and it would open a door to enormous
frauds upon the country at large.
All that is lacking to our present sys
tem of government notes is legislation
assimilating it more closely to that of
the Bank of England. The notes , be
yond a certain amount which can soon
be ascertained and for which re
demption will never be demanded ,
should be issued only against deposits of
gold , and their issue should be compul
sory , whenever gold is offered in ex
change for them.
The treasury would thus , like the
Bank of England , become the store
house of the country's visible supply of
gold , and our currency would expanc
and contract according as gold was im
ported or exported. This is the only
safe and healthy elasticity possible.
Great Britain has had none other for
half a century , and-has prospered under
it and we should do the same.
The McKinley
*
.
nated in the army
which is endeavoring to evangelize the
Filipinos with powder , shot and shell
and to "benevolently assimilate" their
rights of property and person is exciting
a good deal of antagonism among the
most thoughtful and patriotic voters of
the United States. The republican
party if wo remember correctly a flab-
bergastic speech of the everlastingly
talking Colonel Grosvouor of Ohio was
the originator of this war. But a vast
number of the most intelligent and
prominent leaders of that political or
ganization have already drifted away
from McKinleyism , and with Senator
Hoar at their head declare against mili
tarism and imperialism in every form.
These rououncers of the war heresies
of the present administration ought to
become members of a balanco-of-powor
party.
If all the gold-standard democrats and
all the disaffected republicans combine
in the same political party , they will
certainly hold the balance of power in the
presidential election of 1900. Animated
with the patriotic idea of uon-expansion ,
non-interference and non-alliance with
foreign powers , and standing for the
gold unit of value , such a party would
bo of great usefulness to the republic.
In view of the foregoing , why may
there not bo an informal meeting , some
thing after the manner of the Indianapo
lis monetary convention , at some suit
able , central , populational point , for the
preparation of plans which may be fol
lowed out at a formal convention to be
held at Independence Hall in Philadel
phia , say , July 4 , 1899 ?
The advocate of
A PART. , . . . . .
the protective tar
iff declares that apart is greater than the
whole. The whole people wear woolen
goods. Only a part of the people grow
wool and manufacture woolen fabrics.
The law must be to raise prices for the
part which produces wool and woolens
and to compel the whole to pay those
prices. Every protective tariff is for the
purpose of making higher and artificial
prices.
Pennsylvania is
SENATOR QUAY.
plundered by pol
itical pirates. Ever since the Camerons
began corrupting legislation by buying
enough votes in the legislature of Penn
sylvania to elect Simon Cameron United
States senator over the democratic can
didate , JohaW. Forney , the infection has
been constant , epidemic and malignant.
Quay pedigrees politically to his grandsire -
sire Simon Cameron and has the same
gait precisely , except ho lacks Scotch
agility. Quay has been indicted for con
spiracy to rob the state treasury , triec
and /acquitted. And because of this
honor : . .Governor Stone appoints him
United States senator , after the legisla
ture refused to elect him.
Quay loves the grand old party called
republican. Quay is opposed to any
new party. All men , like Quay , in both
; he old parties oppose a realignment of
; he voters of the United States. The
Quay brand of patriotism throughout
; ho United States is after the profits and
emoluments of public place as a means
of livelihood. Everywhere such bosses
and directors of present political organi
zations are valiantly denouncing the
formation of any political party which
they cannot manage and direct for their
own benefit.
Senator Quay , Senator Elkins and
Senator Platt are perfectly satisfied with
the g. o. p. and so are all the contractors
who furnish bad beef , wormy crackers
and shoddy clothing to the army.
The veterans of the whisky ring of
Grant's administration and all the ven
erable members of the Star Route gang
under former Senator Dorsey of Arkan
sas are still whooping it up for the g. o.
p. They and their kind want no now
party.
. Some very good
FREE TRADE.
friends of TIIE
CONSERVATIVE are protectionists. But
since the Spanish war and the militant
missionary work in the Philippine
Islands began they have all admitted
that a tariff for protection brings no
revenue. And they have all been in
tent upon getting money into the na
tional treasury , but not one has pro
posed a protective tariff for that purpose.
On the other hand they have imposed
stamp duties upon all sorts of domestic
exchanges.
This war shows the insincerity of
those interested advocates of the protec
tion doctrines when they say that high
tariffs make great revenues for the gov
ernment.
Free trade does not compel the Amer
ican people to trade anywhere. It
merely permits them to trade every
where. Trade that is not mutually ad
vantageous perishes from the earth.
All legitimate exchanges profit both
buyer and seller. Whenever either
party to exchanges finds himself a steady
loser those exchanges cease.
Under free trade Americans would
have no commerce with England or any
other country that proved unprofitable.
Bad trade stops itself. That which will
not pay ceases.
Therefore a prohibitive or protective
tariff which bars out trade from foreign
countries bars out only profitable trade.
Unprofitable international commerce
tempts nobody. Profitable international
exchanges allure everybody. And these
latter are the kind that a protective
tariff impedes or prevents entirely.
Free trade permits men to sell where
prices are highest and buy where they
are lowest. Protective tariffs forbid
that.