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NAPOLEON M'KINLEY.
3RHELMAN AIRS SOME OF HIS
METHODS.
"ronil«r» KT.ryllilOB 1“ Everybody
While rur»nln« the Ifauble of Faroe
and rotltlob Mow Ohio Hai Been
1’ut 111 Doht.
James Creelman, a staff correspond¬
'd! of the New York World, writing to
tils paper from Columbus, Ohio, under
lute of June 23, says:
"I showed in my dispatch to the
World last Sunday that the state debt
of Ohio was greatly increased under
■McKinley’# rule as governor; that the
Ohio (tale institutions were given over
to political plunderers and contractors
with pulls; that Gov. McKinley reveal¬
ed a singular weakness and infirmity in
dealing with wealthy corporations,
and that Mark Hanna was able to take
posset; ion of the governor’s private
office, send for state senators and dic¬
tate to the legislature, while Gov.
McKinley stood passively and obe¬
diently in the background.
"Major McKinley Is only embarrassed
by a promise when he lias 10 keep it.
Tliis has happened occasionally. There
is one instance known to every man,
woman and child in the Btate of Ohio.
It is historic. It briefly and keenly
sums up his character: When Melvin
ley was a candidate for the governor¬
ship of Ohio he promised every office
in the gifl of the executive, to almost
every pen on politically useful, Nat
urally, as events progressed and tho
stale campaign developed, the lines
of tho candidate’s promises began to
cross each other and things wore sliglit
ly tangled, McKinley was in a dcs
perate positlon. He had lost his seat
in congress, in spite of the enormous
corruption fund poured into ids dl i
trim by the trusts and corporations he
had served. McKinleyism had been re¬
pudiated by Hie people at the polls. It
was necessary to be governor of Ohio
in order to be a serious candidate for
the presidency, McKinley bribed the
politicians. He promised the office of
state Inspector of oils the most lu¬
crative political sinecure at. the rtls
posal of the governor to at least five
different persons. Mr. McKinley was
elected. The. clamor for office was ap
palling. The candidates for the oil
inspectorship besieged the governor's,
office. Two of them George W. Can
field and B. L. McElroy were politi¬
cians of Importance, and each was in
a position to prove that McKinley had
solemnly promised the office to him.
There was savage contention, The fol
lowers of the two candidates uttered
threats of war on the governor. Mr.
McKinley Induced the legislature to
pass a law creating two oil inspector
sblpa, Instead of one, and thus rodeem
ed his promises.
"There is another interesting illus¬
tration of Mr. McKinley's official meth¬
ods well known to the people of Ohio.
Two years ago a bill was introduced in
the legislature to ‘provide for the
abandonment of the Hocking Valley
'■'Mktt*’ ' the *• •■utvww Coluiubu: - .* *'* Hocking 'fr
mg the sumo to
Valley and Athens railroad company.’
This law gave the railroad company
the right of building a road along the
Hooking Canal-, and turned over the
whole canal property to the corporation
for the sum of $50,000 paid down and
an annual retal of $10,000. There was a
storm of protest. This wushu exceeding¬
ly valuable franchise, for the routepar
ulleied the lines of the wealthy Hocking
Valley railroad and peneratod the great
coal fields The Chicago, Columbus
and Southeastern Railroad company
offered to pay $100,000 in cash and $15,
000 a year for the franchise. In spite
tliis the original net. was forced through
the legislature. Gov. McKinley made
no secret of the fact that he regarded
the transaction as a corrupt bargain
The representatives of the Chicago, Co¬
lumbus, and Southeastern Railroad
company tried to have the law amend¬
ed so that the franchise should he sold
to the highest bidder. They offered to
value the canal property at $500,000 and
to bid at (lie rate of annual interest
upon that sum, which would have
amounted to at least $25,000 a year
twice and a half times as much as the
Columbus, Hocking Valley and Athens
Railroad company was to pay. The
governor privately announced that he
was in favor of the amendment, but he
did nothing to aid its passage. 11c
grew timid when the promoters of the
steal threatened to retaliate politi- 1
rally. McKinley was seldom in his of- j
fiee. He was a presidential candidate, j j
and his time was occupied chiefly by
speech-making in various parts of the
state. The amendment was killed.
"This was followed by a petition
signed by representatives of the as
soeiated canals and prominent eiti
sens representing $30,000,000 of prop
erty, asking the governor to direct tho
attorney-general of Ohio to bring quo
warranto proceedings in the supreme
court to test the validity of the law.
The petitioners went to the governor’s
office a ml their case was presented by ex
Gov. Foraker. ex-Judge Harrison, Gen.
Powell and other prominent lawyers.
They insisted that the state had been
robbed, that the law had been passed
by corrupt means, that it was special
legislation forbidden bv the eonstitu
tion, tuid that it violated the agree
ment between the United States and
the state of Illinois under which 500,
000 acres of Federal lands were aequir
ed for the purpose of a canal. Gov.
McKinley had privately promised to
order the attorney-general to begin
the action but again his presidential
ambition controlled his conscience.
The men who had organized the steal
were powerful republican politicians.
They told him that the people in the
Hocking Valley coal district would
resent any interference on his part;
that if he authorized the quo warranto
proceedings he must be prepared to
lose the support of two congressional
distriets in the next republican na-
Uonal convention. Gov. McKinley re¬
fusal to art. Ami now he asks the
American people to make hsru presi
dent of the ('ailed States.
I have- written down these facts
moderately."
DEMOCRATS, WHAT ABOUT THIS
Does the Treachery «of Your Party Ap¬
ply as Well to Tariff as to Silver?
The democratic party has always
professed to be a "tariff reform” party.
This was practically the only issue be¬
fore the people when it was for the
first time since the war successful in
the national election of 1884. Cleve¬
land was elected and the party was
given 42 majority in the House of Rep¬
resentatives where, under the consti¬
tution, all tariff or revenue bills must
originate. Mr. John G. Carlisle was
elected speaker and in the formation of
his committees gave the chairmanship
of the Ways and Means committee to
VV. it. Morrison, and of the Appropria¬
tions committee to Samuel J. Randall,
it began to be whispered about, even
before congress convened, that rxo
tariff legislation would pass the House
because of the opposition of the Ran
dallites. It was said that enough
democratic votes v/ould be controlled
in the interest of republican tariff ideas
to prevent an opposition measure pass¬
ing. Such argument watt treated with
scorn and contempt by the majority of
the party who would not believe that,
with complete control of the House in
their possession, the party would prove
so recreant to its pledges as to permit
such a course, and democratic rejoicing
over the. fact tiiat the party was now
in a position to show to the country
Just what it meant by "tariff reform”
was unrestrained.
Mr. Morrison and ms committee went
to work and in the course of a few
months prepared the famous “Hori¬
zontal reduction bill,” and introduced
it in the house. Mr. Converse, a demo¬
crat from Ohio,, made a motion to
strike out its enacting clause. Upon
the result of this motion depended not
only the fate of the Morrison bill but
the fate of all tariff legislation for that
session. Mr. Randall threw the weight
of his influence against the bill and in
favor of the adoption of the motion.
The battle was long continued and ap¬
parently honest. Mr. Morrison urged
the House to remember that its major¬
ity was chosen directly for the purpose
of reforming the tariff and that if his
bill was not acceptable it had the
power to take it in hand and amend it
to suit, but to "for God’s sake, pass
some kind of a tariff reform bill." in
spile of all. in spite of the 42 “tariff
reform" majority, Converse’s motion
prevailed and thus the "lariff reform"
party, backed by all the Influence of
presidential patronage, went on record
in favor of the republican tariff policy.
Sam Randall was made the scape¬
goat of democratic malcontents and
was abused as a traitor, Judas Iscariot,
Benedict Arnold, etc., because he used
his power as chairman of th* appro
pj.j;|ta/uiiultt6@ tO tie* 4 c ** “* !
. fiic.i had the sanction of «„ pa. iy.
But listen to the sequel. When the
next congress convened It, too, was
democratic and the House again
elected Mr. Carlisle speaker and he
again appointed Mr. Samuel J. Randall
to the very same position as chairman
of the appropriations committee which
he had been accused of using to defeat
democratic tariff legislation in the
previous House. Does this indicate
that the democrats of that time wanted
anything, even on the tariff, different
from what the republicans did? Again,
If the democratic leaders really wanted
legislation on the tariff different from
the kind given by the republicans any¬
thing like as badly as they lately
wanted monetary legislation exactly
like the republicans, couldn’t Cleve¬
land have effected the passage of the
Morrison bill, which had the approval
of the majority of his party, much
easier than he did the repeal of the
silver purchase clause? Certainly, he
could and the fact that ho did not, goes
to prove that the democratic position
on the tariff is as treacherous and
fraudulent as it is on every other ques¬
tion in which the vital interests of the
people are concerned.
How much longer the people will
consent to be gulled and betrayed by
democratic and republican leaders is
a question for the future to decide, but
nothing is plainer than that they will
never get relief from present condi
tions until they shall have repudiated
Hie entire crowd,
One of Many.
He was a mechanic in Kansas. His
little saving he ha i put in a forty
acre tract. Times became hard; no
work; a $40 mortgage took the farm,
Being single he drifted to Kansas City.
He was sober, neat, honest. The few
cents he had was soon exhausted. He
struggled in vain to get work. He
never complained. His clothes became
shabby and in time his honest face
became pinched; his eyes sunk deeper
and deeper in his skull: a sicklv palor
overspread his face. He avoided his
few acquaintances, A friend asked me
last week if I had seen him lately. No,
not for several weeks. He had; he said
he slunk off to avoid meeting. His
condition was awful. He was a mere
skeleton—starved. His eyes had that
look peculiar to a starved dog, border
ing on idiocy. His mind was all but
P° ue - Starved in Kansas City, where
wealth and food is piled stories high! t
Great God! What a civilization! How
.ong v:d men suffer in silence?—Ap
peal to Reason.
_ - -
rhe rich corrupt the poor, and when
conditions are reached that men can
w bought like sheep we are on the
verge of revolution and the men who
have tho most money are in the great
cst danger.
TWO FINANCIAL PLANKS.
Republican Platform, 1896-We arts for the free and anlimitel coil ge of
silver at tne ratio of 16 to 1 provided that England will consent to let us
have it.
Populist Platform, (Omaha), 1892 We are for the free and unlimited
coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1 and we do not ask for the advice
or consent of any other nation on eaith.
The difference England’s consent alone.
THEIR OWN MEDICINE
THE TALK ABOUT FIFTVCENT
DOLLARS
An t.'nfippcted Effect of Gold Worship
— i.aiiorcr. iteinami Gold—The ton
tractor* Are enable to Obtain it—
Some Su(jK««tlou».
The "educational campaign” of the
gold bugs appears to be entirely too
convincing in quarters where extreme
ignorance prevails.
Rut the people of intelligence don’t
believe what they hear about iifty
cent" dollars, and go right ahead ac¬
cepting whatever kind of dollars bear
the stamp of Uneie Sam.
The following press dispatch from
Hazleton, Pa., shows the danger of iy
ing to the ignorant foreign element of
our population:
“The monthly pay days of many of
the contractors of this region were in
the past week, and much trouble was
expected in paying off the foreign ele¬
ment. They refused to take either pa
per or silver money.
For the past week or two, Anthony
Reitz, a well educated Austrian, who
speaks several languages, has been
among the foreigners and put it into
their heads that
The Silver Dollar
was not worth more than 50 cents, and
when any foreigner expressed a
doubt regarding his statement he read
extracts from American newspapers to
substantiate his argument.
“Jacob Hogan, a contractor, who is
building ttie reservoir at Buck moun¬
tain, employes 300 men, who had lis¬
tened to Reitz’s arguments. The men
held a meeting and decided they woui J
all be gold men, not only politically,
but commercially, and that their labor
should be traded on a sound money
basis only. Reitz, who is an under
boss, communicated this fact to Con
tractor Hogan, Thursday. The men
Were to be Paid
their month’s wages on Saturday.
"It did not strike Hogan at that time
I hat there would be any difficulty in
paying the men in gold. He called at
his hank and demanded $1,900 in gold
He was struck dumb when the teller
told him he could not get that sum in
the entire county. Out of the $11,000,
000 on deposit in the several banks of
the county, it is estimated that scarce
ly $1,000 In gold is circulating.
“The laborers, however, have refus
beyond the $5 limit, to take {diver, V
.vl. nl
* »*•
uuvocating under boss are very much
embarrassed in consequence.”
There are some good hints in this
for the people. It shows the absurdity
of depending upon gold alone as a cir
dilating medium.
It suggests a way for working men
to give the gold-bugs a dose of their
own medicine.
If the people would simply demand
gold for all checks and drafts on the
banks they would soon have orators
in the field talking out of the other
side of their mouths.
But the people are more honest than
the bankers. A wholesale boycott of
bank notes, and silver would make the
bankers beg for mercy. They don't
want their argument taken literally.
NOTES AND COMMENT.
Flushes of Thought Prompted by Pas*
fliBtr Ev«»nts*
The annual drain of gold upon this
country from British investments is
said to be not less than $150,000,000 or
$200,000,000. This is about live times as
much gold as we produce. Every dol¬
lar of interest and dividends on these
foreign investments is payable in this
country, and therefore payable in any
lawful money of the United States.
But little gold is in circulation. The
business is carried on with silver and
paper money. What is left in profits
consists of that kind of money. How
then does the foreigner turn his profits
into gold to take to Europe?
Away hack in 1879 this government
resumed specie payment. That is to
say it piled up $100,000,000 in gold, for
which it sold bonds, and said, this “re
serve fund" is for the purpose of mak
i n g the greenbacks as good as gold,
Anybody who wanted gold for green
backs or treasury notes could get it.
But nobody wanted it. for the green
backs answered the same purpose as
gold and were much more convenient.
R looked like a sort of superstition to
keep Unit gold piled up there to make
lhe treasury notes or greenbacks good,
w ^ en back °f Gie $100,000,000 in gold
was $70,000,000,000 worth of other prop
ert - v - an< * n °bod> wanted the green¬
backs redeemed other than such re
demotion as that of every man receiv¬
ing them as money, which was the
case.
When the resumption law was passed
there was no thought or intention of
establishing a national brokerage for
the purpose of aiding foreigners to de
p i ete t h; s country of gold and then
selling jt biU . k again for interest-bear
illg bonds. Every paper obligation of
the vnited States having the form of
urrenev. except perhaps the gold eer
can legally be discharged in
either gold or silver. But a decision
0 ; John Sherman, sustained by every
succeeding secretary of the treasury,
without warrant of law, gave to the
creditors of the United States, what is
denied to the creditors of states, coun
tics corporations and individuals, the
right 10 ,leman(i S°ld in payment of tho
obligations they held.
*
Thus the treasury gold reserve bo
came the reservoir from which foreign
nations could draw their supply of gold,
and four times has Mr. Cleveland re
to the expedient of selling in
terest-bearing bonds for gold to re
plenlsh this reserve. Had the secre¬
tary of the treasury exercised bis right
unddr the law to have paid off even
one-half the demands made on him in
silver, it would have put an immediate
and effective check upon the raid on
the gold reserve. As it was, the very
tnen who conspired to raid the treas¬
ury and force the sale of bonds, were
the ones who profited thereby by ob
fairiing them at a lower figure than
the market value.
i *
And this is the process by which it
is expected to force the government
Jout of the banking business,” and
t-urn the whole paper money business
over to the banks. Now the question
presents itself that this is either a
conspiracy or a bare faced ffaud. If
the government, the people, with their
seventy billions of wealth can’t sustain
t*heir paper at par without placing it¬
self at the mercy of foreign Jews and
Shylocks, how are the banks going to
do it without government aid? The
banks would do just what they do now,
they would not pay a dollar of gold in
redemption of their obligations. They
are now demanding of the government
a thing they would not think of doing
themselves, and if the people would as¬
sume the same attitude toward the
banks that the hanks have toward tho
government, they would force every
ink to suspend within the period of
months.
* *
jOne of the most contemptible frauds
in this country is delegating to tho
'Jinks both the power and credit of tho
government to issue their own notes
and collect interest thereon. I have bc
< re me a bank note which says, “Tho
First National Bank of - will pay
! bearer five dollars, Now what
‘ «'S that mean? It means that that
k is owing somebody (the bearer)
five dollars; yet the bank is collecting
ins'rest on that note—on what it
ae itally owes. Anybody that can see
th pugh a ladder can see at once that
this is a fraud on the face of it. If
thire is any credit attached to that
« It is because the government—
people—are back of it. The whole
'nttshell consIt?6*UinT>-!..-•••
.yeniiig the banks our cred¬
.
it *ut one per cent and borrowing it
baefk at ten per cent, or whatever tho
bapks want to charge,
* * *
j don’t know that the bankers ought
to be seriously blamed for doing this
as long as they can find a set of nin¬
nies willing to wear patched clothes
and pay the freight, yet it is a serious
thing to bequeath such a burden to our
children without a protest. The ban¬
ker, however, is to be blamed. He is
not satisfied with the laws he has for
fleecing the people, but wants addi¬
tional ones, and the assurance that tho
present ones will be made permanent.
Of course there will be an end to ali
this, as there is to all else that is wrong
and unjust. The money power have the
people enslaved now with debt, and
seek to make that slavery permanent
by imposing conditions that will make
it impossible to pay the debt. To ac¬
complish this end they are corrupting
our legislators, our courts and execu¬
tive officers. Not content with this
they have now begun to tamper-with
the ballot, and accuse the people of
being too ignorant to vote. How it
will end God only knows, but that right
will prevail we have absolute confi
■ ice, if wrong has to be shot to death
us was chattel slavery.
W. S. Morgan.
Iii a Hole.
The Real Republic discusses farming,
farmers, products and prices as fol¬
low--: "From the report of the secre¬
tary of agriculture for last year, we
find that in 1880 we raised 498,549,STS
bushels of wheat, price 95 cents,
$474,201,850. In 1894 we raised 460.-
267.416 bushels of wheat, price 49
cents, value $225,902,025. In other
words, wo raised practically, as much
wheat as in 1SS0 but got $24S.399,825less
money for it. The same rule holds in
cotton and all other staple crops. How
the farmers of this country are to pay
their mortgages, taxes and other debts,
live comfortably and prosper and at tho
same time the more they raise the less
money they get for it, the goldbug
farmer at the head of the agricultural
department fails to tell us. If the far¬
mer is to continually get less money
for the more he produces, the way we
figure he is bound to find himself in
the hoie. He is there now.”
The Moner Power.
The London. England. Clarion asks:
"Gould England annihilate the un
speakable Turk? Yes. if it were not
for the unspeakable English bondhold
ers. The Christian English are de
terred from rescuing the Christian Ar
menians by Christian bondholders. The
deliverance of the oppressed Armen
inns from bondage would involve the
destrm tion of several hundred millions
of Turkish bonds held by English ban
kers. And that is the reason why Eng
land does not annihilate the unspeaka
ble Turk.”
STORY OF
BONDHOLDERS HAVE PULLED
UNCLE SAM’S LEG.
•lie Debt Reduced in Dollars and Cents
but Increased lu the Value of the
Commodities It Represents — Some
Plain Figures.
In the course of the late war and
just afterwards, it was discerned by
those who held the national debt, as it
had been discerned by some of them
from the beginning, that it was a good
thing for the possessors. A great in¬
terest had been created by the war—
the interest of the bond.
It were vain to conjecture how many
sincere patriots found themselves
possessors of the interest-bearing ob¬
ligations of the nation. For all such
there is no animadversion, but rather
praise. It were equally vain to con¬
jecture how many held those obliga¬
tions simply for the prolit and ad¬
vantage that were in them and with
no concern about the welfare of the
government or of the people of the
United States; but the latter class,
whether many or few, increased and
the former class decreased until the
fund-holding interest was consolidated
in the hands of a party having its
branches in New York and London.
The party of the bond become skill¬
ful and adroit. It began immediately
to fortify itself. It took advantage of
the inexperience of the American peo¬
ple and of the inexperience of their
legislators, It profited by the mis
takes and misplaced confidence of both.
They who held the bonds were wise
by ages of training in the old world
and the new. They understood the
situation perfectly, and adopted as
their method a policy embracing two
intentions: First, to perpetuate the.
bond and make it everlasting by the
postponement and prevention of pay
ment; second, to increase the value of
the currency in which all payments
were to be made, that is, to increase the
value of the units of such payments
as the payments should become due,
so that whatever might be the efforts
o’ the people to discharge the debt it
should Increase in value as rapidly as
they could reduce it! And honest peo¬
ple, abused to the soul by the politici¬
ans and Shyloek, knew not it was so.
For thirty years this game has been
persistently, skillfully and successfully
carried out. It has beeen a play worthy
of tho greatest gamblers that ever
lived! We do not call to mind any
other such stake among the nations
as that placed upon the issue; and the
bondplayers have won oil every deal.
They have succeeded on both counts
of their policy. They have turned over
the debt into new forms of bond, and
these again into newer, under the
name of refunding, persuading the peo¬
ple that the process was wise and need¬
ful and cajoliyi- ‘hem with tho belief
he rite • v , t . \va 9k
time reduced Nr the benefit of the na¬
tion'. It was done "in the interest of
the people!” Wo, the holders of the
bend, labor only for the interest - of
the people!
It is true that each act of refunding
and transforming tho national debt
has lowered the nominal rate of in¬
terest; hut at the same time it has
lengthened the period of payment. At
the beginning the date of payment was
at the option of the government. Then
it was at five years from the making
of the bond; then it was at ten years;
then at twenty years; then at thirty
years. Now, the period of possible
payment has been extended until the
second deeade of the next century
cannot witnesss the end of the game.
If the treasury should have today, or
in the year 1900, a surplus of six bil¬
lions of gold the government could not
call and cancel its bonds. They were
not made to be called and canceled,
but io be refunded and perpetuated.
Besides, the reduction of interest has
been a reduction only in name. In no
case has the reduction been made un¬
til the value of the dollar of the pay¬
ment has so enlarged as more than'
to balance ' the reduction. The same
thing is true of the payment of -prin¬
ciple as well as the payment of coupon.
For thirty years the American people
have been pouring into that horrid
maelstrom the volume of their great re¬
sources. They have paid on their debt,
or at least they have paid, in this long
period, such a prodigious sum that
arithmetic can hardly express it. (At
the close of the year 1895 the interest
account had reached the total of more
than two billion six hundred and
thirty-five millions of dollars!) The
imagination cannot embrace it. And
yet it is the truth of the living God
that at the close of 1895 the national
debt of the United States, in its bonded
and unbonded forms, will purchase as
its equivalent in value, as much of the
average of twenty-five of the leading
commodities of the American market,
including real estate and labor, as the
same debt would purchase at its max¬
imum on the 1st .of March, 1§66. The
people have paid and paid for thirty
years, and-at the end have paid just
this—nothing!
The verification of this astounding
truth is as plain and irrefragable as
any other arithmetical result. On the
1st of March, 1866. the national debt
was in exact figures. $2,827,868,959.46
at the close of the year 1S95 it was
premium included, $1,237,500,000.00.
Debt will buy of wheat,
now .... .......2,133.620,639 bu.
Debt would buy of
wheat, 1S66..........1.486,842,105 bu.
5
Excess value of debt
now ... .......646,7SS,5S1 bu.
Debt will buy of flour,
now ... ......333,571,428 bbls.
Excess value of u^bt
nov ...... .90,780,731 bbls.
.
Debt will buy of cot¬
ton, now............ 14,558,823,529 lbs.
Debt would buy of
cotton, 1SC6......... 5,8S5,41C,666 lbs.
Excess value of
debt now........8,073,405,863 Tbs.
Debt will buy of mess
pork, now. 150,915,853, bbls.
Debt would buy of
mess pork, 1860..... 99,676,313 bbls.
Excess value of debt
now............. 51,339,510 bbls.
Debt will buy of wool,
now ........... 5,755,813,953 lbs.
Debt would buy of
wool, 1866............5,330,188,679 lbs.
Excess value of debt
now ............ 425,625,274 lbs.
Debt will buy of bar
iron, now........... 46,318,314,600 lbs.
Debt would buy of
bar iron, 1866......41,S51,851,851 lbs.
Excesss value of
debt now........ 4,49G,462,755 Ills.
Let all men know it. Let the world
know it. Let the common man ponder
•this appalling statement of an un¬
deniable truth. Let our national au¬
thorities know it. Let the leaders of
every political party have it shouted
in their ears. Let every administra¬
tion that has been in power from the
first of Grant to the last of Cleveland
be told in trumpet voice that the pub¬
lications put forth from month to
month as statements from the treas¬
ury about the reduction of the nation¬
al debt by the payment of three mil¬
lions or seven millions have been es¬
sentially and utterly false. True it is
that the debt has beeen nominallly re¬
duced according to the publications;
hut it has never been so reduced until
by the contrivance of those who
possess it the purchasing power of the
fcurrency in which the debt was to be
paid has augmented fully as much as
the equivalent of the payment!
All the multiplied millions the peo¬
ple have paid have been simply contri¬
buted to the bondholding class, whoso
claim after a lifetime is worth as much
as it was at the beginning! The re¬
sources of a great people have been
poured like a roaring river into a sink¬
hole that has swallowed all; and tho
golden streams of the contribution
have Issued silently through a thousand
unseen spouts into the private reser¬
voirs of the holders of the debt.—Aus¬
tin Argus.
THE BOND INVESTIGATION.
The Committee ISetnq: Treated with
Contempt*
In order that our readers may real¬
ize the amazing insolence of these
plutocratic thieves, who are fresh from
loniteg. of the Treasury, wo
copy the folllowing from the record of
the investigation:
Here is an extract from the New
York Times’ report of the colloquy be¬
tween Senator Vest and Mr. Belmont;
“Q. Will you state what profit was
made by August Belmont & Co., in tho
sale or handling of theso bonds? A.
I will not.
“Q. Will you state what profit the
syndicate or combination which han¬
dled them made? A. I will not.
“Q. Will you state to whom the
bonds were sold and for what price?
A. I will not.
“ ‘I may tell you,’ said Senator Vest,
assuming a toga which he had tempor¬
arily dropped while he was asking the
question. ’That we shall report these
refusals to answer to the full com¬
mittee.’
“Mr. Belmont did not seem at all
alarmed at this prospect. Mr. Vest
tried one more question.
"Q Were any persons interested in
the contract except those whose names
appeared on the face of it? A. I de¬
cline to answer.”
*
Of course the great J. Pierrepont
Morgan was equally defiant. He told
the committee just as much as he chose
to tell them and no more.
He gave them no information they
had not already got from the news¬
papers. He insolently refused to state
what profits he made, and who shared
the booty, or who got the bonds.
Unless the committee takes some ac¬
tion to compel these lordly rascals to
answer legal questions they had as
well adjourn and quit the business. If
they tolerate the treatment they ar»
getting they will deserve, anf. receive,
the contempt of the country.—People’*
Party Paper.
Tax the I.atv rtlirf eftfe,
John Sherman, the public Ehi*f tra.
tier pay for services in plundering this
country, from British money grabbers,
made a speech which in the senate on May 29^
1894, in he said:
"I am willing to <Uk* that bill as it
came to us from cjw and if it
is not sufficient to supply tie neees
sary revenues, let us add a tax on tea,
a tax on coffee, or a tax on anything;
for, as I said on a former occasion, I
would vote for a tax on anything; I
would take the last shirt off the backs
of the people of the United States
ralher than t0 violate the public faith
t ^ le Soverument. ’*See Congressional
Record, p. 5959, May 20, 1896.)
If conditions continue to grow worse,
it will not be long till the people will
not have even a “shirt” to meet the
demands of the tax vampires. Then
will come the era of the bastinado,
bull-whip and cat-o-nine tails—in
which the laboring people will be driv
en to their tasks as in the days of chat
tel slavery. Vote for the old parties
and you will hasten that day!—South
ern Mercury.