Newspaper Page Text
I/FhiNG bait dhrS
>Z AND POPULISM CAN PREVEN
GENERAL BANKRUPTCY.
(From The Missouri World.)
January shows another increase in
the general supply and in the per cap
ita of money. The increase was al
most entirely in gold. The gold supply
was 11,598,116,107 on February 1, as
against >1,587,018,385 on January 1.
The gain in gold was something over
eleven million dollars. The increase
in national bank currency was the
smallest for several months, the gain
being only about $37,000. The popu
lation is estimated by the secretary
of the treasury as 85,484,000 on the
first of this month and the per capita
of money, outside of the treasury, as
$33.96. This is the highest per capita
since the latter ’sixties. The various
kinds of circulating medium issued
during the civil war brought the circu
lation up to about SSO per capita. The
money circulated almost exclusively in
the union states up to the time the
war closed. Counting the people of
the union states only, the per capita
of money was much more than SSO.
The war currency consisted of various
kinds of government notes —the green
backs, which bore no interest, the com
pound interest notes, the 7:30 treasury
notes, etc. All, however, were issued
in the form of money and were used
as such. After the war was over most
of the war currency was called in
and bonds issued in its stead. Part
of the remaining money found its way
into the seceding states. There was
a large immigration from the old world
and in addition there was the natural
increase in population. On the face
of the increasing numbers the con
traction work went on until there was
only about sl7 per capita of money.
From '73 to ’79 were the years of the
smallest per capita of money and the
hardest times the nation ever saw.
Corn went at 15 cents a bushel and
millions were on the verge of starva
tion. Hundreds of thousands of able
bodied men tramped the country seek
ing employment Land and town lots
had no market value and in a vast
number of cases the people could not,
of at least did not, pay their taxes
and their property was sold. Many
titles are now traced back to a tax
deed in the ’seventies. The mortgaged
man was subject to the will of the
mortgage holder, who in countless in
stances from goodness of heart and
other countless instances from fear of
having to buy in the property, let
the interest pile up year after year,
but finally had to foreclose. Many who
were money lenders became “land
poor” by aaving to buy in the prop
erty at foreclosure sale and them
selves became borrowers or at least
hard up for ready cash. Twenty per
cent was a common rate of interest.
Oh, those terrible times! They are
only too fresh in the memory of many
of our readers. That awful work of
destruction through currency contrac
tion almost destroyed the energy of
man. Year after year went on from
bad to worse and there seemed to be
no hope. At first, only a few saw
the trouble. Gen. John A. Logan, then
in congress, declared in 1874, “It’s a
money drouth.” But Wall street was
supreme in its influence and in 1875
congress decreed the destruction of the
remaining greenbacks. The mints had
been clandestinely closed to silver in
1873. A new party seemed necessary
and was necessary. A few who saw’
what the trouble was and also saw that
there was no hope for relief from the
old parties organized the Greenback
party in 1876, nominated Peter Cooper
of New York City, for president and
Samuel E. Cary, of Ohio, for vice pres
ident. The new party polled only
about 95,000 votes. But it was a start.
Greenback clubs were formed rapidly
ih 1877 and the people were evidently
about to shake off the old V
glance. When
seats in danger, they saw , ght—
saw it dimly, but saw it. T »assed,
in February, 1878, what i en wn as
the Bland silver law, w^ a tarted
the mints to coining silvefid at the
rate of not less than two million
nor more than four million dol
lars’ worth of silver bars per month.
Congress, in May of the same year,
also repealed the law which provided
for the destruction of the greenbacks.
The president (R. B. Hayes) vetoed
the two acts but they were passed
over his veto by a two-thirds vote
in both houses, the senate at the time
being Republican and the house Dem
ocratic. We believe neither of these
acts would have been adopted had not
the new Greenback party been grow
ing so fast.
There are men now forty years of
age who were not old enough in the
’seventies to realize the terrible de
struction wrought by the contraction
of the currency and doubtless some
of them get 'vexed at their fathers
(now of advanced years) because they
attach so much importance to the
money question and are so uncompro
misingly opposed to the old parties
because they (the old parties) pei’-
mit corporations to control the cur
rency, the very life-blood of the na
tion. We want to tell these 25 to 40
year old children that their fathers
are right; that they formed their judg
ment in middle life when the object
lesson of bankruptcy and ruin was all
around them. The reflection of ma
turer years has only confirmed the
judgment formed in the prime of life.
The money question is the greatest
question the American people were
ever called upon to settle. Contraction
of the currency has wrought more
ruin, it has been truthfully said, than
famine, pestilence and war.
You children of these old Greenback
ers and Populists, you who were either
very young or not born when your
fathers were forced by the terrible
business depression existing in the
’seventies to investigate the cause
thereof, are sleeping over a volcano.
But you don’t know it. The proposi
tion made by the present head of the
nation to retire the greenbacks you
hardly give a second thought. But
your fathers know it would bring ruin
and would be a surrender of the grand
principle of government money issued
direct to the people. Your fathers
may be tottering with the physical in
firmities of old age, but you must re
member the judgment ripens with
years. Faces, names and dates may
be forgotten, but principles, never.
There is some more money now
than when your fathers enlisted in
the battle against the money-power
and times are some better. Thanks,
in part, to the old Greenbackers who
forced the renewal of the coinage of
silver and saved 346 million dollars of
greenbacks from destruction. The
credit for most of the balance
of the increase of the currency
belongs to no party, no organization.
The increase in the production of gold
has come, not by the desire or wish
of the powers that be, but In spite of
them.
But what have we now In the way
of money supply? Not enough to pay
a year’s interest on public and private
indebtedness and a year’s taxes. For
the last ten years there has been a riot
of borrowing, the bankers alone In
creasing their loans to an amount
eight billion dollars more than ten
years ago.
These loans are chiefly credits on
the books of the banks and for the
time being take the place of money;
but only for tho time being. Eventual
ly they Increase the need of money.
This extensive borrowing has had
much to do with producing better
THE WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN.
times —that Is to say, better times
now with worse times sure to folic X
Nothing but a full measure of Green
backism and Populism can prevent a
great carnival of bankruptcy.
The old reformers know this, and
are working to enlighten the people.
Their children —25 to 40 year old cml
dren —may think that their working
for the cause is a whim of eccen
tricity—a kind of old man’s dream.
But it is the children who are doing
the dreaming—or at least are asleep.
These old reformers know what they
are doing. They are heeding the les
sons they Jparned in earlier life. They
are acting upon mature judgment and
are moved by love of country and con
cern for the rising generation.
The editor of the World is not very
old (having eight more presidential
elections to go through before he will
be as old as a gentleman who has
just been elected to the U. S. senate),
but we have been in the reform cause
for twenty-eight years and knew many
of these old Populists when they were
in the prime of life and we know that
there are no finer minds or truer
hearts than they possess.
h n
IF INSURANCE DIRECTORS
WERE ALL LIKE LEE.
“Life insurance trusts 1 consider
sacred. To hazard the property of
the dead, and to lose the scanty earn
ings of fathers and husbands who
have toiled and saved that they may
leave something to their families, de
prived of their care and the support
of their labor, is to my mind the
worst of crimes. 1 could not under
take such a charge unless I could see
and feel that I could faithfully exe
cute it.”
These are the words of General
Robert E. Lee. They were written in
1868 in a letter declining a lucrative
position with a large insurance com
pany. General Lee declined this po
sition for many reasons, but chief
among them was that he did
not consider himself the proper
“person for the position of man
aging director,” and that he did
not think he could find a profita
ble field for investment of funds in
the “present condition of affairs.”
What a sad pity it is that there are
not more insurance directors in the
country today with consciences like
that of General Lee. Knowing that
his name would be regarded as a
guarantee of safety and that he might
not b© able to meet the promises of
the company to its policyholders, he
was unwilling that through him any
one should invest their savings under
false impressions. Such men in busi
ness would soon work a revolution
in industry in America were there
more of them. General Lee was not
honest because it was the best policy,
but because his conscience was as
large as the great heart that beat in
his bosom. We need more such men
at the heads of the great industrial
organizations of the nation.—Augus
ta Herald.
H H H
DIRECT LEGISLATION.
(From The Independent, Neb.)
Oklahoma proposes to follow South.
Dakota, Utah and Oregon in bestow
ing the power of direct legislation up
on the voters. At least this is the
prospect from the action taken by the
constitutional convention now in ses
sion. This will involve both the ini
tiative and the referendum. In Ore
gon no law passed by the legislature
goes into effect within ninety days of
ite passage. If within this ninety
days five per cent of the citizens of <
the state by petition ask for
lar vote on any of thes<- T
action suspends the operrz
law until after the
■tion, at which the voters ju
ment on the measure. iSo much L
the referendum. On the other hai
the voters may cause the submissive -
of an original act by securing t J
petitions of a given percentage of tne
total of voters. This initiative was
taken in the case of the direct pri
mary law, which was approved and
the woman suffrage amendment,
which was defeated, while several
acts of the legislature have been re
ferred to public test since the new
system came into use. South Dako
ta and Utah voters have made little
use of their privilege. The Oklaho
ma people may have concluded thht
such a power is a good thing to
in reserve, even though they may :
be called upon often to exercise ?
n * *
A STRANGE PIECE OF BUS
INESS. ,
Some time ago it was decided 4
turn over the cutting of the Panaw
Ganal to contractors. Chief Engin
Stevens approved this plan and
advertisement was made for bids,
bid by Mr. Oliver, of Tennessee,
much lower than any other. "
government objected to his part
and the matter was held in abeyai..
until he could associate himself with
some individual or company accepta
ble to the government. This he has
done. The government acknowledges
that his associates are acceptable.
And yet he does not get the con
tract. Perhaps he will, but it is not
decided yet. It now develops that
Chief Engineer 'Stevens says he will
resign if the canal is cut by contract
and he seems to be considered the
only man on earth capable of filling
his position.
The matter has not an agreeable
look. Mr. Stevens favored the plan
of cutting the canal by contract and
announces a change of opinion only
when Mr. Oliver’s bid was certain to
secure the contract and certain other
bids were certain not to secure it. It
would have looked much better if
Mr. Stevens had announced his
change of opinion before it was
known whose bid would get the con
tract and whose would not.
As for Mr. Stevens, we take it for
granted that he is an able engineer,
but surely he is not the only one. The
president is a weaker man than he
has ever shown himself to be if he
permits himself to be bullied by the
chief engineer of the Panama Canal.
The whole matter looks like a pre
tense. To be sure, the government re
served the right to reject all bids,
but it was supposed that it would not
exercise this right unless all were too
high. Mr. Oliver’s bid is surprising
ly low and should get the contract.—
Times (Fla.) Union.
nun
Physicians agree that the rush of
modem business is the pace that kills.
But what are we to do about it, since
there are not enough political jobs to
go around T
*
Senator Bailey is now charged with
owning three fine farms in Kentucky.
His enemies are evidently determin
ed to stir up bitter feeling against
hijq iq Texas,
13