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PAGE EIGHT THE Weekly Jeffersonian PUBLISHED BY TH OS. E. WATSON and J. D. WATSON Editors and Proprietors Templi Court Building, Atlanta, Ga. SUBSCRIPTION PRICE: - - SI.OO PER TEAR Advertising Rates Furnished on Application. Entarad at Poitifica, Atlanta, Ga., January 11, IQOJ, at nt and dan mail mattar ATLANTA, GA., THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1907 Another Endless Chain, By first committing- President Cleveland and Secretary Carlisle to the monstrous proposition that the paper money, issued to pay for silver bullion, must be redeemed in gold, when the holder demanded it, the National Bankers com pelled an issue of $262,000,000 of bonds, upon which their immediate profit was about $16,- 000.000. The law provided that these silver-purchase notes should be redeemed in silver dollars, coined out of the bullion bought with the notes, but President Cleveland and Secretary Carlisle blandly ignored the law. By a Treasury ruling a Gold Reserve had been set aside. There was no law for it. The excuse was that somebody might want the Greenbacks redeemed. But there was not a soul who wanted any Greenbacks “redeemed.” Even had there been anybody who wanted his Greenbacks redeemed, the law gave the Gov ernment a perfect right to swap silver for the paper. \ But John Sherman, the Republican, had gone over to the Gold Standard men, and he had created a Gold Reserve, while he was Secre tary of the Treasury. And on this matter, as upon all other matters of national importance, the Democrats were in accord with the Repub licans. Therefore, President Cleveland was determined to maintain the non-legal Gold Reserve. Now see how the National Bankers forged their endless chain: They went to the Treasury with paper mon ey and demanded that it be “redeemed’' in gold. Carlisle gave them gold, day by day, until the Gold Reserve became “impaired/’ Then, of course, it had to be increased. So the Government issued bonds and the bankers who bad taken the gold out of the Treasury, put it back and got the bonds. 'Then they came with paper money again and took the gold out again. Then, the Government issued more bonds, and gave them to the same bankers, to get back the same gold. There was no end to the chain, you sec. The shameful illegal thing went on, until such a clamor broke out all over the country that the silk-hat rascals got frightened and stopped. But they had saddled an unneces sary debt of $262,000,000 on the tax payers, be fore the endless chain was taken off. But has not President Roosevelt given these same national enemies another endless chain r We fear that he has. The Treasury will issue $150,000,000 in pa per. This will bear interest. The $50,000,000 of Canal Bonds will bear 2 per cent. The bankers will buy them, and no money will ac tually pass. They will buy those bonds as the Rockefeller bank bought that old Custom House in New York. They will place the amount of the purchase money to the. credit of the Government on their books. Or, if cash is paid, the Secretary will hand it back, as a deposit. Like the deposits they already have, it will be kept. They will use it in their busi* ness, paying no interest for it. In other words, the national banks will get the bonds for nothing, just as Rockefeller’s bank in New York got an eight million dollar piece of our real estate for nothing. WATSON’S WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN. The tax payers will have to pay interest on the bonds, for which the bankers do not pay, just as the tax payers have had to pay rent to Rockefeller for the old Custom House which he “bought,” but did not pay for. Then the national banker will issue his notes on the bonds, and will pocket compound interest on the same. I hus, he will get interest on the bonds for which he pays out no money, and he will get interest on his own notes. .The tax payers, therefore, catch it, going and coming. Again, there are to be $100,000,000 in treas ury notes. These bear 3 per cent interest. It is by no means certain that the national bank ers will not secure control of these as well as of the bonds. But, in any event, with real money hoarded in the banks, and in the Treasury, the endless chain opportunitv is afforded. To escape widespread calamity, there must be more stuff that can be used as money. By renewing the squeeze, from time to time, it seems to us that the na tional bankers can milk the Government of another issue of bonds, and then another, until thev secure what they are after. Either that, or they will frighten the coun try into yielding to that profligate scheme of the “Asset Currency” crowd. What an everlasting pity it is that Mr. Roosevelt did not issue $500,000,000 of straight . Treasury Notes, bearing no interest, and lim ited to no brief period of existence! But it is not too late, yet, Mr. Roosevelt! Do it—FOR GOD’S SAKE, DO IT! and nip this silk-hat conspiracy in the bud! Rise to meet a great emergency, and put yourself, at once and forever, in the heroic class of Andrew Jackson! * * it Here Is the Lalv For It. The Acts of Congress, 1862 and 3. author ized $450,000,000 of treasury notes. These are called Greenbacks. The Act of Congress, April 12, 1866, provid ed that these notes might be retired to the ex tent of ten millions per month for six months, and then at the rate of four millions per month. The Government thus began to burn up the Greenbacks. But in February, 1868, Congress suspended the Act of April, 1866. But $44,. 000,000 of the people’s money had already been destroyed. When the panic of 1873 came on there was a popular demand for more money, just as there is now. Tn obedience to this demand, the Govern ment issued $26,000,000 more Greenbacks to take the place of those that had been burned. This new issue of treasury notes brought up the amount of outstanding Greenbacks to $382,000,000. So matters stood until, in 1875, Congress provided that the amount should be reduced to $300,000,000. Again they began to burn up the people’s money. But in 1878, Gen. Grant put a stop to it. An Act of Congress was passed May 31, 1870. which required the notes to be re-issued when “redeemed.” The amount which was left outstanding was $346,681,000. There has never been a clay when the Gov ernment could not have put the amount back to $450,000,000. The Acts of Congress, authorizing that amount, have never been repealed. The Act which provided for the retirement of any of the notes was never for one moment a -mandatory act. The Government was left to exercise its discretion in the matter. And when the Government, in 1873, volun tarily restored to the country $26,000,000 of the money which had been destroyed it put the proper construction on the Act of Congress. The mandatory acts of 1862 and 3 ought to be obeyed. The plain letter of the law entitles us to $450,000,000 of Greenbacks. nun Uncle Obadiah. We once had a Railroad Commission com posed of three members. This tribunal was the plaything of such smooth articles as Hamp McWhorter, Barbour Thompson, and Majoi J. F. Hanson. Consequently, the railroad commission came in for much target practice during ;he cam paign of last year. Heavy guns were Laincd upon it, and the batteries “volleyed and thun dered.” When the fight was over, the com mission was believed to be in a stafe of dis mantlement, and comprehensive demolition. Few of us had any thought of anything being saved from the wreck. Little indeed did we think that when the clouds of smoke lifted, and we could take account of casualties, that our bombarded commission would be found serenely occupying its position, and that only one man on their side had been hit. Warner Hill was heard to whisper, “Never touched me.” Uncle Obe Stevens smiled a sweet smile, as he assured his anxious friends that he hadn’t received a scratch. Joe Brown,'indeed, had been laid out: but the Commission might well plume itself on having saved “the best two out of three.” Now, it must occur to everybody that if the old commission of three had been the tool of the foreign corporations which exploit the state, the situation could not be mended by allow-ing a majority of the old commission to remain in office. • Confronted with this self-evident proposi tion, the Governor had to do one of two things: He had to remove Stevens and Hill, to make way for two better men, or he had to increase the number of the commissioners, so that the two objectionable men might be thrown in a minority. The Governor chose the latter alternative, thus adding largely to the burdens of the tax payers, without adding any real strength to the commission. Hill and Stevens are either fit for their places, or they are unfit. If they are fit, then the Governor should simply have appointed a good man in Joe Brown’s place, and allowed the number of commissioners to remain as it was. But if Hill and Stevens are unfit for their places, then the Governor ought to have dis missed them, as he did Joe Brown. Two unfit men ought not to have been left where they may do great harm to the people. Consider, for example, how much the Gov ernor is going to be embarrassed in the matter of the Georgia Railroad. Uncle Obadiah, during Terrell’s administra tion, made what he claimed to be an examina tion of this poor old run-down concern, and pronounced its physical condition good. Those who talked of rotten ties, missing bolts, dilap idated road-bed, etc., were virtually pro nounced to be slanderers. But the wrecks continued to come, one aft er another, so fast that the new commission had another examination made. This time, the report fully sustained the assertions of those who declare that the condition of the railroad is terribly bad. The new Commission ordered repairs made, at once. The railroad “respectfully declines.” This brings matters to an issue. We shall soon learn who is to control our public roads —the heartless and soulless foreign corpora tions, or those authorities who represent the people of Georgia. But cannot everyone see how much the new Commission and the Governor are going to be embarrassed by Uncle Obadiah’s presence on the Conmission? Will no Maj. Cumming use Commissioner