Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

Stevens* official report to offset the secret re port of the anonymous investigator? He certainly will—for he is cunning of fence, as I happen to have cause to remember. If the Governor had dismissed Uncle Obe, along with Joe Brown, official discredit would have been placed upon that whitewash ing report, and Maj. Cumming could not have usedi it with effect. But Uncle Obadiah did not lose his place, as Toe Brown did, and it is going to be somewhat difficult for the Commission to ignore the fact that one of their own number has officially de clared that he gave the Georgia Railroad a careful examination and found its condition satisfactory. Before any court, in the discussion of the matter which will naturally follow, in the im pression which goes abroad creating Public Opinion, it is going to embarrass the adminis tration seriously, that one of the Commission ers HIMSELFPERSONALLY examined the toad, and OFFICIALLY TESTIFIED to its good condition. Os course, one might imagine that Uncle Obe, also, would be embarrassed by the turn things have taken, but there is really no ground for such a belief. Uncle Obadiah is not a man to be embarrassed. h *. n You will miss it if you don’t read Premium Offers, which appear on another page. H * * the National 'Banks 'Enjoy. 1. 'The money they invest in bonds escapes taxation, whereas if they were to invest it in land, merchandise, cattle, or produce, it would have to pay its legitimate share of the ex penses of the Government. 2. The interest and the principal paid to them from the taxes of other citizens is paya ble in coin, instead of in paper money; and under the favoritism thus practiced by the Government “Coin” has come to mean gold. 3. The money invested in bonds assumes none of the risks of legitimate business. Con traction of currency only adds to its value. The shrinkage of all other classes of property serves but to enhance the advantage it enjoys. The bond being, in effect, a national mortgage, every dollar’s worth of property in the Union is pledged to its payment. The Government, through its power of taxation, is bound by the law of the contract, to exhaust, if need be, every acre of land, every bale of cotton, every bolt of cloth and every chattel rather than al low the bonds to go unpaid. Money invested in bonds escapes all the burdens of Government, all the expenses of legislation, all the chances of trade, all the usks of fire and flood. No panic affects it, no riot dismantles it, no boycott or strike or lock out can touch a hair of its head. The merchant has to work with hand and brain to win prosperity; the farmer has to toil from sun to sun to achieve success; the manu facturer has to stttdy every change of machin ery, explore every channel of trade in order to reap profits; but the bondholder—what has he to do ? u Nothing, save to sit, like Matthew, “at the of custom.” Paying no tax himself, MNb simply consists in fattening upon the U, other people. arc the advantages derived from Btgc sums of money in bojids lliat ; ; Xi : ;irc C'Hitent to keep the bond- . , ■ mT the additional harvest which " • K.nkimj' upm them. Mr. \\ . 11. -Un-i a I've. 111 \ c '■ J S ;0.0 and did w n kink •, C Moll ..id.n ( J ;,]> oil;: , & "’ . m • • K ' " x ' 11 11 ;1 Muy bonds. M'h- extent of many mil WATSON’S WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN. lions per year, has been paid in advance dur ing a long period of years. This is shown by official reports. On page 203 of the “Law's Relating to Loans and Currency,” will be found the law (Section 3699) under which this practice of paying interest in advance has be come a standing reproach to our Government. The law was passed by the Republicans in 1864, but the Democrats continued it in force. During my brief and breezy career in Con gress, I introduced a bill to stop this payment of interest, but the Democrats smothered it in tiic committee-room. 5. Having salted his cash down in a bond which pays no tax and which runs no risk, and which can only fail when the Republic dies, the bondholder now takes a step forward. He lays his bond in a vault which the Government provides for him, takes a receipt therefor, and demands SIOO of notes for each SIOO of bonds. This SIOO of notes are issued to him in blank, but the Government guarantee is back of each note. He signs the face of the note and immediately it becomes what the Nation al Bank act describes as “money.” It is called “National Currency,” and is practically made a legal tender. Hence, the bondholder gets money on his property, while the land owner and the prod uce owner cannot do so. 6. He can lend the SIOO at 8 per cent, when it cost him nothing. True, he pays 1-2 of 1 per cent tax. but that amount barely covers the labor cost of engraving the notes and stor ing the bonds. 7. The Government agrees to take the Na tional banker’s notes in payment of taxes, ex cises, public lands, and all other duties to the United States, “except import duties.” All salaries and other debts due by the United States to individuals or corporations of this country shall be legally payable in these notes. No such privilege and power is given to any other citizen’s note. Import duties must be paid in coin ; so must the principal and in terest of the public debt. What is the public debt? The bonds held by these national bankers. Why is coin demanded fcr import duties? In order that the Government may be able to give it to these national bankers. Therefore, the law says that a National Banker can compel every other national cred itor to accept his notes in full payment, but that the banker himself can refuse to accept his own note, and demands coin! 8. The guarantee of the Government is what sustains the value of the National Bank note. The bondholder pays nothing whatever for this guaranty. 9. The Government guarantees payment of the notes, free of charge. The people borrow the notes at 8 per cent interest. What constitutes the Government? The people. Therefore, the people indorse a note for the National Banker, free of charge, and then turn round and borrow that note at 8 per cent! 10. National Banks become depositories of public funds—paying nothing Tor the use of them. The national banks have had more than $165,000,000 of the tax money of the people all this year. The administration can thus en rich its favorites, at the public expense. Few Southern banks enjoy this sidedish of the “picnic.” 'rhe North and East get the lion’s usual allotment. • The Government reports show the full fat ness of this system on page no of the “Sta tistical Abstract.” The figures for 1905 stand thus: Capital $782,000,000 Undivided Profits .. . . 409,000,000 Net Earnings 53,000,000 The table does not include the income from the bonds themselves. Nor does the table show what the exemption from tax is worth. The income from the bonds must be added to the profits made from the banking, and then you will have the grand aggregate of the double revenue derived from the money invested in the bonds. I he fundamental objection to national banks is that the right to issue money is a sovereign power which should be exercised by the Gov ernment alone. It should not be delegated. 1 o farm out to any individual or to any cor poration, the tremendous privilege of expend ing and contracting the currency is to make a class the masters of the situation. They can contract the volume of money, force prices down, and buy; they can then inflate the cur rency, force prices up, and sell. They can do this upon a regular system which the balance of the business world is powerless to check. 1 hus all other kinds of property are at the mercy of those who wield this tremendous power. Jefferson and Jackson and Benton saw this, and they fought National Banks with all the strength they possessed. But the party of Jefferson, Jackson and Ben ton is now controlled by National Bankers, and we find good Democrats everywhere favoring the system and giving their support to the in famous Fowler bill. n * * The Atlanta Dailies. They’re a funny lot—those Atlanta dailies. Last year The Constitution didn’t want any reform. None whatever. Now it yells for it. Wants it between meals, as well as for break fast, dinner and supper. I used to tell “the boys” about a man who spoke of a certain sow of his. This man said of and concerning this sow of his that she was so blamed queer in her disposition that he had to nearly pull her ears off to get her up to the slop-trough, and then had to almost pull her tail out to get her away. The Constitution is something like that. It was hard to get her to taste Reform, but after getting the taste she became so ravenously fond of it that she cries for it between meals. Then, there’s the Journal. Last year the Journal was the hottest proposition in the State. Screamer headlines, agonizing car toons, ferocious editorials churned the waters of public opinion until the foam lathered the whole pond. When Clark Howell came up with those six counties of his and Jim Smith rolled up, leading McDuffie county and two others by the halter, oh! how the Journal did crow over the fallen ! Not only did it crow over the fallen, but it took pains to throw off on its allies, by making a mathematical demonstration of the fact that Hoke Smith could have won the fight, just as easily, without the aid of the Populists. A gracious thing to do, truly—a thing chock full of wisdom. To put the crown upon its own glory, the Journal reproduced all those irresistible car toons, before whose ruthless onslaught Hoke’s enemies had gone down in hopeless prostra tion. Then, indeed, the Journal was done. Then, indeed, the Journal stopped. Then, at last, the Journal had its bellyful of Reform. The offices won, the opponents laid out, the allies repudiated, what more did the Journal want? Nothing. Not even a reduction of passenger fares. Not even an extra session of the Legislature. Not even that juster as sessment of the property of the corporations which was to increase the State’s revenues by $100,000! No: the Journal had got what the Journal wanted, and that was a plenty for the Journal. Then, again, there’s that Georgian. Oh, what a Georgian! It steps around among the eggs with the nicest attention to where it puts its tender feet. Omelettes with out broken eggs were supposed to be impossi (Continued on Page. Twelve.) PAGE NINE