Burke, Margaret Sullivan Story of Hercules DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/storyofherculeso01 burk o o o o J o 'he Story of H^cui/es, ITH MOOT THE PIIJIICISL LEGISUTIOM [ OF THE^REPUBLIC^ PARTY. BY MARGARET SULLIVAN BURKE. Pbice — Post paid ; Single copy, 15c ; two copies, 25c ; ten copies, §1.00 ; Special prices on larger quantities. Address all orders to the Author, 1602 Fif- teenth Street, N. W., Washington, D. C. O O O O O ▼ W ’ DEDICATION. It may be well to dedicate to the dead, a wor which is as replete with dead issues and misstah ments as one that has been pirblished under th auspices of the Populist Party, that is doing no en of mischief by its misleading fabrications. But a for me, proud in the consciousness that I am dealin with the living issues of the day, and that I have mis represented nothing, and nothing extenuated, an that the Archives of my Country will prove it, desire to dedicate this little work to the very lives thing I know, the Republican Party. FT 352,.t>‘?73 PREFACE. I do not believe much in prefaces, because they ire usually in the nature of an apology; and I have lo excuse to otfer for writing this little pamphlet. ! I will only say, therefore, that to the very best »f my ability T have built every statement therein ipon the sure foundation of public records, which ire free for all to examine. I have not taken one single fact from hearsay, but, with the Financial jaws before me, and the reports of their operation pll these years to show the effect of their enforc pient, at my side, I have seen for myself the t truth, and I have given it without bias, i M. S. CONTENTS. Chapter 1. — Introducing our Modern Hercu- les, The Republican Party 1 Chapter 2. — His First Work — The Exception Clause 13 Chapter 3.— Labor Second — The National Bank Act 21 Chapter 4. — Exploit Third — Contraction that did not Contract 36i Chapter 5. — Fourth Achievement — An Act to Strengthen the Public Credit 50 Chapter 6.— Feat Fifth — Refunding the Debt.. 58 Chapter 7.— Sixth Deed of Valor— The Coin- age Act 67 ter 8. — Seventh Triumph — The Resump- tion of Specie Payments 77 9. — The Poisoned Tunic — Inflation of the Currency 84 — An Appendix but not a Supple- ment 01 CHAPTER I. PRODUCING OUR 3IODERX HERCULES, THE RE- PUBLICAN PARTY. Of all the heroes of ancient times, Ilerenles hears le palm as the working hero, and his twelve won- brful labors have been rehearsed in song and .story 11 most of the world is familiar therewith. I The affairs of a great nation, when I'ightly con- ducted, are labors worthy, not only of a hero like Hercules, but of the whole Olympian fraternity of ods put together, and with all his strength and isdom, the labors of t!ie aforesaid heathen deity ;em puny indeed when compared with tlie work f our modern Hercules, the Repuldican party. But, alas ! As it was a woman who attemiied the estruction of this ancient hero, so, history repeat- ig itself, a woman has been found, even in this .lore enlightened day, to send Iier serpants of soph- 3try and detraction to sting to death, if possible, be giant power that saved our countrj' from the angers of the past, and set it upon a sure founda- lon. But, thanks to the briglit spirit of truili, he .'ill still be able to crush them. ( Dropping metaphor, I desire to call the attention jf Republicans everywhere to the cunningly de- dsed sophisms of a new party lately sprung up com nothing, like a mushroom in the night. They lave issued numerous pamphlets, in which tliey lindly attack the grand work of the master minds f the time, simply because their own ignorance is o dense that they can not understand the same. 1 2 Their chief work on this subject being TSTitten ity a woman deserves attention, because had a man been the author, one need not look far for the true inwardness of the whole matter, for, since the time when Adam tried to deceive his I\Iaker, men will labor to prove that black is. white when they have an end to serve, not in the least deterred either by the hopelessness of the task. But the fact that a woman is the author of the screed proves that some may honestly see with the obliquity of vision that would make black seem white from a negative stand-point, for women are honest if not always wise. Tins party, which is maele up, principally, of peo- ple all unlearneel in matters of the kind, have pre- sumed to criticise tlie great financial acts of om modern Hercules, the Republican Party, thatsavee our country from the Stymphalides — a monster o slavery, treason, rebellion, and war, feeding oi human fiesh — and placed it on the basis of solic growth and prosperity. The very first statement in this book of thei faith is so glaringly untrue that one can bpt won der where this female Rip Van Winkle has beei sleeping all this while, to know no better. It is thi tale of a supposed “ infamous plot ” tliat resultet in our civil war, making the charge that there wa nothing in the condition of the masses of our peo pie that denoted prosperty, but rather a tendenc’ to poverty and demoralization. Remember this was written four or five year: ago, at the time of our highest prosperty, whoi under the benign infiuence of a protective taril party, new industries were springing up all ove- the land ; and is especially adapted to the work o 3 iTOselyting ignorant voters, because it appeals to leir sensibilities, rather than their sense. Now turn the glass of time backward forty years nd behold ! How was it then with the middle lasses ? The children were taught “ the three R’s,” ; is true, and most of them learned to work ; but inhere were tlie schools and colleges of to-day? Vhere the culture of the boys, and accomplishments f the girls? A lass who could drum on the piano hen was thought a wonder, and to think of owning !ie instrument was the wildest extra ^'agance ; whole 3wns could only boast of one or two each. Calico ras the regulation fabric for the girl’s gown, and er beau matched it in jeans. Tlie parlor — it was nly “the front room” then — was carpeted Avith a i^ondrous construction of strips of rag and coarse Avine, and the rest of the furnishing Avas made to orrespond. The men labored, on an aA crage, for lalf a dqllar per day, and the women did their oAvn vork. Nobody starved, it is true, because CA'ery- i)ody Avorked and did not care to keep up the styles, md in this respect the conditions haA’e not perma- lently changed, although, tlie control of the goA’’- !rnment haA ing since gone into the hands of those s'ho are unfriendly to a protective tariff, many of hose industries mentioned above haA'e suspended )eeause they could not go on manufacturing in the lark Avares that might be subject to competition [Vitli the product of the under-paid labor of Europe, yithout cutting Avages doAvn to a figure that At-ould fifford no American household subsistence. People Avho are Avilling to Avork in America sel- loni stai'A^e, and, on the other hand, almost iiiA^ar- Jably live Avell ; and yet it is true that we find dis- pontent and dissatisfaction on all sides, and the 4 very fullness of our prosperity is responsible for that, ill a measure; for the more people have che more they ivant, and with natural indolence andi the bad advice of communistic theorists, there arc sure to be some always Avho will go to the wall, while their frugal, industrious, managing neigh- bors heap up the riches that they envy Thiis, abundance is not denied to those who produce it,, but to the tramps who idle on the highways, while those producers seek in vain for efficient laborers! to help them. Inlinite variety is the bright background of hu- manitjs and while the old world jogs along there will be a dilfercnce in men ; some will make a goodi living while others would starve to death, withoub help; but how can the country that offers its op-- portunities freely to all be held responsible foe that? What is the reason that halt the worlcLis over-- worked, while the other half is idle? Let me tell you the secret ; it is because everybody is after the ' efficient worker, and he therefore has more than he ' can elo, while nobody wants the “botch,” anel he' goes unemployeel, anel cries against the injustice o:‘ his thorough neighbor, who enjoys the fruits o:‘ intclligemt labor. The unequal elistribution of the: jn-oducts of labor is usually in exact ratio with the ■ uneriual exertions of the parties concerneel, aidcii largely, of course, by the inequality e>f their intel - ligence. If millionaires are not indigenous to Americai soil, as these people facetiously proclaim, neither are factories, railroads, nor any other of the myriac, of business enterprises that have brought wealtl: to some : while the other some,who have not erectec 5 lie factories, railroads, etc., are uot millionaires. ^The laborer is worthy of his hire,” and if a man larns money by his labor, or business enterprise, I lo not .see why he should not possess it. ! And right here let me drive a peg upon which iais third party may hang mistake number one I ‘'Ire civil war was the outcome of a disregard to lis very jn'inciple by a portion of our country, he laborer in the “ good old ante-bellum days ” id not receive his hire, for the man who smoked is pipe in idleness on the broad southern veranda oled out to him a pittance only of it, his slice of aeon and bucket of meal each day, although the ranaries he had tilled were indeed bursting with je fruits of the poor slave’s labor. That slave to- ay is respectably clothed, and lives in a conifort- ble home, whenever he has the good sense to work alf as hard for himself as he once was driven to o for hig master ; and all this he owes to'the Re- ublican party. Colored Democrats remember hat. With a country filled by such possibilities as ours, would be strange, indeed, if there were no niil- onaires ; and we will have idle vagabonds to create iots just as long as we have the Popidist Party to Ireacli anarchy on the floor of the .Senate, as well ■ s in campaign documents. But even if visionaries f that stamp could bring about this equitable (? ) di- ■ isionof our moneys, hownmeh would each person ave, do you suppose? Well, I will tell you. The ’honey in circulation at present, equally divided, ’muld give each man, woman, and child §24.19, and ^ll the money in the Treasury added would only raise to §:15.05. Not much of a fund upon which to go ito business, is it? But even could we hit on some 6 plan by which we could establish a sort of rotation in office, loaning each man in turn, as capital to start in business all the funds of the country for a reasonable time, with the privilege of retaining all the ijrolits, the conditions would be exactly the same as they are now inside of fifty years, and some men would not be able to pay back the loan ; and this state of things will exist just as long as variety is the foundation of nature, and some men are intelligent, managing, and industrious, while others are ignorant, shiftless and lazy ; and the great law of “the survival of the fittest” will so adjust tlie balance that the world will still maintain its equilibrium in spite of tlie cranks. And where is there another nation in which the chances are even as equally divided, with all our inequalities, as they are in our country after all? The Republicans had come into power, an infant party, to find already laid upon their shoulders tlie burden of a large debt, the mongrel otfspring of an illicit union of tlie Democratic party of America, and tlie English Coliden Club. Polk had been victorious under a tariff lianner, leading the people, who really desired protection, with the delusive cry of “Polk, Dallas and tlie Tariff of ’42,” but as soon as lie was installeii in office, with a Democratic Senate and House at his back, the tariff of ’42 was repealed, the professed protection chamiiion, George M. Dallas, furnishing the casting vote on the question of its engrossment, in the equally divided Senate ; and this law was maintained until ISfil. Of course there soon was not enough revenue, for not only did foreign supplies come in williout con- tributing anything to keep up the exjienses of the I r narket where they sold their goods, but our own I factories and workshops, that might have yielded , )oth property and income tax/^vere closed down, ind they had neither property nor income to tax ; j so Buchanan was obliged to ask a loan to pay tlio I nirrent expenses of his outgoing administration. The Secretary of the Treasury, Howell Cobh, in lis report on the finances, dated December 22, 1859, lad estimated that there would be a balance in the 1 [Treasury, Jmie 30, 1861, of only $3,530, 196'C1, which s eft no margin for additional appropriations. The i mblie debt amounted to nearly $60,000,000. The , Secretary, in a spasm of patriotism, expressed him- , self to the effect that the idea of increasing the pub- ic debt to meet the ordinary expenses of the Gov- ernment should not be entertained for a moment, and suggested the tariff as the way out of the difii- bulty. But Democracy was joined to its idols, and eonld not bow down to this new god, even under such desperate circumstances; and inasmuch as they had been steadily increasing that debt during the : whole of the administration, till the sum total amout- ed to an increase of $47,404,426.70, they could not be expected to be very squeamish — and this, too, in a time of peace under a tariff’ that actually discrion'- nated against our own people, as under its work- ings we paid $100,000,000 abroad for every $15,000,000 pf revenue collected at home. : Xo wonder, then, that the President failed to bor- row, under the act approved June 22, 1860, as shown by the records of the Treasnry, the very moderate sum of $21,000,000 on the credit of the United States lat an interest not to exceed six per cent., and only siicceeded in raising the pitiful sum of $7,022,000, at live per cent. s In desperation Secretary Cobb, in his report, Dec 4, 1860, cried aloud after tliis fashion : “ The condi tion (jf the Treasury is such that no serious dela; can be indulged.” He thereupon recominendec that autliority be given for issuing Treasury notes to be negotiated at such rates as would cominanc the confidence of the country, adding : “ To ere ate that confidence I recommend that the pulAh lands he unconditionally pledged for the ultimati redemption of all the Treasury notes which it mai become necessary to issue." A mortgage on the country, you understand ; although this did no actually occur; notwithstanding that, on this rec ominendation of tlie Secretary of the Treasury i was attempted in the House, and ojily pi’eventec because it would have interlered with the home- stead bill then under discussion. And like Ban- quo’s ghost we have this very same old idea now haunting the members of tlie Populist Party. Thej would issue unlimited greenbacks, but they wouki peril the American homestead thereby. The loan was finally negotiated without this neu departure, but only liy paying the luggest interest rate ever allowed before or since. Under the act ol^ December 17, 18(30, .810,010,900 was issued at intere.st ranging from 6 to 12 per cent. It was under this act that lo to .36 per cent was asked, and no wonder, wlien such a state of aft'airs existed. But the credit of the Government was so low at this- time tliat the secretary, then John A. Dix, suggested in a letter to the Ways and Means Committee, dated .Tan. IS, 1861, that the several States be asked tr pledge the deposits received by them from the Gov- ernment under the act for the distribution of the surplus revenues in 1836; for there was an actual 9 deficit in the revenues of 821,677,524, with a defi- ciency, also, of §24 000,000 asked for, and these vere sold at a discount of nearly 11 per cent., in a time Df peace, too, to get cash to pay the debts of the out- going administration, for which a free trade policy provided insuliicient revenue, instead of the pre- mium our bonds command now, and have com- manded ever since the Republican Party came into po\ver ; for at the extra session of Congress called July 4, 1661, only six months after, with eleven ^tates in rebellion, the Republican Administration found it easy to obtain almost 8400,000,000, because jihe monied people of tlie Rorth saw the necessity pf contributing their means to save the Nation ; no particular patriotism in that, for self-preservation ,s the first law of nature. Of this sum 8189, .321,350, at six per cent., sold at par ;860,030,000 old demand notes, with no interest, it par also, and 8139,999,950, at 7 3-10 per cent, in- lerest— t/(e highest ever paid by a Republican Ad- ninistraiion — actually sold at a premium of 465 ^ne-thousandths of one per cent., with war really jegun. Wliat an awful “ Shylock ” was that, for this is he way the American banker “ took advantage,” yith the war threatening to wipe the whole of it ,way ; and the above is the pretty name these vili- iers give to the people who loaned monej" to the Jovernment to help in this emergency. But pstory will vindicate the character of the men who isked their means on the chances of war, and thus felped to save the country. Tliey turned a river ot fold into the Augean stable where wrong doing tnd false principles had herded, and swept away all ts foul pollutions. 10 It is not usury, but business all the world ovei to receive for one’s loans a rate of interest com inensurate witli a risk of losing the whole. An' what security had our Government to offer inthos- days, with 10,244,114 of her people in open rebellioi and 2, 145,348 of the money producers, among tb loyal ones, taken from their shops, offices, facte ries, and other wealth-producing occupations to d( fend her against these fratricidal children, but possibly bankrupt future ? I am making no defence of Wall Street, for may be that somewhere in the pages of histoi there is recorded a case of such sublime patriotisi as a man, or a set of them, who deliberately impo’ erished themselves for the sake of their country but I confess that I have not been able to find i and I am inclined to think it nothing but huma: after all, to follow that first law of nature. I( not know exactly how large the lieam in my o« eye would have been under those circumstance i and so I will just let my brother’s little mo alone. While Republicans managed our finances the was never a dollar sold at a discount, either in lie of peace or war, a pretty good indication of t confidence in their integrity accorded, not only 1 our own people, but by the world at large ; an i tegrity that woukl not stoop to rob those wl trusted' it ; and yet they came into power on the e of war, ^vith a bankrupt treasury and a luortgagi country, the mongrel jirogeny of Democracy ai Free-trade, before mentioned, that was left for t new party to dispose of, bind out, or send to t reform school ; a result brought about by an ol experienced party, and left on the eve of war 11 encumber this new and untried power. But they met every obligation like men, and with the former four years of the Cleveland Administration— that at least did them no good— counted out, they Ijrought us up to March 4, 1893, when, with an ag- gregate of $764,322,266.78 cash in the Treasury, of which $217,672,947.91 was gold coin and bullion, they had our debt so arranged, with a minimum interest, too, that it could be easily paid by the for- eign revenues of the country as it fell due ; and without repudiating the claims of our own people for pensions, improvements, etc., if the marplots I woidd have let our r-evenues alone. This was, how- ever, almost too much to expect, with the Govern- ment turned over “ soul, body, and breeches,” by the foolishness of the people, to its enemies ; and where the bullet failed to ruin the country, the bal- lot may be more effectual. They wanted a “ change,” and it begins to look like they had gotten it with a vengeance. But I want to enter my protest here, and now, (.July 2S, 1894), against the cowardly at- tempt that is being made to shift the blame from 1 the shoulders to which it legitimately belongs, to I those whose wise legislation in the past has lifted them above such a charge. Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated March 4, 1861. Both Houses were Republican. This was, how- ever, not such a rose-colored state of affairs for that party, as it would be under ordinary circumstances, for their almost two-thirds majority in Senate and House was largely brought about by the secession of the eleven Southern States, before referred to, which of course cut the Democratic representation down, for although all Democrats were not rebels, all rebels were Democrats during the Civil War. 12 With theii' ranks thus depleted and the war upo' them, they actually held their first session in a mil itary camp, when an extra session was called Jul; 4 — Independence Day, take notice — 1801. The day before that session adjourned Abrahan Lincoln wrote that now illustrious name at the hot tom of a new protective tariff measure, one of tlr first great acts of an administration full of event ful situations. CHAPTER II. HIS FIEST WORK — THE EXCEPTIOX CLAUSE. When Congress convened in regular session, Dec. 9, IStil, it was found how far short even the wildest I estimate had heen of tlie necessities of war, and it was then that the legal- tender greenback was intro- duced. It was absolutely necessary to have money tliat would be good for all debts, public and private, but it was a dangerous proceeding to make this paper, with no intrinsic value of its own, good for debts that might come diie after the money had be- come valueless. The Continental Currency, for in- stance, had been a partial legal tender by enaet- I ment of all tlie States except Rhode Island ; and George Washington was obliged to receive it at par in payment of debts, when its value had depreciated to next to nothing. Our legislators took the risk, however, and issued §450,000,000 of them, lifty millions to be in lieu of the old demand notes, so called because they were payable on demand (payable in coin by the way), which have been paraded so by our Populist friends, because, as they say, they were on a level with gold, and “ the millionaire took his liat otf to them, while the banker made obeis- ance.” The millionaire of our own land may have had a great deal of respect for them, it is true, but the inillionaii-es of Europe were not built on that plan. They had seen too many governments rise and fall to have an overwhelming amount of faith in a new country like ours, thus divided against 13 14 itself, “promising to pay” with nothing behind the promise tjut a country at war among themselves. How could they know what the result of that war would be ? They inclined to believe that the Gov- ernment would be overthrown, in fact, and how much Avould this paper money be worth then, that was made legal tender for all debts public and private? So Europe looked askance at our green- Ijacks. They did not want to accept money on such uncertainties. Gold alone would bolster our credit there. It is true these notes paid the soldier, fur- nished his equipments, and gave a new impetus to commerce also, and to people of shallow under- standing it would seem that the government might have gone on issuing them ad libitum, but — and there always is a “ but” to folly — our importations had to be paid in coin values, and unless the duties on the same were demanded in coin, also our green- backs would soon have been at the disadvantage ot an unjust discrimination wliich would have lessen- ed their purchasing power constantly, and thus di- minished the duties also ; and with every issue of these notes they would have decreased in value, and tile rate of interest would have increased, till our paper would have been about as v.aluable as the old Continental Currency, or the Confederate s]unplastcr,viz: two cents per pound as paper rags. And as our Government had always made it the custom to pay the interest on our bonds in coin, be- cause never before, in the history of the country, had anything else been legal tender, they had never thought of any other medium ; and during the time that tliis was the case, the government had slioiil- dered certain obligations, which the party of the other part entered into, witli the understanding 15 that, of course, they would be paid in coin, i)ecause there Avas no other legal tender. Congress had no right, therfore, to pass a bill making paper legal ten- der without this very exception clause ; but to make it understood that this custom would be continued, notwithstanding the war, it was thought best to put a clause in the act of Feb. 25, 1S62, making that declaration, and, at the same time, an exception was made of import duties also. ■ This terrible Ex- ception Clause-^Populist Conspiracy number one — the great mountain made out of a mole-hill because those learned in money matters were consulted, — saved our public credit, by making our bonds mar- ketable abroad, and compelling the foreigner to pay the fiddler too, by requiring him to pay drrty on his imports in coin, which thus provided the means of paying the interest of our bonds in coin, thus satisfying his demands out of his own pocket, giving Diomedes over to his own fire-breathing mares, to which he had erstwhile fed the flesh of his guests. In this case honesty was not only the best policy, but it was the only policy ; for, if the interest had not been paid in coin, we could have borrowed no money ; and if the duties had not been paid in coin, we would have had no coin to pay the interest with. Was it a crime that our native creditors were put on a level with the foreigner? Would they have us supply a different kind of sauce each, for goose and gander? If there was any advantage gained by the Wall street broker, et al., there certainly was no way to prevent it. The country was in vital need of money, and, therefore, at the mercy of those who had money to lend ; but it is no use for those who are vociferating against the government to in- 10 Hate the facts. The almost fabulous price of gold on the morning of .July 1, 1864, is attributed by them entirely to the fact that gold was Unis made the medium for the payment of duties and interest on our bonds. For one sin.rjle dai/ only, gold was at a premium of ®1.S5 per cent., and yet these buzzards are con- stantly representing that sum as quite the general thing. They do not lake the pains to tell you that the premium on gold dropped 35 cents on that very day, which was brought about bj’ an act passed by those “ dreadful men who were conniving at rob- bery,” passed by an overwhelming majority, too. If it was true that the Exception Clause was re- sponsible for this sudden rise in gold, how are we to account for the fact that it was higher for two months before that act was passed than it was for two months after? This is true, however, as shown by the records of the Treasury. And these records, taken in conjunction with the history of tlie war at that period, show more; they show that all the time gold lluctuated, now high, and then low, with the tide of every battle. With every defeat of the Union army gold wont up, with every success it went down ; and this \vas too often relocated, alto- gether, to lie a mere coincidence. For instance, the victory of Grant at Fort Donel- son occurred the very month in which the greenback act was passed, and gold went down to 101.5, in- stead of np, as these populists claim. But in the month of July following, McClellan was defeated after seven days’ battle before Richmond, and gold sprang up to 115.5. In December General Burn- side was defeated at Fredericksburg, and gold rose tol 32.3. But in July of ’63 came Meade's victory at 17 Gettysburg, and Grant’s capture of Vicksburg, and do\vn n cnt gold to 125.8. Then came “ Old Rosey’s ” defeat at Chickamauga, and the siege of his army at Chattanooga, and gold went up with a bound, till it sold in the following month at 147.7. In May of 1864, Grant in Virginia, and Sherman in Georgia, were lighting desperately, but making slow pro- gress, and gold still went up. Grant, after a series of dreadful battles, in which he suffered terrible lo.sses, had been brought up with a round turn be- fore Petersburg: and there, owing to the daily withdrawal of regiments, which had served their three years, he seemed likely to be kept for an in- definite period. Sherman was making slow pro- gress toward Atlanta, and Early had commenced the movement which brought him within four miles of the capital ; foreign intervention seemed more imminent than ev^er before, and the outlook was dark indeed, in the month of July, 1864, and gold floated on the billows of our disaster up to an aver- age of 258.1. But in September, Sheridan’s great victory came to revive our hopes, and gold fell 32 cents from the month previous ; and after the clos- ing scenes of the rebellion at Appomattox in March and April, gold took a series of plunges downward and though it still fluctuated, as public confidence ivas great or little in the Congressional battles to .vhicli our interests had been transferred, it never rose so high again. The unsophisticated reader is left in the dark also ibout another experiment of our legislators, who vere trying ev^ery means, in their efforts to do all hey could to better our condition, an experiment hat lasted fifteen days, and therefore not long nough for all the people to starve to death. 18 III the beginning of 1864 the war had come to a cr sis where the result was so doubtfnl that nothin else was certain either. Specie payments had bee suspended since 1.S61, and the credit of the Goveri mcnt, represented by the premium on gold whe purchased for legal tenders, fluctuated, as I hav shown at the result of every battle or even skii niish of the two armies. The average price of gold dollar in greenbacks in January was 31-> whicli advanced in April to ^1.72. Secretary Chas believed this to be caused by a conspiracy to d< press our credit, and brought the matter before tli Finance Committee in a letter asking the enactmei of a law prohiliiting speculation in gold, or in othc words, the sale of gold by parties who liad none t sell. He admitted that there was a doubt whethc the bill would accomplish the desired relief, Th bill passed on the 17th of June, but the price of gol went up steadily, and the excitement became s great that all business operations were tliro^vn int confusion. The result of t’.ie war hung tremblin in the balance, and it took very little to turn th scale. Congress was snowed under by petitions fc the repeal of the law, -and Congress was not slow t obey. July 1, gold opened at ?2.85, but tliat da was the last. The repealing act was passed by t!i .Senate almost unanimously, and an hour later ha- been rushed through the House and signed by tli President. That day gold dropped 35 cents and con tinned downward. Tlie men of Wall street, in common with other wlio had gold to sell on that day, doubtless rc ceived the market price for it; and if tliis consti tutes a Shylock, I will myself be compelled to cr; pcccavi.’ for on the very day that gold reached it 19 maxiimmi, I remember that my girlish hoard of ' four shining dollars brought me just §11.40 in pur- ' chasing shoes, gown and back-comb, those things i so dear to the feminine heart. I wonder if any saintly female Populist would have given the whole for a four dollar pair of shoes and gone with- out the new gown and back-comb, because the sol- dier, who had nothing but greenbacks, could get but one hundred cents for his dollar? And how much did it help him, do you suppose, that an old lady of my acquaintance, who had a big bag of gold at the same time, refused to do as I did, and held on to it till, like fairy gold, it had almost two-thirds of it melted away? In an appendix to the book referred to before, which is written by one of the author’s “ indomi- table colleagues” — they are all indomitable in that book, by the way — which appemlix, by a sort of 'mxitual admiration arrangement, is printed in the *' twelfth edition thereof, the statement is made that * Iwith S50,0i)0 in gold a banker could buy a §100,000 ^ bond, which is a transaction on exactly the same “Iprinciple ; because at that time the stress of circuin- ' stances had made the l)asis of our values unnatural. ' The farmer received §2.50 per Inishel for his wheat •* hlso ; but when the time came for the bond to be re- “ Heemed his ^-lOjOOO in gold would only have bought ' a §50,000 bond, for the war was over, and resump- tion had squared the values. I knew a woman, a poor lodging-house keeper in I :his city a few years ago, who saved a little money, n She heard that a valuable piece of real estate was '! ibout to be sold at auction. She attended the sale ; 1 he money market was close, the weather bad that i lay, i nd so there were not many bidders. She was 20 lucky enough to hid it in tit a low pidce, the fir; payment just her “pile,” and before the next paj inent was due she sold the property at four timi what she paid for it, paid the balance due, an pocketed a small fortune as her profits. It was stress of circumstances that worked in her favo and not any sudden change in the real value of th property that gave her this advantage. From the Wall street banker to the huckster in on market places, from whom the Populist purchase his vegetables at the very lowest possible price fo which he can get them, every one of them gets th highest market price for his wares, when he car That is nothing but trade, and where does Shyloc! come in? CHAPTER III. LABOR SECOND — THE NATIONAL BANKING ACT. The national banking act is wliat they call “ con- spiracy number ttvo,” and like all the rest of the signs and v.-onders of the Populist Party, it is easily disposed of. A'ears ago, when “ Shylock ” was a very humble individual, upon whose gabardjne this third party could expectorate to its heart’s content, the Ameri- can people looked to the State bank for their con- venience in the shape of paper money. These State banks were founded according- to the varied ideas of the individuals concerned, issuing their “ promises to pay ” with only one-third ot their circulation secured by funds, lands, mortgages, or property of any kind. This was the Hyd ra, with more than a hundred heads, that Hercules slew. A man could start a bank on the buying value of land, that had depreciated on his hands till he could not sell it for twenty per cent, of what he paid for it. Their notes were payable in current funds, and often limited in time, two very cun- ning traps for the unwary. The current funds were mostly old and mutilated bills, fractional currency, and the like, with nowand then a respectable note. These were paid out after the manner of the world at large — where the “ kicker ” generally gets it — the old worn out notes to the poor man, who was glad to get anything for his hard day’s work, and the new, crisp notes to the “kicker” aforesaid, who was generally a rich business man ; or were 21 22 personally appropriated as long as possible. When the limit of time ran out, woe unto liim in wliose pockets these notes were found ; and it was not in the rich inan’s pockets usually, for it is only the poor who make a bank of their pocket-boolcs, and the rich man, who can aggregate his money, looks too closely after it to let it die on his liands. A man dare not sleep over night with any considera- ble number of tliese notes in his pockets, not be- cause he feared thieces, but because he might find them so depreciated by next morning that much of their value would have stolen away. Then, too, tliis money was very little of it at par, and the discount varied, not only in the different ■ States, but the same money was more or less valu- able, according to the distance it traveled from home. For instance, Indiana notes, that were tol- erably good at home, were so clipped by the time they reached New A"ork that even the banker him- self, if he were a mereliant also, as was often the case, would never think of taking his own notes East when he went to buy goods. All this made the banker’s work no sinecure, and he, like every- body else in this selfish world, must be paiy his change of base from a simple business man to a “bloated bond-holder, ” only that he lias a wider field in which to operate, and that was what he was after in the first place, for money, dependent on outside investment, is often unemployed. The law fixes the amount, too. The act of June 3, 1S64, reads : Every association hereinafter named shall, at Jill times, have on hand, in latvful money of the United States, an anionnt equal to at least 25 per centum of the aggregate amount of its notes in circulation, and of its deposits; .and every other asso- ciation shall at all times have on hand, in lawful money of the United States, an .amount equal to at least 15 per centum of the aggregate .amount of its notes in circulation, and of its de- posits. This w.us changed in the act of June 20, h‘^74, l>y the repeal of tliat jiart whicii applies to tlio circu- lation, but left a reserve on the deposits still. He has no monopoly in this cilhor. for any!>ouy can buy a bond on precisely the same t. rms. .n d any set of jieoiile can join their bonds togetherand start a bank, too, even the servant girls in your 27 kitchen. Oh ! ye reformers of our money service, uniess yon pay them tiat money for their wages, in wliicii case they would soon have to interview tlie paper-rag man. That men take advantage of our banking iaws to rob the poor, as these so-called sympathizers claim^ I positively deny, becau.se I do not see how they can. The banker is not allowed to loan money on mortgages or accept security on real estate, save to secure a debt previously contracted that can not otherwise be liquidated, and then, as is the cus- tom the world over, the man’s property becomes responsible for his indebtedness. The law fixes the rate of interest at the iawful rate of the State or Territory where the bank is located ; and when no interest is fixed by the laws of the State, they can charge' but seven per cent., the penalty for disobey- ing this is to lose all of tlie interest, except in cases that are specified. It is true, however, that human wisdom lias not ’ yet found a way to prevent the wicked from turn- I ing good into evil, because there has been discov- j ered no law that will be accommodating enough 1 to work both ways at once. But even divine law has the same result, and the sun still sliines, after I all these centuries, on the unjust along with the I just. And with all their faults we would hardly be bet- tered by the change to Government banking that has been discussed and proven inadequate, peri- odically, ever since the first National bank was : Stalled, and as the mare’s nest hunters are again ' agitating the subject, it would, perhaps, be as well to quote Secretary McCulloch’s disposition of the subject. In his report on the state of the finances. dated November 30, 1807, the currency question is settled as follows ; Tins subject is before the public upon two propositions : 1 To deprive the National banks of the right to issue notes foi circulation, in order that the Government may issue its owr notes in their place. 2, To issue United States notes, in pay ment of compound interest notes, seven-thirt}' notes, and five twenty bonds, as they mature and become paj'able. To state the first proposition fairly, it proposes to withdraw the circu lation of National banks in order that the Government maj occupy the whole field. The §300,000,000 of bank notes to be replaced by §300,000,000 of United States notes. The §300,000,000 of United States notes are to be used for the purchase of United States bonds, which are to be canceled: and thus non-interest bearing notes are to be substituted for interest bearing bonds, whereby a saving is to be effected ot the amount of interest that would otherwise be paid upon the bonds so canceled. It is claimed that by paymont of interest on the bonds de- posited by the National banks with the Treasurer of the United States as security for their circulating notes, the Government pays to the banks a bonus for issuing §300,000,000 of currenej’ which it might have without the bonus by issuing its own notes. This is a plausible proposition. Many of its advocates arc honest in the belief that by acting upon this theory the Gov- ernment would actually save $18,000,000 per annum, and they arc entitled to a fair hearing. The National banks are authorized to issue $300,000,000 of currency. The same amount of legal tenders substituted for this currency, would purchase $277,800,000 United States bonds at 108, which is less than the present market price. The inter- est on these bonds at six per cent, would be $16, 668,000 If the bonds could be purchased at 105, the legal tenders would buy $285,700,000, the interest upon which would be $17,- 1 ( 2 , 000 . If the bonds could be bought at par, there would be $300,- 000,000, upon which the interest would be $18,000,000. The National banks, however, for the year 1866, actually paid over §16,000,000 in taxes, as follows : To the Federal Govcrnii:ent, To the States, 29 $8,069,938 7,940,451 Total, ...... 10,019,389 (The above was based upon the reports of the Commissioner ;>f Internal Revenue and the returns of the bants from each State.) As tlie revenues of the general Government are derived from .axation, the return of an 3 ' sum by the banks of the State gov- jrninent, in the w*ay of taxes, is substantially a return to the people who pay federal taxes, and is properly credited to the Danks in any statement of account between them and the Gov- jrnment. If the bonds purchased by this new issue of legal tenders ost ICS, the interest on such bonds would be $16,668,000; de- luct taxes paid, $i6.019,:iS0 ; amount saved, $648,611. If the )onds cost 105 the amount saved would be $1,12*2,611. If the bonds could be bought at par the amount saved would ie 82,000,000. This is the sura total to be saved under'the aspect of the case nost favorable to the advocates of the proposed change. But this is not ail. The National hanks are compelled by aw to hold constantly in reserve a certain percentage of their irculation and deposits in United States legal-tender notes, rile amount thus held permanently in reserve is never less than 1.50,000,000 (generally about 8180,000,000), and is a gratuitous loan to the Government. The hanks get no interest on it. It s so much of their capital unproductive, invested in non- ^terest-bearing notes of the Government. The case may now he stated thus. The hanks have loaned to [he Government as follows : or bonds deposited to secure their circulation hearing six per cent. Interest . . . $250,000,000 Searing five per cent. ..... 00,000,000 'ermanent reserve of legal tenders . . . 150,000,000 Total loan to the United States . . $400,000,000 or which they receive six per cent, interest on $250,000,000 ...... $15,000,000 Ive per cent, on 800,000,000 .... 4,500,000 Total $19,500,000 ut they refund iu taxes ..... 16,000,000 [leaving ....... 3,500,000 30 Which the Government pays the hanks for a loan of $190 COO.OCO, a little less than three-fourths of one per cent. But there is still another aspect of the case : The hauks are held riijidly accountable for the interest the receive on money honestly loaned to the Government when i needed money, aud they claim credit for the money loaned t the Government without interest. They hold these $150,000 000 in obedience to the mandates of the law wliile money, worth to them six per cent. They, therefore, give the Go\ ernment the use of the money— that is to say, six per cent, o $150,000,000 non-interQst bearing notes, held permanently in n serve, $9,000,000 ; they repay in shape of taxes, $16,OOO.OOC total, $25^000,000; they receive from the Government, $10,500 000, leaving §5,500,000 which the bank actually pays to the Go\ ernment as a bonus for the privilege of circulating their ow notes. The fact should not be overlooked';in this connection thai the banks have deposited $;)40,000,000 witli the Treasurer e security for their issues, l^ow the TJnited States could nc possibly buy over $200,000,000 of these bonds without actui addition of $20,000,000 or $40,000,000 of greenbacks to the amour it is proposed to issue ia lieu of $200,000,000 of National ban notes. The result v’ould be cither that the Government woul fail to save $2,400,000 interest on $4,000,000 of its bonds, whic it could not purchase, or it would have to try the dangcroc and unnecessary experiment of again inflating the currency. Tlie $00,000,000 of 5 per cent, bonds might be bought at par ....... $90, 000, Of Suppose the G per cent, bonds could be bought at lOG (though they are uov/ selling much higher)— §250,000,000 at lOG . . . . . 265,000,01 It would take ..... $3.55, 000, GH to buy the bonds now held by the hanks. Here is a direct infl: tioii of $55,000,000, which is the excess over the interest r« ceived by the banks, paid as a bonus for their circulation. Ill fact the circulating feature of the IXationn banks is a source of expense instead of an incouK for which reason no ISTational banks have for year taken out over 1 he niiniimmi amount otcirculatioi and tlicy would aliolish the circidating feature t 31 he law entirely if they could, because it is an ex- tensive luxury. On this subject Comptroller Lacey said in his re- port for 1890, after calling attention to the fact that he issuing of circulating notes by ISTational Bank- ng Associations was unprofitable, and in a ma- arity of cases a positive loss, resulting from the igh rate of premium established in the market pon the bonds of the United States available for he purpose of securing note issues; In the opinion of tlie Comptroller the law governing Ka- lonal banks should he amended so as to produce the following lodifications : 1. The uiiaiiuum deposit of bonds to secure circnlation lould be llxed at ten per cent, of the capital stock in respect ) all associations having a capital of §300,000 or less, and for p banks having a greater capital, a minimum deposit of §30,- JO in bonds should be required. . . |2. Circulation should be issued to the par value of tligbonsls eposited. 'i..; .' |3. The semi-annual duty on circulation should be so f eS’ncetl p to equal one-fourth of one per cent, per annum. ■ ,i.- > These recommendations are renewed at the preseAftlme, rlthout modification, except as to the first proposition, which light be so changed as to fix the minimum of bond deposit at le nominal sum of §1,000 for each association without refer- hco to the amount of capital stock paid in. On the 15th of .Inly, second year, the Hon. .Itihn herinan, recognizing the same troulile, introduced bill to meet tlie exigency, referring to wliich (Omptroller Lacey says : It will be observed that the bill provides: 1. That no association shall be required to maintain a bond eposit of more than §1,000 to secure circulation. 2. That every association may issue circulation equal to the or value of its bonds so deposited. :|3. That the monthly withdrawal of bonds under the act shall Ipt exceed $:3,000,000 in the aggregate. ■ Fnder all the circumstances the Comptroller has no hesita- |on in earnestly recommending the pass.agc of this bill. c*o It is a well-known fact that the circulation of tlie m tional banks is in process of retirement. During: the I ^ years ended October 31, 1800, the aggregate of their circulat ^ . based upon deposit of United States bonds has been redu« from $276,304,180 to $124,958,736, showing a net decrease dur the five years of $151,345,453. The net average decrease each of the past five years'is'$30,2G9,090. lE This is more significant when we take into account 1 y.- fact that during this period there has been an average yeai increase of 1G8 in the number of National banks and an Vi crease of 839 in the aRgregate. It is evident, therefore, tliat causes are in operation whit ^ nnless removed, will in the near future reduce tiie circulati BO of National hanks to the mlnimnm retinirement of the law. ^ “ But,” say.s the objector, “ lianks are notobligt p to take out any circulation, and if it is a luxur. ir Avliy take out even the miniimiiii amount? ” t It is true that the law governing the estal o lishment of a Xational bank does not comp L the taking out of any circulation, and tliere ai many hanks that do not take it out. For ii stance, there are five hTational banks in Me’ York City, viz.: Chemical National, iUeehanic! National, Merchant National, National City Banl- National Park Bank, witli a combined capital f ?>7,300,000, that lias not taken out a dollar of circu lation, although entitled at that time to overS5,0(K), 000. And in Chicago the First National, tlie Mer chants’ National, and the Pi’airie State Nationa are in the samecategorj' — they have no circulation But, wliile not compelled to take out circulation they are compelled to buy bonds and deposit witl the Treasurer as a basis for a circulation, whethe tliey want it or not, and also to deposit an amouu equal to 5 per cent, of their bonds as a “ redciuptioi fund” to redeem a circulation whicli in the cases referred to they have not taken out. 3.3 Ifter going to the expense of buying bonds at a bnium of twenty per cent, and depositing live ^ cent, of their value with the Treasury for “ fe- nption fund ” it depends entirely upon the value poney in that particular locality whether a' bank 1 care to go ahead and pay one per cent, tax and ozen other expenses and take over ninety per t. of the par value in circulation. Where money worth ten and ‘twelve per cent., as in tlie fstern States, it will pay to do so, but where ney is cheap it does not pay, even after they I'e the bonds deposited and have incurred the fviest expense — the premium on same. This is ,ctly why the hanks quoted aijove have no cir- ation. ind Mr. Lacey says farther, in explaining a table iiis report : foregoing table is perpetuated to show by comparison falling off in the amount of bonds deposited in excess of peciuirement. and it will be seen that the percentage of pss has fallen from 2S in 1SS2-3 to IS in 1SS9-1)0. ! the 201 banks organized during the past fiscal year 16S 'i a capital of §50,000 each, amounting to §8,JOO,OCO ; 77 have pital of over §50,000 and not exceeding §150,000, and 46 have »gregate capital of §20,250,000. The 46 largest banks do- ted the exact amount of bonds required hy law, and of the [lining 245 banks only 7 deposited bonds in excess of the irement. twithstanding the accession of new banks to the system [the consequent deposit of bonds and issue of notes the 'tanding circulation steadily decreases from year to year. ow let us see just what a dollar bill does cost hanker. Dunting 4 per cent bonds at Si. 20, the banker jet that “ one-dollar bill ” had to deposit with ; government S1..33L which, counting money rth 10 per cent for convenience, would figure about this way : »(> .n-1 Interest on Sl.33i, at 10 per cent Tax on eircnlation Interest on the 5 per cent redemption Hind de- posited All other expenses Total cost of one dollar Prom which shoidd he subtracted: Interest on bond .• Interest on dollar loaned Leaving a net loss of nearly 1 cent on every i lar issued or §900 iierannnm by a banli witliSDC eircnlation. And yet these Nineteenth Century wise-ai tell ns that the banker is making 700 per cent his investment. And this is a fair .specimei “ reform party ” mathematics. But if their literature is remarkable in no ot particular, it is remarkable in the way in wl they tling wild statements around, without o taking aim at tlie trutli. If their efforts happe hit it, well and good: if not — well, the tiniest do will inspire confidence, and the people i think it a fonl, not a bad aim. They said : “ We It seen that the banking interest had at one time representatives in Congress.” Now, if we li seen it, they did not sh.ow it, and I have been aide to find out when that time was. In anot place, they declare it was when the ‘'crt strengthening act” was passed. It was therel the Forty-first Congress. Turning to the reco we find that there were ten bankers in all hold scats in that ('ongress, two Senators and eight R 1 * 35 iscntutives. Of tliese, but one poor, lone, solitary jiiisereant •’ was appointed on either of the great ia]icial eoiuinittees where the act was formulated ; lexander G. Cattell, a Senator from Xew Jersey, ho was a merchant and banker also, was on the inance Committee. The other members of that ■mmitteewere all lawyers, but one, who was edu- tod a soldier. The personnel of the Ways and eans Committee was also with a leaning to the w, all belonging to that profession but three, two erchants and one editor. If there were 189 bankers in that Congress the cords do not show it, and unless this Populist ediuni had a seance with some s])irit I do not see iw they discovered the secret, and of one thing I a sure, the spirit was not “ the spirit of the times.” mother .spirit. I In the present Congress there is only a poor little o, not enough to do much harm, let irs hope. i,it if there ever were, as they represent, so great humberof bankers, why then I should think that, I) ice the jieople elect those who best represent their ?i:erests, there must have been some very rich tlmmunities somewhere taking an interest in pel- ves at that time ; and with all due respect to the / lird Congress, and the Father of Our Country, r I, I claim that all classes have a right to be rep- lii lented. If the people elected the devil in sutBi- iint numbers, and he secured legislation to ro- ilive the tax from the sulphurous regions to which K belongs and places the burden on the Salvation rf my, whose fault would it be? In that ease I oDuldcry, “So mote it be! E pluribus Unum ! iii pinch the eagle’s tail feathers till he squealed Riaaen !’ ” CHAPTER IV. EXPLOIT THIRD. — CONTRACTIOX THAT DID XOT I TRACT. The mistakes of this modern Moses, the Popi party, which thus constitutes itself a Ruide to ] out of the wilderness of their muddled lack of der.standing these fiat children — for I think the I ulist must have been created by some unusual cree, and not by the regular course of nature- mistakes, alas ! do not end here. The second fallacy is what is called “contrac of the currency,” and they specify the act of A 12, 18G6, as the mode by which this enormity ' committed. The tliird exi)loit of our hero, sip ing the eagle which devoured tJie liver of our p lie credit. Turning to Webster I find the word “ conti tion ” defined thus : “ The act of contracting, dr: ing together or shrinking,” and I am honestly ; loss to know what has been sliruidien. Greenbackers say it was the currency of country, and for once give facts, so called, in s stantiation of their assertion, along with the us hyperbolical illustratioti. They say that by 1 act it was provided that “ a regular and system cal cremation of greenbacks” should take pi; Now we have heard what the Greenbackers s let ;is find what the hrw had to sa 3 ’: To authorize the Secretary of the Treasury, at his dis tion, to receive any treasury notes or other ohligations isf under any act of Congress, lehether bearing interest or no exchange for any description of bonds authorized by the to ■which this is an amendment. 36 Tliere it is : plain enough it seems. iNIerely an act autliorizing the Ihlflllment of the promises of the Government to redeem these Treasury notes on tlio demand of their holders. If they are worth so much more than the bonds offered in excliange, it is strange that they were yielded up for cremation. The non-interest bearing greenback -was not the pnly paper called in by tliis act, as it applied not only to them, but other obligations. As to the greenbacks themselves, statistics show that the highest amount ever outstanding was in July of 1S6I when there were, at one time 8-117,300,- 203, and yet according to the Populist arithmetic, t is stated tliat in the year 1869 alone §500,000,000 vere destroyed. ' To begin with, this puts more than twice the sum .nto the possession of the country in 1869, than jeoms to materialize on the Treasury reports. Ac- ' jording to those there were in circulation at that “late State bank notes, fractional currency. United ‘ States notes. National Bank notes, and specie in ■irculation on the Pacific coast, all iiicluded, 8673,- 'U8,2-il ; in the Treasury there were of the four ■'rinds of circulating paper money mentioned “Ibove, 880,839,010. This added together — which I ake it would represent about all tlie circulating '^noney in the United States, unless there was some “invisible — would be a total of §754,.378,254 ; a long ^iistance between that and almost two billions redited to us by these veracious reformers. ^'! Next, it is stated that enormous sums were de- “ troyed each year from 1866 to 1877, aggregating— ,,f ithoirt counting the first year, for which they do ot condescend to furnish us the figures — the grand rtal of §1,433,253,463; just §681,877,207 more money ran the circulating money in existence. ISlind you 38 they expressly state that this money was taken froi circulation, and attribute all the troubles incidei to our business transactions at that time, to th< fact, declaring that the decrease of money lowere tlie price of other property, doubled the debts < the poor man, and also the Government debt. , soul-harrowing picture, but it is only a picture, an not taken from life either. Now for the truth. Reading from the law again : “ But nothin herein contained sliall be consti'ued to authoriz any increase of the public debt,” with tlie furthe provision; “ That of United States notes not moi than ?10,000,000 may be returned and cancele Muthin six months from the passage of this act, an thereafter not more than 84,000,000 in any on month.” Now, using a little arithmetic, one .sees at glance that 848,000,000 was the utmost tuat could b retired in a whole year, and the first half year onl 810,000,000, and had the utmost been done that coul l>e done under the law, the reduction would onl have reached, in the time specified, a total of 8442. 000,000. But, on the 4th of February, 1868, fust on year, nine months and twenty-three days after th act, part of wliich is quoted above, an act w.a passed which reads as follows : That from and after the passage of this act the authority c the Secretary of tlie Treasury to make any reduction of th currency by retiring or canceling United States notes shall hi and is hereby suspended, but nothing herein contained sha. prevent the cancelation and destruction of mutilated Un.te States notes, the replacinrj of the same icitk notes of ih same character anil amount. Had the utmost the law allowed of this “dir destruction” been accomplished, there would havi lieen less than 804,000,000 retired ; but the outsid' limit was far from being attained, for but 844,000, 3fl DOO liad been retired and canceled when the sus- pending act was passed, leaving still outstanding >35(5,000,000 of them, and at the same time addi- tional National bank-notes were issued to the imount of S135,342,048, with further annual issues, seeping pace with reductions elsewhere. The frac- donal currency was increased also, in that year, oy an additional issue of §2,0(55,048, this increasing ilso year by year. ‘ Thus, in the years between the years 1866 and L876, at which time subsidiary silver came into ex- istence and the vState bank-notes had at last all been replaced by better money, our circulating nedium was increasing with almost steady uni-' brmity from §675,488,244 in 1866 to §727,609,388 in 1876. This, too, through all the business troubleof which hese people complain, and the panic of 1873. And yet ■ nthe face of this increase, as shown by the records, ' hey declare that a scarcity of money (vas the cause '^f it all and ruined the value of other property. '' We sold §95,500,000 worth of bonds for gold, also, ' k’hich was covered into the Treasury, thus .secur- '^g the value of money in circidation and prevent- ‘ n gloss to the people. Besides all this, a greenback was not as good as Told in those days. Jt is wojc, because our wise lepublican government made it so by the very (Cts that the Greenback Party is now decrying. In I 866 a gold dollar was worth just forty-one cents i (lore than a greenback dollar; in 1867 it decreased lireo cents, but jumped back to 40 cents in 1S6S. [ prom that time tliere was a steady but gradual de- llino till the resumption act made all money — like I 111 men in this country— equal and at par all over |ie world. 40 Of the bonds issued at that time there were §840 000,000 six per cents issued in exchange for sever thirty notes ; and nearly §160,000,000 more for tb compound interest notes, and other oligations ma turing. Counting these, the figures displayed i the records will approximate to those of my dif tinguished though mistaken countrymen ; and a other bonds, bearing a smaller interest, were issue in place of them, for nine-tenths of which ban' notes Avere circulated, thus retiring these mature' interest-bearing notes as they came due, witlioii disturbing the circulation, I do not see how the make a case ; especially as these interest bearin securities formed no part of the permanent circu lation. The one and two-year notes of 1863 and the com pound interest notes were never in circulatioi more than a feAv months, just after they were issued for they were soon absorbed as investment securi ties, thus withdraAviug them from circulation. Th seven-thirty notes Avere not used as money no paid out as such by the Tieasury, but AA'ere onl; negotiated as a loan and issued by the GoA'ernmen to investors in exchange for legal-tender notes, be ing sold at par and accrued interest like any othe loan. A soldier AA as paid noAv and then with on or more of them, less than §10,000,000 in all, becaus' he Avanted to keep them for the interest. These Avere, therefore, neA’er circulated. Another reason why these notes could not hav- circulated as money among the poor — who were s< greatly distressed on account of their AvithdraAval according to the Greenbacker — Avas their size. Xom of them were of a less denomination than §.50, o Avhich there Avere §44,509,900 ; of §100 there Avon 41 olST^Col.GOO, and the remaining ^647,840,000 were in denominations of ^00, $1,000, and $5,000. To a poor ilium one of the smallest of these bonds would have represented his savings, to be hoarded away. cVnd j'et another reason that no one, either poor in- rich, woidd have tried to use these notes as a circulating medium, was their constantly changing ralue, increasing as the interest accrued up to the 5emi-annual payment of the interest, when a cou- lon was cut off, and the liond fell back at its face ralue with the small premium at which they sold n those days, added, which also increased and de- jreased according to the fluctuations of the market; ind these fluctuations were the pulse of public con- Idence in the wisdom of our Government, too, and he fact that a Government bond is worth to-day at least sixteen per cent, premium, when they sold ihen at the average rate of 38-1000 of one per cent., ;eems to me a clean bill of health that will serve as I, vindication of those acts meant for the general food, sti ong enough to refute the calumnies of ev'en lie most chronic croaker. Tlie legal tender notes received by the depart- ment for these seven-thirty notes were immedi- tely paid out by the government, in settlement of iemaud liabilities tlien pressing, .so that our circu- Lition was increased, instead of being decreased }y this legislation, in two ways: First, by the cir- lUlation of these legal tenders ; and, second, by the ncrease of the National bank notes provided by lur wise legislators exjjressly to prevent contrac- ion of the currency, which alone was twenty per lent, over ; iii proof of which see law of January 4, 1865, “the resumption act,” which saj's: It shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to redeem 42 the legal tender United States notes, in excess only . 000,000, to the amount of eighty per centum of the sum of ■ tional bank notes. b After this act 810,000,000 more United States no ^ were retired, and then on May 31, 1.S78, an act v ^ ])asscd forbidding the further retireinentof th< (; notes, and leaving 8346,081,010 in the field, wh: ^ sum you will see carried in the reports of 1 ^ Treasury up to the present time. And this sum was enough ; for so large ! amount of United States notes issued as a u measure, were still outstanding and were an c , ject of suspicion to the one, and were the basis o , chimerical hope to the other. Europe did not ha an overpowering confidence in this fiat money, ai the other class began to talk of an unlimited su ply without the trouble of earning it. All other amounts of United States notes th have been received into the Treasury from ; sources, such as internal revenue, customs, et liave been paid out again and kept in circulatio What has been said about the hardship to tho who had money to be redeemed in sums less th: §.50 is worse than childish nonsense ; because evei bank from Maine to California did that for them : a mere accommodation without discount or an; thing else in the shape of a hardship. Col. A: INIatthews, First Connitroller of the Treasury ui der Harrison, who was a banker at that time, saj he has done it Imndreds of times, even in thesma town where he lived. And it is equally preposte; ous that the poor man pays the rich man’s interes How, in the name of common sense, does he do i i He has no property to tax ; his poll tax is but annually ; and from a number of interviews wit jading dealers in domestic sitpplies, I learn that is supplies, far from being increased in cost, have een growing steadily cheaper. So he has not been 'aying a tax on his living either. Thus you see, my dear long-sutfering reader, this ireenback. Farmer’s- Alliance, People’s, Populist hibor Party cries “rvolf! wolf!” when there isn’t ^■en a kitten in sight. But while they have among them such champion ars as the Georgia editor who is quoted, it is no •onder they have the jim-jams, and see wolves hd things. This great journalist dealing inhys- 3ries too, draws a picture of a poor cotton planter’s mes, in which he bases them all in the decrease f money per capita from 1868 to 1887. In the first ‘ lientioned year there were S40 per cajuta in circu- ition, according to the above mentioned g. j., hich he says dwindled down to §5 in 1887. What retlie facts? I am rather fond of facts. In 1868 there was per ]apita, including the Pacific coast specie, $18.39. ^ n 1887 there was $22.45, and there has lieen a steady icrease ever since. There has also been a steady ecrease of the public debt, which at tlie end of ebruary, 1892 was, all told, $972,282,890.01. Of this um $387,255,810.01 bears no interest, and the 4J per ent. bonds have been converted into 2 per cent re- eemable at the option of the government, so that le highest now is 4 per cent, which will become lie in 1907. The 2 per cent bonds are the lowest fat have been floated by any country on earth bowing that the American credit is the best in the .rorld. If these facts and figures that I have painfully Jaborated directly from our public documents did 44 not prove that these popuiistic writers must ha' included the bonds in their cremation ,the admissic of the great greenback apostle, General J.B.Weav'e in a conversation with Colonel William P. Hej burn, gives tire whole matter away. Colonel Hej burn once asked him, after a speech in which 1 made pretty much the same statement, what 1 meant to include in this large sum, and if 1 counted the bonds also, and he replied that he dh Now, if some people are so very obtuse as to r< quire an object lesson to convince them, I ha\ prepared a kindergarden illustration for then Inquiring at the Treasury what had become of a those bonds, an officer of the department kindl offered to show me. Down in the basement of theTreasury, in a lonj narrow room without opening except the dor whicli we entered, lighted by gas and furnishe with shelves from floor to ceiling, were those scl sameseven-fliirty notes. Done up in bundles, the filled every inch of space. I was permitted to bar die some of tliem, taking my choice of the lot, au' I found tlie most of them as clean, except froi dust, that had accumulated upon the outside, a they were wlien they left the printing press On batch of flftys had been out about two years and . half, and in that time, if they had been used as : circulating medium, some signs would iiave ap peared, and as that is the smallest size, they, if an; Avould have been so used. Sometimes those on the outside would look a lit tie sliabby from the handling in the office, but th< inside notes of all were perfect, except a few tha had suffered from contact with damp or others tha had been hidden in a stove, perhaps, wliere thej 45 m cklentally burned, or under the carpet, from which ao fe deposit they suliered contraction from the ■eetli of mice. But as to any of the signs ot busi- epss circulation, there was not an earthly bit of evidence, such as one very readily sees in the boms where greenbacks and bank notes are sent 1 r redemption after a few years’ use. i] When cornered by this statement from others, ii ir Third party friends have declared that these ronds were as good as in circulation because they v eremadeto do duty as the required reserve on me circulation, thus liberating the bank iiotes. i! ow, in the first place, as only lawful money could lie used for this purpose the bonds were not avail- pie because they were not a legal tender. ; It is true the compound interest notes, the t'.iree I er cent, coin certificates, and the “one and two- liear notes of 18G3” were a legal tender, and might ,'ave been used that way; but that they never were 3 used the records of the Comptroller of the Cur- ency araijly demonstrate, and as an example of lis I will present the report of 1868, as that is the irst year in which this report was tabulated in a onvenieut form. The required reserve of all the banks in exis- pnee in that year amounted to 8186,421,682, and the awful money. United States notes and coin, which liese banks had in reserve at that time was 8106,- idG, 380, a cool 810,3.34,698 more than was required |Vithout the use of the 804,318,220, compound inter- ist notes, the three per cent, certificates, etc., which vere held as a simple investment, and these would i.ave lacked 822,043,462 of being sufficient had they )een the only dependence. The compound interest notes had but three years 4f) to run, too, and by 1870 were all rccleemed boi * little over §'2,000,000 that were for various reaso • still left outstanding though, of course, liaving n * tured bearing no interest. '• The interest-bearing notes and tlie circulati notes were provided for in the very same act, a' it was stated in the debates that the note should used as an investment security, while the oth would add ta tlie volume of money in circulatio And this was literally the re.sult, for the ca.s were rare indeed where the com])ound interc notes changed hands. This Iiappened in a few i stances where tlie original recipients, needing tl money, sold them to tliose who wished to ho them as an investment. A chaplain in one of tl regiments, as an instance, regularly bought the: whenever it happened that “ the boys ” were pai off in- them ; he wislied to hold them for the inte est, but the soldier had to use his money for famil expenses. This tliird party paints a soul-harrowing pictui of the struggles of a victim of this “ contraction, and to make matters worse, dumps him right o to the Grand Army of the llepublic. If this ])or man had such a hard time I pity him, but more fc. want of sense than anything else. Any man who had been reared on a farm tlia didn’t know better than to bank on the futur l)rice of wheat, because it was selling at the tini for ■?2 ]>er bushel, in money that had not reached i gold standard, was a visionary indeed ; even th< little boy that plays marbles in the street know: better than that, for you will see that urchin hgld ing a reserve for emergencies every time. Business failures, like everything else in thi^ 47 >rld, :u'o tho creations of such a variety of cir- mstances that it would take a hook as big' as gin ebster’s Dictionary to exhaust the subject. As tliese ])artieular business failures, we have seen tiljlat they were not caused by the lack of money at :,aiL events, as money was more plentiful than ever, iH id, according to my recollection, they did not til |,ppen anyhow ; at least in no undue proportion !in the new business ventures at that tune. The ■as ar liaving ended, many of our boys in blue re- re ^rned to business avocations, and at the same iiine immigration took on a nev/ impetus, almost fl jubling in the seven years after 186G over what it ;ol as in the seven years before. All these must l[ ork for money or starve, and we all know how a lei iroigner can work when he gets here, where the ]j lages, as compared to his own land, seem princely. ei Added to this, tiie money at that time was of var- il ibie and unsettled value, the very thing Congress •as trying to rectify. As during the rvar, at news [i^‘a victory for Grant, up went money along with he hats of all good citizens ; at news of a Confed- )ii'ate triumph it went down, because the one in- , feasod the confidence of holders and the other de- ji'easod it; so after the war the movements of our aw-makers were watched, and people began to peculate as to when we would resume specie pay- lients ; everybody who knew anything about poney had serious doubts about a long continu- mce of ii'redeemable promises to pay even from he greatest Government on earth. England with a war less aggravated than oiu's br many reasons took twelve years to accomplish esumption ; this seemed a long time to those who Relieved in the merry jingle of metal money — with 48 its own intrinsic value that never changes, e> U' with the destiny of nations, except by the imniu sr- ble law of supply and demand. Then came whisper, a tiny sibilant sound at first, but at 1 t swelling into the proportions of a new party. 1 Greenback party was born, which declared a pol. g to keep right on printing money by the ljushel » need be, regardless of the fact that money that se oi by the bushel is not valuable. The people did j t want to run the risk of having a greenback memoriam like that dedicated to the holders of 1 j Confederate Treasury notes, written on the )jack one of tliem by Major S. A. Jonas of the Tex Brigade, beginning as follows: iepresentlng nothing on God’s earth now And naught in the waters beiow it. As a pledge of the nation that’s dead and gone. Keep it, dear friend, and show it. And the uneasiness became greater, and it w: in 1877, when the time had lengthened out till oi money was at a discount, that labor was chea] ened. As to the panic of 1.873, that was in no sent brought about by financial legislation, but W£ caused, in the first place, by the undue expansio of railroad building in this country. Jay Cooke of all the interest-bearing obligations of the United Stat p except in cases when the law authorizing the issue of a ^ such obligation has expressly provided that the same may , paid in lawful money or other currency than gold or silv Hut none of said interest-bearing obligations not already d shall be redeemed or paid before maturity, unless at such ti United States notes shall be convertible into coin at the < tion of the holder, or unless at sue.h time bonds of the Unit States bearing a lower rate of interest than the bonds to be deemed can be sold at par in coin. And the United States al solemnly pledges its faith to make provision at the earlii practicable period for the redemption of the United Stal notes in coin. T)iis is the first act of General Grant’s admini tration. “ Immediately upon his inauguration anext> session of Congress was called” by the old w; hero. “The first bill presented, the first bill jias- ed, the first act approved by President Grant,” w: an act to strengthen the public credit. (The quoti tions above are from the Populists, the rest froi justice.) And it is for this act, made necessary hi cause of the Muncliarrsen theories of grecnbac dreamers, that they dare, with an impious iien, t desecrate the tomb of the man who protected on 55 untry from its enemies, and won for it the admi- tion of the whole world, General Grant, honored V all Europe. It is for this act that they would sully the fair me of Morton, “ the soldier’s friend.” He who fVed his State from dishonor when its Democratic egislature refused the appropriations, because ey “ would not vote money to war on the South.” ’'hen the Legislature adjourned, leaving the Gov- nnient coifers empty, Oliver P. Morton obtained le necessary funds from Winslow, Lanier & Co., inkers, of New York, (who were agents of the tate in managing the State debt) on his own per- hial responsibility, giving his note, as did some ' his friends at his suggestion. Afterward the pneral Government authorized him to establish a irtridge factory at Indianapolis, advancing him loney on his personal credit to do so, that he light by the sale of the cartridges meet the war ex- enses of Uie State. And after every battle in which (idiana troops were engaged the great war Govern- r of that State sent aid immediately — phy.sicians, urses, and supplies — all on his own promise to pay. [nd every dollar of it was paid. Paid in money at ar, too. No repudiation there. That Morton lived ad died a poor man, after handling millions, out f which he could have grown rich, but of which i^ery dollar is accounted for, is his best defense, jit is for this act to strengthen the public credit, |iat they would besmirch the living monument, sared even before death, by a life of unimpeacha- le integrity, to John Sherman. I The circumstantial evidence proves nothing in ae face of such evidence to the contrary, and al- lough circumstantial evidence has hung many an innocent person, it is, in this case, hut a figmei r the populist brain, which they do not offer to f i' stantiate by a single fact, merely adding a few : > inises and probabilities to their old scarecrow to- 189 Congressional bankers, which I have alre disproved by facts against mere assertion. it Another ghost which disturbs the Greenb haziness, is the spirit of injustice that they shimmering in the uncertain gloaming of a 1 k ited legal understanding, in the fact that th i- bonds are not taxed. t Now, it is not strange that they should b: K thought that at last sometliing new had been for under the sun, for in discussing the act of Feb f ary 25, 1862, not one of all the wise Solons, thouj s by some people to know everything, referred to i s fact that the question had been settled for them 1 s fore many of them were born. In the case of Weston et al. vs. Tlie City Coun of Charleston, the Supreme Court of tlie Unit States, the highest tribunal in the land, decid that the States had no right to tax such a contra' In delivering the opinion of the court. Chief Ji: tice .lohn Marshall said : If the right to impose the tax exists, it is a right whicli in nature acknowledges no limits. It may be carried to any c tent within the jurisdiction of the State or corporation whi imposes it, which the will of each State and corporation m; prescribe. A power w*hich is given by the whole Americs people for their common good, which is to be exercised at tl most critical periods for the most important purposes, on tl free exercise of which the interests certainly, perhaps the li erty, of the whole may depend, may be burdened, impede* if not arrested by any of the organized parts of the Confc cracy. The tax on Government stock is thought by this court to t a tax on the contract, a tax on the power to borrow money o 57 ft 'I’edit of the United States, and consccinentlv to be repug- )S; to the Constitution. (Peters’ Reports, 1839, voi. 2, page '1 .nd of course it would be a farce for the General 1 ! i^ernment to tax its own bonds, for in that case interest would have to be increased in order to li; uce anybody to take them at all, and so the • ^eminent would be merely taking money out li me pocket and putting it into the other, paying li the transfer in the bargain, hould the day ever come that the hair-brained IS itingent of our National family, the Greenback nl’ty, gained its point, drawing the Government IIP a wild-cat fiaaneial system — or rather ivant of i tem — that day our Republic would become l ikiTipt, and its creditors, the moneyed power, (uld go down into the maelstrom of ruin, and a natural sequence every wage earner in the (iintry would keep them company; for capital is I sliip upon which labor sails, and when the ves- goes down the passengers go also, lliey make a great show of quoting from tlio iding Republicans in 1867, but fail to tell wiiat } same men said under the conditions of 1S69. It wily a fool who never changes his mind ; bufcif f)rton and Sherman, whom they abuse in the very t ne chapter as “fratricidal conspirators” are rthy of being quoted at all, let her give their 'er utterances wlien the basis of our currcTicy had tirelj" changed. CHAPTER VI S'- FEAT FIFTH — REFUNDING THE DECT. ju Hercules went on with his work, although Populist Juno would tain have turned Galantl his mother, into a weasel, or, in plain English, h: subjected the constitutional majority to the wil a handful of Greonbackers. And his fifth feat v the refunding of the public debt, the fifth falh of the greenback chronology. And through th mouth-piece tliey roared: “ Why in the dicke didn’t they pay it?” Well, my friends, 1 presume the chief reasons one cousin german to that which prevented t ^ Boston spinster from getting married, “ It was r ° because she disapproved of marrying per sc, b ' on account of tlie scarcity of mediums.” She didi moan spiritual mediums, l>y the way, far Irom But women are a majority in Massachusetts. In the year of 1870, when the refunding act w passed, the principal of the debt, bearing coin i terest, was in all 82,107,9.50,700, to be paid in gold ■ its equivalent. There was at that time in oi Treasury, gold coin and bullion to tlie amount ■ 8108,310,040. From tliis we must deduct tlie gol certificates for which the Government was liabl amounting to .832,084,800; the accrued interest to I deducted also was 849,(547, 0.32 more, leaving bi 820,594,814, whicli was all tlie gold owned by th Government with wliieh to ]iay the 82,0(Xi,000,0( and over wiiich wo owed. Will some prestidigita tor jilease step forward and perform the feat re quired by these wonderful peo]ile? 58 s s g! j 59 lorcules being ordered to destroy the lion that t fallen from the moon, and finding him invul- ij Table to any weapon, strangled him with his j(j ids, and afterward wore his skin. And that is ju letly what the American hero did. ijj n the very year that the most labored effort of Populists to prove that we, as a nation, were iij t attempting to pay our debts, was in its latest jIj .tion, the year 1891, the interest-bearing debt, 'ough these very funding operations, had dwin- id down from the two billions and upward, mtioned above, to the sum of §585,028,080, the . jhest interest rate of which was but four per i,it., instead of six, and of which §25,364,500 re- Ij imable at the pleasure of the Government, bears ]|,t two per cent, interest; and under this act the I nual interest, which was in 1870 §124,261,149, had Lowise dwindled to §28,893,034. And the average , to at which the public debt has annually de- jj based since 1870 up to 1893, is §51,621,268. We sold i4i, and 4 per cent, bonds at par, for coin, and ed the money so obtained to redeem the six per ht. bonds, thus saving in interest §19,900,883.50 I nually, of which amount §14,290,455.50 arises I |)m transactions since ISlarch 1, 1877. [n these refunding operations the same wise fore- ought was maintained by those executing the ws, as by those who framed them that every dol- [r might be used to the best advantage. The Secretary of the Treasury was required by w to give three month’s notice when bonds were .lied to allow time for their holders to adjust their isiness, which was according to agreement, and sthing but fair all around. In the most ordinary isiness transactions such an arrangement is con- eo sidered an acquired riglit. And noljody lost £ ^ tiling by it either, for the Secretary generally n ifr aged to call the bonds at a time when ho ki there would be collections from revenue and oi ® moneys coming in, so that in all the ten years i IK it took to complete these operations, his exiiei I’t rail over to the wrong side of the account but oi fc and then the loss was compensated twice over w the saving for that one year of the annual inter c And yet the enemies of the Government 1;. been harping on this ever since, talking ab •- doulile interest, etc., and resolutely closing th i eyes to the immense decrease. “ There ai'e nom c blind as those who wt/l not see. ” '' They will not see that the interest which v ^124,261,149 annuallyin 1870 had been reduced, w! the Republicans retired from the control of the G< eminent, in 189-3, to §22,.386,.543, a saving annua of $101,874,606, a result of the refunding operatic: coupled with purchases and redemptions of bon with the surplus revenues, a part of the prese debt bearing but two per cent, interest, and ; deemable at the option of the Government in.ste of running for fifty years as represented by t Greenback element. All these good works have been accomplished spite of the “ untiring vigilance in our Xation Congress of the ‘indomitable’ Weaver, Gilleti and the ‘ devoted ’ DeLaniartyr,” who are, thai God, no longer in Congress to air their deinagogei and obstruct wise legislation by tilibustering ta tics that cost the Government more than all the e: pense of the refunding operations. When the funding bill was before Congress thei was a division of opinion as to whether the ne' 61 Ujans should run five, ten, and fifteen years, or ten, m fteen, and thirty years, and it is a curious fact ii aat those who are now the bone and sinew, ner\'e, ol jnd muscle of the Greenback party insisted upon