Democratic Sentinel, Volume 1, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 December 1877 — When Will the Good Times Come? [ARTICLE]

When Will the Good Times Come?

When the masses of the people are out of debt, and have money in their pockets representing their net surplus earnings, then there will be a permanent revival of business end prosperity and not before. The disappearance of the premium on gold will not bring good times. Instead of paying debts such event will increase the burden of debts and taxes. Before the people can have surplus money in their pookets they must earn it, and be allowed to keep it and use it after they do earn H, The following measures are necessary to a permanent revival of business and industry: 1. Repeal the Resumption act which seeks to accomplish an impossible and unnecessary thing, and stop contraction. The threat of resumption and the consequent contraction of prioes. prevents the investment of what little money there is in the enterprises that would employ the labor of the oountiy, and add to the general wealth and ability to pay debts. 2. Substitute full legal-tender Government paper money for national-bank notes, thus securing a better paper money, and at the same time cancelling $300,000,000 of the bonded debt, and saving, in interest upon such bonds alone, about $18,000,000 a year. 3. Pay off in greenbacks such bonds as were by the original contract made payable in greenbacks, and thus save an additional $30,000,000 of interest annually. 4. Remonetize silver and issue full le-gal-tender Government paper money to buy silver bullion, coin the bullion on Government account, and pay off with it such bonds ns are payable in coin and subject to call, and purchase and cancel such bonds as are not subject to call. 5. Issuessoo,ooo,oooof 2 percent, interconvertible lawful-money bonds in small denominations, in which the working people may invest their savings, which will thus absorb the surplus money, not needed for legitimate business, prevent fluctuations in prioe and put the funds of the poor where Christian savings-bank Presidents cannot steal them.

If these propositions look too formidable and imply a great undertaking, it is only because we have done so much and gone so far in the wrong direction. But, if we don’t do this, what will we do ? It is do or die. To cajole oneself with the blind belief that good times will oome, debts be paid, industry revived, and the people made happy by some mysterious and occult process, known only to a select few professional financiers, is to believe a lie. The recent report of the Silver Commission estimates the total indebtedness of this country at about $13,000,000,000 ( thirteen thousand millions of dollars'). This is more than one-half the present cash price of all the property, real and personal, in the United States. Think of that will you ! One-third the working people of this country, by whose muscle and energy these debts are to be paid, if ever, are either idle or working on half-time and little or no wages. Think of that! The annual interest on that indebtedness is estimated to be about $1,000,000,000 o one thousand millions of dollars ), or as much as the earnings of three millions of men, the year round at $1 a day. Think of that, too ! That is only the annual interest burden, to say nothing of the additional labor necessary to pay the principal. And do not forget that the so-called resumption of specie payments will not pay a single farthing of this indebtedness, nor reduce its burden by a single feather’s weight, but, on the contrary, add immeasurably to that burden. * There is no comfort in the reflection that we have had hard times in this country before and survived them. The debts are the great obstacles at present. There were hard times in 1840 and ’67 and at other times; bat there was little or no debt nor taxes. There were no railroad debts then. There was but little Government debt then. There were no municipal debts then, and taxes were hardly felt. It is not so now.—lndianapolis Sun.