Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 March 1878 — PUBLIC FINANGE. [ARTICLE]

PUBLIC FINANGE.

Peter Cooper on die Great Issue of the;Bay."' -i .’n {.,.!• ?|jiliiipiii 'i r An Address to the V«QPIc or the v Country by the Venerable Philanthropist.

This appeal is made in behalf of the suffering , millions of the American people whose money and ptopMiyteave been wrongfully taken from them by a course of legislation in-direct violation of the first and most important requirement of the constitution of our country. That constitution has declared in those ever to be remembered words, that " V> e, the people, in order to establish justice, secure domestic tranquility, provide for the cotamon defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the bless logs of liberty to ourselves, and ear posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution for tbe Unite d Stages of America.” This {.ream, le and constitution, covering as it does, the whole field of a nation’s wants, has bound every member of the government by the solemnity of bis oath of office, to use his beet judgment to make all proper laws necessary for the «s----tabliehment of justice and the promotion of the general welfare, which tbe people in their individual op state capacity cannot make for themstlces. No state or individual has a constitutional “ right to coin money and regulate tho value thereof, or to establish a eystem of national weigl (s and measures, or make laws for the regulation of commerce with foreign nations and among the several states.” Skis power is reserrod to the congress of the peoe by the constitution. The constitution has declared that “congress shall have the power, (and where power is given duties are implied) to lay and collect taxes, duties, imports, and rtfcfees; to pay the debts and provide for the common detente, and the general welfare of these United States." The constitution has also declared that congress shall have power “ to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper, for carrying into execution the lortgoiog power* vested by this constitution in the government of the United States, or any departJhe fathers Sad founders ol our country and government had gat .ered an amount of wisdom that enabled them to frame f.r us a constitution and form of government based on those eternal princ'pieS of truth and justice by which they saw that natur/a God had entitled all, men to the '• inalienable right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Tbe declaration of independence expressly says that it was to “secure these rights, that governments are instituted among men,” and that “ whemver any form of government becomes dedeetructive of theFe ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it. and to institute a new g -v----enment, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its power in such form as to them shall seem most likely effectually to' promote their safety aDd happiness.” And further, that declaration states “All experience has shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable, than they are to right themselves by abolishing the firms to which they ore accustomed.” “ But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the aaraeobject, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism,4t is their right, it is their dntvto provide new guards for their futnxe security.”

-Such has been the patient sufferance” of the American people; they have borne with a course of financial laws that were as cruel as they are unjust. By these laws there has been taken from ihe people the very money which the government bad authorized and paid oHt in exchange for &U the.fowns of labor aud proper-y used and consumed by the government in a lour years’ struggle Tlnminoneyfilvas actually paid. outdo, the people sot “ vllueagpefred” by the gOaefcftilpC It was cldthed&vito alMthe legal attribifteo qf money,' ah A, sanctionedSfiswiich by the ot tifp United State*. It had become the peoplete money for all intents and purposes, as effectually as though|Miarir.ajjygg«n mid to them in 501 d.,, Xije j pr perfjr, to meft the cufTefit expeDqfes of Ihg gov- | t rumeut. ThisXndbey Had, been usecl for yeai shy the govOrnuieub and aha people as a nitumal currency costing the government nothing but the pa!l:r yu ahicli it was made;-it had been .allowed to circulate as until, as the prgscut jeerpiflry of hib 1 1 PHTOfy"' wIMMi *. “ That every citizen of the Uuited States had conformed his business to the le g>l tender law” reguating the currency of the country, j This present secretary, when a senator in 1869, I gave to congress and the country a mosi fearful | to shrink np the vclI “It is not possible to take this voyage wiibout l the sorest distress to every person except a capi- | t" 'ist out of debt, or a salaried tffleer or annuitant, j It is a period of loss, danger, lasritude of trade, lril of wages, suspension of enterprise, bankruptcy aud disaster “ To every railroad it is an addition of one-tbird to the onrden of its debts, and more than that deduction to the value of iti stock.” * * * * “It means the ruin of all dealers whose debts become twice their (busiuess) capital, though one-third less than their actual property. It mean the fall of all agricultural productions, without any great reduction of taxes.” “ 'What prudent man would dare to build a house, a railroad, a factory, or a barn, with the certain lact before him that the greenbacks he puts into his improvement will iu two years be worth 35 per cent, more than his improvement is worth.” * * * Whfin that day comes, all enterprise will be suspended, «vary bank will have contracted Its cur • reucy to the lowest limit, and the debfr compelled to meet in eo.n a debt contracted in currency, he will find the coir, hoarded in the treasury, no adequate iepresentaifbn ot coin in circulation, his property shrunk net only to the extent of the appreciation of the currency, but stiil more by the artificial scarccty made by the holders of gold.” * * * * “To attempt this task by a surprise on our people, by arresting them in the midst o ' their law. jl business, and applying a new standard of value y,their property without any reduct'on to tirttr oebts, or giving t>em ah opportunity ( j conff.oind witli their cjredftare, or to distribute thetr lossea, would bean act of folly wiihout an example of-evii in modern times.” It woifld be literally impossible for Secretary Sherman to have drawn a mote perfect piefurd of the scenes of wretchedness and ruin that the policy he 'so manfully opposed in the senate in I" 69 has b ‘ought on tne country, a policy that he then deared “ was an act of folly without an example in ancient or modern times.” And now, the very Bdme manfthen senator, and now secretary of thertredtury of the United 'States, Is believed to have drawn the resumption act, and is now using all the powers of his mighty mind to consummate a ruin that he has so well described as an aot of folly without an example iu ancient or in modern limes.” Those frigntful evils predicted by the once Senator, and now secretary of the treasury, are being painfully verified by the many thousands of failures that are annually taking place as the result of the unjast and unconstitutional laws that have been passed. Law! promising to psy some four or five hundred millions in gold which the government did not possess, and could not command. The constitution has never given to congress any such unreasonable power. It has made it the duty of congress to “coin the money and regulate the value thereof,” without saying whether money should be coined out of gold, sliver, copper, nickei, or paper. if * gold which t|ey further made |u oceasfcoi sos qtnferfikslto listen! to,' and adopt,Wha'adnme of fheyi<A/wtte control the moneyed pfower cT our owirancr oTffSr countries?* These men nave, by theft arts, succeeded in obtaining from our government a oonrse of financial legislation to advance their own interests as a cLs*. They have doubled the expenses of the war by their influence n defeating a financial Jaw in the senate that had passed the house of representatives after the most mature consideration. It was an cct making provision in the following words, for “ a lawful mortey and as uU legal tender in payment of ill debts, public andTf>fiv«er, within the United States.” This class interest succeeded in defeating the bill as it bad passed the house of representatives, and by introducing the little word “except” into the bill, they depreciated and deprived the legal money of its power "to pay duties on imports, or Interest on bonds.” This same class interest has prevailed on onr government to so changw the law* as to make the bond* ta at were aUfiztt made payable in national moneyffo be paid ft coin. They next got the law so altered as to make chin mean gold. They than suoceeded in getting the gold bonds relieved from being taxed for any part of the burdens of the state or national government. It shonld be remembered that all bonds were originally issned to be payable in currency. This currency our government had deliberately depreciated by refusing to receive It for duties on imports, or interest on bonds. And then our government allowed war taxes tit continue until ttusy had taken from the people the very money Che government had stamped aud paid, out, aB so many dollars of real value, made legal money, to be used as a a national currency to euable the people to exchange commodities, and furnish all the supplies that were actually needed In a four years’ struggle for the nation’s life. When that life was saved, the people h*s become t thrir r ffi£?* £,, '? f ‘* *^- thei ® Our government has no constitutional right to invalidate contracts by lessening the volume of the optional currency, after ffie fame had Wen issued and allowed to circulate as legal money in the payment of debts. Such money having been paid out by the government ffir “ jaktatf-eanved,” cannot be lessened In volume?tfcUfyiel ihvalidaftng contracts, (his our government has done by having drawn from the people their* money, which represents all forms of labor and property which had been used and consumed by their servants, employed and paid by he people, and all the supplies peeded to put down a rebellion that then threat-

ened destruction to fill they held door as i, n»Waa it not A most absurd and unpatriotic act of legislation to inylte foreign capital, in the shape of gold, to take np our good money at 40 and 1 0 cents on the dollar, and turn that money into a government bond at par, payable both principal and interest in gold ? Was ever a nation more deliberately and ftrfielly put under a heavy yoke of bondage bp its idlers 7 All these unjust acts must be rescinded. The people will not submit tp them when they come to know their true nature and purpose. The constitution has never given to congress (as I have before stated) the right to promise to pay hunoMaa«f millions in gold, which they djdjgot possess, and could not command. It must be man! est to all that commerce can not be regulated with foreign nations, and among the several slate , without a national system of money as a standard, over which congress can c xerclse an entire control, under constitutional restrictions only. This Can never be done by the use-of gold, while congress allows local banks to expand and contract, appreciate and depreciate the money of the countrytlp task own. interests as p class I Thotrfias Joffeiion was right when be said that “ Bank naper must be suppressed, and tbe circu--1 sting medium must be restored to the nation to whom it properly belongs.” He wisely declared that “it is the only fund on which the government can rely for loans; it is the only resource which can never fall them, and it is an abundant one for every necessary purpose."

I find It impossible to frame an apology for a congress that could m»W an unconstitutional promise to pay hundreds of millions in gold which they could not command, instead of promising to reeqive such money as ; the government was compelled '.o issue as “the only resource which eau never fail them.” Money so issned and accepted by the people shonld have been considered, as it was, the most saerrd treasure 4fiat our country had ever pos sessed. It should have beem held as more especially precious after it had fed and clothed onr armies, and had carried our country sa*ely through a most terrible war, proving to the world that President GraDt was right when be declared the money so issued by tbe government was tbe “best currency.our country bad ever possessed*” and that “there was no more in circulation than was needed fjr the dullest period of the year.” ft our government bad taken the advice of Franklin, Jefferson, Calhoun and Webster in the enactment of financial laws to “provide for the common defence,' and the general welfare,” they would have saved to our country the one-half cf the cost of the late war, and the d sgraceof being compelled to sell onr nation’s bonds at some fifty and sixty per cent, below tho face value of the bonds. senator Beck, of Kentucky, in the senate of the United States, has drawn for the American peop'e a most frightful picture of the course of special legislation that has taken from the people, as I have before elated, the peoples' money, and has converted- the same, into a national debt. The following startling amounts have been wrung from the toiling masses of the American people leaving the debt in the .main as large as ever. '*■* *"* \ e. Jl*. -j i IJJm The senator says : t‘Tbe bondholders had, up . to 1> 69, received 1100,000,000 of profit before thay got the principal of their bond 3 made payable in gold.” “ It can be shown by the treasurer's reports, from j ear to year, giving the amount of bonds sold each year, aud the premium on gold from 1862 to 1869, that the purchase of the bonds with paper at its face value, and the purchase of the paper at ihe discounts, gave a profit to the bondholders as follows: An account of the bondholders’ clear profits arising from no investments at all may therefore be stated in the following tabular form:

m 2 $ 28,138,989 1863 94,586,713 1864 306,551,682 1865 110,169.367 1866 53,757,183 1867 . 167,915,741 -1868 25345 ‘.765 On account of 5 per cent bonds 98,297,864 T0ta1...., $1,612,536 204 Tbis most remarkable statement-was, as Senator -Seek declared, “carefully and truthfully pre- ! Jared.” Tlnj proof 13.1 p the officjl records.- *• It will satisfy the country,” said the renZTor, “ and # gupht to satisfy the bondholders and their advo* «ates that they ofifebt not to iulult a suffering peo<jle whose hard ai|uings have Jone to enrich them, by any complaiigof want of good fajth to them in the effort wo nrjnSalring to save t|e,country from pankruptoy. Our government, in addition to jjt the other acts Of class legislation; has taken froin the American people theirsmallcurrency that was cot tine them ■bthing, TJ* in i,s place, unsolicited by the people, are or inconvenient currency, thereby creating a debt of some forty miliiou of dollars lo be paid by the already overtaxed people of our country. With regard to the demonetization of Jlver, every intelligent man must see that inasmuch as silver now forms more than one-half of the coin. money < f the world* that thg effect of demonetiz luff sliver must not only lessen the volume cf the wood's Jfeoney, but must appreolatotfce value of gold to proportion as the value of silver has been ■w for demonetizing silver is slid to' have been firtt presented to the great bankers of Europ#. assembled*»t the great Paris exposition. It required but little exanrnation to show them that the demonetization of silver wonld appreciate the value of gold, and add hundreds of millions to their wealth, if they could only persuade the American government so join with them in the demonetisation of c.lver. THcW bankehi sppointed a committee to viait our government for the accomplishment of their object, which, as the “ Congressional Record” states—“ the suggestion to the house committee made by the gentlemen from England in regard to the deiaoßetizitlon of stiver, was incorporated into the hotße bill and passed.’.’ It is the duty or cur government to remonetize rilveri and also to do ail that is possible to be done to induce those governments that have dtmone iized Mffrer to-reraonetizs the same; as that is the smal.eat atonement they can make for the wretchedness and ruin that are now being ixdieted on the unsuspecting-toiling masses »f those countrits where the demonetization of silver has teen taken by law, from the volume of the world’s money, and has thereby caused gold to appreciate in value In Its purchasing power to nearly double the rmount of real estate that he same a i ount of gold would have purchased four years ago. Nothing can be more Important for ns as a cation than to ascertain and remove a cause that is . shrinking the values without shrinking deb;B in the Bame proportion. Our national policy in try* lug to force specie payments on a debtor country, is now producing a similar eondltirn of wretchedness to that which Was brought on England by their attempt to _rpy»»en on that country, after a sMpeiiuoß of more than twenty years. During all that, time their paper money had not only carried their country through their wars with Napoleon during more ihan twenty years of suspension of specie payment, but that same paper money had secured to England the greatest national prosperity ever known in that country. This policy, according to §ir Archibald Alii* on, brought on England a greater scene of wl< espread bankruptcy and ri®n than all the warn, pestilences and f. mines that had ever afflicted that country. Notwithstanding the warnings of such an example, Mr. McCullqogh in his address made at the banquet given by the chamber of commerce in New York, spoke boastingly of his earnest efforts, both personally and in wilting, with met b< rs of congress, In try ngto persuade them to allow him ti take out of circulation the people’s money, which in his address, he states “had all the legal attribntes of money.” He stated that in the very year In which the war closed the reduction of the debt was commenced, and this reduction has been steadl y continued, to the amazement of foreign nations. He adds: “In none of the treasury statements which I have seen, since ihe advent qf the administration, has any mention' been made of the reduction of ihe debt, previous to the presont one.” * * * “ A pepoiilooking at one of these statements wouid ewppostfUhat the reAtiWn the d>/bt was commeuced with SeUeVk) Gran's administration, while, in fact, the previous reduction had been reported of two huhiirod and fifty millions of dollars, aecordlae to tfio. boots antipublished statements of the treasury, wWHeTi fhrger sum even than this was p>id to the war and navy department, which did not yet appear on the books of the department. ” Thus does Mr. McCullough speak of having contracted and taken out of the currtnoy of the country, during his administration, some five hundred mil'ions of d liars, that had been paid out by the government, and received by the people as money; possessing, be declared, “ all the legal attributes of Secretary McOallotigh’s great mistake consisted in his regarding the money actually authorized and pa'd out by the government for value received, as sorre.hiug to be Rot rid of as soon as possible Mr. McCullough stated at the banquet that this legal money that was then serving the country as well, “gave him more anxiety than all the rest of national debt.” It seemed that it cost him mueh writing and, a great deal of personal effort to persuade senators and members of congress to allow him to take from the American people by a continuation or war taxes, the very money that the people had received as dollars in payment for all the labor and property that bad been consumed in the prosecution of war. I do not wonder that Mr. McCullough found that "It required the stronger kind of personal and written arguments ” to persuade senators and members of congress to allow him to take from the people their money, and convert the same into a national debt after the same money had been allowed to cir- ««>»# tiotil (as,l hate ftzid) it had bonght and sold Hones more in valne than the whole property of tm nation* - r If crime is to be measured by the misery it produces, the act of taking from our people their money, and converting it into a national debt, mud rank as one of the most unjust and crnel acts ever known to any civilized legislation. I do most heartily unite with Senator Jones, when Be Bays “ the present is the acceptable time • to on>lo the unwitting and blundering work of 1878 and to render our legislation the subject of money, conformable to the constitution of onr oountry.” * * "We cannot, W 6 dare not, avoid speedy action on the subject. Not only does reason, justice, and authority unite in urging ns to retrace eur steps, but the organic law commands us to do so; and the presence of peril enjoins, what the law commands. The claims of a common humanity with all tbat can move the manhood of the Anierloan citizen demand of onr government the return to the people of their currency. In the year 1r65 there was in the hands o' the people, as a oorrency, (fig per head; in 1675 the cur-

reucy of all kinds was oaly a little more than *l7 per head. You may this currency a vast debt of the peopTe, as it WAS Incurred by the"government to »ave the life of tbe nation. Rot it was money—every dollar of » L It wgs paid by the government "for value received;” It was used by the people tb pay their debts, to measure toe value of their property, and, as your present secretary ot the treasury sold in his seat in the senate, "every citizen of the United States bad conformed his business to toe legal tender danse.” This currency was also tbe creature of law, and under the entire control of the government, but held in trust lor the benefit pf the people, as are alkjjs functions. Was it either just or humane to Slow $1,100,000,000 of this Currency, a large part bearing no interest, but paying labor, and fructlfyißgevejyi business enterprise, to be absorbed into ]bonds in the space of eight bf aring a heavy Interest, or which the bondholder bore no share 7 (See Spaulding's* 'History of the Currency.” The government seemed t" administer this vast currency as If there w ere 1 but one interest in the nation to be promoted, and that the profit of those who df slued to fund their money with the greatest security, and to make money scarce and of high rate or interest! This is the issue of the hour, this is the battle of the people and for the people, in which the present administration is called upon to declare which side it will take. If this policy was unjust and ruinous at the first, it is unjust and ruinous now. If it has led ns from prosperity Into adversity, the

only coarse is to retrace our steps, to stop this funding any loDger, and give tbe people back their money, justly earned, and hardly Wpn by the toils, perils and sacrifices of the people. But 88 this vast and Hfe-giving currency has now gone irretrievably into bonds, and the bonds have gone largely abroad for importation, that have still further depressed the industry of our people by buying abroad what we coqjd and should have manufactured at home, I see no way to establish justice without au act of government that will give back to the people as per capita at one per cent., iheir jnst proportion of the people’s money actually found In circulation at the dose of the war. This can be done by an Issue of legal money at a per capita proportion o( said money to every state, on the condition that the state will loan to every township a per capita proportion of their amount; said amount to be loaned to the townships at two percent per annum; to be loaned by the townships at three per cent, on unincumbe red real estate to ball the amount of its value—to be estimated by the valuation upon which taxes have been paid during the last three years I would re pectfully suggest the following policy in the present emergency and for the future prosperity cf thepeople of this country; First, Let the government place the mothod of giving back to tha people their money as proposed as the best means to give immediate relief to unemployed labor, either through such definite methods of help, giving to settlers of unoccupied lands in the west, or by great and obvious public improvements which a e seen to be necessary to the prosperity and safety of the country—such as a northwestern and a southwestern railroad. Both these methods might be used, in view of the great distress, now, of tbe laboring classes. The rail roads will invite aettlemen'S, protect the country from Indian wars, more costly than the railroads themselves, aDd give employment and the money which will enable the poor man to settle the lands. Even state and municipal help might be evoked to this end of employing labor, by issuing currency, for the bonds of states and municipalities that could employ labor profitably in any local lm provements. Secondly, Restore the silver coinage as a legal tender; and while it swells tbe currency, it may bn made as light as paper, for transportation, by “Bills of Exchange,’’ or by a currency that represents silver. The demonetization of silver wos a trick of the enemies of ihe poor man’s currency. 7he remonetization of silver will be a great relief now, in the degression of all business, if not the final and best measure.

Thirdly, Let us adopt a permanent policy, of public finance that shall herea,ter control botn the volume and the value of the national currency, iu the interest of the whole people, and not of a class. Let us have a national currency fully honored by the government, and not as now, partially demonetized—the sole currency and legal tender of the country, taken for all duties and taxes, aDd inter convertable with the bends, at a low but equitable rate of interest. This will forever take the creation of currency, and its extinction, out of tire hands of banks and (hose in making it scarce and high, and put it completely under tbe control of law and the intensts of Ihe people, who ran always b ink on their own money. Fourthly, Let us promote and lnstfucHndnstry, all over tlie laud, by found ng, UDcier national, stats and tour ic pal encouragement, Ikdustiiiau Scboous of every kiud that can advanoe skill in labor, the rich need the literary aDd profc sional school and ci lieges, and they should have them; but the poor need Ihe industriil school of art anti science; and it should be made tbe duty of the local governments to provides practical educ a'ion for the mass of the people, as the best method of “guaranteeing to every state a r publican form of government,” Fifthly, The government can do much towards promoting the industry of this people, and encouraging capita* to enter upon works of manufacture, by a judicious tariff upon all in portations of which we have the raw material in abundance, and the labor ready to be employed in the production. It iB no answer to this to sao, “ Buy where you can cheapest.” I have said before, “We cannot, as a nation, buy anything cheap that leaves <ur own good raw materials unused, and our own labor unemployed." Sixthly, Let us have a civil service as well organized and specific as the mili'ary or naval service. Let us take tbe civil service out of m re political part kinship, ard put such appointments upon tho ground of honesty, capacity and educational fitue-s, so that so man can hold his office aud receive its > mclament* without a faithful d'scharg" of the dnths prf scrib." , d by the 1 -w. By these method* of immediate relief and future admin ist rathu, we m»y pats safe y, I tnink, the great crisis through wcich our Leloved country is now laboring.

“ The produa’ng causes of all prosperity,” say* Daniel Wrbster, is‘‘labor, 1-bor, labor.” * * * “ The gove nment was made to protect this industry—to give both oncourag-ment a> d security. To this very ci d, with this prtcrie object in view, power was given to congress over the currency, and over the money of the country. Though the influences that are now working against ihe rights of labor and the true intereet* of a republican govern:nekl, are iLsidious and concealed under plausible re.-sons, yet the danger to our free institutions now, Is no less than in the inception of the rebellion that shook nr republic to-*te center. It is only snotht r oligarchy, another enslaving power that is asserting itself against the interest of’the whole people. There is fast forming in this country an aristocracy of wea'th—the worst form of aristocrat that can curst the prosperity of any c untry For such an »r stocracy has no country —“absenteeism,” living abroad, while they draw their income from the country, is one ot its common characteristics Such an aristocracy is without soul end without patriotism. Let us save onr country from this, its most pots nt, and, as I hope, its last enemy. Let me, fellow citizens, beseech you to consider well what the erisis of the country demands of you and your political action, not losing sight of ihe fact that there are great wrongs that must be r'ghted in the administration of the finances of this country for the last twelve years. Old issues of north and south are in a great measure passing away, and patriotism and far-sightedness, we hope and trust, will find a way to relieve the present distress of the country. There is no section of our common country that needs so much the reviving influence of au abundant and a sound currency' as the south. The f outkern people have the finest natural resources that eur country tffords; every facility for manufacture- the material, labor, and waterpower indefinite* They need only mot ey, wisely distributed among its working and enttrprising p pu’ation ; and it was well said, lately, by one of the southern ttateamen. that, the “ Government had impoverished, discomfited, and crushed the south more by its financial policy, since peace was declared. than by its arms during the whole war of rebellion!" If the people can look for no relU f from tho present congres and administration—if those who now sway the financial interests of the sountry cannot see their their great opportunity—then new men mnst be chosen by the people whom they can trust to make laws, and execute measures that “ shall secure the blrfsings of liberty to themselves

and their posterity.”

PETER COOPER.