Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 April 1881 — ANEXTRA SESSION OF CONGRESS. [ARTICLE]

ANEXTRA SESSION OF CONGRESS.

Indianapolis Sentinel: The Republican bosses were never in a greater quandary than just now. The question of calling an extra session of Congress is taxing the resources of political chicanery to the utmostlimit. If they call an extra session, they are compelled to assign a reason for it The only reason for such a course, which the people will approve, is to pass a funding bill. This was done by the Democratic party when in power, in spite of Republican and National Bunk opposition, and was defeated by the veto of Hayes in the interest and at the dictation of the banks. The Democratic funding bili reduced the interest ( n 1660,027,200 5 and 6 per cent, bonds to 3 per cent, thus saving to the country $16,000,000 a year. The call for un extra session brings suoh facts into the boldest possible prominence. The Cincinnati Commercial says:

An Ohio President vetoed the socaled funding bill, and the general impression is that the veto message was incomplete-in stating the frea6 ons for the veto. The Democracy will claim that this veto is costing the people a million a month for the sake of the banks, It isn’t true, but the cry will serve. If our Ohio President declines to call an extra session, the October election m Ohio will, by the opponents of the Administration, be fought in the shape of a warupoa the banks. The prospect of such a contest is not, under all the circumstances, regarded with complacency. Something must-be done. . The Commercial, like Roussakoff, is undergoing torture, and is forced to tell the truth iu par t. The Commercial will be su ejected to further applications of thumbscrews and wheel, and will, before loDg, out with the whole nefarious scheme by whier> Republicans, under National Bank system, opposed the Democratic funding biii, and failing in that, urged Hayes to veto it. The Chicago Inter-Ocean realizes the difficulty with which its party has to contend, but is disposed to treat it with illy disguised indifference. It says:

We do not know whether the story is true about-Murat Haistead rushing off to Washington to deter the President from calling a special session of Congress and then becoming convinced within a few hours after arriving there, that the verv thiug ought to be done which he had traveled so far to prevent, but it is not at all unlikely. And this illustrates the dullness of the average perception, and how impossible it is to get au idea through some people’s heads. The newspapers all over the country have been discussing this question of an extra session with an earnestness that is really laughable when the facts in the case are considered. Until within the past few days the situation as generally agreed upon has been this: If the 5 and 6 per ceut. bonds are permitted to run on when they can be funded at 3 and 3£ per cent, under a simple bill providing for the work, the Government will be the loser by from $10,000,000 to $15,000,000. And nothing is more certain, if the 5 and 6 per cent, bonds are permitted to run on, so that the Government lo es fourteen to fifteen millions of dollars annually, than that the Republican party and the National Banks will be held responsible for the outrage, and it is this fact that is now giving the Republican bosses so much uneasiness. But the real ques tion before the American people is one of far greater importance than the calling of au extra session ©f Congress, the rate of interest on lands, or the infamous veto of Hayes. It is this: Shall the National Banks rule the country? The Cincinnati Commsreial sees the drift of popular tho’t and issues its warning. It says: “If our Ohio President declines to call an extra sossion, the October election in Ohio will, by the opponents of the Administration, be fought in the shape of a war upon the banks.” It will be fought in the shape of a war upon the banks, and those who indorsed the war of the banks upon Congress, whether Garfield calls an extra session of Congress or does not call an extra session.

The action of the National Banks to defeat the aetion of Congress is justly regarded by all men who think dispassionately upon the subject as being the most flagrant outrage ever perpetrated upon Congress since the Government had an existence. The Democratic has not failed to point out to the people the dangerous power conferred upon the National Banko Warnings have been given time and again, and have as often been sneered at by Republicans. But the eountry is now confronted with facts which defy scoffs and jibes. The National

Banks have aetuully organized to defeat the will of the people, and as a last resort, finding a pliant tool in Hayes, were successful. They placed their interests against the interests of the people, and won a victory. They massed their will in defiance of the will or Congress and triumphed. - They matched their money power against the Dower of the representatives of the people, and bore off the prize. They maintained tbeirascendaDcy, and for once at least, overwhelmed Congress in defeat. It is well worth while for the people to pause. These National Banks now number more than 2,000, anCtheir resources amount to a fabulous sum.— They have steadily grown strong, and with their increased strength they now openly defy the law-making power of Congress. Mr. Carlisle, in his speech, March 2, placed the subject in a lear light before the people. He said:

The two Houses of Congress, representing the aggregate interests of 50,000,000 of people, have, after ma ture deliberation, passed a bill which the banks have chosen to consider obnoxious to them, and forthwith—withiu thirteen days—they have contracted the currency to the extent of $18,722,340 aud precipitated a crisis which would have been disaserous to the country had it not been met by measures which they had no bower to prevent. The prompt action of the Seoretar of the Treasury in purchasing a large amount of bonds at the city of New York, aud the course of the Canadian banks in throwing $7,000,000 or $8,000,000 of their loan able capital on ‘he market, alone prevented a catastrophe from the effects of which we might not have entirely recovered for many years. When Secretary McCullough, several years since, in pursuance of his contraction poliey, began to retire and cancel legal tender notes at the rate of $4,000,000 per month, it produced such con sternation in business circles that Congress was forced to intervene at once and arrest the process by the passage of a joint resolution, but now we have seen nearly $19,000,000 of circulation withdrawn in less than a half month, not by the government, but by institutions in the management of which lhe Government has uo voice, and still gentlemen here in slst that the power under which this has been done, and under which it may at any time be repeated, shall not be taken away. Why, sir, the whole contraction of legal-tender Treasury notes under the provisions of the resumption act, from January 14, 1875, to M y 31, 1878. when it was prohibited by law, was only $34,318,984, not twice as much in three years as the bana contraction has been in less than two weess.

This experience warns us that we can not safely permit this great power to neuiain in the hands of these institutions unchecked by legal restrictions. It is an engine of destruction standing in the very narrowrsfc part of the way to permanent industry and commercial prosperity iii this country; for there can be no such prosperity anywhere in the midst of sudden and enormous contractions of the currency; nor will prudent and experienced business men embark in large and expensive enterprises when the power to make such contractions is held by private and interested parties who acknowledge no restraints except pnblic sentiment and their own views of public welfare.

The forgoing remarks were made before Hayes’ veto killed the measure which Mr. Carlisle advocated. The banks having been foiled by Congress appealed to Hayes, and Hayes in the pleatitude of hi# infamy, responded to the demand of the banks. An extra session of Congress may or may not be called, but the people will see to it that the banks are shorn of their power to rule the countiy.