Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 July 1898 — POLITICS OF THE DAY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

POLITICS OF THE DAY

REMEDY FOR THE MONEY POWER There is no wrong but hath a right, no ill without its good. India is crushed under the heavy hand of power. Chin 4 is struggling in the throes of dissolution, ruined by the Power. Throughout Europe the people are cowed by armies of hired mercenaries, paid by the Power. In France there is a latent rebellion; anarchy is hiding, like rats in sewers, and breaking out in spots like the plague. Spain is crushed under a burden of debt she can never pay. She belongs to the Power. Egypt is owned by the Power. Turkey is existing, with all her unspeakable crimes and atrocities, protected by the Power. Greece, Italy and Switzerland—all dominated and absolutely ruled by the Power. Africa, excepting the Transvaal, is under the dominion of the Power. South. America and Central America are weakened and impoverished by civil wars and strife, and drained of their wealth by the Power. England is the principal seat of the Power, and all her colonies are under the same control. Her navy is engaged in collecting money due the Power. No island is too small, no country is too weak, no government is too strong, to escape the tax of the collector. The Power is gathering in its half. There is, in all the earth, one land to which struggling humanity turns its eyes as a last despairing glance of fading hope. There is one land in which the spark of freedom is not yet wholly extinguished. In the people of this land there is a great deal of fight and vitality. The Power knows this; hence its desperate efforts to retain its hold on this land. It has created a horde of millionaires that it might have strong friends and allies to aid it in keeping a grip on the throats of the common people. It has encouraged trusts, and taught them the science of legal robbery. It has made laws and elected law-makers. With every device and cunning argument that skill can fashion, or knavery invent, it is seeking to get the people fighting against each other—to set labor against capital, and capital against labor; it is trying to make labor believe that active capital, friend and partner of labor, is its real enemy; and where it cannot succeed in this it is endeavoring to drive active capital into trusts to make it a servant of its will. The Power owns more than 15 billions—more than 15 thousand millions of our debts. It has raised these, by its cunning machinations, to the equivalent of 30 thousand millions of the money in which it first bought them. Does any man among us imagine it is going to give up 15 thousand millions without a struggle? If so, let them undeceive themselves. It is a fight to death. In discussing the question of a remedy, let us first decide what remedy is best to apply, then how to apply it. We have seen that the means by which the Power accomplished this end was the demonetization of silver; that by securing the demonetization of silver by the principal commercial nations of the world, it reduced the actual money of the world one-half which gave it the most trouble, and leaving only the half it could manipulate most easily—gold. Silver, the money of the people, the friendly money—which we can all see once in a while—was slain. To blind the people and make deception easy and excuses, it caused a vast quantity of silver token coins to be struck,, and called each of these coins a dollar. The Power knew the laws it had caused to be made; It knew that these round pieces of silver were not dollars and would give it no trouble. It knew that on

every.one was not only stamped a lie, but that fittingly, as becomes a liar, it had there taken the name of the Most High God in vain. It had set up the golden calf, and now sent all the heralds to call the people to come and fall down In worship at the shrine of Mammon. We have seen by what means the Power worked out its ends. Shall we not learn wisdom by what we have seen, and retaliate in kind? Re-estab-lish our financial system upon the bimetallic basis. Wipe off our statute books that most infamous of all laws—one put there by fraud—the law of Feb. 12, 1873; and in its stead re-enact, with such changes only as the present weights and fineness of our coin demand otherwise, word for word, and letter for letter—the wise law of 1792. Readopt the money of the Constitution, making .the lying coin the Power has permitted to be struck, and falsely called a dollar, into an actual dollar; make it what it pretends to be. Take from the dollar the words, "In God we trust,” and place there the words, “We yield to no Power but God.” Take silver and its paper representation, the certificates, out of the debit side of our ledger, and put it where it belongs, on the credit side. Reduce our national debt at one stroke to the amount of silver coin, silver certificates, and notes in circulation, and make the coins and bulMon these represent true dollars. Do I hear any objections to this as a true remedy? Our gold will leave us. Let It. We do not need it, and few will miss it. Will you, my reader? How much will you lose as an Individual if our gold leave us? If you are like me, you will be no poorer. I lost all my gold a long time ago. The Power got half; my creditors the balance. And what does it matter? Under a bimetallic system of finance, it matters not whether our currency be all gold; three-fourths gold and one-fourth sllver; half gold and half silver; one-fourth gold and three-fourths silver; or all silver. The measure remains the same. The yardstick remains the same length. It is the gold and silver of the world that makes the measure; and whether the gold be here or in Tokyo matters not a whit, so long as it is in circulation as money. Our gold will not leave ns. That is a bugbear. We will be flooded with silver. How much silver do you suppose there Is in the world? The latest and best estimate places it about four thousand millions of dollars. If we get it all it will be less by eleven millions than the unjust debt we will cancel. It will all go into a building 66 feet cubic. It can be put into vaults of the United States Treasury building, and not crowd things any; but we won’t get it. No danger of that. No liar of the Power can figure how we can get over a billion of dollars of it. If we are so lucky as to get that much, we can retire thO national bank notes, issuing silver certificates Instead, and making them legal tender for all debts, public or private. If we have pnjf left, we can build the Nicaragua Canal, Labor will be very glad to the dollars, and wo coed the canal, One thing will follow: W« will fe»7« mw 99 $9 mm Wttfc 9*

debts. We can use our own weapon, and not a piece of tendril belonging to the Power. We will have money that a common laborer or a business man can see once in a while —not a fancy kind of money, kept as a curiosity In some safety deposit box. We will have more religion, more happiness, more of the milk of human kindness, more enterprise, more wages, less sin, less revelry, less gambling, less sheriff’s fees, less misery, less suicides, less organized robbery. Do I hear further objection to the remedy proposed? There is no further objection. It is decided to reenact the law of 1792, excepting only as to the weight of the coins, which shall be as now coined—37l% grains of fine silver, or 23.22 grains of fine gold to the dollar. Not a soul on earth will lose through such a law. The Power alone will lose, and It has no soul. In deciding what remedy to apply, we have determined how to apply it. Let us attend closer to the politics. Take men from the people, send these men to Congress, and to State legislatures electing United States Senators. Take honest men. We don’t need orators, or corporation lawyers, or agents, or trust magnates. If such stick up their heads, throw a brick at them by marking your ballot right. We don’t need millionaires or eons of respected fathers or honorable men. What we need, and should see'that we get on the ticket and then elect, is plain honest citizens, men of the people, men who have tasted of toil, and on whom the Power has laid its heavy hand; men who will not sell their trust, not accept bribes, and not desert the people who elected and trusted them. We want honest men to rote against the Power. Then, there are electors to vote for 1900. We should see to It that delegates to the nominating conventions are men in whom we can trust, and who will go with an honest purpose to execute our will. The author of this is a life-long Republican and voted for William McKinley in 1896. Now, for the first time, he raises voice or pen against the party he has loved, and for which he has given freely both time and talents. Left this be the emphasis to what I have written here. Let us nnite our efforts to nominate and elect a man for President who will close the door on the agent of the Power, even if he come with millions In his hands. Let us elect a Congress (we already have a Senate) with such a majority in favor of the remedy we propose that despair shall seize upon the Power and all its legions. Let us organize. Let us work. Let us vote. Shall we apply the remedy? To you, my feUow citizens, I leave the answer. SEVILLE JOHNSTON.

Watch the Treasury Department. Another peculiarity of the war revenue Is that it makes no mention for what purpose the bonds are to be issued. It is not provided that they shall be used to obtain money to prosecute the war. It authorizes the issuance of the $600,000,000 of bonds, or so much thereof that may be necessary, and the Secretary of the Treasury is made the sole judge of the necessity. Mr. Gage has often declared that it Is necessary to retire the greenbacks and treasury notes, and it would not be unreasonable to suppose that with such views Mr. Gage would Issue the bonds to provide a basis for bank circulation In order that greenbacks might be retired. Mr. Gage is a banker, and has repeatedly declared that national bank circulation is necessary to a sound financial system, and the bonds provided for in the bills would go a long way to meet that necessity.—East Oregonian. The Inevitable Outcome. We are Informed by the press that in the conference on the revenue bill the Senate won, the House yielding almost everything. It Is possible that the House did yield on the greater number of items, but the Senate yielded on the matters of greatest moment. The Senate bill provided for $300,000,000 in bonds, when in fact none (were necessary. The conference committee raised the amount to $400,000,000. The Senate provided for the coinage of $42,000,000 of silver seignorage at the rate of $4,000,000 a month. The conference committee cut it down to sl,500,000 per month. It is safe to say that the bonds will be issued just as quickly as possible, and that they/ will all be issued, no matter how soojn the war may be over. On the other {band, it is equally safe to say that the provision for the coinage of the seignorage will be repealed Just as quickly as it can be done.—Exchange.

Theft. Q. What is theft? A. Taking what does not belong to us. Q. How comes It that things do not belong to us.? A. The law Is responsible. Q. Do many people steal? 1 A. Yes. Q. Who? i ( " A. Generally the rich. Q. What Is done to them? A. Some are sent to the Senate, others endow churches, and others get their indictments quashed. Q. But do not the poor steal? A. Yes. Q. What Is done to them If they are found out? A. They go to prison.—Twentieth Century. Failure of “Judare.” The Arkell Publishing Company has failed for more than a million of dollars. This company Is the publisher of “Judge,” the great “sound money” cartoon weekly. In this connection ws break away from labored ratiocination on behalf of bimetallism long enough to say that If the Arkell Company had been well provided with “50-cent” dollars It would not have failed, and sundry creditors would not have been left to mourn.—National Bimetallist Somewhat Amusing:. It Is somewhat amusing to observe leading foreign newspapers disparaging and ridiculing the American army because of its small numbers and lack of discipline, at the same time calling upon the “great powers” to “combine against the United States and put an end to tbp war.” It is to be shrewdly suspected that these papers know more about the real strength of this country than they care to pretend to.’ —National BimetalHst. Knew “Where It Was At.” It is stated by the dally press administration papers that the Treasury Department was well prepared to issue the call (or bonds long before the bUI became a law. The department eri* tafW “WfefFf || lf|l W ;i .