Paoli Weekly News, Volume 6, Number 19, Paoli, Orange County, 23 January 1878 — Page 6

n proi 1 ti r-dl JI3 il-tj-lr-M : ! : 1 i- . i r. in i i;i!",?M!?ffi: f.s.w: ire. and of money, supfWi'd to .f.!r ,4 !y r" i.t e i 'f" i i, iii-wu;; s of 1, h !r It r n 1" I ' c r l'" , nj a I toc.it- f tlin ,'i i!i I I!" t K' i t is ; i i n-i" ii t --' :.- "iit-t i.'-l lnr,ir t i 'n- J r- t :n K.t i;.rit .'Ml.' " It R;,ji--ir U.i'.-, refute Id, i r i, I, It rj 1 1 it i. rce Idolatry io oar midst at tnl tlm, ha.i com-iHs;r'-d tiif ihi."i r.f irr.U'ion.aT 1 lm ix-a cared ami tjiinacjij on that aiwnnt by tlie usurer and mooy chancers a well as iw more modest companion, silver and pstj.er. And if now both the precious metals tiToatenel to lncreu.-e beyond tlie wishes and Internal. of tUU class they would be earnestly tnqoirioK and dchmib(; Into ome plan by winch they could demonetize gold and silver alike, and substitute oimonds or some otiier ncarcer met more dinicuit commodity to obtain m the blH of specie payment and the TTony in which ul .. ots due to them should b3 raid. Tiiera remains. however, one otHer argument In. ctnnecttoii with the aliened oy'Tproouctlon aim Inflation of silver which requires attention, in the name of Rood filth St has been on?M here in thin bodv and elsewhere that, aluiouich atsver i apetdnei as plainly a gold in ail our financial legislation, yet it was producd in such monger quantities at the time our national debt was created that the purchaser of our bonds could not have reasonably u-pol they were ever to receive it in payment of the (lime, not with tanding the law ex prenyl y said they should. In other words, it is an argument to rH-ase the bondholder from tne absolute, definitely written words of the law on the ground that he eould not foresee that the government wou'.d ever have aiiver enough to fulfill the la w. This is the highest, bo.dest note of repndlat ion ever heard in this country; an o t admission of the law and an open, square uemand for its violation. No facts or surrounding circumstances at tne time the contract was made can for a moment Justify such a flagrant abrogation of its most explicit terms, but even if outside conditions, not x pressed in its face, could be set up now to defeat it, I assert that the conditions alleged by the advocates of this .--.;ument never existed at ail. I assert that when the law for tne payment of t he public debt was construed by ttieidtnou,? act of March, . :.-" mean payment in gold and silver both, to production of our ' silver mines for that year was eil,fiij,sn.', and had annually averaged that amount since ls64. It is contended that the purchasers of our bonds overlooked, when they were first Issued the feeble supply of silver. Iid an annual average production of nearly S12,o00,wjo for trie space of live years preceding the act of March, J, likewise escape their attention, when they were framing that act in their own interest and to suit themselves? But again, by t he refunding act of July H, 1STU, authorizing the issue of new coin bonds to be sutsituted for the original 4-ai bonds, making thereby the new contract of that date, it was agreed that the bonds issued by Virtue of t hat act should be pavable in silver as well as gold. During that very year, the year of the contract which is to be enforced In all its demands against the flesh and blood of labor, the generous silver mines of the United wtatea yielded Sia,u..R),'Hj. Was not this sum sufiicient to put the authors of that enactment, the bondholders in Kurope and America, on their guard against making a solemn stipulation to receive silver money in payment, of their bonds, unless they intended at the same time to do o? During the years 1871 and 1S72 many hundred millions of ootids were issued under the act of JulvH, 1S70, and received in exchange for 5-2os. They were all payable by the express terms of the law either in silver or gold, at the option of the government; and the production of silver, when they were thus voluntarily received, amounted, according to our mining statistics in 1871, to 825.000,000, and in 1S72 to SJS,75u,0J. I t Is no doubt true that the product of these two latter year"? excited the fear of a silver inflation which has since deepened into the absurd panic now prevailing, but how can It with any fairness be prctened that the bondholder is released from receiving silver according to his agreement, on the ground that wewere not producing that metal when the laws governing the cr. .tract were enacted? And if it was not coined in amounts as large as It has been since, yet it was well known that the law made its coinage free and unlimited, and no one has aright tocomplaimof the enforcement of a law of which he had full knowledge at the time his rights and liabilities accrued. The argument is unsound in law and nnsustained by the facts. In fact, the entire movement demonetizing silver is to be explained solely and alone on the principle of contraction; and this brings me, in this connection, to consider more luliy that destructive principle, and especially to examine the polsev and the effects of the law of January 14, 1.-.75, for the resumption of specie payments by an enforced com ruct ion of the non-interest hearing legal tender currency or the country. The law of February, 1873, taking away silver money from the people, and the law of January, 1875. fixing the day, not less than a year in advance, when the greenback shall also perish, are twin monsters of evil, born of the same parentage and linked together for the destruction of all money save gold. In their discussion, therefore, they are entitled to a joint recognition. iir, in the entire catalogue of crimes against human society not, one can be found so awful in ad its consequences, both Immediate and remote, as a government commits when it deliberately destroys the money of its own citizens. Wherever in all the regions of time Riich measures have been accomplished, the horrors of history have taken place. No shrinkage in the amount of money, no contraction of the currency in the hands of the people was ever enforced by law to anv considerable extent, except amidst broken lives, ruined hopes, despair, lost honor, and all the vices springing from the lowest depths of poverty and human misery. The worst Ingredients of war, pestilence, and famine all flow from the act of a government violently tearing from the hands of the laboring masses the money they so much need. Murder, theft, robbery, prostitution, forgery, embezzlement, and fraud of every hue and mien curse the land that is deprived of a full and sutliclent circulating medium on which to give employment to its toiling men and women. The social statistics of mankind will show that wherever the supply of money has been scant and labor poorly paid, or le t entirely idle, there the gallows-tree has borne most frequently its horrid burden; there the jails and the peni entiarles and all the haunts of infamy have been most crowded. The wellclothed and well-fed Pharisee may ostentatiously th ink Ood that he is better than such p,s ttiese, but he is not. When the strong hand of the govercment is en eased in abolishing money", and thus interposing between the laboring man and the laboring woman and their lat chance for bread by honest work, their slna for self-preservation are less odious to their merciful Father than the prayers of the usurers who have driven them, to ruin. It is said In highly intelligent quarters tint at this hour there are three millions of our own people unemployed, who have no other dependence lor food and shelter than the labor of their hands, and one-half ot whom are now tramping from place to place for crumbs of charity. lUiiabie and dangerous spectacle! It never happened before in this laud of bounteous nature, nor would it now but for the fact that m these later davs a class has arisen incur midst which la benefited by the soarcPy of money, and the consequent destruction of all those great ind ustrte which a So rd employment to labor. Nor does this 1'richtful spectacle appeal alone toour sympathy with human misery, deep and indescribable as that must be. The loss to the country in actual wealth arising from the absolute idleuess of three million persons is very great. .It has been estimated that at one dollar per day as wages it would amount to enouaii in two years to liquidate our public debt. The l.ri '-d"t- -it s M,ut-iry f"iuii m make the 1 i-.t i:i a'u.ible o'-er jiJols m U.tir xeceiit report: lie voi st e-'Ct, however, economic illy c ,s1 4t tl, of f '...jii-r i run n ii ih f upon etNtii ;.'-tv, ikt u pi", ovhtors, b.it nnou labi - i i'.nii it n - oi em i le i u nt a .d ev to pot 1 1 . n-d upon vu'.t 1 v, nicu it d'-'S'iives of that vast sum of wtmili winch - . s pe.t-n I i ! v '"i I ' e i -oroi.s a risis ol t he i i v ot i.i m A-.iri vi'.jt.vnt n'oivv t r i - - r e i-t . z f i' (Hf i i "i-f , a,. 1 c - s ti co - ; t. Hi "i i 1 d ! .i lUiion of t , - It i - i !, '-s t .e in'.i.' ot exi-!- ' r uv t ' 1 1 v ni- Ui ; f-t.: l it : i . x ".' t i . v, .i c.-i-r i ' 'i '". 1 v t 1 - , ( U' r -y a ao'v f re. -if i it is wii.'.ii, I it it 1 I U" . " V H'lT f I ' J I 1 I l""tV u'e i ; i , - - ' ' t n i Uifi rtl the - oil's r i '. r V It.t . ' St 1 . i i , is : ' r i ' it ' . r 1 I t 4 I" i - r s ii i i In ii I. , I h t u i o n - t i !',' Ut ' .

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In conditions are Ittor, fcjo-l-v-il by the ry and nrpl! inc, e fn its ot irni-try d. These conditions 4i Ital is ab-. kit ly ;.ri'f-i J ( ...r.-t vi rreauJ free froai ii,e-tiitirii-tte U in.Aiive lnt-Tf-.-rence, and wtien lne Uijorcru proi-ertea in fcis n fitural r);ht to ta -'-o-e cf Lis l-i 1 . r in u ro'.r- vr t- be iu.1 r pretur. Ihey are ntteriyimpxsitbie when th'e money KtocK Is fehrttiking and the money vame of property and services Is declining. Howsoever great the natural rewurctsota country may be, however genial its climate, fertile its soil, ingenious, enterprising and industrious its Inhabitants, or free Its Institutions, if t he val ue of money is hrinking and prices are falling, ita merchants will be overwhelmed with bankruptcy, its industries will be paralyzed, ana destitution and distress will prevail. , Ti.e instinct of self-interest Is the mainspring of industrial and commercial activity. It is the animating motive alike ot the capitalist and of the laborer. Without it, no labor would tie performed, nor would capital have an existence. If money capital Is witndrawn from productive enterprises, It is from the apprehension of loss and trom,the same Instinct of thrift through which it was acquired. It la natural t hat the money capitalist should exact from labor all he can in exchange for his money, and that the laborer should exact all the money he can In exchange for his labor. What is known as the confliot between capital and labor, Is not so much a conflict between other foruis of capital and labor as it is between money and labor. Indeed, the conflict between money and other forms of capital is as distinctly marked and quite as severe as the conflict between money and labor, and in that conflict otner forms of capital sutler fully as much as la nor, the only difference being that 1 hey are belter able to endure losses. Other forms of capital must be constantly converted into money in order to pay wages and to meet other demands incident to industrial enterprises. When the stock of money is shrinking and prices are falling, this conversion can only be made at rates continully growing more unfavorable, while at the same time the products of the laborer for whose wages sacriQces have been made are also undergoing a shrinkage of money value. Thus loss and sacrifi.ee are encountered at every turn, and the owners of ot her capital than money shrink from the friction of exchange, withdraw from productive enterprises, and only exchange as much of their property for money as will suffice to meet the necessary expenditures of living, which are reduced to the most economical level, as it is principal and not income which is being consumed. Little more labq$ will be employed under these circumstances than is sufiicient to support the owners of capital on this parsimonious basis, and as a consequence the labor market will be overstocked, and tne competition between laborers will reduce wages to a starvation level. But during this period, when property is being sacrificed to meet current necessities, and laborers are' being remitted to idleness and destitution, money fattens on the general disaster." W lien, therefore, on the 14th of January, 1S75, this government, having already destroyed silver money, determined to destroy within the next four years its outstanding legal paper currency until there should be no more of it left t.-.an could be redeemed in gold coin alone on the 1st day of January, 187t, it became responsible for all the appalling consequences that have followed. An attempt to force the resumption of specie payments with gold and silver both as our metallic basis would be a cruel failure at this time ; but the E reposition to contract, reduce, cancel and urn our present amount of currency until it harmonizes with the meager margin of gold which we can command has stricken the arm of labor with paralysis, dried up the fountains of business prosperity, and placed hollow-eyed want in more than a million hitherto happy homes. The demonetization of silver was purposely accomplished before the policy of specie resumption was declared, in order to make money as scarce as possible in reaching by forced contraction the single standard 61 gold. We could reach the double standard easier than the single one. but the purpose of the money power was the diminution of money in circulation, and it better accomplished that object by first outlawing sliver and then seeking the specie basis composed of but one metal. It can not be denied that great progress has been made in this work of destroying moneys, and all values, except the value of money, which is made greater by being made scarcer and harder to obtain. At the date of the act of January, 1875, our volume of currency was already reduced in. proportion to population - lar below Karopean nations, where labor commands barely sustenance wages. We had nearly one-half less per capita than Germany, England or France. Financial distress was even then upon us. Business wrecks were afloat on every hand. We had the warnings of the nine preceding years during which the money of our country had been diminished -nearly 8400,000,000 by contraction, and during which time the liabilities for commercial failures and bankruptcies had arisen from an average of about $ll,(A0,(XW per annum to nearly S'Wo,000,000. A panic had just swept over the the country with suSicient havoc and ruin to extort the admission from General Grant in his message of December, 1873, that our volume of currency was too small for our business, even at its dullest stages. We had less han $7;vi,(XK,Ci00, not counting fractional currency, and yet against the supplications of every active business and Industry a still further reduction was dictated, and has been effected to the extent of nearly one hundred millions. If, however, the law for the enforced resumption of specie payments is to stand unrepealed on our stat u e books, then there still remains a work of destruction to be done m this country far more extensive, dangerous and full of wretchedness than we have yet witnessed. That law declares that "On and after the 1st day ot January, A. D. 1S79, the secretary of the treasury shall redeem in coin the United States legal tender notes then outstanding on their presentation for redemption at the office of the assistant treasurer of the United States in the city of New York, in sums of not Jess than $50." The term coin here used means only gold now, and the law. In order to enable the secretary of the treasury to carry out this plan for retiring the greenback money from circulation, authorizes him to sell interest-bearing bouds to obtain gola and to use such- surplus revenues as he may have on hand. The government has undertaken two things; first, tne shrinkage of the amount of currency, and second, the possession of gold In such quantity that the one can he converted into the other. The smaller, therefore, the quantity of gold that can be obtained, the greater must ba the reduction of paper money in order to rest dollar for dollar on such 4a narrow metallic basis. It becomes important in this view to know what has been done under the law of January. 1S73, in accumulating gold as a basis for specie payments a year hence. Many efforts have been made to ascertain the exact amount of actual gold which this government now owns, none of which have been entirely successful, for the reason that the sum is so small, " but It is perfectly safe to state, after deducting the amount due as interest on bonds, that there are not this day fifty millions of gold in the United State treasury and in all the national banks besides If resumption is to take place on shat basis, the gigantic task of this poor pittance will be to stand good for the redemption of $:iT),w7,8t8.50 of legal tender notes, common'y called greenbacks, and SfiSl,-874.2-ss of national bank note'circulation, making In all the sum of SiSil.JsS ; 1,544.50. It is very plain, even to those who believe tfaatSl in gold is soilieientfor the circulation and redemption of S J in paper, that our present condition of SI in gold to about fU in paper must be radically revolutionized against the day fixed for-specie resumption. What probability is there of any large increase of gold in the vaults of the tc i- :ry? ,nle'ecie re'imptl?n be reached witlna t",erre-"Lit year by ljeiin'' uptse ri. o.otoft .tmoirpo- .i-.iiorb Kn.r; down the h mount t curit-ncy ia circulation? No one claims that fort.,.n nations will supply our want of tcoid. t,il'e c t . ry. r p.vy n'l f c ---lucecf o.ir i urn s t ,t- to t nc'ii to t iv i Tt-rt it on pubhe securities held abrosul. "Bat even ifthls i-ovt-m me- t co.1 i t'irn t 'fn' r- "" i yield of Ami t is rlv i n ..ilt V OJ. 1 J lip 1' t O 1 ' 1-t ( 1 f r r oit v i 1 1 e ' ry o v t i .' in i. n v. 1;" t H r t a the sat fTC'f i-i.t f-.t a c.-.i.-.. V .i . n rr -,, t rirc ' tion r. ' - i, : :. f its r i he 1 on !y lii i- J t.. S h U f " ' it. IS I 31' it b a a sb i' s -war i0 t e c f An -v.T r f t .e r C il UJ Ot - - tit t me t t ae . ow s i iff i I J i it-- r t'

material pro-j-rlty, cert.-, U i -i-t. v.u . . All irs ia' nx.ot arrro-d Tiisch'nir im.'-t 1.-3 1'iiiployfi!, a:d 1 i m ust be joUy dtHtriouU arc-;".yi v, n c

nt for 1 tr CO 1lVl'1 t il ,e t'.an r cie l U.e .or i,

to t if f t i,'

to do business on a specie ba.s? Is there anywhere in America or in the whole universe a new fountain of gold, pouri ne forth increased volumes, from which our parched and scanty reourcs may be replenished? The very reverse is tne tact; old fountains are dry in sr up; thfir streams are diminishing; no wizard's rod can smite the earth and indicate where new supplies will break forth. But the requirements of the government for goid constitute but a small portion of the demand. The American people at this time are enormously In debt more than any other people beneath the sun. Their slate and municipal debts of all kinds, and their private debts to each other, have been variously estimated at from six to ten thousand million dollars. Every dollar of this vast indebtedness will call for gold coin after the 1st day of January, 1879. Where are the people to obtain sufficient gold with which to pay their debts and transact their busine;s? The question is one that may well terrify every man who owes his neighbor anything, for there is not now, and never has been at any one time, enough gold in circulation as money on the whole face of the earth to meet this demand. If, therefore, specie payments are in reality to be resumed in January, 187, the government has yet to destroy at least two-thirds of Its present paper circulation, ana the people on this reduced basis, and under the gold standard alone, will be compelled to meet their debts and their taxes, which have undergone no diminution. Sir, here the bad, faith of this tovernmeat toward the great mass of its citizens culminates. To the people in debt the destruction cf their money is the virtual increase of their indebtedness to the extent, of the money destroyed. If a man makes a contract to pay 8100 oq a given day, and has just that sum of monev in his possession at the date of the contract, he is doing business securely. If, however, SoO are taken from him by force, and he is left to meet his contract on one-half the amount needed, his bankruptcy necessarily follows. The American people were supplied with one amount of currency on which to control debts, both public and private, and they are now to have another and far smaller amount with which to pay them. They entered into all their existing obligations with comparatively plenty of money in their hands. By t he laws of this government now they are first to be deprived of one-half their money, and then required to pay every obligation in full. The national debt was contracted on the basis of inflation, and is to be paid on the narrowest basis of the most merciless contraction. A thousand dollar bond, for which only 8000 In gold was realized by the government, in its distress, at the time of its Issue, has now to be taken up and paid for with over a thousand dollars in gold by the tax-payers. The farmer who bought land with deferred payments; the mechanic who purchased a house and lot and made a mortgage for the balance of the purchase money; the business man who uses his credit as a part of his capital, have all found the weight of their obligations largely increased by being deprived ol the means of meeting them. They must be met, however, and property itself, in the aosence of money, changes hands from the debtor to the creditor classes in payment of debts. It changes hanas, too, at such reduced values that the business man Is sold out and closed up, and homes are swept away, often for the want of a very small sum or money. Since the act demonetizing silver, supplemented as it nas been by the act for a forced resumption of specie payments, the property of the people of the United States has shrunk not less than 35 per cent, in value. What could be sold for S100 five years ago can be bought now for $65 on an average all over the country. This Is a criminal confiscation of property amounting to not less in value than gi0,(0,000,000 when the estimate is applied to every state and section alike. In this vast shrinkage of all values, arising from the shrinkage of money in circulation, is to be found the immediate cause of that general bankruptcy and ruin which now fill the land with the sound of falling business houses, commercial failures, broken savings banks, and tne laiflentations of the poor who have been robbed of their hard earnings and of the opportunity to earn more. Under the influence of this policy nearly forty thousand business failures have taken place in this country since February, 1873, with liabilities amounting In the aggregate to over 81,000,000,000. The heart sickens in thinking for a moment of the sorrows, the broken hearts, the shattered hopes, the suicides which these figures represent. If the policy of this government has been to inflict the greatest misery on the greatest number its success has been complete. It is invain to attribute such widespread disasters to other causes. We sometimes hear them ascribed to what is vaguely styled overproduction. I would gladly know what is meant by this oracular term. Overproduction? What is it that we overproduce ? Is there too much food, clothing, and other necessities of life? Has the soil yielded too much wheat, corn, hay, cotton, sugar, rice? The producer is one who creates wealth, and overproduction would therefore signify too great an amount of wealth. It will be hard to convince a sane mind that an overflow of wealth is the cause of depression and gloom, of financial calamities and rapidly increasing poverty, and of laborers praying, and praying in vain, for the privilege, nce afforded to slaves, of working for the bare means of subsistence. The mission of wealth produced by toil from the bosom of the earth is far different from this. Unless deprived of its natural functions by pernicious laws It brings abundant happiness to a people and establishes smiling content in their midst. But the cause most commonly assigned by the authors of our financial policy for its baleful effects on the business ana labor of the eountry is that the currency baa been and is yet in an inflted condition, and that real prosperity can only be attained by its reduction to the gold basis. The evils of inflation have been painted in the darkest colors for years past, and on all occasions. I am not an inflationist in any sense that would disturb the true interest of trade and commerce, nor would it ever be necessary to discuss the question at all. if the con tractionist had only been-1 willing to let the volume of our currency remain at the point where the country

prospered most and the people weie happiest. J

A comparison between the periods when our paper circulation was greatest and the years of contraction which have followed, is crushing to the advocates of the latter policy. During the whole four years of 1863, 1864,1865, and 1866, when the volume of our currency averaged over a thousand millions, the business failures of the country reached only 2,167 less in number than occurred in any three months of the year jus closed. Is this an argument against a full and generous circulation of money? During the period whicn is now stigmatized as one of Inflation the windows of business houses were not darkened, and business men did not go as mourners about the streets. The laborer did not go home without biead to his wife and children; helpless millions did not cower and tremole at the approach of winter for lack ol food and shelter; the public peace was not broken by riots in resistance to starvation wages ; the courts were not principally occupied in enforcing collections,foreclosing mortgages, ordering sheriff sales or in punishing the destitute and outcast. These are some things which did not tatce place. Others that did are equally striking. Good wages and good prices stimulated every laboring man's muscle, every business man's brain, and every power of machinery into the highest and most productive activity. Hope and encouragement was in every heart. New farms were bought and cultivated; new workshops were opened; new manufactories were established; new towns and cities were founded, and old ones expanded and improved ; new railroads were built, giving employment to millions, and bringing the remotest and most obscure regions into immediate contact with trade and civilization ; new mines of coal, iron and silver were sunk in the earth, whose contents in return assisted in the glad woik of a universal, individual and national prosperity. Am I to be reminded that this wed known condition of general welfare and happiness was a tielus( on, til at it was unreal and could not last? v hy was it a delusion? Were not it comforts ruj blessinsrs a reality to the American people? But why did it not last? But one answer can be given. The money power determr ed it should not last. The Garden of Eden before the fall was not more hateful In the eyes cf Hatan than was this picture of plenty snd prosperity to those whose gains and pros is d.pt ndeu on the scarcity of money in the Pa iJs of the people, ana consequent nard t i. s. They bean their work of spoliation in 1 j, an 1 they have made thi downfall complete. They'have haunted these halls; t- ey - e ihunuered at these doors; they have fort'. -o I'.fniH'Uf'in t e h!''i r iaces nft-i'S . )v rrjr;., r.r. Hi i, v, h' lir.e r by utciittul p--r-s-. t -a, -r'..il s eech r, crt-n menace ard -. .H, they have not c- -eitobiiie? b.iaht s i ot"ie pvi . 1 ie very ia .i :ie-i of n' cf h' irr ji t . i lro:ii L ow to blow fr i Ttnfci'. It.e ir'cre cf r mer 1 w 1- ! 'e t , it I ive i i ,ii n, i , l, j 1 rot 1 it. It bss beu i. - " 1, t'i -i, " d un .-r foot Ivt ! -i k: s rf l . '.o.i i' I t re r-t . - , -s rr- e-1. The p:r 1 f r t ji-.r i f . c r teitr b nf r .;1oj;s b t r i. " r ay of U' e c eUts f i i .o i ; 12 y - . -t j; .J. Lave h a i to " be it c i" art t f ' 7 t- ! -rl m d tn

one by the people. Every agitation of the question in congress, until the .present, has been made In the same interest and to gain additional advantages. The people thus far have borne their wror , s in the forbearing hope that they would eeae, and if now they rise at last and see to It that their rights are better respected, it is because the foil measure of their patience is exhausted. When their prostrate and suffering condition, however, is forced on the unwilling recognition of the money power, we are often met with the impatient argument that it is not for the government to make money for the people. I might content myself witii answering that it is certainly not for the government to destroy money lor the people. Those who deny the right of the government to regulate the amount of currency in circulation overlook tr.e fact that they have been dictating that very policy to be pursued for themselves; only that they have always caused it to be regulated downward Instead of upward. But what is the duty of the government in this regard? Is it true that the people are not dependent on the poiicy of their government for money en which to do business? Is It true, as often asserted.that in some way or other those who are willing to work, or have something to sell, can always obtain money regardless of all financial legislation? No greater fallacy than this was ever put forward in deiense of wrong and injustice. Money is the creature of government both as to quality aud quantity. It exists merely by the assertion of law, and in no other way. Article 1, section 8, of the constitution of the United States, provides that "The congress shall have power to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures," and section 10 of the same article denies all such powers to the states, thus making congress the exclusive creator of money for the American people. Without the action of congress not one dollar can exist in the United States. If the article called money, whether of gold, silver or paper, is necessary at ail in the transactions of life, here alone is the fountain from which it emanates. How then shall this high power be exercised? Shall only enough lawful money be created, in proportion to the labor and other commodities which it Is designed to pay for, to give ten cents a day to the laborer, and"810 for a horse; or shall it be furnished in sufficient amount to afford a just equivalent for labor and for every other thing of value? On the answer to this question has depended the prosperity or the adversity of the American people in all the past; on it their present deplorable condition can alone be explained, and their future late foretold. A circulating medium being a recognized necessity of civilized nations, and its existence depending solely on national authority, that government which, for any reason, fails to make a supply adequate to the business prosperity of its citizens,violates that fundamental compact of duty which must prevail in every free political commonwealth. Not only, however, has this government failed in this great duty, but the manner it has adopted to furnish the people with their limited and insufficient supply of currency was conceived ana perfected by the owners of retired and inactive capital. The system of national banking now In use is the most elaborate and complete scheme fer making the people pay tribute to wealth, In order to obtain a circulating medium, ever known in the financial history of the world. There is not a dollar to-day in the hands of the people on which they have not paid a tax f r the privilege of having it put in circulation by the go vernment. The national bank Is the middle man between the government and the people, and is enormously paid for doing what the government ought directly to do itself. According to the report of the comptroller ef the currency there were two thousand and eighty national banks October 1, 1877, and they owned in even numbers 336,000,000 of government bonds as the basis of a bank .note circulation of 8291,000,000. The interest paid by the people on the bonds thus used to secure a currency on which t . transact their business amounts to not less than 818,000,000 per annum. This is the tax paid for the bank note circulation. The bondholder has been made the banker of the country, and he is banking on the interest bearing debt of the people. For every 8100 of currency they pay him nearly Sfi interest on the bonds which secure that hundred. His advantages, however, only begin with this bonus of sixteen millions. The report of the comptroller shows that, October 1, 1877, the national banks haa loan3 outstanding to the amount of $891,000,000, No one will pretend that these loans are made on an average interest of iess than 10 per cent. This makes an interest account of eightynine millions per annum, and this Is an under rather than an over estimate. Of other bonds, stocks, debts, real estate, specie, currency, clearing house exchanges, United States certificates of deposit, and all other resources, the property of the national banks, at the above aate, amounted to something over 8514,010,000, wrhich, at the low "-ate of 5 per cent., makes an additional interest income of 825,000,000. The following statement will therefore correctly represent the facts: October 1, 1877 : National banks 2,080 Resources 1,741,000,000 Interest on. resources paia by the people per annum 130,000,000 In return for the establishment of this stupendous money power it Bimply acts as an agent in transmitting the currency of the United States from the treasury to the people. Will any one pretend that a cheaper and more equitable mode of supplying the country with a circulating meaium can not be framed by our legislative wisdom? In fact can anyone for a moment defend such a system of monopoly and oppression ? He who desires its permanence desires also the permanence of the national bonded debt. The two are Inseparable. One rests upon the other. Iftbe national banks are a blessing then our public debt is a blessing, for the debt supports the banks. This idea is embraced in the act of January, 1875. Provision is made in the third section of that act for an increased number of "banking associations" to be based on an increased number of interest bearing bonds sold for that purpose. They are armed ti o by this section with hostile powers against the legal tender greenback. With the aid of the secretary of the treasury they are authorized to exterminate this favorite money of the peop e. For everv 8I111 issued after the date of the act of January, 1875, by the national banks then in existence or organized afterward 580 in legal tender notes are to be withdrawn from circulation and destroyed until that currency is contracted to the limit of 8300,000,000. The purpose of this legislation is to make the banks completely master of the financial situation and to subordinate all the wants and interests of the American people to their will and pleasure. And in order to facilitate this purpose the greenback dollar ha been denou ced with every epithet of contempt and derision known to the English language. I will not r aue now to cefend this great money in its contest with those who are bent on its destruction. Its reputation in peace and 1n war is known to all. The soldiers and the sailors knew it in the great hour of peril; their widows, their orphans, ana their maimed and crippled comrades have known it ever since. The people of every class and of every party engaged In business and labor know that; in spite" of all assaults, in spite of the fact tnat the government dishonors it by refusing to take it for government dues, and in spite ol the fact that there is not gold enough in the treasury to redeem it at ten cents on the dollar, yet to-day it ranks but three per cent, below gold in the money markets that are most hostile to its existence. All these things are known and treasured up, and I do not dwell mpon them now. Sir, thus'Iar I have spoken in pointing out what I conceive to be the vickras legislation of this country on the great arid paramount question of its finances. There are two opposing ideas on this subject now thoroughly aroused into viiilance and activity. On the one hand is the vast money power in all its various developments of bonds, banks and loaning associations, and on the other are the exeat industries, tne active business and the laboring people. The issue has been years In making up, but It is now joined. Nobody need be deceived. All the widespread influences of caoital are organized and combined. The holders of public securities in America and in Europe work together. They thinkand act in concert. The national bmks of the United Saes have a solid oi;"ni7a:un to r reject whstt ey have and to j.-t as r- vi i.,or- fs p-e .le. They are a.lr g now to ba t ..r-v J f -o. t lying taxeson their circuiitlon and d rot-i., in order that thev may eijov t'it ir e-mru.)! i profits free frooi r aa tu'ei-'s for the support of Uie . rover, .. t. -ciatiOTis cf caj '. e: 1 la obtaining morf. -? at 12 i .r c it. interest n we-iri i f rms, ci pc- 't ot the scercPy ri i.- ney u t ' - i, are not oniv st rivirz ti i s'-i-ti. " m -jrsges paya . !e m ftd a yer h"re, 1 t i are threareinr- r fi.'c 1 i r-er .-.,. i - that they si. 1 lim i.o i mtu rim .t ;' e am raxes u's th y t re ii tuee.o pay gold in rt . rn -i r en. i: s. e p- . r r t ii' i y i o 1 ' r : - J i i . - t ie- 3 is verv . kt, 1 "it I .J mo'- s Hii ' o tt.e r t e if ' .-v t:-ve nf r t. t 1 1 n c e . t 1 I ;':-" : tr it - - P'.- -j. i . v n re v.'x in i r " f r- ' a iref t i"!r pufl " or; rue e . j lit f ivetotu.- i in i f.btu t . - 1 . t s :.tt)ll)' . , I t r f , ' '- I r 1 3 i ..'i. I f ; ) : . t. r i ' i cr t t j t. r

means to it. Tliev demand, too, that certain -speemo wrongs shall be redressed. 1. Those for whoai I speak demand the restoration of the silver dollar exactly as it stood before It was touched by the act "of February, 1;73. They desire that it shall have unlimited coinage, not fearing that It will become too plenty for their wants, and that it be made a full legal tender, believing that it is as good now with welch to pay all debts, public and piivate.as It was during 81 years of American history.

2. They demand the repeal, uncondltionto a .specie twla for our currency should be controed entirely by the business Interests of the country. TUey do not believe that the country should oe dragged through the depths or ruin, wretchedness and degradation in order to reach a go'd standard for the benefit alone of t he income classes. 3. They demand that the national banking system be removed and a circulating medium provided by the government fo? the people, without taxing hem for the privilege of obtaining it. And they ask that the amount thus placed m circulation shall bear a reaaonaole and judicious proportion to the business transactions and the population of the United States. , 4- Xhey demand that the currency circulated on the authority of the government shall be made a legai tender in the payment of all debt, public and private, including all dues to the government, well knowing that it will then be at par with gold or more likely at a premium over it. 5. They demand that hereafter the financial policy of the country be framed permanently in their interest; that they shall not be discriminated against io future legislation' as In past, and that their prosperity, and not the mere growth of income to retired capitalists, shall be the primary duty of the government. In my judgment, thesedemands are just and moderate. I implore senators not to suppose thattheycan.be disregarded with safety. If they are rejected now they will be renewed hereafter with still greater determination and perhaps with others added. I plead for the financial credit of the government, it rests on the popular will alone, and that will can no longer be defied or menaced with ImpunityThe people are sovereign, and thev can bind and they can loosen, if the money power Is advised with wisdom it will stop and retrace its steps. It confronts a power; now mightier than itself; a free people at the ballot box, inflamed by a sense of Injustice and oppression. If, however, it is joined to its golden idol ; if its heart is hardened and its neck stiffened by its vast possessions; if the burning lust of avarice has made it deaf to the voice of reason and blind to all human experience, it will push on in its career until it works Its own destruction; for, sooner or later, the people, Irrespective of party names, will unite in their own defense and establish justice. They have been slow to believe that there was a deliberate purpose to degrade and impoverish the great producing cla:ses, but' they are being rapiaiy educated now. The condition of the eountry is a teacher whose awful lesson is engraven on all their hearts. Thev have also recently read the proclamations of the great organs of the money power, removing all disguise as to the meaning of our financial legislation and the misery it has created. In the columns of one they have read that "The American laborer must make up his mind henceforth not to be so much better off than the European laborer. Men must be content to work for low wages. In this way the workingman will be nearer to that station in life to which it has pleased God to call him." In the columns of another organ of consolidated capital they have read the following revolting sentiments: "There seems to be but one remedy. It 3s a change of the ownership of the soil, and the crea tion of a class of land owners on the one hand and of tenant farmers on the other; something similar in both cases to what has long existed ana now exists in the older countries of Europe." And in every form in which the English language can be used the American people,uu especially uie people oi tne west, nave been'notified, not that their consent will be asked, but that they will be compelled to submit to the legislation which results in this British system of baronial landed estates, a dependent tenantry and pauper wages for the workingmen. Sir, I have no word of menace to utter on this floor, but in behalf of every laborer and every owner of soil whom I represent, I warn all such as value their investments that when these doctrines of despotism are sought to be enforced, this fair land will again be convulsed in agony, and the fires of liberty will blaze forth again, as they did a hundred years ago, in defense of the natural . rights of man. May the wisdom of our fathers and 'benignit v of our God avert such an issue, but it it shall come, it infatuation has seized our hearts, the result will only add one more instance to the long catalogue of human crimes and folly, where avarice, like ambition, overlaps itself, and in its unholy attempt to rob others of their possessions, loses its own. - m

The Greatest Slaughter in Prices of

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Lot 5775, Vermont Grev S 3.00, former price $ 3.75 " 5-1, All- Wool Felt Overcoats 3 " 4 OJ " 5735, All-Wool Ulsters v " 4741, Fancy Fm Beaver- - 5-75. " 7 50 " 5tm, Heavy Fur Beaver 7M, " PU0 " EK21, Fanev Fnr Beaver - 8.50, " 12.00 " S707, Fur Beaver , - Jxon. ".575, Fancv Fur Beaver .- 12 50, " 15.W " 5959, Fancy Stripe For Beaver - I-S.oo, 17.( 0 " 59. fine Brown Commonwealth Fnr Beaver- 15.00, " 21. m " 5837, Fine Blaclc Commonwealth Fur Beaver - 1-5,'JO, " 21, 00 M 5825, Fine Black Commonwealth .Fur Beaver 15.00, " ia.oo M 641, Fine Black Commonwealth l-nr Bvaver 15.00, 21.00 ' 6S51, Fine Olive Commonwealth Fnr Beaver 15.i, vi.fX) " 5045, Langley Fur Beaver Ih.w, " V .") " 4S9, Lsnpley Fur Beaver 15.00, " i.M " 5961, Schnabel Fur Beaver, (Imported) ... M.Oj, " 24.00 Just received, 75 Overcoats in Black, Blue, Brown and Olive Beavers, (in Slaters. Harris S Shaw mnt Overcoatings) at 510.00 each, worth I5.C3 at wholesale tne past eeaon.

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IiOt 5789, Vermont Grey, at " b.m, All-wool leu, at , " 4321, Oxford Fur Beaver, at.... . St', Faney Fur Beaver . .3737, Eiyeian Fur Beaver.-:..... K127, Fancy Fnr Beaver. " 4.j,, liangiey Fur Beaver.... it

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Lot 3757. Child's Vermont Grey " 5787, Vermont Cirev. " 6117, Child's Plaid VvJon " 5771, Boys' A II-Wool K? It Overcoats ' 4;19, Boys' Oxford Fur Heaver- - " h-'t- !5, child's Far Beaver-.:. .. " 6975, Fancy Fur beaver..... ........... " 61 "9, Boys' Fancy Fur Beaver...-...... ......... " ti$o7, Boys' Fancy Fur Beaver.... Tlie above Partial Price List, (not one-fourth of

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Tfca Indianapolis T."e-fk! best weekly paper published Lewisville Democrat. The Sentinel i3 still furnt'-hii.. news of any paper in the city. . cialiy valuable in this season of the its reports of markets. Odd Fellow icle. The Indianapolis Weekly Sentinel large and ably conducted democratic pa; full of state news and correct in it3 marAl reports. Every family in the county ougfa.. to have it this year. Rochester Sentinel. The Sentinel, both daily and weekly, is an excellent paper. When our citizens send out of the state for their news, they not only com mitt a blunder, but work against the interest of the democracy. Tipton Times. EXTRAOR IIX AKY OFFER. Only &1.30 Kill pay for the Weeltly Sentinel and tlie Sentinel1 new map of Indiana, both povtHse paid, or Itopp's Ey Calenlatov, ft work that nofarraer, meclaanle or tnlnewN njn sliould be -without, sent in place or map, If desired. Address SENTINEL COMPANY, IndJanapoi's, Ind. TOQXIIIEES SPEECH. 13 rents a dozen will pay for tfrigrreai pech. Democrat, dou'l Jet any republican neighbor be wllhontan opportunity to reI it. Address SENTINEL COMPANY, Indianapolis, Ind 1860. 1878. P. U Lies Li ki O L3a wK tJSH p Ho. 34 T7. "Washington St. f Ho. 7 CU Fellows' Hall. - J Ho, 250 Virginia Avenue. j Ho. 1 Kadisou Avenue. ' ; Tlie ial5ieements we offer iu tlxe wjaj- of Teas, CofTecs, Sugary--Spices, Canned Goods and Drie FruKs ia that 1st. " We buy entirely from first, hands. 2d. Ve have but ens pries. 3d. Ve buy and sell entirely far cash, 4th. Having a large established trade cur goods are always fresh. 5th. The customer pays but one profit direst from, ths importer and refiner. 6th. Eighteen years' experience enables us. to say we thoroughly understand the quality of the seeds ve handle. this City at the 7TT1.T i it Li 1 i Mij 0 Wholesale CTanufactory Over "sin?1? ; ? ' and Sell 'at the Following Prices . f ?.." formerly $ 3 f-o SJ , " . i 4.50, " (,. ) 5 .), " 7.f-') 5..vi, " 6.00, " ' 10J0 TZXQ, " 15.W DEPAOTCEfi Si. 75, formerly T2.2 21 2.25. ii.VX 3 5, 4." P t.O, 3 m s.to 5. UJ 6. f $ ;0 8J.0 !.lJJ onr stock) if talten advantage of will save

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