People's Pilot, Volume 3, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 December 1893 — WHICH? [ARTICLE]

WHICH?

The Slave Power or the Money Power. (Concluded.) Congress saw and did its duty j promptly, and ail the machinery . of the government was clearly ' running with constitutional pre-! cision in the suppression of the, Rebellion. Bankers and capitalists did not so regard the political situa-1 lion., Other men's necessity is simply their opportunity. War, I with its most direful carnage, I has always opened up to them a pecuniary feast. The horrors | incident to mangled flesh and I bodies dead, that appall a brave but sensitive maunood, are to them only mental stimulants—harbingers .of the golden millions they hope to reap as war’s ungodly taxes. So as soon as the bankers could formulate tneir plan, they pressed upon tne administration a demand for a complete change in financial meth ods. To them the Constitution was null. Their demand was the scream of the tigress. Those men wanted a national banking system and a funding system adopted. The two would dovetail together wonderfully well to their advantage. That this scheme might sparkle in its brilliancy from their standpoint, they demanded the demonetization of the greenback. This effected, they would immediately have a uouble opportunity for speculation; and as years roiled by, their chances for accumulating wealth would multiply like tne stars at eventide. There would be hundreds of millions, aye, billions upon billions in the scheme. Yet the gain of the banker would be the loss of the people. It was a plan, the most colossal ever known, for public robbery. More than this, it was a plan to obliterate the fundamental principles of the Constitution and practically enslave all the people save the capitalistic class. Did President Lincoln, sworn to support the the Constitution, arouse all his energies for that purpose? No. In the presence of those despoilers of human rights he exhibited the simplicity of a child, rather than the towering strength of a political Hercules. Yet his executive duty was as clear as the sunlight. There is no basis in the Constitution for a charter for special privileges. The spirit of a private corporation is alien to its whole purpose If this is questioned, the doubt can be settled by recurrence to the debate upon the subject in the constitutional convention. When the original draft of the Constitution was presented to that body for consideration, it contained, among its enumerated powers, one for the erection of corporations. This clause was debated and stricken out. It was then proposed to insert the power to establish specified corporations, among them a national bank. This was opposed and rejected, and there the subject remained. This is history, and Mr. Lincoln was, or should have been cognizant of it. Be this as it may, he seems to have acceded to all the demands of the bankers, practically abdicating in their favor as far as the finances were concerned. Then their full scheme was elaborated and consummated with all possible dispatch. This necessitated a prolongation of the war, for Wall street and its minions, through future years, could only fatten upon its proceeds in proportion to the mountain of debt that the mighty contest would force upon the people. Then law followed law for the expansion of capital and the impoverishment of the people. The first congressional act in this line was the debasement of the greenback by restricting its legal tender quality. This created a premium upon gold, and as it advanced in value the greenback of necessity depreciated, and the bankers, speculating at i either end of the line, amassed hundreds of millions of dollars at the people’s expense. Then came the funding system and the national banking system as the upper millstones of the money power, followed by otner enactments in the same line, and thirteen years of currency contraction that wrecked property and led to the. closing of stores and manufactories, the foreclosing of mortgages by the t housand and the turning of a multitude of working men out into the street as tramps. Ruin was widespread, and poverty, like a nightmare, harassed the honest yeomanry of the whole country. We had put down slavery of one form only to offer our necks for the yoke of another.

From the elose of the war the money power has had an unbroken march of conquest. If we give to congress a close, but' impartial view. We shall see but one purpose—to legislate to make the rich master richer and the poor Worker poorer. The law of the income tax was the only exception of importance, and thia was repealed as soon as the capitalists could marshal their lobby for that purpose. Year by year the centralization of power adds force to its menace, and the prospective laws contemplated by our present congress rise above all others in their approach to imperialism. When President Jackson struck down the second national bank it was the only jwwerful monpoly in the country. Now they troop before us till the Whole land is blackened by their shadow' railroads, national bank, telegraph lines, telephone lines, express companies, oil companies, insurance companies, land companies, and a score of other powerful organizations, all banded together and protected by a cordon of trusts that are ironclad in their shield of privileges.

Money is the arbiter, organ ized capital the constitution to be consulted. Caucuses are controlled by agents of the monopolies, and “fixed” candidates are elected to office. To create wealth by legislation, the public interests are waylaid without mercy; corporations water their stocks, and mining properties and manufactories are “tied up” to freeze out their weaker holders of stock. The press is subsidized, public sentiment is debauched. our courts of justice are corrupted, and official integrity is put to shame. “Business” is the national watchword, and honor is trailed as it byword. Years ago our public sentiment applauded and our navy botdy maintained the announcement, “Millions for principle, but not one cent for tribute.” But since the lat e war our people have paid over five billion dollars as direct tribute to the money holders who have taken the place of the slaveholders.

The black slavery that was based on ownership of the person, involved support of the person. Care, food, clothing, medical attendance —all were furnished by the owner, who was interested in the maintenance of the value of his slave. It was a case of property to be protected and preserved; but the white slavery of to-day does not involve the support of the unfortunate people who, lashed by necessity, toil early and late to enrich their lordly task masters. The farmer, oppressed by tjie contraction of the currency and low’ prices for his products, crowded by the mortgage and high rates of tiansportation, and hampered by the board of trade, must sell as he can, while he is obliged to buy at such prices as are demanded, paying high tariff tribute. The wage-worker, obliged to sell his labor for the support of himself and family under capitalistic control, must face and contend with conditions even worse than those that surround the farmer. Professional men, and especially business men, are much restricted in their pursuits, while they are continually taxed, .crowded, and in hundreds of cases ruined for the enrichment of their capitalistic plunderers. It has been estimated that the farmers of Nebraska lost ten million dollars last year. Take the farmers and laborers of the whole country, and it is safe to say that, in the aggregate, they did not save a dollar.

Against this poverty looms up the tremendous bulk and power of the fortune secured by the railroads of the country during last year, their net income, as given in their own reports, being nearly four hundred million dollars—more than the whole assessed value of the great state of lowa, exclusive of the value of its railroads. Yet the railroad represents but one of the many forms of, incorporation by which the money power is sucking up the life blood of the nation. Now. “what will you do about it?” Civilization, honest purpose, brotherly fellowship, preservation of chartered rights, and service to God—-all prompt us to heroic efforts at relief. What is the one tiling most needed? An honest- and intelligent vote. Black slavery was toppled over, and its power forever erased, by red-handed war, but the ballot box is the avenue through which we should attack and over-throw the money power and free ourselves from the curse of white slavery. This

purpose necessitates an amended Constitution. No relief can come through either of the old parties. There must bo a new deal. New men must come to the front about whose shibboleth there is no uncertainty—men who cannot be bribed or palsied with ft cry of alarm. Twentyfive years ago we cutoff a branch of this tree of evil. May a true Christian endeavor sjieed the day when its body shall be uprooted and destroyed.