People's Pilot, Volume 5, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 November 1895 — Page 1

VOL. V.

GOLD NOT WANTED.

A Ruling to Prevent Patriotic Citizens Sending their Gold to the Government Treasury. AJi EXCUSE FOR MORE BONDS Practically Demonetizes All Gold Coins of Eight Weight Without Authority of the Law. It is Really Unsafe to Use Gold in Making AnyPagmrntt to the Government, Even in the Purchase of Postage Stamps or Payment of Revenues. TO DISCOURAGE PATRIOTISM. Straws show the direction of the wind. Possibly some democratic friend will disagree with the unqualified assertion, that the administration does not want the gold reserve in the treasury maintained. Cleveland and his co-conspirators want an excuse for issuing more bonds, and are doing all in their power to discourage the patriotic efforts ot citizens to replenish the fast falling gold reserve. A ruling has been promulgated requiring all subtreasuries to reject and stamp with the letter L all light weight coin. This ruling practically deprives light weight coin ©f its legal tender quality, when the law expressly provides that they are legal tender for their face value less the abrasion. The effect of the ruling is to keep business men from offering gold to the gov•ernment in exchange for greenbacks. If the government would accept the gold at its weight va lue no protest would be made, and millions of gold would be turned over to the government for paper money. All large transactions in gold are made by weight, and banks are careful to drop all suspicious coins in the scales and deduct for any shortage. Now if a coin is presented to the government it is returned marked, if it is light, and the holder, to get anywhere near its true value, must express it to the government mint, and when that snail moving institution unwraps its superabundance of red tape it will send a check or new coins for the amount to the remitter, possibly a year after it was received. Gold coin is received for its full face value at the subtreasuries when its weight does not fall below one-half of one per cent of its standard value. This on a ten-dollar gold piece amounts to 5 cents and on a double eagle to 10 cents. The following is the language of this remarkable ruling: “You are hereby instructed to reject and place a distinguishing mark upon all gold coins of the United States presented at your counters for deposit which may be found below the “least current” weight and limit of tolerance provided by law for the single piece. Although the law makes such coins legal tender at valuation in proportion to their actual weight, it is found to be impracticable for public officers generally who receive them to determine the exact valuation.

“The true valueof light-weight gold coins can only be ascertained at the United States mints of Philadelphia, New Orleans and San Francisco and the assay offices at New York, where they will be received, their value determined and proper amount of coins of legal weight or a check therfore returned. “This action is taken to avoid the necessity of testing the same coins more than once, experience having shown that when a light-weight coin is handed back to a depositor without placing thereon some distinguishingmark a cashier or teller may in the course of business handle and reweigh the same coin several times.” This regulation was based on section 3,505 of the revised statutes, which reads as follows: “Any coins of the United States, if reduced in weight by natural abrasement not more than one-half of on§ per centum below the standard weight prescribed by law after a circulation of twenty years, as shown by date of comage, and at a ratable proportion for any period

THE PEOPLE’S PILOT.

FOW THE FREE ANO UNLIMITED COINAGE OF SILVER ANO GOLD AT THE PARITY RATIO OF SIXTEEN TO ONE WITHOUT REFERENCE TO ANY OTHER NATION ON EARTH.

less than twenty years, shall be received at their nominal value by the United States treasury and its officers under such regulations as the treasury may prescribe for the protection of the government against fraudulent abrasion or other practices.” It may strike laymen that the secretary of the treasury might find difficulty in getting authority from the aforementioned statute, but that makes no difference. The regulation was issued and is in effect, and from it there is no appeal in practice. The department advances the proposition that if it were to be abrogated the conn try would be flooded with lightweight coin. It therefore stands pat even at the risk of offending a great many business men and bankers who are honestly desirous of turning their surplus gold iuto the treasury. The excuse is lame, and will not fool those who understand the facts in the case. The ruling will not prevent the creation of light weight coin, for the thieves who practice abrasion and mutilation will go on pass ing their coins on the unsuspecting just the same as before.

ILLINOIS GOVERNOR REFUSED

Gov. Altgeld again reminded the American people that he resented the unlawful sending of federal troops into Illinois last year, by refusing to ride in the parade at Atlanta on “Chicago Day.” if the regulars were to participate. The regulars were dropped out and John P. Altgeld rode in the great demonstration. The telegraphic report says: “The governor of Illinois is a good rider and sits his horse well, but there are many blooded citizens ot Chicago in Atlanta to-night who would have been better pleased had the legiment led the parade and the governor of Illinois had not the chance to display his horsemanship.” It was those “blooded citizens,’’those aristocrats ofjwealth, those enemies of American liberty, that applauded Cleveland when he perpetrated the offense against the constitution above referred to, and it is those “blooded citizens” who aim to establish a monarchy on the ruins of this republic.

Let 'Er Grind.

There comes a reflection or two in connection with the proposed parade in honor of Eugene V. Debs. It is a question if Mr. Debs himself will appreciate these great parades half so much as he would have appreciated an evidence expressed at the ballot box that the labor hosts were sincere. In face of the old party vote in every labor center it rather gives the lie to about 99 per cent of the sympathy ex pressed by the trades unions for Mr. Debs and suggests a deal of truth in prediction that if Debs were candidate on one ticket and Carnegie and Pullman headed the other tickets Debs wouldn’t even have a “scattering” vote in labor centers. Let ’er grind.— Sound Money.

Pay Dirt at Surface.

Old John Sherman has let out the secrets of some dirty deals by some of his fellow partisans, and now if the other fellows will open up on old John they would not have to go far to find pay dirt. There are a good many things in John’s life the public has been curious about for y ears but he does not enlighten them any in his book. His work and connection with the trick of demonetization of silver io 1873 would make several interesting chapters, but he forgot to include this in his book. “How I Became a Multi-Millionaire on $5,000 a Year.” would form the subject matter of a far more interesting and a much larger book than the one John has written, — but it will never be written.— Sound Money.

Eugene Debs will be released from his six months incarcera tion in the Woodstock, 111., jail to-morrow. It will be remembered that he and his associates were sent to prison without trial, an unconstitutional proceeding that strikes at the very root of American liberty. Read our advertisements.

RENSSELAER, IND., THURSDAY, NOV. 21, 1895.

Subscribers :

please note that a copy of the above book is given free to induce you to pay promptly in advance. The publisher is in need of considerable money to meet his payments on new machinery and trusts that his friends will endeavor to help him soon.

A FATAL ADMISSION OF FACT!

The Chicago Times-Herald Says That The Greenback Cannot be Retired Without Imperiling the Business of The Entire People. » PREFERS ISSUING BONDS FOR THE PRESENT. A Palpable Fraud on its Face, as The Whole Scheme is to Make an Immense Bonded Debt that Shall be the basis for National Bank Notes and then Retire the Money That Saved the Union.

The Chicago Times-Herald in its leading editorial of last Sun; day attempts to deceive its read ers regarding its true position on the question of the retirement of the greenbacks. The following clipping is too transparent to catch any thinking man: “Ex-Speaker Reed is reported as in consultation with practical financiers at New York concerning the proposed retirement of the greenbacks as one method of checking the movement of “the endless chain.” From present indications congress is not bkely to present any legislation on the subject, for there are too many men in both houses who remember “wild cat” days to consent to a substitution of uncontrollable state banks for national st i >ility and security. We have not succeeded in placing our finances yet upon an ideal basis; but to stop the endless chain of redemption in gold which periodically lowers the legal reserve it is not wisdom to turn to a thoroughly exploded system of state paper issues which ultimately would end where it has always ended, in disaster following inflation and consequent panic. “Even at some cost'for borrowing from time to time, the greenback will continue to be the preferred paper money of the United States until it can be retired without imperiling the -business of the entire people.” The article above suggests by inference that it is necessary to have a gold reserve to redeem the greenbacks, and that they are the cause of the depletion of the treasury. It avoids mentioning that all the national bank notes, all the silver and gold certificates, all the standard silver dollars and in fact every form of money, paper and metalic, is being “redeemed” by the government in gold. And besides all this drain on the “legal reserve” is the enormous deficit in the revenues for current expenses. But of all this nothing is said. The greenback is held responsible for all the bond issues, that the people may consent to their final destruction. It should be lawful for the government to pay its obligations in any lawful money, gold, silver or paper, and it should be criminal for any one to discrim-

Those of you who have not yet renewed your subscription to The People’s Pilot,

inate against any kind of lawful money, as it is in France. The scheme is make the greenback the scape goat for all the financial ills, and at the same time pile up an enormous bonded debt that shall never be paid, but shall be used as a basis of circulation by national banks, thus placing the entire paper money of the country in the hands of a monopoly, so combined as to be the most dangerous enemy of the people, conspirators that will not hesitate to take the life of the nation.

Prominent republican leaders in congress are already telling the people there will be no legislation on the currency question during the next session of congress. Of course not; nobody with any sense expects anything of the kind from the congress that will convene next month. It was not elected to legislate upon any question touching the vital interests of the people. As the national campaign is just ahead, the farce, “How Not to Do It” will be on the boards at Washington this winter. The time will be taken up and the people’s money will be expended in getting ready for the campaign next year, and that will be to do just as little legislation as possible. If the people want a congress that will work and legislate for them they must first elect one of that kind.—Sound Money.

When the gold reserve reaches 175,000,000 more bords are to be issued. The deal has already been made. It is to be with New York bankers this time, and the kind of bonds are the 4 per cent bonds of 1882 taken on a 3 per cent basis. Let the “endless chain” grind. In Kansas tha.twas“redeemed” by the republicans from the “calamity howlers” last year, corn is now selling for ten cents per bushel. That kind of redemption will hardly fool those people at the next election. The repulicans have already given it out that no financial legislation is to be attempted this winter. They are to lay low and prepare for the campaign.

How Not To Legislate.

DEAR DEMOCRACY.

It is amusing to see the desper ation of dying democracy as it silently settles into merited oblivion. Knowing the absoluteness of their own defeat and hopelessness of ever recovering from the general disintegration, the big guns, and the little smooth bores, who still represent the remains of the deceased party, attempt to divert the public attention from their own miserable plight by shouting the same old chestnut, that “the populist party is dead,” as disregardful of the truth as a colored chicken thief. To be sure a death has occurred, and from natural causes, and at the obsequies the people’s party was present, stronger and healthier than ever before. For the benefit of a hibernating contemporary the following from the Fort Wayne Dispatch is given space. It is ample food for the reflective intellect providing the partisan cobwebs can be safely removed for a few minutes. The headlines below are not applicant to all cases. “DIES HARD, DOES THE COURT HOUSE AND POSTOFFICE ORGAN.” “Saturday the Fort Wayne Journal came out under stunning head lines and announced that the populist party was dead. This announcement is enough to make a horse laugh when, as every intelligent man knows, it was the democratic party that received its death blow, and the populist helped to bury the corpse. So far from being dead, the people’s party showed up big gains in every state where an election was held last week. With no money to make a campaign, the populists hitherto, almost an unknown element in Ohio politics, increased their vote to nearty 60,000 votes for Coxey. In some placesCoxey ran ahead of Campbell (democrat) although Campbell was backed by Brice’s corruption barrel of ♦300,000. W. F. Conley, populist, was elected to the State senate in the Paulding district, Ohio. Now editor Andy which is dying off—the pops or the gold bug democrats. Better go and ask 'Cleveland and Cal Brice. In Kentucky, which has been a solid democratic state for over fifty years, the populists hold the balance of power in the legislature. In seventeen counties in Kansas the democrats and republicans fused against the populists, and in several of these counties the populists “licked the stuffin’’ out of both old parties combined. In the south there is no republican party. The battle was between the democrats and populists. The pops captured many counties, hold a strong membership in legislatures and elected lately a governor in Alabama, who was counted out by the most gross and palpable frauds. Call you this dying. If tne populists party continues to die this way it will capture the country in 1896.” “The result of the elections in a dozen states last week which snowed gold bug democracy under plainly shows that when a party has no principle to fight for its time to give up the ghost has come. The trouble with the democratic party is this: The masses of the party are for free silver, and the bosses led by Grover Cleveland are for goldbugism, more bonds and monopolies in general. A party divided against itself cannot stand. It is only a question of time when the goidbug element of the socalled democracy will go where it belongs, into the bosom of the republican party, and the honest free silver masses will join the populist party which embodies true Jefferson and Jacksonian anti-monopoly principles in its platform and purposes.”

A Kentuckian’s Awful Mistake.

Wesley Mines, of Vanceburg, Ky., voted the populist ticket by mistake Tuesday and has grieved about it until his death is hourly expected. Apparently he couldn’t feel much worse if he had taken a drink of water by mistake.—Chicago Dispatch. There are plenty of old party fossils in Indiana who would feel about the same way, and the stronger the populists get the more nauseating such a mistake is becoming.

Debs, the victim of anarchist Judge Woods, will be released to-morrow.

DEMOCRACY OF VEST.

The Ml*«ourl Senator Arrive* in Washington and Give* his Reason* For The Recent Defeat. MUST HAVE MORE MONEY. Cannot Have Prosperity With Increasing Population and Diminishing Volume of Currency. The President, Surrounded by Incense Rumers, Who Tell Him He Can do no Wrong, Relieves Recent Elections Repudiate the Half of Democracy he Does not Represent.

The following interview with Senator Vest sounds a good deal like a change of front for the sly old “coon” on the money question, andalittleatvarience with his recent voting and talking on silver legislation. Perhaps the shrewd politician sees the hand writing on the wall from the late interesting tussle that the populists gave his party in several states, and, with every impartial judge who understands the situation in Texas, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and possibly Missouri, he anticipates the inevitable defeat of the democratic party there next fall by the people’s party. Comprehending what that means to his career he may be building a little populist fire under his political pot. At least it is interesting to see what a number of sound populist heresies he is now in favor of and how boldly he condemns the very things his party so recently aided in doing. This is what he is reported as saying in Washington last Monday: “The defeat of the democratic party at the last election was due chiefly to hard times caused by a scarcity of money. We will never have prosperity, until there is free coinage of silver and our volume of currency is increased. No country can be prosperous with an increasing population and a decreasing circulation. We might have weathered the storm even under these conditions butfor the unfortunate and ineradicable differences in our party upon the financial question and the tariff. Ido not care to discuss these differences in detail. The president unfortunately rejected all offers of compromise from those of us who differed with him on silver and refused positively to use the power given him by law to rebuke the gold speculators and protect the gold reserve by tendering silver even as part payment when greenbacks and Sherman notes were presented at the treasury for redemption. I beieve that Carlisle at one time contemplated such action, but the president, who just before his inauguration talked reasonably and conservatively, suddeny became obdurate and ordered the payment of gold exclusively. This, of course, placed the treasury at the mercy of the speculators, and the logical result was the veto of the seigniorage bill, the issue of gold jonds and the paying tribute to a foreign syndicate. “The president,surrounded by a lot of incense burners who told him he could do no wrong, demanded an unconditional surrender by the silver men in congress, and that the volume of money should be reduceds4o,ooo- - annually by repealing the purchasing clause of the Sherman act without putting anything in the vacuum so created. In other words, he demanded that we should indorse the single gold standard. The same incense burners are now telling the president that the recent elections demonstrate his foresight, and one of his cabinet has come out in an interview gloating over the result.” From the above it seems probable that Senator Vest will be one to fight for the perpetuation of the greenback, which the incense smelling party master of the white house proposes to have wiped out at once. One thing is certain the people of Missouri demand that the greenback he preserved and more of them issued.

Scratch pads one cent up at Meyer’s drug store.

NUMBER 22.