Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 January 1876 — EVILS OF CONTRACTION. [ARTICLE]

EVILS OF CONTRACTION.

k An exchange nnnonnees that the Terre Haute clergy have organized a confederate alliance. So has Speaker Kerr; and tins is another illustration ot the force of example.

Senator Morton’s Journal kiddly advises The Union to “he getting ready to support the lion. Franklin Landers as the democratic candidate” for Governor of Indiana. Suppose, however, that The Union prefers to advocate lion. Jasper Packard as the republican candidate, would the Journal object ?

Th o Ilcpuf.lican is in favor of Gen. j Packard, of t lie Laporte Chronicle, for the lit. Governors!',ip of Indiana,— Rensselaer Republican. That is well enough as far ns it goes; hut why not reward Gen. Packard still better? It should he remembered that lie was in the, lower house of congress three consecutive terms: that on the stump in his district lie never met a comi petitor who was near his match in oratorical power; that he is one of tlm most earnest advocates and defenders of every act and measure, ol republican leaders to he found; that he is an luieompromisingoppo-! nent of all measures not endorsed by i;is party; that he can command, 1 if necessary, the powerful, aid. of-1 federal patronage. Am?*these are not a tithe ol' the claims, qualifications and advantages which Gen. Packard's l'ripnds might urge as eminently fitting him for the first place on the republican state ticket. Will not the Republican accept our aiijunendmcnt, and suggest Gen. Packard's nomination for Governor?

Mot<t, disgraceful i< the notion of Congress in wasting Jay after day wrangling about the removal of the political disabilities of 700 or 800 persons who ought to have been hung or shot for treason ten years ago. Democrats disgrace themselves by springing questions which m-e calculated to revive sectional animosities, after begging to have by-gones treated as by-gones; republicans disgrace themselves by condescending to notice the challenge and engaging in a discussion that cannot possibly benefit the country, while it is sure to intensify prejudices and inflame hatred; both democrats and republicans deserve censure because they delay legislation needed by the country. What do people who are without employ pient, without money, and without food care about what was doife ten years ago by the republican party', or left undone by the democratic party? 5\ hat they want and need is legislation that shall relieve the terrible constriction which is stopping factories, closing work shops, bankrupting tradesmen, destroying industry, bringing commercial ruin to thousands, and want and suffering .to tens of thousands.

The republicans will take good care cl themselves, and liiul some man for Governor [of Indiana] whom thev can elect. — JiHliar.apo/ix Journal. In view of the history of the last two campaign*; the fact that half a dozen of the ablest republicans in the sterte have declined to be candidates for the office.—among w horn may be mentionedc®bn. Daniel I), l’ratt. Hon. li. Y\T. Thompson, Gen. Benjamin Harrison, Hon. Charles C athcart and Hon. Mr. Friedley; in view of the great diversity of sentiment in the racks on questions of national importance, the dissatisfaction occasioned by President Grant s course on the financial question, the crushing disasters to business every where occasioned bv the resumption act, the hard time's and suffering being produced by it, the amazing corruption in high republican places laid bare by the j whiskey-ring prosecutions; j n view ; of the economical maimer in which ; state affairs have been ufa* aged by the present officers, when compared ! with the administration of thenrepublican predecessors ; and when i the vacillation, hesitation and tim-i orousness of the party leaders are considered, it must be confessed that the Journars words are brave words, and calculated to inspire the' rank and file with confidence as much as whistling does the benighted urchin whose pathway lies through a dismal grave yard.

There is another class of argnmelits furnished to the “inflationlsM, .so called, by the very threat of resumption.-. These arguments consist of the records of the hjiulyuptey courts, and the sheriffs’ offices, silent forges and factories, and swarms of Idle laborers. In the whole armory ot' political warfare there itri no more potent \arguincius than 'commercial distress and industrial stagnation. The party that ! causes them must relieve the people ! from the dire effects, or go down * and \ this is 11" altrniatirr presrnff'd to the ’ r<puhlican party to-dwj. , It cannot j afford longer to lie held responsible for ! the resumption act of 1875; it must ! move for its repeal, and if the democratic majority in the House dase j stand in the way the republican party ' will have succeeded in transferring I an uncom'fortahle burden to theshoul- ; del? of the democratic party. There is a storm brewing among the peopU which will sweep resumnfcionists, contract ion from piaecs or power in both the great political parties. <4* Such is the burden ot the grief of the Inter-Ocean and its cry of alarm. In ibis instance it is a true prophet. Nothing is more absolutely certain than that the country is not'prepared for the resumption of specie values through eontrae■tion of the currency. However desirable it may be to pay off the national indebtedness, and bring our currency uiqto a gold standard of value at an early day. tise-e re- | suits cannot*be accomplished out causing great e-alamity to husi-| ness and suflering among the poor | laboring classes, if they are brought about by retiring from circulation the noiiin t e j ;e s t -be l lring indebted-.

ness known as greenbacks ami substituting tlurefor noncirculating, interest-bearing bonds. Last month nearly ten millions of dollars of treasury notes and national bank currency were withdrawn from circulation. The calamitous clfects of this, act are felt everywhere from the Xew Ungland states to the Western territories. Not a daily newspaper is published whose telegraphic do not teem with reports of failures in every branch of business except that ot the collecting agent. Domestic letters all complain ot business stagnation, stringent times, ami destitution and suffering among the laboring classes. It is probably no exaggeration to say that one half of the whole business population of the United States, in cities and in towns, from the Atlantic seaboard to the Iloeky .Mountains, are on the verge of bankruptcy and commercial ruin. And all this deplorable condition of affairs is directly traceable to the unwise, ruinous, crushing policy of contraction.; a scheme gotten up bv the republican party for, the purpose of keeping in the favor of Wall street brokers, endorsed by -the President, and abetted by the democratic party. Two years ago when the premonitory shiver of alarm was felt l>y the people, and the grangers and independents' expostu! ated against the President's contraction views being acquiesced in by I'ungress, they were treated with great insolence by republicans who said ‘AN hat do you complain for? You have nothing to seii; if money was ever so plenty and no grain* 1 find Cattle were produced in your fields you would never get any of it; the .republican party is not Providence to control the seasons and cause crops to yield abundantly ; there is money lying idle in the vaults of banks because there is nothing on your grasshopper-ravaged and drought-scorched farms to be moved. ’ And a thousand other

taunts were made in the same reproachful strain. But conditions have changed since then. Providence has smiled on the husbandman and blessed his labors. The grasshopper was caught up in the clouds of' heaven and carried to unknown regions beyond the settlements oi men ; fructifying showers of rain fell upon parched fields and their thirst was quenched ; the late frosts of spring and the early frosts of fall forgot to make their desolating visits; wheat, corn, oats, potatoes and all the nourishing vegetables of the garden have been produced in abundance; cattle have fattened in their pastures and hogs in their pens, and plenty prevails throughput the land. Still times are harder* business is duller, money is more stringent, more firms are failing, more people are wandering over the country in search of employment, more factories are closed, and there is greater commercial suffering throughout the

land. In the New England Btates and populous cities where they depend on manufacturing and trade, and in the Western territories where they depend on the products of their mines, provisions are dear and people are out qf employment. In the Middle states where provisions are produced people can not sell their surplus nor obtain fitoney to pay their debts. If these deplorable results have not been brought about by legislation, what has caused them? If President Grant and the republican party are' not responsible for these hard times where does the responsibility res t ?. Why should the people look to the republican party for relief, as the Inter- Ocean does? Grant, who is head and front of the party, long since ceased to be the friend of the people and became the tool of Eastern capitalists. l!y his messages and veto he has shewn that his policy, and consequently that of the republican party, is settled in favor of a rapid contraction of the greenback currency and a forced resumption of specie circulation. And the public have no reason to hope for ■anything different from the democratic party. Its traditions are all in praise of gold and silver as the only true and living commercial god. In t/he days of Andrew Jackson arid Thomas Benton they worshipped at no other shrine. During the war they would recognize no. other currency until the last hour. Last campaign they pretended in Indiana to be opposed to contraction. Tint as soon as the legislature came together they elected -Joseph McDonald, a hard money advocate, to represent the state in the United States senate. In Ohio last fall, when William Allen raised, aloft the greenback standard, enough democrats left his following, and joined the retmbtican hard money party, to defeat him. Speaker Kerr has turned over the business of his committees that have any bearing upon the currency question into the hands of contractionists? President Grant, the leading spirits of the republican party, the brilliant lights ol the democratic partv, and, with only isolated exceptions, the prominent newspapers of both parties, are till united in the purpose of accomplishing the immediate return to a specie circulating medium and standard of values, though tiugpational debt is not diminished but that which dxiejs not now bear interest is snbstitutled by bonds on which interest is paid, and though, the process is crushing out prosperity from the country and ruining millions of people.

A letter dated January 6th, from a friend in Crawford county, Kansas, says “The weather was generally mild all through December. The ground did not freeze enough to injure undug potatoes. Wheat, turnips, grass and other hardy vegetables and vegetation grew right along, except during a few days" in the early part of the month. Many who are through husking corn are now plowing for oats. Soft maple trees are well alongtowards blooming. Health is generally pretty good. There is a new project lor building a railroad from Girard, our county seat, to Joplin, MissTnrrtg and township meetings are being called to vote bonds for that purpose-’’ fy ,

Mr. S. 15. Yeoman writes from Dysart, lowa, January Gth, “We are having a very open, pleasant winter. Have had nosevere weather yet. To-day the sun is shining brightly, birds are singing and roosters crowing, like an April day. This time last year snow was piled twenty feet deep in the railroad cuts and blowing furiously, utterly stopping the running of trains for two weeks, and came n?ar causing everybody,to perish for provisions and fuel. I don’t hear much about your railroad any more. Is Hensselaer destined to be forever deprived of railroad communication with the outer world? I expect to visit Jasper county next spring, and would like to go in from Chicago on the new road.”