The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1869-09-09

ment and people were promoted more than at
any time before Or since. During that long
and eyentful period there was not a financial
crisis, a money panic, a prostration of public
or private credit, want of employment or any
distress among the working classes. From
the hour that Parliament, in obedience to the
demand Of the moneyed aristocracy, enthron-
ed the gold idol and made coin the only legal
tender, poverty, distress and ruin were univer-
sal, exceptamongt the creditorclass 1t was the
harvest of the money kings, while the labor
ing and debtor class were made bankrupt
and the public debt was practically increased
onc-third in amount. One of the ablest
English historians compares the results pro-
duced by the gold bill to the effect of breath
from the polar regions of the north sweeping
down upon the vendure and vegetation Of the
tropics. Shall we repeat that experiment and
be guilty of Il similar folly, with a certainty
OF like results? Here, as in England during
the period referred to, gold and silver are OBJ
soicle, as paper money not issued by q bank,
but directly by the Government, having as its
basis the entire wealth of the nation is the
only legal tender known among our people.
A debt almost fabulous in amount has been
contracted. involving taxation unparalleled
in the worlds history; farms have been pur-
chased, manufactures erected, goods bought,
all more or less upon credit, with greenbacks
as the representative and standard of value
Restore coin as the only legal tender, and
your debt is, in effect, nearly doubled, while
your means OF payment are reduced in like
proportion; and every man who has purchas-
ed partly on credit the tools of his trade, q
house and lot, or Il farm, on merchandise, is a
hopeless bankrupt The bond-holding and
creditor class, which is insignificant in num-
bers but mighty in influence, would alone be
benefited, while all others would be crushed
by the enthroncment of gold
Seventy national bankers and twice that
number Of bondholders in Congress have
decreed, fellow citizens, that you shall pay
the debt in gold The leaders of the Radical
party have endorsed that decree From the
decision of both | appeal to the people-the
power behind the throne,
The people are satisfied with greenbacks /:
their only complaint is that they are insufli-
cient in quantity to transact their business and
meet the ineNorable demands of tax gatherers.
The high rate Of interest which the govern
ment is paying-liNing still higher rate for
those engaged in business requiring money,
IS closing workshops and turning out of en-
ployment nnnumbered thousands, who, with
their dependent families, must become men
dicants in this land Of boundless resources.
L. i' '' nv w prove lltl money III
vested in government bonds pays better than
it would in any legitimate business. The
bondholder pays no taxes, Insurance, repairs
or rents; he employs no agents or attorneys
and needs no place of business. Fire and
flood, frost and drought, famine and short
crops Ito not affect him. You taxpayers must
rise at . 20 in the morning, and work till Z 30
in the evening that the bondholdcr may sleep
until TO: 10 the next dav.
need not say to this intelligent audience
that the rate of interest which money com
mand5 determines the price Of rent and the
wages OF labor, and that when money is album
dant and cheap all productive Industries are
prospered. Dear money and cheap labor is
Capitalization, while cheap money and well
paid labor is diffusion; the former is the
autocratir principle, the latter the Democratic
Again, debt has been contracted on a
paper money basis, and if ever paid. it must
be i'll the same manner. With gold as the
representative and standard of our values, it
would be impossible for the people to pay
their taxes Let Us look ut facts The taxes
upon the people of the United States for all
purposes, national, state and local in the
year 1865 were eight hundred millions of dol
lars.
The national taxes were collected through
the agency of tariff and internal revenue laws.
BY means of the tariff alone one hundred and
eighty millions of dollars were collected on
four hundred millions Of goods On every
pound of tea and coffee and every bushel Of
salt imported the consumer pays his propol-
ton
The taxes of Great Britain amounted to-
three hundred and forty millions and of
France three hundred millions, of dollars
while ours reached eight hundred millions. or
Il t,,. H. Il .I,..,
to both England and France. The wealth of
England and France is four times as great as
ours, while their population is twice rs large
England pays interest on larger debt than
ours, and France maintains Il standing army
Of u million, of men both of these governments
have their corrupt courts and royal depend
ants, yet with onc-fourth of their wealth and
one halt their population we pay larger leyies
in the form of taxation than both combined
The money circulation of France is about
seven hundred and fifty millions in coin, and
two hundred and fifty millions in paper The
circulation Of England is not far from eight
hundred millions, including coin and paper.
The volume of legal tender money available
for circulation, and National bank notes, in
this country, do not exceed six hundred mil
lions. Gold and silver should not be consid-
cred, rs they are only articles of merchandise
aHu perform none OF me lunctlOnS OF money
among our people. No intelligent man can
doubt, that with our widely extended terri
tory, our vast projected and uncompleted en-
terprises, our infinitely diversified industries
and employments, our varied productions,
our multiplied exchanges, we require more
money than both England and France These
countries, compared with ours. are insigniti-
cant i'll extent; their resorces are well devel-
oped, their railroads, workshops and dwell
ngs are constructed, their exchanges easily
effected. What 4 picture this presents of our
financial condition! Is it surprising that pa
ralysis prevails in every branch of legitimate
business and enterprise. 1t is IL marvel that
money kings and bondholdcrs are roting in
wealth and luxury, while farmers, mechanics,
artisans, manufacturers, merchants and la
borers can, with great difficulty, pay taxes and
keep soul and body together.
What remedy is proposed for these evils,
and will it be effective when applied? The
remedy is simple, and its efficiency will not
be doubted, except by bondholders, National
bankers, usurers, and that class Of politicians
who yield to capital as the omnipotent power
in State affairs.
1t is proposed that the 5l6 millions of five
twenty bonds now redeemable at the pleasure
OF the Government be paid off in legal tender
money, and that simultaneously the national
bank notes be called in and cancelled This
measure would at once relieve the people of
to N3tJ to tl,., ,i,I,