The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1870-04-14

| DOoI q uSuI1OuS 1lltGT6Sb VI slA pc
cent. in gold, and escapes all burden
are made the basis of circulating
medium, which again in turn pour
its deep and swift streams of-nake6
profit into the laps of their owners
There are at this moment lying il
vaults of the treasury in this city
z S339,4S9, 100 worth of the bondholderi
cheaply purchased possessions. They
are there as security for the circula
ton of little more than three hun
dred millions of currency. They pas
no taxes, and yield an annual golden
interest of 500, 1868, ,806, which are taker
from the people and placed directly
in the pockets of the banking bond
holders. Upon the $500, 100000 circu.
lation issued ON these bonds, bankers
realize at lowest estimstes ten per cent
in gold on their loans. Their depos-
its may safely be reckoned equal to
their issues, and the profits on them
at least six per cent. in gold. The ac-
count, therefore, of the bondholdine
banker with the people of the United
States, at its best face, may be stated
as follows:
The cost of 1893 1891 100 of bonds
on fllc in the treasury department
| at fifty cents on the dollarl.... .$169 IA 55C
On this actual investment he is
authorized to issue circulation. -. 300 900 co.
Ten per cent profit on circulation. $4,000, ,O0G
Amount of deposits s..-............. 300 900. .00C
Six per cent. profit on deposits. ..... $4,000 00O
Annual interest on the bonds. in
treasury a0a69, ,s9t
Annual exemption from taxes. 67s9,60!
Add together the profits on circula-
ton and deposits, the interest on the
bonds, and taxes saved, and the plain
Test mind in the land will perceive that
the banking wealth of the country is
rerliZing the enormous annual gain of
S75, ,l5S,400 upon an original invest
ment of less than one hundred and
seventy million dollars. This is the
crushing payment made by the people
to privileged class in order to obtain
circulating medium from their gov
ernment with which to carry on the
trade and business of life.
call upon the people of all parties
and creeds to sift and weigh my state
ments. | assail system, not indi-
viduals. I attack the principle and
not the men engaged in banking. If
any page of the worlds financial his
tory has hitherto been blurred and
stained by an outrage of such hideous
proportions as this my eyes have
failed to discover it and my ears have
not heard its damning story. Nor
has any living monarch of to-day, in
all four quarters of the earth, q rank
of nobility, its haughtiest and loftiest,
which SO wantonly preys upon the
industrial masses and so ravages their
workshops, their vineyards, and
their eorn-fields as this privileged
class whose daily doings are in our
midst. There is not a dukedom in
England whose grants from the crown
are SO rich as the donations made by
the present American policy to the
bondholders. There is not an earl
dom whose franchises are as great as
the American bankers. The. new
mobiles Of France under the present
empire acquired unbounded fortunes
from the ruins of the Bourbons not
so easily nor SO suddenly as the favor
ties OF legislation have here achieved
by the oppression of labor.
Dir, have thus far carried and con-
sidsred the manner in which the debt
OF the nation was created and the
system of wonderful and amazing in
justice which has sprung up from the
laws upon which it is founded. The
painting has been but feeble, and un-
worthy of the great theme, but the
picture is nevertheless. repulsive and
revolving, because it has been drawn
with fidelity to the facts. 1t stands
revealed as baleful monster. The
sight of it extorts desperate cry for
relief. 1t cannot and will not be
hrIk teo1
to build the city of our refuge from
this distress upon the shifting quick
sands of reputation Mighty WI ongs
and the calling sense of extreme in
justice have driven many honest
minds to embrace the fearful doctrine
and much more may yet follow with
the same disastrous tendency. The
issue is in the hands of the party in
power. I am not for reputation. L
see in it neither safety nor honor. The
party of which I am a member has
always gloried in obedience to con-
stitutions, to laws and contracts. We
were not in favor of repudiating one !
half of the pay of the soldier and
sailor, when it was done during the
war, by compelling them them to take
deprecated paper instead of the con-
tract price for their perilous services,
Our record has no tarnish such as
blights and mildews that of the ma
iority ofthis house. If reputation
shall hereafter come, to dishonor our
name at home and abroad, it will be
because the now dominant party con-
tinuously and persistently enables the
creditor class, the bondholding monop-
oily, to violate their part of the contract
and to plumber the people to an un-
bearable extent. There are two con-
cracting parties on this subject. 1 |
lmplore you who on this floor repre-
sent the bondholder's vast pretentions
to advise him to stay within the |
bounds of the law. Tell him that the |
advantages which the law actually |
gives him are SO stupenduous that the |
people will not suffer him to break
over it in order to obtain more. Tell
him to keep his part of the contract |
with scrupulous faith. Tell him that |
if he releases himself from its obliga-
tlons he 9lso releases the other party. |
Say to him that this is settled rule |
of law in al the courts of the world. |
Say to him that they who enforce con-
tracts must first fulfill contracts; that |
if he repudiates the restraints of the
law it will not then be reputation for
the taxpayer to refuse obedience that |
his default will cure the detalcation of
the other party and that if he con-
tinue to overleap the legal barriers
which surround him, the people will
at last arise and drive him out as they
would marauding wolf from among
their fold and focks. Tell him ali |
these things in order that he may do
his duty ID sustaining the public cred
it and in averting this calamity. Cease
your lectures to this side of the cham
Der and turn your labors to that quar-
ter where repgdiatien has already
commenced. The people are true: It
is capital that is faithless. The people
are sincere and generous; tits priv
ileged wealth that is selfish and un-
scrnpnlous, The honor of the country
may he pfeserVed, but it must be done
by both parties to the covenant and