The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1873-10-23

US PAUSE ARdln.
Jay Cooke & Co. are the trusted agents
of the Government, bat they were not
the projectors of the Union Pacific Rail
road. The Union Pacific has an enor-
nous land grant, q loan of millions, and
is paying large dividends. Jay Cooke
says let US get a land grant, a loan OF
millions and build a Northern Pacific
Railroad; the Union Pacific with Its
Credit Mobilier have made millions, let
us do the same.
A plant, a corrupt, a centralized gov
eminent gave Jay Cooke the same extra
ordinary privileges to build the Northern
Pacific that they had Durant and others
to build the Union or Central Pacific.
The Administration Is opposed to giving
away our public domain) The Union
Pacific is built, and the Northern pro-
ceeds to its completion, but the THIEVES
of the Union Pacific quarrel as to the d.
vision of the spoils and as to the amounts
paid Congressman for legislation; a fevela-
tion takes place; it is published. The con-
rhaence cf the Banks and farmers Who
hold Union Pacific. bonds IS shaken, and
they demand their money; 1t is paid; conf
dence is shaken, and all who hold bonds
in the Northern Pacific road and other
railroads projected through to the Pacific
demand their payments because there Is
fraud. Jay Cooke & Co. in order to re-
store confidence and keep their bonds at
par in market pay out millions over their
counters in New York, Philadelphia and
Washington, but confidence is not re-
stored. Jay Cooke & Co. break. Lord
Chatham says; Confidence Is a plant OF
slow growth"
Now mark the result. As soon as they
fail the public mind begins to get uneasy,
L ~ 1-nl.av Grg,s 1rVpVaa1
in rapid succession; then there was an eX-
plosion. The Bankers, quick to take
alarm, begin to slam their safe doors shut
from Name to California. The king
klang king Of the safes safe keys is con
tinued IN unbroken waves of sound from
the Atlantic to the Pacific. The Bankers
are determined 10 protect themselves, and
at this hHur their doors are closed. By an
examination INTO the affairs OF many of
them the most barefaced dishonesty and
fraud is disclosed. One Bank IN Toledo
fails for 100000, and the Treasurer of
Lucas county having loaned the Sank
$50, 900 of the peoples money against the
law and advice of his friends, is out that
amount, and under criminal Indictment.
These Bankers were men who heretofore
had enjoyed the confidence of the commu-
nifty for years. The Merchants National
Dunk Oh OuDu4uG ldA-Sg 4ChCGAAnS SooCo
for years back in stocks, bonds and gold
transactions. The funds of the State
Bank of New Jersey, and m any others,
are discovered to have been traudulently
used. The list we already have is a long
one, and it is humiliating to reflect that
human nature Is so weak, and the desire
for gain so great that Is said one out Of
| every five fail fraudulently, that laws and
morals are alike dlsregarded, bringing
ruin and disaster upon all classes of So
ciety. The causes that produced these
results were the outgrowth of years. The
Banks instead of charging poor men and
manufacturers the legal rate of from Z to
s per cent. in different States exacted from
10 to 10 per cent, violating the law and
preventing them from meeting their obh-
cations, for all experience proves that no
class of mel can afford to pay an average
of II per cent. for money when a crisis
comes, and the Banks demand their
money, it cannot be paid.
Bankers are not restrained by any NOR
al obligations, by natural Biblical teach
ings to assist poor men to support their
families by loanIng them money at a fair
rate of interest. They demand 20 per
cent. when they think tue necessities of
the poor applicant will justify it. There
Is no limit to their avarIclous greed; when
their own credit is impaired they close
their bank doors, and if there is an ample
surplus they reopen them, but if not they
make an equitable division amongst them
selves OF funds that belong to depositors
and deplore the financial situation.
William Allen, an old statesman, tells
them that the Republican ADMINISTRATION
Is responsible for the present crisis, that
he served as United States Senator for
twelve years, and was for sixteen consecH-
tive ones IN the councils OF the nation,
that he passed through the panlcs Of 81,
40 and 81, that his experiences indicates
TO him the gravity of the situation In
1873 atter Jay Cooke and a number of
other firms lave failed.
dis remarks in a political speech deliv-
cred IN Canton are Inexperienced by a
Democratic politician, who says. "Old
Bill Allen might as well have applied the
torch to our manufactures as to destroy
the confidence of the people in our banks"
t is unfair for him to infer that old Bill
Aliens speech had closed the bank doors
from Maine to California, or was the i'm
mediate cause Of the discharge of large
numbers of workmen from the manufac-
tories throughout the country. We do
not assail his motives, because he was too
consistent an anti War Democrat during
the war, when it was anything bat popu-
lar, and sometimes dangerous. We do
not think he would sacrifice his political
principles in the hope Of q future success,
an ultimate triumph.
l say that you farmers and others are
inconsistent, and hasten a panic when
you rush to the Banks and demand your
money, because the Banks do not pay
you the 6 per cent. interest to place
,-o,r ,,n,or -, H., ,-,,1k,A =. LII - I-A
loan it out to manufacturers and mercan-
tile men at a higher rate Of interest SO as
to make a margin. 1t takes time for these
men to make returns to pay the Bank
what they owe, in order that the Bank
can pay the fermer, or others who bave
placed money there at 6 per cent. We
did not hear Mr.. Allen, but we appre-
bend that the gist of Aliens opposition
was IN the granting of special favors, or
conierring extraordinary privileges on any
class of people.
We make no War on The National Bank
SySte1l, 1t is the incidents and e~liminations
growing out of the system, and its Excess
SEES that we deplore. The question of
usuTy, of interest, is one of the most i'm
portant that can engage the attention of
statesmen. The wages OF labor is always
less where interest is high. Wise men in
all ages, from the earliest periods of an
tiqdlty to the present time have passed
laws TO regulate the rate of interest to
protect the poor, TO sustain the masses
against the -encroachments of Capital,
Every State has a law regulating the rate
Of interest. # these laws are to be per
sistently violated, then they are only null
lities on the statute book, and weaken cor
respondingly those laws that can be en-
forced. Then the wealthy and powerful |
can readily combine to exact large inter
est from the masses, and insist, as they do, |
that interest is regulated by supply and
demand. They have the power to ex-
paEd and contract the currency, and they
have a line of morals peculiarly adapted
to themselves. They Wantonly violate
statutory law, and teach the debtor that
they ars under moral obligations to pay
them any rate of interest that they may
exact, and that they must not protect
themselves by pleading the statute against
usury. If the debtor does he is damned
by the Banks and ostracised from So
- DAa,-p,hnr aCo1n 4LoA --..A- i