The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1874-05-28

afford TO lend its $500, 600 at six per cent
than a national bank with 800, 900 i
bonds, and $50, 900 in circulation thereo
can afford to lend at twelve per cent
The difficulty is to confne these banks t
the amount of issue allowed by law. Sco1
land, for example, thought it safe to al
low an issue of four for one, and great
prospered under the system; but the his
tory of Massachusetts banks demonstrate
the danger to which / refer. Between
1925 and 1888 their issues varied from
four to eight and three-qUarters for one il
gold. | fully recognize the dangers o
this system, but safeguards can be thrown
around it. With all its evils, ii is better
far better, for the producer than the IA
flonal bank system, under which we shall
never see money uniform in the agricul
tural districts at a reasonable rate of in
terest nor ever prevent It's contracting
at certain seasons in the moneyed cen
! tres.
But if State banks are still to be taxed
out of existence, and if the Government
is to continue to exercise the sole right o
| issuing circulating medium TO the people
| then, L repeat, the first essentials Of just
government sternly demand thst we shal
| provide Il system free from special benefits
| to special classes-a currency which at
least will not tax the masses, and press
down labor and production with rate OF
interest 80 ruinous, So cruelty and wick
eddy disproportionate to the profits upon
production. What political economist
has the temerity, in this age and country
Of boosted equality of rights, to stand be-
fore the people and defend system which
puts t,Cetre totlCentyfUe per cent. per annum
In the pockets Of non producers, who add
not farthing to the nations wealth,
while the whole aggregate increase from
the labor, the toll Of mind and body, and
the enterprise of the masses does not ex-
coed three per cent? That governmental
science, or social ethics, or ''bU of rights"
can justify such a tyranny oUer the mind and
muscle Of a producing people
What Christianity is there in that polti-
cal economy which forces upon the people
a system which is fast producing the ex-
tremes of wealth and poverty, and gives
to RINGS who gamble upon the sweat of
labor, and to BOND-HOLDERs, who mo-
nopolize the currency, the profits of the
country's industry? Upon what principle
Of justice can Congress legislate out OF
existence greenbaeks, which cost the pep
pie no tax, and supply their place with
national bank notes, issued on bonds,
which cost the people millions per annum?
The national banks now in existence are
based on bonds for which the people pay
over $40, 900, 600 per annum, and in the
short space Of twenty-five years the com
pound interest paid by the people upon
these bonds will amount to more than the
entire national debt. Why not issue
greenbacks, and buy mp these bonds, md
stop the interest, aud aicnihiiate such sgs-
tenn? What advantage has the national
bank bill over the greenbacks? Do they
not both, in the last analysis, rest upon
the same basis, VIZ: the stability and cred
it of the Government? If the Govern
ment Is good, why are not greenbacks
good? If an additional issue of green
backs be an additional issue Of irredeem-
able paper money, would the issue of ma
tional bank bills be any less 50? Neither
can be redeemed in gold. Are the green
backs any less redeemable than the ma
tiOnal bank bills? Are they worth less
IN the market? DO2on ruth such eoptistry
to justify the tyranny of m0nopojjstsi
But we are told that to increase the
volume of greenbacBs, which are the
promises of the Government 10 pay when
it can not pay, is TO dishonor and disgrace
the Government. Suppose these green
backs were made PROMISES To RECEIVE
FOR ALL DUES TO THE GOVERNMENT in
stead Of promises to PAY, could the Gov
eminent be dishonored? Would they
then he irredeemable? When they were
paid out in salaries, expenses, and in the
purchase OF the Government debt, and
were again received for taxes, would these
bills not be redeemablel
What more perfect, absolute redemption
can be conceived of | challenge refuta-
ton.
But this is not a specie basis. In all
the evtravagant speculations of seIt-confi-
dent theorists upon this specie basis dog
ma, not one suggestion can be found as
to specie resumption, which is not obnox-
ious to the charge that if adopted it
would increase the already insupportable
burdens of the people. 1t is a crime
against common sense to insist that all the
interests of a great and growing country.
all labor, all enterprise, all development
should be dependent upon one of the
scarcest commodities in ChristendOm, one
which is wholly inadequate to meet the
wants of the world, one for the possession
Of which all Europe is now waging the
most desperate contest, and for which
kings and princes, parliaments, CONT
nents, creditors and debtors must contin-
ue to struggle in order to support a credit
built upon it. 1t is statesman-like, it is
common sense, to base all values in this
country upon an article we have not, and,
if we had, could not retain Can you
reverse the pyramid of Egypt, or make it
stand upon its apex? 1t is "a high crime
against the productive interests of this
country to insist upon "A policy which his
tory teaches, if it teaches anything, is GER
tain to bring additional distress, panic,
bankruptcy, riot and widespread ruin to
the whole country. | wish [ had time to
quote from the Financial, Monetary and
Statistical History of England the melan
choly record of the universal ruin which
befell the people Of Great Britain, upon
the effort to contract the currency and the
enactment of 'Peeps currency bill" for
the resumption of specie payments, after
long years of prosperity under suspen-
sion of specie payments. In 1915 the
loans were contracted from above 927,-
900, 900 to about Els, 900, 900, and if the
historian had been describing the events
consequent here, upon Mr.. McCulloch's
policy of contraction, he could not have
more accurately described our own condi-
ton Mortgages, which had been laid
upon real estate for half its value were
foreclosed, and the lands failed to bring
even the moiety for which they had been
pledged. These cruel exactions of the
selfish money power made the landed
proprietors landess beggars; stopped in
dustry and enterprise; produced wholesale