Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-07-15

safely nIOng the shelving declivities. There
were financial advantages TO be, Qttalned
even in the financial calamity. Tie Rev
Enslausi aisi Middle States managed to
fioat their industries by securing lopsided
volume of the remainiIs currency. The
property Of the Southern and Southwestern
States has been sfrlselsa up frUlM a fait csif-
nsttial valGe TO distress value, while the
debtor glasses have been postpOning the
day of retribution by loans and mortgages.
The bondholder and the money capitalist,
while they delude the Government with
the speeicus Arguments Of prosperity, gldat
upon the hafyest OF speculation which Is
already ripe for their sicklesl
Dttr. country !: hS0es without experience in
being lifted upon the food of expansion
and then stranded by the sudden ebb of
contraction. Hear Mr.. Jefferson on the
subject in his letter to II. Nelson. March l2
1S2e;
fhis State [virginia] is in a condition Of un-
paralleled distress. The sudden reduction Of
the circulating medium from plethora TO all
but humiliation is producing an eltire Ievolu-
ton in fortune In other places have known
lands sold by the sheriff Tor one years reft; be
yond the mountain We hear OF scOH siates seli-
ing for che hurhired rllats; gtpd h0rses for Eve
,irilsFs aha The sherifs generally the purchasers.
vuF produce is now selling at market for one
third its price before this commercial catastrO-
phe, -four at three and quarter and three
and half dollars the barrel. fear
local instructions agains. these horrible sacri-
fees of prepe-ts.
rCOntraction" and ''gOld' are the shibbO-
leths of the money oligarchs. No matter
what the financial distress, we must con=
tract our currency aud debts to the gold
basis,
They Appealed to the supreme Judiciary
Of the United States TO pull down the pill
lars of our national currency. Hear the
rebuff of the court:
The debts which have been contracted since
Feb -. ls62' rT--'stiiG,e, doubtless, by far the
greatest portion OF the indebtedness of the coun-
try. They have been contracted in view of the
act OF Congress declaring Treasury notes legal
&c nder. and in reliance upon that declaration.
Men have bought and sold, borrowed and lent,
and assumed every variety OF obligations, con-
temVlating that such payments might be made
in such notes. Indeed, legal teIiier Treasury
notes have become the universal measure of
Value@ III now. by our decision, il be establish
e,i that these debit and obligations can BE dis
charged only by gold coin; If, contrary to the
expectations of all parties TO these contracts,
legal tender notes are rendered unavailable, the
Government has become an instrument OF the
grOsscst injustice; all debtors are loaded with an
obligation IT was never contemplated they should
assume; large percentage is added 10 every
debt, and such must become the demand for
gold 20 satisfy contracts that THinors sacrifice,
general distress, anil bankruptcy, may he eN-
rertei. These consequences are too Obvious 10
admit of question. az W allaee, 529, 500
Baffied by the courts, the cOnlract;Onists
laid siege to Congress: repulsed by Con-
gress, they appealed 10 the President,
whose views are singularly in accord with
theirs, to bar the gap Of legislation with his
veto, except a plastic Congress shall mold
sl.,11 amt
with his manifesto. Heaven defend the
country from such additional calamity
He drives a tilt at the Supreme Court, at
Congress, and 2 PROSTATE and imploring
people. lie would have the legal-tender
clause of the act of 1862 repealed to take
effect on the lst of July. 1872. being wi hin
about one wear. He would have the cur
rency issued by the United States redeem
ell in coin on the LIST July, 1876, within
two years. And TO raise the gold he would
issue more bonds, payable in gold, priuci-
pal and interest. He would have all tax Is
after resumption begins paid in coin or
United States notes. And with these pre-
liminaries he would authorize free banking
without limit.
The Presidents plan is like a sea which
cOncealS the treacherous rocks beneath its
smiling surface. Let us sound it before we
launch upon il. He would repeal the legal
tender act. This would leave the coinage
acts Of 1897 and 1919 in force, and nothing
but gold and silver would he legal-iender
after one year. Hence after that date all
the five twenty bonds and other bonds sti-
pUlatcd in the bonds TO Ire payable in claw
ful money" all State and corporation bonds
aud all private debts must then of neceSSi-
Is be payable in gold. This would give an
additional value to the demands Of the
Creditor OF l29 per cent, and SubStract a
corresponding value from the productions
and property Of The debtor. The public
and private debt Of our country amounts to
about SS,1O0, 10000. To pay il in gold
it would require a premium of about ST.
100000 600, and a corresponding increase
Of the value of the interest on the debt by
making it payable in gold. The aggregate
annual taxation of our country amounts to
about SGl1, 1S0,320; It would add an annu-
al value of about SS0,000,000 if paid in
gold. The result-Sl, 600, 100000 profit TO
the creditor, S1,000,0D0,0O0 confiscatiOn to
the debtor, SSO,OOOOOO additional annual
taxation to the people. Comforting pic
lures for a distressed people!
But this Is not al. The President TOuld
have the legal-tender notes redeemed in
gold at the end of two years. The result
would he that their increasing value would
equal the interest Of i gOld-bearing bond,
and many Of them would be withdrawn
from circulation and boarded with the
bonds. This would operate as another
tightening cord on the property and indus
tries Of the country.
Again, 10 provide gold to redeem the
legal-tender notes the President would
crowd more gold bonds bearing gold inter
est on the market. To get out Of debt he
would let deeper in. He would pay gold
Interest on the bond, when he pays no i'll
terest now on the legal-tender note. He
would increase instead Of tightening the
burden Of taxation.
And this is not all. Let us give a turn
or two TO the big gold wheel in the Presi-
dents financial machinery and see how it
will operate. Tie American bOndholders
would Lave undisputed sway over the gold
which is fortunate enough to remain in the
country. They would become gold brokers,
buy up the currency, make it scarce, and
force the people to pay high premiums on
gold 10 pay debts and taxes. These taxes
in part would return to the bondhOlders in
payment of interest on their bonds, and be
used in repeating the process Of forced sales
Of gold 10 4 circumvented people. The
first revolution of the wheel shows that it
cuts like a dredging-machine into the
finances Of the country.
But this is not all. After packing down
oJr financial system under the weight Of
such gold pressure, the President thinks
that free banking will give the country
ease. Let us Try little logic upon this.
The national bonds constitute the eXclu-
size primary capital Of the national banks.
The deposit Of these bonds in the National
Treasury is a preliminary condition Of the
grant of tie bank charter. The trump
cards are i'm the hands Of the bondhOlders.
In addition 10 filling the office Of gold
brokers, they are prepared TO be installed
national bankers and thus complete their
supremacy over The ma iOual finances.
The national banks. EOw freed from the
composition Of legal-tendeT notes, our only
free currency, would have the power 10
control the quantity Of our currency, regJi-
late the rates Of interest, and fix the prices
of labor, commodities, and property.
Look at the fearful cOnsummatiOn, The
Government would be the tributary slave
Of the hundlIolders. and the people the We
Tins Of the broker-ShOps and the banks.
our country once abandoned 10 the Jug
cling CIIDidify of the bond rings. the cold