Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1875-09-14
TUESDAY MORNING. sEPTEMBER II, 1875.
MOTIFS ON THE sIruArIos-NuMnER I
lFfom the wheeling standard.I

iu gold. This presents two questions:
First Shall We pay the debt now, or wait
until our population aud wealth increasesl
Second, Shall we pay that debt in gold
The moneycrats boast of reduction of
four hundred million dollars since 1869 But
when they crushed that reduction ont OF the
people they ground them down into the dust
Il is bad financial operation to sell debtor
out Of house and home, when his destruction
only pays driblet of the debt
Speedy payment means increased taxation.
We can bear high taxes in flush times. when
the country is prosperous, when labor is re-
munerative. and there Is plenty of work for
everybody, but in drought tho hand of the
iax collector is heavy, and money>dronght
affects legitimate business like a dry season
d es the harvest A drought dries mp
and parches the producer but II enriches the
Insurer and the moneycrat. We can see and
feel rhe effects of fige years money. drought.
{ Who can predict the consequences of another
five yearsl Will all the streams of trade go
dfy2
Ohentimesit 1t ia wise policy for creditor
TO cherish aud encourage his debtor and give
him time, for if you press him. push him.
crowd him to the wall, he will despair aud
take the bankruptcy. -TnE BANKRUPTCY OF
THE PEOPLE MEANS REPUTATION. The pro
cess is simple. it is only walk to the polls
and a ballot
Once let the toiling masses make this blood
less war on the Moneycrats; once let the cry
start, and nothing can stop it. Once let the
people realize how easy and simple it is tn rid
themselves of this crushing tsxation and op.
preston once let them feel their power
once let them reslize that they have the
4,
and that after 1t is gone, coffee will sell for
ten cents and sugar at five, while wages re-
main the same ;-and the Bonds are not worth
the paper on which they are written
These are extreme views. because thus far,
no politician has dared to hrave the news
repers which are published in financial centres
But extreme as these views NAV be- this we
do know, tha, il the.Sc;entifr Ameriicnn. the
New York World and Tribune, and one or
two western nsperS would open their columns
to present these facts t" the people. every dol
lar of that debt would be repudiatcd at the
next election.
D0u't tell Us that debt rests on the good
faith and morality uf the American people,
because reehtless and selG-h creditor has
stripped that people Of the means of liveli>
hOod 'Tis hard to preach morality to an
empty stomach. Take of your thumb screws
and carry us back to the prosperity of 1865,
and we will listen to your sermons. But you
have C ntrncted our currency So per cent. in
tn years; you have shrunk, decreased, the
value "f our productive property tremendous
ly aud BY the same operation increased the
value of your b,nds thirty or forty per cent,
and then yOn prate 10 us about morality
Where was y"Wr morality when you were
selling corn To the Government At 81 buShcl
while this uation was in the agony of death.
We want these moneycrats to understand
that they are not the guardians of .ur morality.
There is more honesty amid the smoke aud
SCOT of Wheeling factory than in the glare
aud eittering tiusel of Wall street bauk-
the one is the honesty Of an honest heart. and
the other the hypocrisy Of mercantile ex-
pediency. And yet we gn TO Wall street for
morals like we do for our money.
Reputation ia not always disgrace. The
distinction is between public and individual
repndiation. (This we will discuss in futufe
article } Public reputation is not always a
disgrace Whist became of the deb's of the
Revolution What became of the Confed>
crate debt? vas any American disgraced
by their reputation If relentless cred.
itor drives poor debtor intG bankruptcy. the
victim of extortinn is not disgtacsd; no, be
is martyr to rapacity.
The FnwER of the people to repudiate can
not he questioned Hox many voters have
$4,000 vcar7 There are not million
with even S., ,60O ycor. II the contest be-
tween producer and moDeycrot does come,
there will be 500, 900 votes for the people.
against one million for the moneycrats; and
then there will be an end to all the pomp and
glory of the bondholders.
NJ. IL Il
papers of financial ccDtres ridicule these ex>
treme views. They rely on the machinery of
government aud upon the press and. indeed,
strange it may appear, thus far they have
been able to vote the people direct against the
welfare of their own fresides "a small
minority has ruled an overwhelming mnjurity
snd titus far, every politician who has dared
TO open the eyes of the people has been cru
cited. No civilized people have ever suffered
like this nstinn has suffered for the past Eve
years, and still darker future looms up before
us and yet beneath the shadow Of thst dark
cl"ud. these Monographs declare they must
still further depress values in order to reach
specie basis
No one can understand how or why the
people have been thus blinded, duped aud de-
ceived, unless ne tskes this standpoint.
They do not repudiate in England because
the sris,ocracy ia powerful aud has. the in
fuence of the throne which ia backed up by q
standing army. OHr Doneycrats comprehend
their danger, but they expect to acquire all
these engines of power and oppression long
before the tniling masses are reused up to the
terrible realities of their si'uation Thus
stands the case. and only one single election
intervenes between these moneycrsts and po-
litical, power; give them the next election
and y"u might as well attempt to shake the
English monarch with mob of London fish-
wives
We write for the l.borer spd producer