Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1875-12-09
The Financial Question Considered

10 the editor Of the Alexandria Gazette:
ln order to come at the actual question above
cited, We must consider the foundation from
which it springs Finance, in the opinion of
the writer OF this, is system of representa-
tvcs OF value, in convenient and portable
form, to be used in the interchange of com
modities. and in rewardipg the producer for bis
or her labor in feeding and clothing The whole
community. Having food and raiment be
Herewith content" Now, who furnishes all
the food and raiment for the whole population
of the globe? 1t is the producer, and at the
head OF these is the cultivator of tue soil.
A late writer says ut is true the happipess
aud prosperity OF a nation depend upon the
uolon and the harmonious DEVELOPMENT of
every variety of industrial pursuit but the
groundwork and the pillar of the civilized So
c'ty, on which Its prosperity, its solidity, and
lis glory must ultimately rest, is agriculture,
the production and the meaos of sustaining O
rapidly growing population. Commerce draws
It's llte-bloOd from this; manufacture grow
out OF 1t. They all stand together, like pillars.
IN cluster, the largest in the centrc-and that
LARGEST is agriculture.
The agriculturist, therefore, should be the
most largely consulted Oh the subject of finance,
seeing be has to produce and feed and cothe
the whole race, and yet he is the least consult
ed, the least used, and yet the most Interested
OF any. Who are our members of Congress?
Who are the State legislators who arrange all
these matters of finance? They are lawyers
aod other professional men, who know COM
paratlVely nothing of the aotualities Of business
lite, and they legislate for themselves and
fhn h,p hat a.. IL Il g. -
time, under the existing paralyzation of the
hnances OF the country, to take the matter into
their own hands, for they are able to doit, both
as regards numbers aud intelligence. Lit them
60 to the ballot box, and sweep the board clean OF
those men who are Iegislating for themselves
only, and tor the money lenders, voting them
selves double pay when they had more than
they earned before, and stealing it from the
National Treasury just because it was there,
and they could do it. And who pays it all? Why
the producer. Now then, If the producers will
send producers to make the laws, and let the
people, (tor this is q government OF the peo
ple) issue all the circulating medium, gold,
silver or paper, backed by the whole people,
and payable, also receivable for everything,
then there would be no speculation 10 money
Let the people lend the people money to i'm
prove the country, at little more than the cost
OF maklDS IL, auu Tue WnOle country WOulQ De
improved, but it cannot be done, paying, as at
present, too heavy interest The plan proposd
is nearly such as now practiced by the Building
Associations, and which compared to them
10 an article on this subject recently published
in the Granger one to the individual lending
to the government, and another to the banks
calling themselves National Banks, and [ sup
pose they are, so far National as to shave the
nation twice over the first at the rate of l. 80
per Ct, and then the same money through the
bauks at nine per ct. in advance, which is
equal to about II per ct. per annum, the double
charge tor interest on the same money being
about Is or l9 per ct. per annum, and 20 man
can improve the now laying waste land under
such load, and ifagriculture is paraIized every
other business is paralized with it, and hence
the present arrangement In the finances, and
the difficulty, in redress Of these grievances,
is to make the people understand their rights
and to fulfill their duties, II they would look
at the thing rightly-I mean the producers and
other interested parties-and not leave 1t to
money lenders to manage the finances, then
the remedy would soon be at hand. C.G.