Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1875-10-09


of them survive with big fortunes wor
upon the poor basis of Confederate
money. They followed the Fedora
army like legions of huDgy wolves
they hung upon its track like hyenas
hungry for its carnage. These are they
who came to the rescue, with every
speculative commodity, which they
phllanthropically exchanged for green
backs at thrice their value. This class
OF men embrace the great bulk of the
credit class now, and they demand that
sacred sanction shall be given to those
adrolt financial maneuvers by which,
as by magic and tricks of legerdemain,
they have become the richest men since
the days of Solomon, while we, the
debtors, are the poorest since the days
of the Colonies. These millionaires
are rare birds in the forests. They sell
dom are seen this far from the Capital.
Hatched in the hot beds Of war. they
roost near the Capital, hard by the
American eagle, and rejoice in repose
beneath the protecting @gis of the
Stars and Stripes.
Let the scales of justice be suspend
ed above the dome of the Capitol that
the angels may balance the account.
The American people will never shrink
from any just responsibility. They
viii pay all they justly owe. But the
time has come when the question must
be answered: How much do they
justly owe, and how is it to be paid?
Now, | assert that the great fiscal
channels, through which the public
debt and the expenses of the Govern
ment are being paid, throw the main
burden of the public debt upon the
producing .classes-the agricultural
class; while, at the same time, they
aggrandize the bondholders and the
manufacturers, and release them from
all the burdens of the national debt.
We hear much complaint of local tax
es, of low prices, of poor crops, of
hard times, but overlook the great
ceutral, underlying, remote and obscure,
yet real cause of all our woes-the
National Banking system and the tar
if for revenue.
These laws, if l do not misrepre-
sent their operation, are violatiye of
the equities of our Constitution, the
genius of our government, and the
rights of our people; they are laws
enacted in the interests of the creditors
of the nation, at the ruin of the debt
ors; they exalt the government and
depress the people; they bring the
into trade and speculation,
with all its power and prestige to exalt
the State and depress the citizen.
Now, let us look into the practical
working of National Banks.
The banker deposits with the Comp
troller of the Treasury 100000 in U.
s. bonds, and receives from the Gov
ernment, 100000 in Treasury notes,
without interest. These notes consti-
tute eur circulation. Now what do
they cost the people?
We pay on the 100000 bonds in
terest at the rate of 5 per cent per an
mum, semi-annually. This will be
about Z per cent in currency. Now,
observe, we pay this Z per cent not for
the use of the money, for the banker
still holds it, we pay it simply to es-
tablish a bank to be owned by pri-
yate corporation; we pay this per
cent upon the whole volume of bank
ing capital before we use one dollar
of it.
Then, if we borrow and use this
money we must pay about one per cent
a month, and unless we belong to the
commercial class and have a busi-
ness that will raise us to the dignity
of "customer" of the bank, we must
back our paper with U. S. bonds as
collateral.
So the system works with US about
thus: The money we borrow costs us
19 per cent per auDum, and the sys-
tenn subordinates all other species of
property to the inevitable bond of the
Government.
Under this system Government
bonds are worth more than gold
strange and anomalous as this may
appear, for the owner of 100000 in
bonds draws interest on
the whole amount, and then on top of
this has the use of SOC, 900 more loaned
by the Government without interest
if he chooses to engage in banking
and superadded to all, his bonds are
not taxable, while he, who owns $780,
600 in gold, pays taxes on it, draws no
interest, and has no accession to his
capital in shape of Government loan.
Then, why are bonds worth more
than gold? Because the Government
has gone into the money markets and
broken up the natural relation of gold
to bonds.
Why is real estate So depressed P
Because the Government has opened
up a channel for investment large
enough, and inviting and advantageous
enough to absorb the surplus of the
country.
Strange, then, as it may appear,
the Government has actually legisla-
ted away the convertible value OF the
peoples property; has entered the
money markets in the interests of the
bondholders, and through its financial
system has sacrificed its citizens to
build UP its own credit and enlarge
and confirm the fortunes of its credi-
tors. That word bond was fitly used
it seems prophetic of that easy trans
ition by which with only age added 1t
becomes bondage to the once free and
prosperous millions of our country.
But no less destructive adjunct to
the Natiouai financial system remains
to be considered-the system of pay
ing the National expenditures and
debt by import duties and internal
revenue tax.
The receipts of the Government are
about three hundred million dollars
annually. OF the three hundred mill
ions received and paid out, about one
hundred aud ninety millions are de:
rived from receipts of customs, and
one hundred and eight millinos from
Internal revenue tax; the remainder,
a trifing sum in comparison, is derived
from the sale of public lands, etc.-
The one hundred and ninety millions
derived from receipts of customs are
the sum of an import duty on articles
produced in foreign lands and brought
and sold to our people. The tariff on
such articles is about as follows =
harness, 30 per cent; horse blankets,
l 40, wooden cloth, 20; cotton cloth,
35 to 80; nails, AZ; trace chains, GO;
paints, 81 quinine, so; and averages
On imports about 40 per cent.
Paving 1870 millions to the govern