Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1875-08-25
Farmers and Finance,

II seems evident that the next great polit-
ical fight is 10 turn upon the question Of the
currency, and the return to specie payments.
Both parties in the East, If We may Judge
by the newspapers and the orators, are
strongly in favor Of the doctrine Of speedy
resumption while at the West there is
great division of opinion, the dividing line
cutting through both parties We are in
clined to the belief, however, that the unan-
unity in the East is not altogether so great
as it seems. The press and the politicians
in this section are bound by interest to rep !
resent the feelings of the moneyed class ;
and that class is unit, East and West, for
contraction and resumption. Having meshed !
about all the fish it can under imitation, 1t
is now in favor of drawing in the net andl
"realizing"
We are heartily with the moneyed men,
ourself, on this point, but scarcely for the
same reason. 1t is going to be a dreadful
time for the debtor class thousands Of
them who have been able 10 float and APP
pear prosperous upon the greenback food,
will be stranded high and dry in the ebb Of
resumption, and the capitalists will pick
their bones clean, and then grind them up
for fertilizers for the next crop Of fools
But this is only question Of time, anyway
and business can never be resumed upon a
safe basis until a settlement is made, the
bubbles all pricked, and the wrecks all
cleared away Those who are financially
sound, though only in small way, like the
majority Of our farmers, are going to be ben
Gifted in the end. Where most Of the
farmers are badly in debt, with mortgaged
farms as in the West, the ordeal they must
pass through is a doubly hard one, and we
do not wonder that they shrink from it, and
call out for "more greenbacks," as the dy-
ing drunkard cries out for more whskey."
But there is no way out of these "hard
times" except through retrenchment, re-
form, economy, industry, and return to a
hard money basis. 1t is true, the rich are
going to be made richer in the process. 1t is
always so, and sensible men have seen and
understood all along, that the result of the
initiation and flush times of the last twelve
years would be to make the rich richer and
the poor poorer when the final wind-up ar
rived. There is no lodging it; and the
dead must be buried as speedily as possible,
that the living may be saved from the ma
laria of their purifying corpses. Prosper
ity cannot return until these old accounts
have been settled, and business resumed
upon basis of actual ability and a cash
capital. Every day that the present state Of
things is continued by the dragging delay
on the part of the national government to
redeem its promises TO pay its debts with
gold the worse it viii be for every form of
industry and especially for agricultural
industry. 1t is to be hoped that even the
Western farmers, on their big, miserably
titled and mortgaged farms, may begin to
see this, and that they may be willing to
come down TO the hard-pan OF what they
actually own, if it be but few acres, the
products Of which will be truly theirs to eat,
to wear, and to sell. 1t will do them no
good to keep roaring about the exactons of
capital. Capital is exacting; capital does
seek to aggrandze itself more and more
capital is ai,cdys studying how to cheat la
Dor of its just earnings, and so far in the
worlds, history it has always succeeded in
doing it. But what are you going to do
about itf II the capitalist has caught you
in his greenback net, which you have been
fool enough to help him spin and weave, can
you do any better than TO let him haul you
up aid gut you? When he has sailed
down" the products of his miraculous
draught, we may indeed begin TO look
around and inquire if it need to be so again
whether industry must always be the prey
OF cunning greed in the future, as it has al
ways been in the past. 1t will be a profta-
BILE subject for future meditation; but now
the question is one of immediate action, and
what can the really insolvent debtor do bet.
ter than to go under and try to come up, il
he can, in a better place lie can protraci
his own misery and the general stagnation
by bowling and voting for more greenbacks
but it will only be a protraction Of his mis-
cry, and waste of time that might be put
to a more profitable use
After the resumption question is settled
there will come up the bank question. The
heavy profits of banking capital for the last
ten years have attracted much attention
and are now the cause of widespread ant
increasing dissatisfaction, which shows il
self in loud call for the adjustment of thu
national banking system, and for green
back currency. We confess our inability Il
see our way clearly on this subject. Agains
the national banks, as a monopoly, we coulC
perceive sound objections but free banking
on the national system seems to us muel
better than the old plan of state banks
On the other hand, If there is any real rea
son why the general government should not
furnish us with a greenback currency re
deemable in gold, and the banks be limited
TO the old and legitimate functions of theil
trade, that of receiving deposits and loaning
money we have never had it explained t
us. 1t would certainly put al end TO CAPT
talists getting interest twice on the SAINT
money, as they do now but whether th
would be of any avail to prevent capitalist
from obtaining in some other way simila
advantage over labor is not so clear
What we ourself need, in order to max,
us an intelligent voter on this question, il
what the majority of voters need-lmor'
knowledge. knowledge rules the world; il
always has ruled 1t and enjoyed the goo,
things of it, and always will SO long a
but few people cultivate their minds, tina
few will have a great advantage over tn
hordes Of the ignorant, live at their expense
and keep them poor. II the American pee
pie ever mean to be really free--if, having es
capped from under the hands Of monarch,
and aristocracy, they wish TO save them
selves from being hewers Of wood and draw
ers Of water for plutocraey Of " the smart
est, they must, by education, so increase tn
average" smartness," that no such great accu
mutations of wealth as we now sec will b,
possible. II, in addition to this, the prnci
pies Of the Christian religion can ever be Sc
instilled into the minds of the people, tina
smartness divorced for moral reetitude shall
cease 10 be admired and emulated, the goot