New-York tribune., 1876-02-03
4 FINANCIAL APOCALYPSE.

A FINANCI3L APOCALfPSE.
One st. John, from Lake County, Ohio, has
had new revelation, and has laid it before
the legislature The Beast Of hi, vision is
Bank. Nothing could be more awful than the
picture which he draws of this disgusting mon
stcr, rayaging our blessed country, crushing
commerce in its horrid jaws. and leaving IN It's
track a wilderness filled with murdercrs, for
gers, suicides, and thieves. 1t IL the hadn't OF
the Banks, he states, to go on taking discount
OH loans until tho interest paid by the
victim EQUALS his original capital, and
the Banks have thus got possession
of all the available resources of the COM
munity. Calculation and history concur IN
showing that thi, takes about 10 or II years.
At the end OF that period discount stops snap
20 the cruel iaws. Panic follows. "The world
stands amazed for time; fear, and doubt,
land chaos reign amid an insane rush for a
"lemcdy' In such seasons of catastrophe
the Banks "call like preferred lccch upon
the Government 10 give, give, give" Inc
Government does give. " hen their " "rapacious
"lnay ha, euveoped it all,r the preferred
lccrhes "cast around like a cat that has
" swallowed her prey" and " ding their eyes
" toward Washington like II enid that has
" been tcklrd by poke in the rlbs. and with
"a broad grin ask the Government to DO ~
"ngain.n The Government does so again
vhercnpon the preferred lcechcs take breath
and martial themselves for the onslaught and
4" the death. and then comes the scheme the
.'chargc, and the fight for rtdcmption." Rcpe-
tilion Of the aforesaid every 10 or II years,
and sometimes oitcncr.
,i,.I tha | al, Comfy gentle
man proposes for ,hi, appalling condition OF
things is Constitutional Amendment prohib-
itinc either Congress or the Legislature, from
"pa sing any law recognizing or tonchlnG the
d" .r,hir.t of individual Indebtedness II is To-
be of moral Obligation to pay no debts; 1t Is
To bc a legal imposSibllity to enforce payment.
Credit l. to bc crime, creditor an outlaw.
Anyb0dy fortunate enough 10 save money
when thi, Amendment becomes the law of the
land may consider his fortune made. Any
body who lives III hired house NAV
snap his fingers at the landlord. Anybody
who holds prOms>Ory note or mortgage
may uaprr ~, walls with the one and light his
G.. sar with the other. Pay rs you 20, l. to he
the new rule. or. II you can't paw ~ you go,
don't pay AT all. II the Fail River manuiac-
turcr will have cotton he must 20 To South
Carolina with his money in his hand. dnd pay
ter every bale before II II shipped. II the
Western farmer wants a railroad Ia carry his
Goods 10 market he must pay FOR II rod
bv rod. Commission merchants. torwaIdcrs,
and every cla-, of mddl'mrn viii find
fncir Occupation gone. The entire course %.
commerce ami manufacturing industry Will
come to u stop until We get cash enough ahead
llobody tells us whrnre or how TO pay foI
all ON raw material before We start ON mills,
onr full stock OF goods before we open ouI
shou- The man VINO ha, made II fortune can
no longer turn It To the public usc by lending
capital to cntcrprl,ing Younger men, if inter
est j. abolished hc must 1--we on his principal.
We never light upon an utterly crazy ahd
ihap-odcal essay on tnanrc without th' con-
fdcnt expectation of finding in II somewhere
demand for paper money ard "a noh-tNp"r-
able currency; aud sure erou;h Mr. 81 John
proves before he gets through tha ho mas
been "A diligrnt disciple of Allen and Kelley.
There Is not specie enough III the world To
supply our needs. and therefore We must have
something else. " The compcnsating qualities
cot paper are the greater facility ol handling
4" and converting its freedom from all ruinons
demands for expectation, and itS beng
"cqualy ciiicacious, 80 long rs IL Is received
lin exchange for the neccSSarcs OF life
and all other articles of value" And
if any impertiucnt tIiilcr asks why piece of
paprr. which has no value and is not even IN
evidence of debt debt being ab0ishcd), shoad
be received in exchange Mr.. -. John re-
plies in the old familiar strain, The piinci-
"ple of life, the ris rita, of the money, must
''come from the highest and most CON
stant fountain, which is the yiviilc force
"of the nation We had almost forgotten
10 add that after the banks are swept away
il will be the business of tho Government,
according to st. John, to build million safes,
ncloscd in large vaults, that the people
may have place to keep their money. Post
masters and other Federal officials are to be
appointed cu,tOdans of these deposits. and
guards with musketsn to be stationed
around them. Perhaps this is rather an ex-
cess of prccaution. When AR. 81. John gets
his financial system into operation, even an
Alabama postmaster We think, might be
trusted not to steal any of the money.
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ANOTHER ENG BROKEN