Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1876-11-08
INcoNsisTENcy.

+ EDITORS CoURIER:-lt is sad ana
humiliating thought, that in Repub-
lican Government like ours, where all
have voice in making the laws, and
where the Press has such controlling
influence i'm shaping the minds and
acts of men, that the demagogue can
often foist himself upon commune
ty as teacher and cxpounder of the
true principles of Government, by in
some way getting himself at the head
Of paper; and then by demagog-
uery and envy, attempt through the
in tluence Of kind of communistic
spirit, which is becoming very preva-
lent among Macawbcr class Of peo-
pie, who spend their time about
equally in the saloons and on the
street corners, wondering ,chy money
is so scarce, attempt to array capital
against labor. l often think that there
ought to be kind of bureau of in
tclligence and honesty, where man
who assumes to teach the people thro'
the Press, should be required to OBJ
tain certificate, showing a reason
able degree of intelligence and hon
esty at least.
l am lead to these reflections from
reading an editorial in the Ottumwa
Times of the 31st ult., headed "Thc
Banking System" in which the writ
err starts out by saying at is the
grandest legalized swindle that
"was ever perpetrated," "no earthly
necessity has yet been shown for
"this outrage"
Now does the writer mean to say
that we shall 60 back to primitive
principles, and let every man be his
own banker, and keep his surplus
money in his stocking or chimney
corner2 If banks at all, why object
that government bonds should be put
up to secure the note-holder2 Does
the bonds deposited with the Trcasn'
rer draw more interest than they
would if held in Europe? Was there
ever bank currency before, that die
not suffer discount every time 70,
crossed State line? But he says tht
{" banker draws interest on his bonds
"and then one-third Of the circulatio,
81 he gets from the Government is los
"by fires, floods, ETC., and mover re
turned, and clear gain from tn
"pockets of the people is thus made.
This is not true; the Government
, gains all the lost notes, and then col
lects nearly enough tax from tn
banks to equal tho interest ON til
bonds. Not only this, but tho fou
hundred millions of bonds held b.
the banks, or the stock of the banks
! which represents the bonds, is taxe'
: also. Carefully prepared statistics
T by tho Comptroller, show that tn
property of National Banks pay NOR
9 tax than any other species of prop
crty. As evidence of this the bank
have voluntarily surrendered owe
100000 of their circulation in tn
!, last year. Then he says the disastc
= TO Jay Cooke camc and the Who'll
fabric went down with crash. Whi
talsity! While Cooke and his railroa
did 20 down, his bank, and the onl
bank that did fail, (thc First Nations
g at Washington), paid every dollar
IS the depositors and nothing to Il
stockholders. Not only is the capit
and surplus, which is required to
. kept on hand, but the individu
= property Of tho stakeholder to Il
Is amount Of the capital, bound as sec
rity to the dcpositor, yet he says Il
conflding deposition has no securit
And thus he would attempt to dccci'
,e and gull the people by misrepresc
r. tation and ialsehood, for polite
X purposes. And then sec tao inconsii
= cncy Of his harangue. lie says "wi
n scout this whole Internally devis'
Is System, and secure direct ISIS
u from the United States Treasury
y, - and thus make o great National Go
ernmcnt Bank, as we had 40 yea
ago. This hc seems to overlook