The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1877-06-14

pay rate of interest Inevitably lead
ing to disast{mt}ekrfs ulsioho. Flow will |
YOU explain why, when we had gold
in circulation--and the banks were !
paying gold in lS57--was twenty, thir-
tv. or forty Der cent interest readily I
obtained, as was stated by the senator
from Ohio, MI Sherman, sum at
least three times that now paid! And
why, if gold is to restrain this rulnous
interest, do we pay now a larger inter-
est in California, where they have a
metallic currency, than where we
have legal-tenders and bank paper! Of
course there is in theory an answer to
all this. But the facts remain, and
upon these | stand. Yes, sir; you talk
about ''diShonOred and irredeemable
paper and yet you had ''honored and
redeemable paper in 1887 and 1857.
Did this prevent these financial cri
ses! 1t at the door of a paper curren-
cy not Immediately convertible at par
are laid all the ruin and consequences
OF the recent panic, why may l not,
with equal reason, say the same thing
yea, an infinitely worse state OF
things--has happened more than once
in this our history when we redeemed
in gold, and therefore gold is respon-
sible for all such illsl There is as much
logic in the one proposition as the 9TH
er; but | do not think there is much,
if any, in either. The cause is fur
Their back las have attempted to show.
We have been going too fast; we have
done SO heretofore, and we will do SO,
probably, in the future, whatever the
currency. Men will engage in these
schemes of speculation if they can get
credit and inspire the people with con-
fidence in the dividends to come from
their enterprises. For several years
they have been sending up these kites,
and they have seemed to float beautl-
| fully--these gas-bags'in the shape OF
Watered stocks. s'>Outh-Sea bubble
corporations; railways to the moon,
| to the land of the ''TetOn Sioux the
| hunting grounds of the MOhaveS, or
| the Alaskan home of the seal and the
EsquimauX Il use these by way Of IL
luStration) --beautifu and apparently
full bubbles, waited and kept up on
the market by the Vaccinations OF
Wall street and the money of conf
ding stockholders. | say such as these
were sent up, and were kept up, by ev-
cry sort of financial legerdemain. un-
til finally the best skill was exhausted,
the bubbles vanished. the gas-bags
collapsed Then everybody lost con-
tidence for awhile in everybody else
That was discovered which ought to
have been known from the beginning,
to-Wit, that the volume Of currency
sufficient for thirty or thirty-tive mil
lions of people would not answer the
wants of forty-One millions, with their
increased trade and commerce. And
instantly the cry is, What 4 pity we
were not on a specie basis; what a
shame our currency is dlshOnOred;
for with gold or redeemable curren-
cy we could have kept atloat and avoid
ed the terrible collapse
Mr.. President, does any one believe
thisl Perhaps we all should do 50. /
do not know but that is my duty to sc
believe; but | cannot. and | hope
shall be excused. Do you believe it!
O. no; this won't do, this claim that
our legal tenders are dishonored
and therefore the cause of our trOub
les. Look at the grand history of this
nation for the last twelve years. See
what we have accomplished. Was
ever nation so triedl Take the drain
upon our resources. the loss of life ano
treasure. Look at us as were whel
treason seized the flag and sought tt
: trail III the dust. without navy or ar
my; an empty treasury; arms there
were none; a defiant army threatening
/ the very doors of this capitol; ''treaso1
before. behind. all around lis like thu
atmosphere" and see an army of mil
, lions organiZed; fleets protecting on
commerce and our cities brough
| speedily into life; Il rebellion formlda
bic in its moral significance and mum
: bers crushed; 4 citizen soldiery return
: ing peacefully to their homes: tn
: government for the most part meetin:
: every demand. and with equal fidelit
f the debt created to maintain our unity
! Take the years since Intervening; Sc
1 what has been done--the farms made
n the cities built. the states reconstruct
! ed and populated: the wealth added
!. the numerous enterprises inaugurate
t and carried out. | say, glance at thes
: things and many more l might mel
!. ton: and then remember that this wa
all done with paper currency wa
!. this "irredeemable paper. Why. sil
d YOU may trace all the years of the II;
$ ton before the war. with coin burstin
d the Golfers of every bank: with ''eagle
y and half-eagles" eager to fly from til
l. national treasury to the pockets of til
e people: with golden toys for childre
S and doubloons distending every man
e silken purse, and You find no parall,
d for the prosperity and advancemel
e. attending us since its close. And whe
e | recur TO other epochs in our histol
1t as after the war of 1912. of While
&. Mr.. Benton declared there was II
E. price for property or produce: no sal'
but those of the sheriff or the marsha
Y no purchasers at the execution sail
Sc but the creditors or some hoarder
e money: no employment for industr
o. no demand for labor, no sale for tt
e. product of the farm: no sound of Il
ct hammer but that of the auctione
IL knocking down property; stop law
H. property laws. replevin laws. st;
Il