Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-12-29


Of any or all other kinds to be priced o
valued as contingencies may arise on til,
other. What will be the effect on eacl
Of expanding or Of contracting the me
dium by which both are to be valued
or measuredP Evidently contraction
will increase the property. measuring
power Of the bonds, ana decrease the
bond'measuring quality Of property.
Expansion will as evidently have the re
verse effect. In our country all but q
very few have suffered from the contrac.
ton produced by the demonstration OF
silver in 1873. The country as q whole
has, in all ways, been a loser to the ex.
tent, probably Of fifty per cent, and is
now gasping throughout its whole indus.
trial life under it; while up to this time
the bondholders have been enormously
benefited BY it. Under such circum-
stances, there is a growing sentiment i n
the minds Of the suffering many that the
school boy maxim which conveys a deal
of practical truth and justice, as ap.
plicable TO the stern realities of adult
w~orld.life as to bOyhood's ~schoollife,
should rule in this matter, and that
" turn about is fair play"
In this view let us see how the affair
stands. The bondholders have reaped an
abundant harvest, but are not yet salts.
fed; they rather incline TO the idea
that there should not be a turn about
are disposed to think that they alone
are entitled to claim faith" from gov
ernments in all matters involving pecu.
mary legislation; the lifting Of all bur-
dens from them, whosoever else shout.
ders they may fall on, they avow as the
acme OF public faith, the sole test OF
public honor. But just nov they are be
ginning 10 realize some of the anxieties
which has torn the hearts of the many.
the fear OF q decline IN the value of their
possessions, and so they are not happy"
They begin to be aware that the band.
age Of sophistry bouRd by their a
ticed writers and speakers over the pub.
lie vision is being removed; that the
people are awaking to a suspicion
that, in the legislation so favorable to
the bondholders, public faith and public
honor have been deeply trenched on to
the sacrifice or injury of greater inter,
ests; that the producers Of wealth have
been pitilessly plucked to feather the
nest of the merely moneyed rich; that
industry has been heavily taxed to sup.
mort the dronaa of aociafv
Now let US see who these special
drones are; these who live altogether
useless lives, who exist without contrib
uting an iota to the worlds good, who do
nothing and yet consume the honey
made and laid up by others. There is an
impression in the pablo mind generally,
and believed and acted on by certain
classes of persons in the United States,
to the effect that those classes and per.
sons have been benefited by the partial
legislation enacted to favor the few great
boDdholding magnates Of Europe, but
this Impression is, in the main, a false
one; for it can be fully demonstrated
that every business in this country in
which the investment is not prepondera-
tingly in bonds, has been and is injured
BY the effect which the gold basis
contraction policy has brought on us
Capitalists who hoard money merely
to make ten-strikes when property is sa.
criheed, or to pinch the last dollar for
usurious interest from distressed borrow.
ere, and those land they are very few.
whose riches are in bonds alone, are the
only ones in our country who are really
partAkers with the bond lords Of Europe
in the forced profits of bonds. Every bust.
ness and all hat rami6es from il being
largely more dependent on a prosperous
condition Of things generally than on
bond profits, however great, suffers, and
will continue to suffer, so long as tie law
makes flesh Of the favored lender to gov.
ernments on bonds, and fish Of all Others.
Having thus collsterally exposed the
dlminutiveness in numbers of those
whose real interest lies in maintaining
the unjust single or gold standard, and
whom we may distinguish as per Sc, the
gold party, | shall, in my next, recur 10
the main subject. PHILo JUsTITIA.