Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1877-10-25
THE FINANCIAL QUESTION.
Review of the Greenback
Theories.
Read, and then, ssAnsWer SO lid
Nv, or BE Convinced"
To tie Electors of the State !:

the approaching election, only State
and local officers are to BIO chosen,
and that they will have no direct
voice in determining that question.
But the result will be claimed, either
as a triumph of the advocates of
honest money, or of the advocates of
q egatona Of ;--odOornaoIe and, there
fore, deprecated, fuctuating, and
dishonest paper currency. The sue
cess of the one or the other party
will be proclaimed as the verdict of
Wisconsin, on this vital question, and
will have its due weight in iDfuenc-
ing the action of Congress, and de-
termining the policy Of the Govern
ment. Hence it ia the duty of every
voter to study carefully this question
aud vote in view of the momentous
consequences which may follow a
mistaken judgment. No other ques-
ton has been presented to the PEG.
pie of this country which concerns
more nearly their material prosperity
and we'll being.
The subject is one which, in order
to be properly understood, requires
study and thought. L. is one re-
specting which persons who have
not given due time to its investiga-
ton are peculiarly liable to be led
into error by the misrepresentation
and sophistries of demagogues. Thus
it happens that well-meanin9, honest
and Intelligent men have come to
entertain views in regard to our
financial system which, if carried into
practice, we regard as dangerously
wrong, pernicious to their own inter.
ests, and ruinous to those of the coun,
try. The views referred to are those
which are promulgated by what is
termed the 'Greenback Party and
which have been substantially adopt
ed by the party that in this State
now calls itself Tho Peoples Reform
Party but that is generally known
as the Democratic party.
The interests Of the people and of
the country are Identical. The great
mass of voters doubtless desire the
adoption of such financial policy as
will most promote those interests.
Ifthey vote for pernlcious policy it
will be because they are mistaken or
misIed. In the hope therefore of cor
recting erroneous opinions we submit
the following exposition of some of
the tallacies and misrepresentation
upon which the 40 called Greenback
party and its doctrines are founded,
and ask for it careful and candid
consideration.
Those doctrines demand q COM
plete revolution of our financial sys-
tenn. Would such a revolution be
wise? Would 1T benefit the country
Would it benefit the laboring classes?
Could it be accomplished without a
violation, or radical change, of the
Constitution? Let us conduct our in
vestigations with candor, and, as the
subject is one in which every good
citizen is Interested, let US lay aside
partisanship and prejudice, appealing
only to undisputed and undisputa Die
facts IN our arguments.
AS our present system must be
overthrow before a new one can be
established, logical order demands
that we first examine the objections
urged to that system, and the Difficult.
ties, we shall necessarily meet IN ac-
complishing its destruction-for sure
ly it is 40 light matter to overthrow
what is interviewer with every mate
rial interest of every citizen. On the
contrary, it is an affair of the gravest
Importance, to be done, if done at all
after the most rigid investigation and
and the most serious elaboration.
THE ORIGIN OF OUR PRESENT FINAN-
CIAL SYSTEM.
1t is charged that all our national
|legisIatihn on financial subjects is di-
rectly in the interest of the rich and
against the poor,a that much of it
was secured by bribery and corrup-
ton.
Now our present financial system
was created during the war, as o
means of supporting the armies of
the United States for that purpose
and nothing else. 1t was as much
necessity as was the army itself,
for without it,the army could neither
have been armed, clothed, or fed.
The best thought of our wisest and
purest statesmen was given to devise
a system by which the Government
might secure the financial means es-
sential TO maintain it's own existence
and, at the same time, to serve the
people. Every material part of our
present system was created in the
early years of the war; was recon-.
mended by President Lincoln and
was approved by Chase, Seward,
Stanton, and other members of his
Cabinet; and was sanctioned by Con-
gress after close investigation and
exhaustive debate. Aud it is a mat
ter susceptible of the clearest proof,
that, in our later legislation, on the
subject, the suggestions made by
Mr.. Lincoln and his Cabinet have
been, though slowly, faithfully car
ried out. 1t is strange that any
man who supported the admlnlstra-
ton of Mr.. Lincoln should be found
denouncing the laws he recommends
ed and for the existance of which be
is more responsible than any other
man. mol those laws were not enacted
in the interest of the rich and
against the poor, but they were en-
acted in the great crisis of our. ma
tional history to save the Union and
"that the Government of the people,
by the people, and for the people,
might not perish from the earth"
THE BoNDHoLDERs.
Nor Is there justice or reason in
the cry against the men, who, in
conformity with those laws, and in
response to the appeals of the Gov.
eminent, came forward and loaned
their money to the Government in
AZ q g.