The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1877-12-27
GREAr STEP TAKEN.

THE FIRST G GREAT STEP TAKEN.
From the Irish World, December 8.
The lamentations of Jeremiah and
the sorrows of Job are light in compar-
ison with curses showered down in
spiteful wrath At the audacity of Con-
gress in daring to undermine and
thwart the usurers and money kings,
by restoring silver to its normal posi-.
ton as tender for everything. The
New York Herald, in it's piOus indig--
nation, quotes the parable of the Un-
just Steward, and, Tapping its holy
wings, scars into the sublime, by max
ing the members of Congress voting to
repeal that odious fraud conceived in
sin, nurtured in deceit, and made a
law under the cover of regulating
"weights and measures'D demonetiz.
ing silver, as prototypes of the Unjust
Steward.
The Herald is not alone in its wall.
ings. Its enlightened neighbOr, who
receives his financial philosophy direct
from Jay Gould, is also mourning over
our degenercy in seeking to avoid the
payment of our bonds in gold, and the
frightful disregard we show to the
and other speculating Jews who are to
sit i'm judgment on American credit, If
we dare assert the manhood of our
rights, or proclaim our Independence
from their dictatiOn.
Let us see how it stands. When we
issued our bonds, silver was legal ten
der for all debts and obligations Of ev-
cry description. public and private.
For more than 1000 years it had been
the recognized money of the world. 1t
is true that England in 1916, in one Of
its spasmodic convulsions consequent
upon u forced return to specie pay
ment, so far demonetized silver as to
exclude it as q legal tender for any sum
above forty shillings, or $40. But this
change was hardly noticed, from the
fact that England Practically lepudi
ated specie payment for the whole per-
iod down to Sir Robert Peel's celebrat-
ed Bank Act of1844, except in q limit
ed way and for limited purposes in
1921. So that there was no occasion to
test either the practicability or utility
of the single gold standard till 1847 and
1S4S,, when the gold basis was forced
which cost England more than $780,
OOO, 900, and when even the most rabid
gold advocate was forced to welcome
the rag baby as the sole power capable
of restoring confidence, credit, and
prosperity.
England was the first to adopt gold
as the single standard of value. Port
ugal in 1865 followed her example.
Prussia, in the arrogance of her victo-
ry over France, assumed the aristOcrat-
ic role. In England it was adopted as
= \ s<,kc ~ To vpn
rover. She was the great money CEN
ter of the world. Her Rotbschilds,
her Barings, her Barclays. her Coutts'
combinations controlled all the great
loans Of Europe. Itwas for the inter-
est of the few to make gold the sole
standard: they exercised it with all
the influence and force the power of
money could control. The gold stand
ard could, of course, affect no contracts
not payable in England, except those
in which, by virtue of the contract it.
self, the obligation to pay in gold was
directly assumed. .a
Such was the condition of our none
tary standard up to 1862. when we
found ourselves involved in the war of
the Rebellion Gold and silver were
alike, and equally a legal tender.
When the legislation to provide ways
and means to sustain our credit and
maintain our armies in the field and
on the seas was entered upon, there
was no set of men in America so active
as the representatives of dead capital.
Looking into the future through the
war, their sole purpose was to make
the most of the situation. The bonds
were made payable in coin and in le-
most momentous in the history of our
country. 1t established the basis Oi
our credit rs nation, and, in part
| the character of our circulating medi-
um for the future. The money power
Was quick to see that il we issued
bonds bearing interest in gold for the
great loans our great necessities de-
manded, and United States notes rs :
currency convertible into bonds (as
the original law was drawn and pass
ed), that it would be impossible t,
maintain that constant shuttle-cOcE
kind of speculation lin the cry of 'Over
issue, (" "rag baby" paper promises,
which could be worked up into instru
ments of depreciation in case bill:
were not convertible into bonds for th'
entire paper currency. Wall Street
the agent of the ROthschilds. the Ger
man Jews, set every appliance in mo
ton, and the attack upon the redenlp
tion clause of the legal tender bill
lhaking the Greenback retieemable il
q per cent. 20 years-was ut once made
1t was we'll known that the Green
tbacl,s had the precise basis of credit
the exact foundation of legal Obliga
ton, and the precise resources for sup
port that the bond had; that they
would buy the bonds, and were bases
on all the resources the Government
aud people possessed but it was u
well known that, standing alone, un
EsuppOrted by any nominal mean!
for redemption, that the masses cOuls
he made to believe that the Greenbacl
was but a pretence-a sham-pape
money manufactured by steam, ant
issued at the will of unScrupulOus pol
iticians, and that we were always in
danger, of imitation, ever-issue, anC
final wOrthlessness. To make specu
iatiOn q certainty; the Redemption
clause was therefore repealed. aud fur
ther to suit the purposes of the money
power, to f0rtify the bond, and moose
the rope of reputation around tn,
neck of the Greenback, so as to havs
an eternal cLrse upon its credit an(
upon its power, it was not to be receiv
ed for revenue duties, or for interes
on the public debt. ~
Like the hard money, ,grasping usur
ious money lender, who demands thai
securities shall be heaped up, the bond
buying representatives of Lombard
streets, the Jews of Amsterdam, and
their no. less cunning brothers of the
Rhine, the Elbe, and the Main, were
in full force at Washington; and de-
manded that this Government (whOse
resources are beyond computation and
whose credit had never been question:
ed) should give a sort of personal mort
gage on the revenue duties to secure
the payment of interest on the bonds
and to create a sinking fund for the
final payment of the bond. The pow
er of this influence was such that the
Government of the United States ca
pitulated, submitted. and allowed it.
self to be snubbed into this chatte
mortgage on its revenues, and into re-
pudiating It's own money for its own
dues. Disgracefui as it was, the pres