The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1878-01-31
S 200 Per Annum.

! parentage.- and linked together for the
destruction of all money save gold. He
/ vividly portrayed the effect of such leg
] fslation upon business and labor. He
spoke of the impossibility OF resuming
| January, 1879, and attributed the vast
| shEinkage in the value of property and
| universal distress to tha policy of com
traction, and said during the four years
when the volume of currency averaged
81 ,000, ,000, 600 the business failures of
| the entire country reached only ,16z,
less IN number than occurred In apy
| three months of the year just closed.
During the period which is now stigma
TIED as one of imitation, the windows of
business houses were not darkened, and
business men did not so as mouTners
about the streets The laborer did not go
home without bread to his wife and chill
dren. Helpless millions did not cover
and tremble at the approach of winter
for lack of food and shelter. The public
peace was not broken by riots IL resist
| ance to starvation wages The courts
were not principally, occupied in en-
forcing collections, foreclosing mort
cages, ordering sheEiffgs sales, or In Pun-
ishing the destitute outcast.-
The speaker Eext turned bis attention
tenn of national banking row in use is the
most elaborate and complete scheme for
making people pay tribute 70 wealth,
in erder to obtain circulating medium,
ever known in the financial history of the
world. There is not dollar in the
hands of the people on which they have
not paid tax for the privilege of having
it put in circulation by the government.
The national bank is the middle-man be-
tween the government and the people, ;
and is enormously paid for doing what
the government ought directly to do
itself. On Oct. 1, 1877, there were 2, $50
national banks, with resources of ST.
741 900, 900, and on these resources the
interest paid by the people was $780,
0O0, 600 per annum. lI3 he1 81
Mr.. Voorhees, said he represented those
who demanded
1. The restoration of the silver dollar
exactly as it stood before it was touched
by the act of February, 1873 They
desire that it shall have unlimited cCin-
age, not fearing that it will become too
plenty for their wants, and that it be
made full legal tender, believing that
it is as good now with which to pay all
debts, public and private, as it was dur
ring eighty-one years of American his
tory.
+ g The repeal Internationally of the
act of Jan. II, 1875, compelling the re-
sumption OF specie payments on Jan. 1,
1879, holding that the question of re-
turn TO a specie basis for our currency
should be controlled entirely by the busi-
ness interests of the country. They do
not believe that the country should be
dragged through the depths of ruin,
wretchedness, and degradation in order
to reach gold standard for the benefit
alone of the income classes.
3. That the national banking system
be removed, and circulating medium
provided by the government for the
people without taxing them for the priv
ilege of obtaining it, and they ask that
the amount thus placed IN circulation
shall bear q reasonable and iudicious
proportion TO the business transactions
and population of the United States
- 4. That the currency authorized and
circulated on the authority of the gov
eminent shall be made legal tender in
payment of all debts, public or private,
including all dues to the government,
well knowing that it viii be at par with
gold, or mora likely at q premium over
it; and, . - @i =
5. That hereafter the financial policy
of the country be framed permanently
III bkACh AAbSACoOy Ltdb NHCJ Sudll uOE De
Disseminated against in future legisla-
ton, as in the past, and that their pros
perity and not the mere growth of in
come to retired capitalists, shall be the
primary duty Of the government. 5'
In conclusion, Mr. Voorhees, quoted
from articles he had noticed in certain
eastern newspapers in regard 20 the rights
of the bOndhOlders, the duty OF the
laboring classes, and the policy that
should be pursued by capitalists to couIk
teract the effects of anticipated Iegisla-
tion on the silver question, and said Sir,
/ have no word of menace to utter on
this floor, but, in behalf of every laborer
and every owner of soil whom / repre-
sent, warn all such as value their in
vestments that when these doctrines of
despotism are sought TO be enforced, this
fair land will again be cenVulsed in agony,
aud the fires of liberty will blaze forth
again as they did 100 years ago in the
defense of the natural rights of man.
May the wisdom of our fathers and be-
nightly of our God avert such an issue;
but, it it shall come, If infatuation has
seized our councils, the result will only
add one more instance to the long cata-
logue of human crime and folly, where
avarice, like ambition, overleaps itself
and in its unholy attempt to rob others
of their possessions loses its own.