Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-04-06

I debt of the United States nOt
amounts to $1,726.000, 900. Abou
0ne-forth Of this Is held IN Europe
the residue in this c9untry. The In
T terest Of this enormous sum come
, out of the pockets of the American
/ people and Is paid serni-annually II
gold. This draft upon us has beer
|, going on for over thirteen years
, At the close ef the war very mucl
, of this vast amount was iil this
/, hands OF the people as money---thal
Is, it was in the shape Of the Gov
ernnaent's promises TO pay at /
future time, and was among ths
people themselves, by the laws O
the Government which paid Il 4
them, made receivable for debls
due from man to man Il was re
ceived, treated and considered ~
money, and every business man
made his calculations and confOrnl-
ed his operations 10 tire existence Ol
! this sort of currency Il was what
he was glad to get, and was az
i gladly received. in payment from
him by those he owed tho people
at large had equal confidence in It.,
and manifested their trust In It by
the pet name they gave it, Green
backs, Patriotism aud business In
terest were equally satisfied with it,
and nobody wanted anything bet
ter. But the finantiers and monied
people of this country thought
there was too much Of q good
thing" so at the instigation OF such
men as Jay Cooke 4 Co., the Re
publican party iuaugurated set Of
measures which little by little con-
verted five hundred millions Of this
money of the people, which paid
debts, built houses, made railroads,
bought goods, hired labOrers. ETC.,
etc, into these bonds and burnt the
greenbacks up, and now the people
of the United States instead OF hav-
ing these promises Of the Govern
ment i'm the shape OF IS, $40, S3Onnd
$50 in currency to pass from hand
to hand in their daily transactions,
must pay interest on the bonds into
which they were merged.
More than this, the Government
said to the capitalists, give us q
thousand dollars In 'greenbacksp
forat thousand dollar interest-pllying
bond, and get q hundred others 20
do so and your company or clab OF
monied men shall not only draw the
interest on the bonds but you may
put out your own notes and make
them a circulating medium for the
people and draw bank interest from
every dollar you loan out Of your
notes, and the Government will en-
dorse your promises SO that the
people will take them, exactly rs III
they were money. They dignified
this plan for plundering the people
by styling Il the National Bank
system, when the Nation have no
more interest in it than they have
in the money making plans of any
other sharp set Of money Lenders.
Again, whilst this absorption OF
currency was going on the times
continued flush and business pros
porous and money was plenty and
the people did not see any decrease
in the currency or I'm the money ON
hand in the country. The real
fact was, however, that the vacuum
which would have been made by
this withdrawal and conversion was
prevented by the influx Of foreign
capital, which poured over to this
country to be invested In State, ,muni-
cipal, railroad and other bonds for
instances the $40, 600, 900 borrowed
by Cincinnati and expended In part
ly building road to the village at
the foot of Lookout Mountain.
The amount Of money borrowed
in London on American securitiess-
,Nl. 4. q
years ending with 1874 is reckoned
at $50, 900, 900 per year, whilst the am
nual average derived for the same
period from Holland and the Com
tinent is estimated at sl25, 900, 900.
But this source of supply was very
suddenly stopped, when, In 1876, it
was found that Of the securities thus
takenin the old world sixty-fOur
per cent, had made default IN the
payment of the annual interest.
The cessation OF this influx leaves
the country without the supply Of
of what passes as money, wherewith
to liquidate Immediate present and
pressing demands among the people,
but the tax -gatherer Is inexOrable;
he stands at every port Of entry ia
the United States, aud demands the
dues i'm gold, almost before the ves-
sells are moored 10 the wharves, aud
holds the imports in pledge under
lock and key until "the utterrnOst
farthing" the Government requires
for its bOndhOlders shall be paid. uu.
1t is this legislation by the Re
publican party which has produced
the existing state of things and
brought upon the country at the
present day such widespread stag
nation Of trade, shrinkage Of values,
cessation Of enterprise, and finan-
cial embarrassment Ia general,
which IS breaking our nierchants,
bankrupting our traders, and bring
ing wreck and ruin upon the whole
country, .'-..t.......
1t behoves Our people to be up
and doing; to investigate the acts
of their rulers in the past decade !;
to learn exactly what they have
been about /; how they, have con-
Quoted the affairs Of tho govern
ment what course Of policy they
have initiated for the management
and control Of the mighty interests
involved in the administration Of
the great corporation which draws
from them annually theathpendous
sums necessary to pay the interest
ON these billions of Indebtedness
and to ascertain the errors into
which for Ignorance, inexperience
or other cause, they have fallen.
Having done this il rests with the
people themselves TO apply the
remedy. But in doing tfifs, there
Is no time for delay. The Repub-
lican Party has driven the ship OF
State from its true course. The
breakers Of financial distress are
inst ahead those who have done
the mischiefare readyih desperation
to seek their own safety by aband-
oning the vessel TO fits fate but N
the people will initiate the tradi-
tiOnal example of our fathers aud
fright themselves from the long
train of abuses" which have been
practised under radical rule, and
inauguratinga new and better iinan-
cial policy, discard the erroneous
ideas of the financial empires
brought into power by the Repub-
licans, all may vet be well and the
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