The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1878-01-23

| to do business on specie basis? Is there any
i new fountain of gold, pouring forth Increased
volumes, from which our parched and Scanty
resources may be replenished?
are drying up; their streams are dimin ishing;
| no wizards rod can smite the earth and indi-
= cate where new supplies Will break forth. But
the requirements of the government for gold
constitute but a small portion of the demand.
] The American people at this time are
Enormously in debt-more than any other
: ate and municipal debts of all kinds,
I, snd their private debts to each other, have
| been variously estimated at from six to ten
4 thousand million dollars. Every dollar of this
vast Indebtedness will call for gold coin after
| people to obtain sufficient gold with which to
| pay their debts and transact their business?
The question Is one that may well terrify
every man who owes his neighbor anything,
| for there is not now, and never has been at
any one time, enough gold In circulation as
| money on the whole face of the earth To meet
this demand. II, therefore, specie payments
are in reality to be resumed In January, 1873,
| the government has yet to destroy st least
| two-thirds of its present paper circulation,
ana the people on this reduced basis. and un-
der the gold standard alone win be compelled
| to meet their debts and their taxes, which
have undergone no diminution.
Sir, here the bad faith of this
Of its citizens culmina.es. To the people in
debt the destruction of their money Is the
virtual increase OF their indebtedness TO the
extent of the money destroyed. If man
makes a contract to pay 500 on given day,
/ and has just that sum of money in his possess
sion at the date of the contract, he is doing
business securely. If, however so are taken
from him by force, and he Is left TO meet his
contract on one-half the amount needed, his
bankruptcy necessarily follows. The Ameri-
can people were supplied with one amount of
| currency on which to control debts, both pub
another and far smaller amount with which
| to pay them. They entered into all their
existing obligations with comparatively
plenty Of money in their hands. By the laws
of this government now they are first to be
deprived of one-half their money, and then
required to pay every obligation In full. The
national debt was contracted on the basis of
imitation, and is to be paid on the narrowest
basis of the most mercileSs contraction. A
thousand dollar bond, for which only $500 In
gold was realized by the government, in its
distress, at the time of its issue, has now to be
dollars In gold by the taxpayers. The farmer
who bought land with deferred payments: the
mechanic who purchased a house and lot and
made mortgage for the balance OF the pur-
chase money; the business man who uses his
credit as a part of his capital, have all
found the weight OF their obligations large
ly increased by being deprived of the means
OF meeting them. They must be met, how
ever, and property itself, in the absence of
money, changes hands from the debtor
to the creditor classes in payment of
debts. 1t changes HANDS, too, at such reduced
values that the business man is sold out and
closed up, and homes are swept away, often
for the want of very small sum or money.
Since the act demonetiztng silver, supple
mented as IL mas been by the act for forced
resum ption of specie payments, the property
OF the people of the United States has shrunk
not less than IS per cent. in value. What
could be sold for 500 five years ago can be
bought now for S65 on an average all over the
country. This is a criminal confscation of
$1,000, 10000 when the estimate is applied to
every state and section alike. In this vast
shrinkage OF all values, arising from the
found the immediate cause of that general
bankruptcy and ruin which now ill the land
with the sound of falling business houses,
anna han
and the lamentations OF the poor who have
been robbed of their hard earnings and of the
opportunity TO earn more. Under the influ-
ence of this policy nearly forty thousand bust
ness failures have taken place in this country
since February, 1873, with liabilities amount
Ing In the aggregate To over Sl,OOO,OOU,UOO. The
heart sickens in thinking for a moment of the
sorrows, the broken hearts, the shattered
hopes, the suicides which these figures repre-
sent. II the policy of this government has
been TO infiict the greatest misery on the
greatest number its success has been complete.
1t is iDvain to attribute such widespread disas-
tiers to other causes. We sometimes hear them
ascribed to what liz vaguely styled overprO-
duc III, would gladly know what Is meant
Is IL that we OverprOduce? Is there too much
food, clothing, and other necessities of life?
Has the soil yielded too much wheat, corn,
hay, cotton, sugar, rice? The producer is one
who creates wealth, and overpfoducIlon would
therefore signify too great an amount of
wealth. II will be hard to convince sane
mind that an overflow Of wealth is the cause
of depression and gloom, of financial calami-
laborers praying. and praying In vain, for the
privilege, enoe afforded 10 slaves, of working
for the bare means OF subsistence; The mis-
sion OF wealth produced by toll from the
bosom of the earth Is far different from this.
Unless deprived of its natural functions by
pernicious laws 1t brings abundant happiness
70 people and establishes smiling content In
their midst
But the cause most commonly assigned by
the authors of our financial policy for Its bale
ful effects on the business and labor of the
country is that the currency has been and is
yet in an inflated condition, and that real
prosperity can only be attained by its reduc-
ton to the gold basis. The evils of imitation
have been painted in the darkest colors for
years past, and on all occasions. am not an
infiatfonist in any sense that would disturb
the true Interest of O. ade and commerce, nor
would 1t ever be necessary to discuss the ques-
ton at all. II the cOntractionist had only been
willing to let the volume of our currency
remain at the point where the country
A comparison between the periods when
our paper circulation was greatest and the
years OF contraction which have followed, is
crashing 10 the advocates OF the latter policy.
During the whole four years of 1858, 1864, 1855,
and 1885, when the volume OF our currency av-
eraged over thousand millions, the business
failures OF the country reached only 2,l67-leSs
In number than occurred in any three months
of the year juss closed. Is this argu-
lation Of money! During the period
which is now stigmatized as one of in
fiation the windows of business houses
were not darkened, and business men did not
go as mOurners about the streets. The labOrer
did not go home without bread to his wife
and children. helpless millions did not cover
and tremble at the approach of winter for lack
o: food and shelter; the public peace was not
broken by riots In resistance TO starvation
wages; the courts were not principally
pied in enforcing collections foreolosing mort
cages, ordering sheriff sales or In
Furnishing the destitute and outcast. These
are some things which did not taKe place.
Others that did are equally striking. Good
wages and good prices stimulated every labor
ing mans muscle, every business mans brain,
and every power of machiner into the high
est and most productive activity. Hope and
encouragement was In every heart. New
| farms were bought and cultivated; new work.
shops were opened; new manufactures were
established; new towns and cities were found
| ed, and old ones expanded and improved; new
| railroads were built, giving employment
| 10 millions, and bringing the remot-
immediate contact with trade and civil.
nation; new mines Of coal. iron and silver