The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1878-02-21


bring down the value of labor ant
property to % per cen'. of what the,
were when that law passed, and | be
lieve there is not one business man il
five that can pay his debts, or one
property-owner in five, who has {
mortgage Oh his property, who cal
pay off his mortgage, and hardly {
debtor community in the West and
South but that will be driven to re
pudiation. 1t seems to me this moaey
class are stricken with madness ak in
the slave power, until it ended in the
destruction Of all they so blindly
sought to preserve and perpeiuate
(Great applause.)
| We have been told Gu the floor OF
Congress what an outrage it is to the
working people that they should no:
| have an honest dollar! That they
| should have taken from them ten per
cent. of their wages aud savings! Blu,
| the real tronble with the wage people
is that they have not got the one dol
lar TO lose the ten per cent. of. Iaugh-
ter and applause. Cries-'''rhat's SO. y
rbey are not much troubled abou. the
| difference between greeGbscks and
gold. The greenLack has been rising
in purchasing power until it will buy
nearly double what il would two years
ago, but their wages have been cut
down more rapidly than the green
back rose-those who have had wages
at all. (Applause.)
KEEP ON SHRINKING THE VALUE OF
PROPERTY.
on which the mortgages of cur saw
ings banks are placed, and l tell you
that within one year from this day net
one savings bank out OF five III the
United States can pay twenty five
cents on the dollar. Why, these say
$1,000, ,OOO0O0 Of deposits that viii all
be payable in gold next New Years.
Where, he asked, are they going to get
gold to pay it? daughter and ap.
plause.) lie next touched on the
question of good faith. The green
backs were issued, he said, as money
when gold aud silver had fed, (Cries
of ''The best we ever had and ''ssive
us more.'' They had been taken be-
cause they would buy goods aud pay
debts. What claim had those who
boarded greenbacks on the Govern
ment, that the people should be diven
through hell TO pay them III coin
(Applause.) Greenbacks will buy
twice as much to-day as when frs.
boarded. Isn't that enough? Mus;
the property. the happiness, the hopes
of the people be sacrificed to qnadru
pie the profits of these gentlemen?
Cat this point, 8 90 O'Clock, Ewing
showed signs OF stepping, bu, WAS .n-
couraged to proceed by shouts of Go
on.) ALI we would gain by rcsump-
ton, he said, would be paper uopey,
which would be redeemabie only in
name. 1t would necessarily be pan
ic breeding system. 1t would b. corn,
posed OF one dollar of specie tor base,
on which wonld be piled three dollars
of bank paper, and Oh top of that nine
or ten dollars of deposits-making
twelve or thirteen dollars of balk
paper and deposits combined to be re-
deemed with one dollar OF coin What
do you think of that as sound, re-
deemable currency { Applause.) w hen
that system is substituted for our pres
ent currency, every drain of ten mil
lions of coin from the banks will with
draw the base from thirty millions Of
paper and ninety millions of deposits,
and produce conyulsion if not COL
lapse. Such drains will be of frequent
recurrence, aud will rack our financial
system and our business, inflicting ir-
finite losses on the people (Applause
1t will cost us $50 millions of incress-
ed bonded debt to cancel our g:eesi-
backs when TO adopt this new system ii
we could get it without distress and
without cost. lCries OF That's SO, and
would rot have lett my
duties in Washington to come here
but for the hope that light say some
thing to arouse the masses in the East
to action in this supreme hour OF per-
il. The money power, combiaed and
confederate in three thousand corpor-
ations, backed by four CT five billions
of ready wsalth,
IGNORING THE PEOPLE,
have heretofore ruled our financial
Legislation. have doubled the bn, den
of our vast debts, public and private,
are robb;ng the masses OF their prop
er:y aud their very subsistence, 81 d
consolidating money despOtism to
rule and 10 rob them ard their child
rem for ever. UHenewcd applause J
That this power has held unques,ion
Ell sway rctotore is due TO TIC fact
that the people until now in all sec
s:ons have been absorbed with the
questions q: h~grD Suffrage, civil
rights aud reconstruction. That long
strife is over s.ow, ant: these sectional
questions iaye been settled precisely
as they would haze been ten years ago
if this apple Of d:scor.l had not been
cast among the people by the cunning
hand which sought 10 distract only TO
rob them. The act OF ls66. under
which tie mass OF cur naiiona! de5t
was converted from interest bearing
treasury notes distributed annrg the
people, and serving the double pur-
pose of Investment and currency into
long bonds with interes. payable in
coin, was enacted by the money pow
er While the pcOpie sleUt The act OF