The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1878-05-24
Continued.

Our metal money could not be com pared
to even drop in bucket fall of water that
was required for our gigantic struggle. To
illustrate the total expenses for the year end
ing July the lst, 1852 before the war, were
SS3,757, ,5ll l.57 and the expenses since the
war, for the year ending June 3Oth, 1865,
were 81 ,s97 GA, 224 09. The total number
of troops callel into the service were 1885,
900 men. A larger army than any single ma
tion ever commanded. And paper money
without any basis, except the peoples faith
in the Government, was sufficient without
borrowing a dollar from anv other nation,
and proved tower of strength in tn c most
critical and desperate period Of the nation 5
financial history. Greenbacks, our strongest
ally in time Of war, did not fail in giving us
prosperity unexampled, after peace was de-
clared, as every laborer had plenty of work
and plenty with which to ft ID and clothe his
family. The furnaces brilliant as Vesuv us,
famed night and day. JOY, peac, and plen =
ty smiled upon and blessed every neghbor-
hood from the rock-bounl coast of Maine to
California no banks to break no specie ba-
sis TO delude or blast our prosperity.
The fatal suggestion is made, the shaft
was forged and dipped in the rank est poison
of despair, but it glitterel with the fiscna-
tion of gold, as it was held aloft to the gaze
of our enchanted government and we hasten
to sign the death warrant, and the law is pro-
mulgated from Washington, "Go forth aud
| slaughter the National Greenback of the Uni
| ted States" Commerce trembles, credit tot
ters, truth is shaken and faith expires. Black
clouds Of adversely hide the sun of prosperi.
ty; anguish and dishonor striking into the
heart Of the Republic; the reign of terror has
commenced, BIZ drops of sorrow are falling
and rusting the wheels of progress, and the
whirwiud of disaster is already uprooting aud
leveing the oldest me,chants, and the strong
est business houses. The tempest we invited;
| the floods We let loose with suicidal hands
have quenched the fires of thousand manu-
factories, and the innocent operatives are run
ming hither and thither wit. sunken cheeks
and starved features seeking shelter from the
storm. The banks of deposit, groaning un
der the mighty oats of wealth, are locked anC
double barred inside, while seepless sentinel
surround and pace the sidewalks outside, tC
prevent those whom they have robbed, from
taking what once belonged to them.
Mans inhumanity to man makes count
less millions mourn" Every man for him
self is the worlds motto.
The great question for our solution i,
whether greenbacks shall stand on the wealth
the resources. .and labor of the nation, or on
specie basis. Experience has decided tn
question that our national money must be pa
per resting on the wealth and conf dence O
the people, and the credit of the Unite,
States. The greenbacks have been teste,
over sixteen years, they wade d through boo
and carnage in infancy and were our saliva
ton. " hen peace came, they proved 81
ant in repairing the broken fortunes cause'
by war, building up tn, desolate places o
devastation and ruin. Every man with hi
shoulder to the wheel was busy at work Il
person seeking work, none starving for wan
of employment. Not single stumbln
block opposed our progress until the non
producing classes who govern Wall street
and control, with their vast wealth, the legis
lation Of the financial d'partment of our ma
ton, demanded tn, contraction Of greenbacks
and return to tsp,cie basis. These law
makers are not the real representatives of tn
people. These odiou' laws have been mad
for srr"',' purpose, iii favor cf inequait
and 4, eS r.3I capitalists AMI against tn
large class o'' Va KING ~ II, the business clas
ses u tlr' = ,reul lrists, who alone are tn
onE-,& producers who enrich the nation
thare been made to enable tn
ric9 : a'G, fortunes, and grind tn
pc ,'e t'p"ery Iol knpw it. you fee
it idte deprec son of your business 70
know ."at yoar lind, your labor, or you
goo'i,, VI MT sell fr fifty cents ON the do
la of t!.,i cast it sold to-day. Wait fe
mpltaa .ulgcr aud the shrnkage will oblig
yol II sill at any price, aud your hard carr
lnss vii. fail into the hands Of the rich at les
thaIa quarter of their real value. This
the cad ani AIM of the contraction policy
Greenbacks will be banisbed aud destroyed
and the old system of sState and count
banks will he re-established, resting on an in
initcsimal speck of specie as basis, unit
this fair land becomes dotted over with tw
thousand swindlng institutions, which are tn
legitimate otfsprings of money monopolist,
All know the past history of the abominabI
institutions, governed and controlled by in
human and thirsty money sharks, lendin
their notes and drawing the blood money q
usury on unredeemable paper resting on
specie basis No, on lie on perjury o
injustice on inequality on fraud
The people want no more of the frogs G
lice Of Egypt. They want greenbacks, the
want them issued by national authority frol
Washington, and no bank 10 stand betwixt tn
nation aud the people. The people want sui
iicient for the needs and demands of the il
dustries of the nation, without single ma
to stand aud demand toll, rent, interest ,usur
on the peoples money. To-day the natio
furnishes the credit, besides paying twent
millions of dollars to useless banks that stanC
f betwixt it and the people. Some may as
how many greenbacks shall be issued by til
Greenback resting on no other basis than tn
wealth, labor and credit of the nation. al
swer the business of the country will sett
the amount of greenbacks ne ,essary. Bus
ness will determine it people have as goo
reason to inquire how many postage STAMP
shall be printed No man, or set of mel
have any natural or legal power or right I
contract or enlarge, by arbitrary enactment
, the peoples currency any more than to mea,
ure the air they breathe, or prescribe II
amount of water they shall drink.