The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1878-09-12

The Antl-1
the government of the many, the many must
be intelligent, virtuous and patriotic. or the
republic dies; and intelligence, virtue and
patriotism are only possible with prosperity.
But it will be said government does not create
prosperity, and cannot prevent poverty So it
was at one time believed that plague and
pestilence were visitations of God. Now it is
conceded they are the outgrOwth of mans
ignorance of the laws of life. In a land like
the United States, blessed with Astounding fer
tility. raising annually immense crops of food,
with inexhaustible mines and forests and great
water ways and railways. and thinly inhabited
by an enterprising, industrious people. uni
versal prosperity should prevail. Instead of
this hundreds of thousands of our people are
to-day in want; immigration has almost ceased;
we are overwhelmed with debt, national, cor
porate, municipal and personal; borne down
by endless taxation; the products of our pro-
life soil are sent abroad by the hundreds of
millions. only to pay the interest on our debts;
and the labor population, heretofore our
of greatness, has become
a source Of terror, and men feel that society
hangs trembling on the verge of a bottomless
abyss.
We all recognize the symptoms of the dis
ease; what was its cause and what is its cure?
THE DOLLAR ABOVE TIE MAN.
THIS nation has, for ten gears past, been goU-
e'1sed By and in the interest Of the non-producers
and at the expense Of the producing classes. The
men who have brought these great calamities
on the country did not, probably. intend or
foresee them. They simply grasped power to
aggrandize themselves; and the people their
attention diverted bv sectional passions>. have
In all this broad land we have set the rights
of the dollar above the rights Of the man, and
the result is. wealth fourishes and mankind
has gone to the wall.
When the great civil war came the govern
ment laid its hands on its citizens and forced
them to the front, to be shot down. perhaps, in
| battle; but it shrank back in horror from the
| tn ught of laying its hands on money. The
| dollar was more sacred than human life. The
widow might weep over her dead and the SOL
| diers' orphan might cry for food but the CAPT.
| talist smiled over his counter as he dictated
| terms to the government.
| The bonds of the United States were sold for
| greenbacks and bank notes worth. at a gold
valuation, an average of forty cents on the dol
| lar. The $40 bonds constituting the great
| bulk of the debt were silent as to the terms of
| the payment of their principal, whether in coin
| or lawful money of the United States. John
Sherman said In 1869:
of money with which he bought the bonds, he is an
extortioner and repudiator."
Thadeus Stevens said:
"when the bin was on its final passage, tho ques-
man Of the committee of WAYS
snd means, and as expressly answered by him, that
only the interest was payable in CON-.
Oliver P. Morton said:
eve should do foul injustice to the government
apd to the people of the United States after we have
| sold these bonds on an average for not more than
60 cents on the dollar now to propose to make new
Yet in spite of all this, and much similar tes-
timony, in February, 1869, Congress passed an
act to make these bonds payable in coin. The
vote in the House stood, yeas 121. nays 6O-and
among the nays you will find my vote recorded
This act added hundreds of millions to the
public debt clear gift and donation to the
bOndholders, out of the pockets of the people.
But this was not enough. In 1872 and 1873
Congress, by secret and obscure legislation,
without the knowledge or consent of the people,
passed two acts which declared in effect that
silver coin. which had been recognized as money
from the foundation of the government, and in
fact, from the foundation of human civiliza-
ton, Was no longer money in the United States
for any sum over IS. This terrible act, the
result of a general conspiracy of great capital
lists, extending over many nations at one blow
swept out of general use one-half the metallic
currency of those nations and thereby doubled
tuC puICuhSAuk pOWcI VI GOlu, Dy 6uT1Okl0R
correspondingly the value of all forms of
property. real and personal, and decreasing the
value of labor. Money, which should be a
mere instrument of exchange. became the
master of society and the executioner of pros
perity.
Nothing is clearer in the history of the
world than the fact that those periods
when money is increasing in quantity
and decreasing in value are periods of growth
development and prosperity; wealth grows
civilization expands, the slave rises to liberty
and the human mind acquires new power over
the forces of nature. When on the contrary
money decreases in quantity it increases in
shrink in value. enterprise fails, business alag
mates. industry starves and even the intellect
of the age becomes pAr.lyzed.
Strabo the Roman historian, refers us to
the statement of Polybins that in his time the
gold mines near Apulia were productive that
the value of gold Was reduced one-third in Rome.
The world then knew era Of great growth
and prosperity. When Roman civiiix Gtion fell
the mines we've abandoned. The whole amount
of gold In all Europe was reduced to ESQ co.,
600; and for thousand years the
human mind made not one step
of America gold poured into Europe from
Peru ana Mexico at the rate of = quarter of .
million per annum. and the world rose from its
long dark sleep Of ages into IN era OF unexam-
pied material growth and mental activity. The
vast metallic treasures Of California, ut a
later period. bad much to do With
the marvellous development Of the world
in these later years; while the large
issue of paper money consequent upon
our civil war gave our country An absolute
growth in towns, cities, farms, factories. rail-
roads. and even new Statea and Territories, un-
paralleled even in our extraordinary history
Then commenced. under the dictation of
NJ n snddc,, md f~xrsbl> sh~srk,~. A.
high Republican authority. the Chicago later
OrsaD of the 18th ultimo. furnishes IA the fol-
lowing table:
Amount
Year Currency. Population. pr capita
1865. -.sl 65l. 3S2 80 3l.Sls.5S1 ol7.Sz
1885,. l.6B 702 SIS 85S7ll8 SO76
1S6; 1 44O l1A SIT Qca g.