The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1878-04-18

vidual promise to redeem in money
that is sovereign; promise oftener
broken than kept. TWAS 4 perpetual
shuttlecock flying between certainty
and uncertainty. with the uncertainty
as certain as individual unreliahility.
The greenback has killed it. The ma
ton has declared that it will rely on
the action; the people that they will
rely on the people. The greenback
is the symbol Of the nations faith and
of the nations sovereignty. 1t is
money of the people, proclaimed by
the people as the type of their sover-
eign independence ofall mere individ-
ual responsibility. One has only to
trace the history of the purposes OF
rede mption Of individual money to
find the curse and the tyranny OF the
system. We have rid ourselves of
the slavery Of it's eternal oppression.
This is the new departure. 1t is the
nations new Declaration Of Independ-
ence against the long catalogue of the
wrongs of capital and it's crimes, its
usurpatiOns, it's barOnial feudalities,
it's moneyed missionaries, its damna-
| bic usuries, and it's mOnopoliZed COM
pounding of interest and taxes. Let
us stand by this new departure-the
sovereignty of the greenback as mon
ey--living to defend it, battling to
sustain it, and revolutionizing, if
necessary, to make it permanent rs the
nation, and uni, ersal as the people.
But in denouncing the principle of a
money issue which requires redemp-
ton, let us see and comprehend what
redemption is.
Redemption has been the weapon
of the banker. 1t has been his in
strument of tyranny, his means of
crushing, and, therefore, his instru-
ment of torture. New York has been
the centre of the nation; Boston the
centre of New England; Philadelphia,
the centre of Pennsylvania. The old
theory was that the country bankers
must redeem their bills as they accu-
mulated in these centres, and failure
of credit. SO long us the bill of the
country bank was redeemed at these
centres it was regarded rs good and
current, less the cost of redemption
at these cities. This difference under
/ the old gold-basis system, was called
exchange. Nominally if intended to
represent the cost of transferring the
bin to New York from st. Louis,
| New Orleans, Cincinnati, Chicago,
Cleveland, or Buffalo, or any other
point. and getting it changed into cur.
rent funds, the equivalent of gold;
really it meant not only the cost of
the exchange, but the risk run by the
exchanges of the sOlvency Of the bank
whose money was to be exchanged.
| This exchange varied with sections,
cities, states, and communities. 1t
Initiated from a quarter or an eighth
of one per cent ZIP to three, four, and
five, and ten per cent i'll ordinary
times. 1t was alwaysa crushing bur
len upon the producer rs well rs the
consumer, The city banks held the
county banks as their subjects. They
had the power to sweep down
upon them whenever they could
accumulate their bills in sufficient
quantities to make it an object to do
so. If Il country bank was strong
and il money was plenty. then the
! New York banks would use the cur
rency. and not retain tt for redemp-
ton; but u bank showed the slightest
signs of weakness-that is, if in the
desire of its officers to accommodate
manufactures. merchants, and dealers
it discounted freely, and paid out its
own hills-it always ran the risk of
having its currency find its way to
the money centres, and through. the
bankers there. to u demand for re-
demption in New York city funds or
gold, and they had to be ready or they
had to fail.
This system of redemption WAS es.
sential for the safety of the lenders,
or redemption houses 1T the centre $;
for as the circulation of the coun y
banks was based on bonds and mort T.
ges. and the individual liability of ie
stockholders. the security was always
uncertain, and therefore all credit had
to be based on the promptness with
which the redemptions We're made. Ii
was an endless curb on bank accommo
dationS: it was an endless uncertainty
and therefore the system always lack
ed that positive stability which Gre
ates certainty. the mother of conf
dence. \ customer applying for u dis
count was met with the excuse: THE
New York banks compel us to redeem
weekly. and we rever know when W,
are safe. This enabled the banker
to require. first, that the paper should
be short; second. that it should be
made payable in New York: and
third, that it should be paid in drafts
purchased of the discounting bank il
New York. at the regular rates of ex
change. The system was vexatious
expensive. and uncertain. but il
brought gristS to the mill of the great
redeeming houses and to the banks
The national currency known a.
| greenbacks is free from Ill these com
plicaiions. for it redeems itself. 1t i:
money. The national bank issues ar,
still subject to the old curse -they
have TO redeem in greenhscks or il
gold. and it affords the banker the ar
gument by which he can magnify tn,
power ofhis money. 1t is this system
of divided and diversed liability. rest
ing on individual passions. abilitie
and strength. which is the curse o
the national bank currency: and jus