The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1879-05-28
VOLUME XIII,

3 - AttaA sitli Z charge would
I rily require.
What then should be done with the nine
hundTed millions Of [ nited States Treasury notes
,il now should they be disseminated among
uie people SO that the greatest good NAV he
I conferred on the greatest number
ana very frank in saving that / aui utterly
! ''iSi.5 anu enphaucaliy, opposed making
large appropriations 10 works Of internal inn
/ proveinent ia Mississippi or any where else a. a
means OF relieving the monetary distress Of the
country The remedy docs not reach the scat
o. me disease In fact, II il almost absurd at
/ 20 give one man a banquet 10 appease another
Inan's hunger.
would apply the remedy directly to a yisi
DE disease, or give food directly 10 the hungry
/ II q man had a boil his nose, / would not
/ treat MN Tor supposed govt IN the stomach
ana u he complained Of hunger, / should con
sIder II down right mockery To give some one Z.
uihner and tell him 10 appease his appetite on
were obsequious.
The ides, of voting hundreds Of million of
dollars to great works OF internal Improvement,
WIN the view 81 appeasing the popular demand
/ Tor profitable labor does not square with my
idea Of justice IN "A Republican Government.
The people are not dogs, to look longingIv on.
and Puck up crumbs from the masters table.
imperial France under Napoleon, Third,
adorned, and beautfed Paris az enormous ex-
Pense, not because Paris needed adjoining and
beautitying but as it said 10 give employ
ment TO the people. The real object To
strengthen the Empire by keeping the turbu-
lent element IN the country, quiet. There il
no such element in our country. There is,
therefore, no reason Tor applying any such
remedy.
The farmers starving in the midst of plen-
tyi they get no adequate reward for their labor,
ana the proposition l. To- spread splendid
banquet for great corporations, companies, and
associations To be paid for by the toiling mil-
nous and II anything is left after the lords have
Toasted then the servants may come in.
propose to reverse all this. The producers
are the lords the consumers are LbstT servants.
II j, nice business that these great contractors
should have their millions OF the peoples
money, and the people who make the money
be told ''you may have little of II back if YOU
will work for it,"
] am not opposed to internal improvements.
far from it. On the contrary, | am Tor them,
a. the hund-maids of commerce, and the pro-
meters of general prosperity. But when pro-
posed in form that suggests the idea of jobs
that is schemes by which few may grow
rich, and the millions get only what they work
for, reject them as great national swindies,
and as~asain- of public morals.
But pardon me, must postpone what have
Co say on this and some other subjects, until !
yet through with the currency.
have no patience with any man, or with any
party, that proposes to flood the country with
irredcemablo promises To pay, or what is just
bad, promises with no fixed time for redemp-
ton, and no adequate means provided Tor their
redemption, even in the distant future.
private individual who puts his notes on
the market in that manner and in that spirit is
generally considered Il sWindler. And know
Of no reason founded on ethics common hon
eSty why a Government should be exempt from
that rule
1t has been said that whatever the Govern
iuent declares to be money is money. Let
test the soundncss of that theory. It declares
soft soap To be money; says a pound Is
I q dollar, and makes il legal tender in
the payment OF debts. \ Senator or RcpreSen-
tative in Congress is entitled to a salary of five
thousand dollars per annum. Do you think he
would be willing 10 take five thousand pounds
! OF soft soap And il he lad contracted tailor
!. Of l.t
paid in dollars, do Won think he could soft
soap" his creditors out of their honest ducs?
! Then how many pounds of fiat money that
il soft soap, would it take to buy dollar in gold
or "A gold dollars worth OF anything else. We
had "a trial ot Ibis sort OF hnaueiern@ in the lat
ter DAYS OF the Coqfederacy While our armies
were yet i'm the field, bui when the tide of bat
/ tie set strong against rs, flour sold in Richmond
| for twelve hundred dollars a barrel 1t could
have been readily bought far five dollars in sill
yer But You say the tonlederaoy was totter-
| ing and almost ready to fall. True, bur there
was the " fiat. People were ordered to take
! d" Confederate notes, or take nothing. They
/ did take them, hut at what rates? Flood the
/ country again with irredeemahlc paper; issue Il
] Government " fiat sort of imperial edict that
the people shall take it. and they will take it,
but at what rates. That is the question.
Have we so soon forgotten that the col
! lossal fortunes of the bioated bond-holders p
were made by buying I. = bonds with currency,
when it tool, one hundred and fifty, two hundred
/ nearly three hundred cents in greenbacks to buy
SINGLE dollar SILVER or GOlu Innate tllt cur
reucy again out of All proportion to your ability
/ To- paw and ne shall have all these scenes over
again. Pay day will come by and by, then we
| shall have distress worse than We have IL now
| Fail to pay entirely, and your credit viii 90 out
! like that of the Confederate States. Plenty Of
money for little while, and then none az all
/ When it is too late, we will find that we have
/ indeed killed the goose to get the golden egg.
| Coin is money. Paper is its representative,
! dollar for dollar, Just long it is convert
able Al the viii Of the holder. When it loses
! that quality II becomes commodity for sale III
/ the market Just like Il ward OF calico, spool OF
thread. pound of soap, anything else, and
! all the " flats" Congress or any other Legis-
| iative body ever issued or can issue can make
nothing more of il.
Paper money 50 called, has no appreciate
intrinsic value. Its value consists in its repre-
sentative quality. ii a million dollars of gold
or silver is sunk in mid ocean the world is poor
| er by that amount. But if the same amount in
! paper money Is burned in contlagration the
! world has lost nothing. The persons who held
! il NAV have lost and the bank, State, or corpor-
] alton that issued il may have gained, but the
! general wealth has neither been diminished or
decreased
If ANYTHING Is to be made by accidents like
these, or other causes which prevent the return
| of paper money for redemption, let the Govern
ment in which we all have an equal interest,
max it.
! | am poiatedlv, positively, and emphatically
! opposed to all natiogal other Incorporated
| hanks Besides being of doubtful constitutional
] creation they impose burthens which the labor
OF the party ought not TO bear, and are OF no use
! TO ans one except the favored few in whose
! special interest they are generally managed 1t
] cannot be shown that the owner OF a GoNern-
! ment bond has a Just right to hold II exempt
! from taxation, deposit it III the Treasury, draw
Interest on it. issue what are called National
/ Bank noieS; dFa2 interest on them mt a heavy
rate, and still have abe faith and credit of the
! Nation pledged for the final redemption of such
| notes This is intoerable But when look
al the practical working OF these pilfering shops
LII hast al heir
! content to draw interest from the Government
on their bonds and interest again on their notes,
set atioat as money, TINS getting double interest
! for any real money they may have, they deny
an credit 10 the labOring masses, put their notes
/ which theS gall money, in the hands of special
! agents who dole lht4 ont To the people at an
other and additional heitg rae = interest. SO
| that we find in practice, while the GOFetGmegt
| is borrowing hundreds of millions of dollars at
| four per cent interest the laboring man, through
! The laundering or something worse of that same
/ tt.ernment. Is paying at an average rate OF Ger
| tainly nai les than twenty per cent.
! Can any Agricultural aeople on the face OF the
earth prosper and pay such etlpkInous rates OF
| INTEREST," Here is where the trouble lies, elll
| 1-asentlv point to the remedy 6ou want dheap
! nI,ooe.- and | shall undertake to show you when
and where and how it can be obtained For the
present | must deal with other points
| If am not already 50 understood, allow me
20 saw in explicit terms that | am opposed To
! making United States Treasury notes or any
| other sort of notes a legal tender in
I paNtaFDt of debts. Ii conNerIDte al ali hAS
| mo eois as they should be, there can be
| ~ necessity Ior declaring them by act OF
Congress equal 10 coih; NlliSh, = my Judgment,
| Is the currency, and the Only currency 81 the
| Sonstiution Ifpaper Il used as money, II NM q
! he 81 used by common consent and for general
! mile convenience. Not by Legislative com
| mand. I.
| r;gbt 70 make ANYTHING bat gold and silver q le-
- tander in pavment of debts they may have
meant 10 imply that the Federal Government in
| '.h.r o,-ernowering emergencies, might do
~ II the ,.ss e. exists at all it is only by I'M,