Morning journal and courier., 1880-10-18

! who has capital or who is dependent upon I capital. We give some of them for the ben ! eft of our readers who do not see the Re Cteao.
 A transfer of power from the party which
 has so completely restored the public credit
 to the party by which it was so completely
 wrecked would naturally cause serious alarm.
 The time has long pasBed-if, indeed, it ever
 existed-when only few wealthy men would
 have suffered from blow at the public cred it. The "bloated bondholder'' has become | the average American voter. great num-
 Der of persons are now affected directly and
 much greater number indirectly, but per
 sonally, by every rise or fall in the value of government securities, while any considera-
 ble change would affect every branch of in- dustry and trade and nearly every lender or
 borrower, laborer or employer, in the whole land.
 1 Checks have just been sent to 58, GOO per- sons for quarterly interest registered 4 per cents alone. The coupon bonds are still
 more widely distributed, so that at least 20O,-
 900 persons are probably affected directly as
 holders of bonds. Taking into consideration
 the bonds held by national banks, State
 banks, loan and trust companies, ife-insur-
 ance companies fire and marine and casualty insurance companies, in all not less than ! 4,OOO,O GOO persons are interested either per-
 sonally or through corporations, as owners I of bonds, and would be directly affected by 8
 decline in the public credit.
 The disastrous effects of serious decline would be far more extensive. By the corpo-
 rations mentioned about $2 ,OOO, GOO, 900 are l now loaned for the support of various branches of trade and industry, viz, by
 national banks, $1,oOO, 900, 900; by State banks, $2oo, 100000; by savings banks, $42O, 900, GOO; by loan and trust companies. l $65, ,OOO, GOO; by life insurance companies, ! $2OO, 900, 900; and by fire and marine insur- ance companies doing business in New York, l $50, 900, GOO. Shrinkage of public credit would involve shrinkage of the assets of these corporations, and correspop ling and possibly sudden and sweeping, contraction of | their loans. To merchants in their stores to l manufacturers in their factories, to workmen | in their shops and mills and mines, the con- sequences would be not less disastrous than I to the reluctant capitalists or lenders. Never yet has this country seen financial revulsion as terrible and as far-reaching in its conse- quences as would now result from a collapse of that splendid public credit which wise legislation and faithful administration have for twelve years been building up and forti- flying.
 The danger is not that this thing will be deliberately done When 6 captain wrecks his ship by want of knowledge, defective charts, inattention or bad judgment, he may have had no intention to peril his own life and the lives of all on board, But the Demo cratic party has been exposing the public ! credit to peril year after year, ever since the war, until conservative men, who do not question it's honesty of purpose, have became profoundly apprehensive that it's success would cause great financial, commercial and industrial disasters. At times it's charts have been bad it has insisted upon most perni- cious theories. At times it's chosen leaders | have erred through incompetence or lack of practical knowledge. At times many of its I representatives have seemed ready to expose ] the public credit and the business of the country to the gravest dangers for the sake of temporary success in some election. Since 1860 the course of that party has never tend ed to inspire confidence in it's capacity or fit ness for financial management, as it's friends have perceived with keen regret.
 Who can tell what the Democratic party, if in power, would do with regard to the pay ment of the public debt or the interest there on? Not few members of that party insist
 that the principal or interest or both, shall Ia only &0 hot 1 | now pending and have been pushed at every 1 session of Congress for years
 Within one year bonds to the amount of $697 1850, 600 became payable or redeemable Every effort to meet them by refunding has been defeated by the Democratic majority in Congress, in spite of earnest appeals by the Secretary of the Treasury. Bills for the pay ment of all the bonds which mature or be- come redeemable next year by @ new issue of greenbacks are now pending in Congress and are zealously supported by many Democrats. ] In Indiana, Ohio and other western States the Democratic party is striving to convince voters that it is more heartily devoted to this | plan of payment than the Grsenback party itself If it should succeed at all in the con- | ing election 1t can succeed only by the votes of men who are led to expect the passage of 1 such measure as the price of their support Who can tell how soon the best banking system this country has yet seen would be destroyed if the Democraic party should succeed :? There is scarcely any other pur- pose in which that party has been so nearly 1 united as in the purpose to get rid of the tional banks. The very name national is offensive to those who cling to State-rights l traditions The supposed influence of the | national banks is thought to be used with great effect against the Democratic party.
 The ancient antagonism of the party to a na-
 tional bank and the chronic antipathy of the
 rural population to the money-lenders have
 been continually infamed by artful appeals
 The South has given to the system so little favor that less than nine per cent. of the na- tional banks and little more than five per cent. of their deposits are to be found in that | section In nearly every Western State, and even in Maine and Vermont, the Democratic party has formally demanded abolition of the
 national banking system.
 Who can tell how much the Democratic party, if it had the power, would impair the public credit by cutting down the revenue That party has manifested, alike by it's past acts and by it's open declarations, fixed purpose to change the revenue system, and not for the better.
 The fear of disastrous changes would pros trate the public credit almost as much as
 those changes themselves. Even though
 none of the unwise steps contemplated should
 finally be taken by the Democratic party,
 still large proportion of the people would
 fear them, and would act upon that fear.
 Creditors and investors abroad would fear
 them, and would act without delay. Men
 would make haste to get out of danger be
 fore the anticipated blow should falB and
 the panic to escape from supposed peril often
 results in greater loss of life than the dreaded
 catastrophe. We have to face the fact that
 almost every great financial interest would be
 threatened by Democratic success. If the
 blow should never come, the mere threat
 might do irreparable and incalculable injury
 Bondholders by the thousand, dis
 trusting the party by which pay