Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-05-22


70 government upon everything tina
= he wears, everything that he eats
If the house that shelters him, tn
sehool-books from which his chill
q dren learn to read, the weekly news
: paper from which he learns of cur
e rent events, in short on everythin,
o that enters into the domestic econ
Z, Omy of every fireSide In the land.
+ The stOck-bOards of our great cit
: les exhibit the fact that MONTH!
e sales of government securities il
Y excess of the whole issue are made
: The capitalist can do this take al
: oath to the correctness of his sched
t ule and retire his personal asset
3 from taxation, while the poor mar
without credit and having to laboI
for his daily bread pays taxes or
: his house and farming implements
J and everything he possesses, for the
, I reason that he has not the credit OF
} the capitalist to utilize government
securities. BY such a scheme as
this millions of personally in eX-
cess of the volume Of the public
debt may be withdrawn, and the
J eXaction against the producer and
laboring consumer are in the pro-
] portion of this abstraction in
creased. . h satnf4. nf nH
4 But among the many schemes
formed to protect capital and crush
labor to the earth none have been
more potent for mischief than the
national banks, and in regard TO
them this theory of protection,
cursed by man as it should, be ac-
cursed of God, applies with more
force than to anything else. The
system sprung into life during the
existence of the grandest civil con-
vulsion known to history, and was
conceded to the greed of capital,
when the outside world believed
that our country was in the thrOes
of dissolution. 1t represents the ge-
MUS and avarice of that class who,
in the olden times, were driven
from the temple, and in all subse-
quent ages have been the worst and
most dangerous enemies of human
liberty. They exacted first as their
stock in trade government secur-
ity, exempt from taxation, bearing
in gold an interest of per cent,
payable semi-annually, when one
dollar in gold was worth from two
to two and a half in greenbacks
and from two to two and a half
times the face value Of the bond.
Buying in their bonds with gold
at from 40 to go per cent, of their
face values, they secured first from
the government an interest on their
investment ranging from IL to Is 4
per cents payable seni-annually 3
but this eXtortion, which has no
parallel in the history OF solvent
governments, did not satiate the
greed that consumed them. Ninety 4
per cent. of an issue predicated up
on these securities was authorized
by the government, and 80 per cent. |
was loaned to the people at an aver
age rate of 10 per cent. per annun,
thus increasing their privileges i'm
dependent of the other privileges |
granted by their charters, 80 per
cent. per annum on the whole vol !
ume of the bonds. The manifold |
evils that have resulted from this
whole national banking system
would require very large volume |
to explain and fully set forth.
1t was solemnly enacted into |
law that the face value of these
bonds, bought at ruinously low rates
during the period of the war, aud /
which the whole world had there
tofore recognized as being payable |
in greenbacks, should be paid, prin-
cipal and interest, in gold. They
had been purchased by their own
ers at an average Of one-half their /
face value, and by this act alone
the holders of these bonds we're en-
riched over $3.50, ,000,00 in gold.
Who ever heard of an act of Con-
gress that legislated into the pock-
cts of hunger-strieken, hard-wOrk-
ing men of muscle $750,000, 900 ?
Who ever heard of a great lobby,
rich in brains, in influence, and
in money, working in or out Of the
corridors Of congress in the interest
OF depressed and down-trOdClen la
bor I? Weuld it not be at least an
act of equal Justice If the same con-
gress that enacted this law should
have provided that the great body
of the American people, tho men
who fought its battles and saved its
credit, WHO went from fields of car
mage to resume their occupations
either in the workshops or in har-
vest-fields, should have an equal
right to the gratitude of JUS
tice, to legislative bonus of $780,
600, 900.
But instead Of giving them $780,
600, 900 by an act of congress, as was
given to the bond-hOlders, our pres
ent tariff system was devised, which
taxes them upon every article OF
prime necessity = the shoes they
wear, the clothing, hats, eottons,
wOolens, salt, cOal-oil, calico, hO-
siery, tableware, combs, linens,
iron, trace-chains, nails,
steel, hand-saws, pocket-knives,
leather, gloves, paper, pins, needles,
shawls, flannels, blankets, sugar,
spices, books, etc., all Of which ar
ticles pay an average tribute Of over
45 per cent. to the manufacturers,
every dollar of which comes out of
the pockets of the consumers.
Had it not been for the existence
of national banks and the greed
that possessed the class that con-
troIled them and the tremendous
of money and capital depos-
tied in their control, apprOXimating
two thousand millions of dollars, |
no man would have been so auda-
cious and so criminal as to have
such q proposition. 1t
was an act of spoliation and robbery
that cries to heaven for vengeance.
Many Of the leading republicans,
east and west, denounced it as an
robbery, prominent
among whom were Thaddeus Ste
vens and Oliver p. Morton. But
the Irresistible power of corruption !
of such volume of wealth swept
every obstacle from its pathway,
and the infamy was accomplished.
that this legislative :
dicta would be repudiated by the
people and that their spoils would
be Wrested from them, "A system Of
of the greenback curren-
cy was resorted to, the purpose be-
ing to bring the greenback on par
with gold, thus preventing payment
except upon a gold basis. This pol
icy was absolutely, uneonditiOnally
and remorselessly pursued until eV-
cry valuable industry was prostrat-
ed, until property had shrunk one
third of its value, until insolvency
hung over the business interests of
the county, filling nearly every
fireside in the land with misery and
disaster.
BY this policy they destroyed not
II. 10 IF ffNa IraN ,