The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1881-10-13
WENDELL PHILLIPS.

WENDELL PHILLIPS.
1Ae Great ascformerss ideas % the
e;rCsMback MlOvcmemt.
The Greenback party demands that
the Government shall issue all the cur
rency. The power Of the currency is too
great one to be intrusted to private
corporations. In the memorable debate
OF the Commons. 1919. Ricardo said:
Bank Directors regulate currency and
30 fix prices, most formidable
power and Calhoun, Oct. 5, 1887,
says: ''This puts our destinies in
their hands. Again, Sept. 10.
1880, he warns MS Of this peril. Jeffer-
son writes to Eppes June %, 1918:
Bank paper must be suppressed, and
the circulation Restored to the nation. TO
whom il belongs"
The dreenback party has come to the
conclusion that there Is no need to tie
the currency to specie. Paper answers
every purpose. The plan and notion Of
specie basis, at any rate in this country,
has always been sham. Mr.. Sears, Of
New Jersey, well styled il" bankruptcy
organized A New York bank Presi-
dent. the late John Earl Williams, said
the attempts Of banks OF issue and de-
posit to keep specie " always have been,
and, in the nature Of things, always must
be, = failure" It is only a device to en-
slave the money market to what Chat
ham called "the cannibals Of Change
Alley Nearly 100 years ago Franklin
declared that where two nations had the
same basis for currency, the debtor
nation would be the slave Of its creditor
Ia statement Of which Boutwell, felt the
truth when, Old his proposing to bring
home from London $40, OOO, 100 or $780,
0oO, 600 Of gold belonging to the United
States, the Bank Of England pre-.
vented i. by threatening, il he did SO,
that they would cripple every bank in
New York. Mr.. H. q. Cary has saved
us m instructive a,lccdote:
"In 184S, Mr.. Albert Gallatin, then
President Of the North American Bank
Of New York, at convention OF bank
Presidents said pleasantly, but yet
most truly, We all know that, while 4
bank note bears upon Its face q promise
to pay the amount Of its denomination
in coin, it carries with it the implied
condition that it be not asked for. J"
The Greenback movement is q revolt
against a system Of finance which rests
the power Of imitation in the hands of a
few hundred bank directors, and let's
them play with values at their pleasure.
Thas firAAart.0nE $50,
sence is the assertion that, when our
fathers settled it that the people were
competent to govern themselves, they
meant to include among the points as to
which they were competent the question
OF finance AS well as Of marriage, crime,
real estate, wills and other matters OF
government. The Greenback move-
ment is revolt against the notion that.
in ordinary matters, the people can
govern themselves, but ON questions of
finance they must be kept under per-
petual guardianship, and be the wards
OF the rich men and bank directors.
Some men cali THIS movement delu-
sion aud ianaticism. What is fanati-
clsm? It is prejudice-obstinately
cllnglng to theories III spite Of facts that
AloHAoNC OASlue 4ACO uS hShs tLcue WHO
to-day are the fanatics, judging by this
rule? Look at facts the world over.
Whenever, during the last century.
either OF our great nations has seen It's
existence threatened by civil war or for.
eign assault, instantly that nation has
run to the shelter ot paper currency and
generally been thus enabled to survive
the storm. This is fact, not dream.
Does IL prove that paper money is neces-
sarliy ruin and shlpMreck? Does it not
rather look AS il y paper currency had
some quality Ill it that called forth to
Il last dollar the resources of people.
and SO stimulated their energies that
they could avail themselves Of all their
possible and hidden power? When
man strips to fight tor his lite, he puts
himself III the condition and posture to
Go Lis best. When the nation girds it
self for the last desperate struggle for
existence, what docs history tell us she
has uniformly done? History tells us
that a nation Ill such extremity has uni.
formly thrown oil every incumbrance,
stopped every drain on her resources,
stimulated every possible power Of pro-
dnction; economical all her means and
guarded herself as carefully AS possible
from all interference with her business
prosperity. How has she effected and
secured all these? History answers !:
by resorting to paper currency
The mass is uneasy
because uneducatcd men bctray and
capltai plots to ruin them. "The capt.
tai OF the country is organized at last,
and we shall see whether Congress will
Care to fly in its face this is the most
lnsolent tone Of the press. If it did not
STIR indignation and provoke resistance,
We might well despair of the republic.
We have more than
enough Of the babble and chat of "sup-
ply and demand" That is political
economy which forgets God, abolishes
hearts, stomachs and hot blood, aad
builds its world as children do, ont of
tin soldiers aud blocks of wood. Here
every man reads, votes and carries arms.
The physical force, the voting majority
and large share Of intellectual ability,
are III the possession of the employed.
Hence such questions are far more COM
plicated than in countries where despot-
ism holds iron sway over disfranchised
ignorance. Equally out Of place and
absurd il the argument that capital will
only pay what it pleases and that labor
must submit. That is slavery. The
millions employed in mines, factories
and on railroads have usually that one
trade aud no other they cannot easily
shift into any other employment. Very
few families Of workingmen have means,
when turned out of work, to travel hum
dreds Of miles in search OF new employ
ers; hence the majority of the employed
are chained to one place and one trade.
Saying to such men, "You will have NO
voice in fixing your own wages, and you
shall take what is offered to you or
starve,' is slavery. No American will
or ought to submit to that. II the day
ever comes when by any means Ameri-
cans are obliged to submit permanently
to that, republic will here be impos-
sible. The only just, safe and lasting
basis of peace is that which calls labor