Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1881-09-08
this country found themselves bur,

amounted 10 ABOUT SE,of0,UUU,UUU.
Over 81, 100000 of this debt at that
time was in the form Of United States
legal tender notes, compound interest
notes, certificates Of indebtedness, sew
en-thirty notes. one and two year
notes, and fractional currency, nearly
all of which were made legal tender
and were in use by the people as cur.
rency. Gold and silver coin had en-
tirely disappeared from circulation.
Nearly the entire business of the coun-
try was based upon and transacted in
this government currency. Property
was bought and sold, and its value
measured with it, All contracts be.
tween creditors and debtors were made
in this currency, and both parties ex-
pee ed they would be fulfilled in such
currency. Now what took place. The
officers of the government under the
control of the banks and money lend
ing or creditor class began Il system of
legislation, the design of which was to
make all debts contracted in United
States currency payable in coin. To
secure coin payments, the following
acts of congress were passed either
previous to, or subsequent to the close
Of the war:
l. The act of congress Of 1862
placing two exceptions upon the green.
back dollar, and thus making foreign
imports and interest on the public
debt payable in coin.
2. The act of congress of 1868 ere
ating the national banks.
3. The act of congress of 1865 con,
verting $1,000 100000 Of the public
debt that was used as currency into
coin bonds. \ law tomake less money
and to increase the burden of debt.
4. The act of congres of 1869 that
changed the condition Of payment Of
the llye-twenJy bonds from payment in
paper money to payment in coin.
5. The act of congress of 1870 an.
thorizing the refundng of the bonds,
the object of which was to place them
where they could not be paid, and to
make them the basis for the issue Of
bank currency.
6. The act of congress of 1873 de
monetizlng silver, thereby making our
debt payable in gold alone.
T. The resumption act Of 1875.
These laws were intended by their
ineXorable operation TO accomplish
thee results
l. TO contract the volume of cur
rency and increase the purchasing
power of what remained.
2. To destroy the greenback5.
3. To make all debts, public and
private, payable in gold coin, and
make that coin the only standard and
measure of value.
4. TO fasten the bonded debt upon
the people in way that it can never
bepaid.
5. To secure the issue Of bank notes
upon these bonds, that could he inflated
and contracted at the pleasure Of bank
corporations; thus giving them absO-
lutte control of the wages Of every mans
labor, and the price of every species of
property and merchandise.
Out of this legislation has grown Il
great money monopoly that is without
a parallel in the worlds history. All
of the other great corporations of the
nation are closely allied with, center in,
rest upon, and are built up through
this monopoly of money. The Ameri-
can people are now confronted by Il
confederation of corporate powers in
the form of money, land, railroad and
telegraphic mOnOpOlies that will put
their political integrity, their patriot
ism, their moral courage and wisdom
to the severest test in order to over
come them.
The fruits of the money monopoly
may be seen in the financial wrecks,
the houseless families and penniless
tramps, the conilscatcd estates, the lost
and ruined homes, the desolated and
disrupted households, the strikes and
labor riots, and the crime, misery and
moral degradation which characterized
the bankrupt period of 1873, on the
one hand; and on the other. the prince.
ly fortunes of that squad of new
milliOnaires who, like mushrooms,
sprang up in night from the decom.
posing and disintegrating social mass
around them. But this is not the only
oppressive monopoly which is devour-
ing the substance Of the people, The
railroad cOrpOpations eXtort from in
dustry about eight per cent per annum
as dividends on Il fraudulent
stock share superstructme amounting
in the aggregate to about $2,500OO0,-
600, which never cost the corporations
one dollar, and from which the public
never derived one penny of benefit.
This constitutes Il burden upon the
people equal to a public bonded debt of
six thousand millions of dollars at the
present rate Of interest on the funded
debt.
The telegraph corporations, monop.
oli2ing electrict communication, are
harvesting annually from the wealth
producers 100 per cent. profit on their
investment.
We are assured by the most posi-
tive and unmistakable indications
that the confederated mOnopolies, hay
ing conquered the wealth resources of
the nation, are now laying plans for the
conquest of sovereign power.
Not satisfied with robbing the present
generation of its material wealth, it
seeks to enslave it, that it may reap the
fruits of the tolls of pOsterity.
1t has already secured the executive
and one branch of the legislative de.
partment of the government, and as
rapidly as death or resignation per-
mits, it is reconStructing the judicial
department, to override by decisions
of last resort any legislation inimicable
to its schemes of spoilaton and usurp.
tion.
These are not the visionary imagin-
ings of an alarmists. Far.seeing and
patriotic statesmen bear their testi-
mony to these fearful facts.
The measures which the national
party aims to secure are:
l. The bonds to be paid and not re-
funded.
2. Bank currency to be suppressed
and the issue restored to the govern
ment, to whom it properly belongs.
8. All money, whether metal or pa
per, to be issued by the government