Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-06-25

der care of your families and friends;
but you who have not that amount OF
lucre are only fit to be shot at, you
must shoulder the musket, endure the
the fatigues of the march and the mis-
cries of the hospital and the prison
pen. Was there eyer a more shameful
blot on the statutes of a free nation ?
Yet we unblushingly llaunt the decla-
ration Of independence in the eyes OF
the world, and declare it to be our pal
ladium, while its very first clause de-
clares that all men are created equal,
and | can find nowhere IN it, or the
constitution, a single word that would
imply that a man with $500 is any bet
ter or possesses any mere rights than
one with So. Again, when the gov
eminent contracted with me for three
years service in the army, it agreed to
pay me S13 dollars per month. AT the
end of every two months | was mus
tered for pay and when the paymaSter
came ! marched to his tent. with 9th
ers, dotted my cap. respectfully, | pre-
sumo as a courtesy to him for his kind
ness and condessension in fulfilling the
government part of the contract, made
my salute, and received my $13 per
month in greenback dollars every time.
/ had no option in the matter. I took
that or nothing. In fact. if l had re-
fused to muster or draw my pay, /
should have been escorted to the
guard house for INSTRUMENTATION. That
seemed to be what the government
meant by dollars in my contract, and
the average Of 1T for three years re-
duced to gold value was but little in
excess Of SOC on the dollar. At the
same time the government was max
ing contracts with money lenders to
give them bonds for their money, the
interest upon which was to be paid in
gold, butthe principal to be paid in le-
gal tender money Of the United States.
BY the refunding act of 1869, the
government interpreted illegal tender
money Of the United States" to mean
coin. Congress has been repeatedly
urged to make the soldiers dollar equal
to the bohdEolder's dollar, but has
steadily refused to do it. The bond
holders were the few and the rich, the
soldiers were the many and the poor.
Couple these things with an Infamous
tariff system that roDs the many to en-
rich the few, and a drag net of a tax
system constructed with such wonder
full magic as to let the big fish escape,
and to hold all the little ones, in many
instances for several times what they
are worth, with several scores Of like
that could be mentioned, and it
would seem that class legislation, in
this country, had about reached the
limit Of endurance. l apprehend in
finltely more danger to the industrial
classes from the adoption OF q single
gold standard, than from any legisla-
ton of the past. 1t cannot be denied
that such an action would greatly en-
nance the value of gold. IT would en-
able the creditor to exact payment in
a money much more valuable than the
money loaned. Where is there a sin
gle element OF justice in itp Every
dollar OF Indebtedness in this country
was contracted when it was understood
by both borrower and lender that there
were three things in which It could be
paid; gold, silver and greenbacks. The
only exceptions to this are the very
few debts that are older than the re-
belllon, and those contracted between
1879 and 1873, when, by a sharp trick
of legislative legerdemair, silver was
demorali2ed. # J. contract with my
agricultural implement dealer for a
machine at $50 and agree to pay him
on November LIST, in potatoes at Csc
per bushel Or wheat at SOC per bushel,
at my option, it is evident, leaving in
out of the question, that on the
LIST day Of November I have a right to
cancel that debt by rendering him 200
bushels of potatoes or 100 bushels of
wheat. IT, from any cause, wheat on
the LIST Of November should be worth
ST. per hushel and potatoes should be
worth only 12Hc ] should still have
the right to cancel the debt by a tender
OF zoo bushels Of potatoes. If he
should in the mean time lobby a bill
through congress to compel me to pay
him 100 bushels Of wheat, it would be
no less than robbery. [ understand
this to be the status Of all debts now
il existence in this country, and legis-
that viii compel their pawn ent
in gold will be robbery.
]. w. HARDEN.