St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-10-27
"NEONEy MUsKu MERRIAM.


MONEY Musk MERRIAM.
Put a horse in clover and he feels
good all over. That's why in his Thurs
day night speech Mr.. MERRIAM burst
into such an ecStatic rhapsody over
''the magnificent financial system es-
tablished by the Republican party" 1t
will be observed that Mr.. MERRIAM
doesn't waste much time in his speeches
on the tariff, although that is the upper
most issue in the public mind to-day.
Still, we are candid enough to say that
Mr.. MERRIAM does wisely in not at
tempting to discuss the tariff: for what
little he has said on that question leads
us to the conclusion that there is no
subject he knows less about. Nor does
it take him long to tell his audience
what he doesn't know about it.
But, when it comes to the simple
financial proposition of how to put out
one dollar and get back three, the Re-
publican candidate for governor is more
at home. He can give pointers on
question of this character that would
startle. older and wiser statesmen.
Prominent among the reasons which
Mr.. MERRIAM advances for being Re-
publican is that ''the Republican party
has given to the country the most mag
nifcent financial system known to mod
ern times" We do not propose to dis
cusS this question with Mr.. MERRIAM,
for it is not an issue of the campaign,
except so far as the method for collect
ing revenues is connected with our
financial system; but we shall briefly
refer to some historical facts relating to
the establishment of this Republican
financial system; with which Mr.. MER
RAM is so deeply enamOred. Govern
ment bonds and national banks are the
StrikingIy characteristic features, and,
in sense, the basis of this financial
system which is SO lovely in Mr.. MER-
RAMS eyes.
To go back to the beginning of this
magnificent financial policy" we find
that it had its origin in the midst of the
commissions of war. The hard, bitter
duress of a deadly peril was upon all
the functions of the nation, and when
it was compelled to have money OF per-
ish from the face of the earth, the
brokers of Wall street laid deep and
wide the foundation of this magnificent
financial SYSTEM which Mr.. MERRIAM
talks about. And how did they do it?
By taking advantage of the necessities
of the nation, and by discOunting the
crrdit Of the government in its struggle
for life more heavily, and by shaving
its notes in the brokers' shops more
deeply than was ever before known I'M
der similar circumstances in the history
Of civilized nations. They drove the
hardest bargain ever known between
citizens and the government which pro-
tected them. Their keen-eyed cupidity
kept watch upon the imperiled stand
ard of their country, and they traded
with less conscience upon the fiuctuat-
ing fortunes of the flag than any other
class of beings that ever drew breath be-
meath its folds.
Figures are the faithful witnesses of
truth, and the statistics taken from the
archives of the national government
demonstrate that this magnificent finan-
cial system of Republican origin is a
fiction. and that it was the outgr0wth of
the most unjust and scandalouS legisla-
ton that ever disgraced nation. The
first step in the creation of the national
debt was taken by the government in
1862, when the average price of gold
was 1887 in currency. The first issue
of bonds was for $50, 9S2, $50, for which
the purchasers paid S44, 030,649 in gold,
and which now, according to per-
version OF the original contract, shall be
paid in gold, thus giving the brokers a
bonus, or gift. of SIC, 1851, sol, to be taken
out of the taxpayers pockets. That
was the foundation stone of this Repub-
lican financial system of such exceeding
rare beauty in Mr.. MERRIAM's eyes.
Let US follow it up, stone by stone, and
see how the entire structure WasTeared.
The following table, taken from the
records Of the treasury department at
Washington, including financial trans
actions of the government with the
brokers from 1862 TO 1868, shows the
profits realized by the brokers on ac-
count of the difference in the value of
gold and greenbackS, to be as follows: