The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1889-12-05
LincOIn's Prophecy.

Vaiue not gold dollar, nor silver, nor
treasury note, but a staple production
OF farm, say, wheat or Irish potatoes.
For instance, farmer bought tract
Of land in 1866 on credit. Wheat
was then two dollars a bnshoI. When
he came to pay for il, say, ten years
after, wheat was one dollar a bushel.
He had to pay, in fact, double the
price for the property. 1t took twice
as many bushels of wheat to get the
number OF dollars he owed.
The money power" as Mr.. Lincoln
called it, began in 1866 to squeeze
currency and the country. The aver
age citizen, il he TILED the soil, knew
he was getting poorer every day, but
he could tell why. The price of eve
rything began to fall, and continued
You heard Of many millionaires, and
at the same time the land began to
swarm with tramps. There were great
"strikes" caused by the reduction of
wages. There was reason for sud-
den and enormous wealth among the
few and sudden shrinkage in general
prosperity.
The story is easily told, and it is a
pags more fitting the annals Of band
of buccaneers than a Christian coun-
try.
When the war ended, enormous
sums of money and Government
bonds had accumulated in the hands
of the comparatively small class.
These bonds were bought during the
war at an average of sixty cents on
the dollar. If these bonds and cur
rency could be made good as gold,
dollar for dollar, then the owners
would nearly double their fortunes
The way to make that come to pass
was to force out Of circulation milli-
ons of money.
la 1866 nearly two billions OF money
was in circulation. In spite of the
civil war, the country took on prosper
ity. There was plenty of money.
Wages were high Farm products
were high. Everything bright. There
were only five hundred and twenty
failures in business. The contraction
of the currency began for the benefit
of the bondholders and hoarters
of money. In 1867 there were two
thousand, three hundred and eighty
six failures in business, with a loss to
creditors of eighty-six million dollars.
In 1868 nearly half a billion OF cur
rency was taken ont of circulation.
The failures arose to nearly three
thousand, with loss of vast millions.
Money grew scarcer and scarcer. The
Cry OF hard times sounded through
the land. The pump kept working
Over five hundred million was drawn
out Of the stream Of money Prices
fell lower and lower And so on, year
by year, the very blood of business
was drained out In 1873 a billion
and half was sucked out Of the
veins Of the body polite by the harp
les. There was loss that year OF two
hundred and twenty-eight millions by
failures. And SO it went on, millions
on millions bailed out OF the feeble
current. Starvation stared the work
men. The strikers at Chicago, Pitts
| burg and Baltimore burned millions
I of property in their desperation, anC
threatened to overturn society. Hus
bands and fathers could not furnish
Bfood or raiment to wife or child, Sc
bad was the business situation. Nc
employment threw out laborprs b,
the hundred thousands.
They still yoed for the poIitica
brigands bought up by the "moncy
, power, and howled hate AT the South
; which was the victim first of devasta
ton by soldiers and now by NOR,
. cruel horde in Wall street strang
ling business and beggaring millions
for their own benefit.
The "money power" seems to hav,
captured the "blind goddess" Of th'
Supreme Court Of the Uuited States
The Congress held the people till thei
pockets could be turned wrong sid
out. At least the influence has titlet
the scales, guarded by great Judges
While travelling with the Hon. Procto
: Knott, recently Governor OF Kentucky
he told us that the vast wealth of tn
Bell Telephone Company controlled
decision of the Supreme Court a
Washington, that one OF its judger
Justice Field, said to him that the evi
dence that a similar instrument ha'
been invented and used by Draw
baugh, OF Pennsylvania, was postiv
and could not be contradicted ye
Bell, millionaire, and his 'milionair
friends, the familiars of the Judges
who for years banquetted with Bel
were given property they had no t
tie to. The decision took ava
from Drawbaugh, poor yilliag
a ,aL,l.w .;oL,s Tho ,,o;,r;t