The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1890-06-07
SUB-TREASURY BELUSIOS.
''Bat ORe EaeetuaI Remedy for Indus
trial ETIIs-ReVerse the POIlcy Which
Produced H."

Washington, May 3l.-Senator Car
Isle has written the following letter to
B. F. Howard of Alabama in answer
to letter asking Senator Carlisle for
his views on what is commonly known
as the 'sub-treasury plan:"
WASHINGTON. May %. 1890.
To b T Howard. Esq. Tuseogee. Ala
Dear Sir-Your favor stating that
you are member of the Farmers
Alliance of Macon County, Ala, and
requesting me to give my views on
what is commonly known as the Sub
treasury plan was duly received, and
| embrace the earliest opportunity TO
reply.
You state that you have been a
Democrat for fifty years and that you
and those with whom you are associ-
ated are in favor of "equal Justice to
all, and special favors to none" This
is sound Democratic doctrine, and il
1t had been strictly adhered to in
Congress during the last quarter of a
century the evils of which the farmers
and other classes of our people Justly
complain, would have been averted
and the whole country would now be
prosperous and contented.
But unfortunately the paternal theo-
ry OF government, which owes its ori-
gin in this country to the advocates
OF system of taxation which makes
unjust determinations against part OF
the people for the purpose of increas-
ing the profits of another part, has
been so frequently embodied in our
legislation during the last twenty five
years that our people, instead of re-
cognlzing common interest in the
general welfare, has been divided into
warning classes, each striving to secure
for itself some peculiar advantage at
the expense of all the others. The
prevailing theory is that the individual
citizens must not rely on his own eff
forts IN the transaction of his private
business, but that he has right to ap-
peal to the Government for financial
assistance in every emergency, forget.
ting that the Government has not and
never can have any money except
what is realized by taxation in some
form upon the people of the United
States.
1t is a theory which grossly miscon-
strucs and perverts the powers of the
Government, paralyzes individual of
fort and destroys that spirit of self
reliance and independence, which is an
absolutely essential qualification for
the good citizenship in free Republic.
1t not only demoralizes the people, but
If persisted in, will convert the Gov
ernmont itself into a patriarchal des-
potism with absolute control over all
the financial, industrial aud personal
interests Of its citizens.
The farmers of the country have
been taxed so long for the benefit Of
other classes, and have seen so much
legislation for the ACKNOWLEDGMENT Of
corporations and syndicates that their
patience is exhausted, aud finding it
impossible, for the time being, at least,
to abolish the system which has OPP
pressed and despoiled the greatest in
dustrial interest of the country, they
are now demanding that the very pol
icy which they have heretofore de-
nounced as unjust and ruinous, shall
be applied 10 them, or rather part of
them. For no scheme has yet been
suggested that would operate alike
upon all the farmers. That they have
been oppressed and depressed by un-
just legislation must be admitted by
all who haye given any attention to
the subject, and when they sec meas
ures favorably reported to Congress
to tax them still further for the pur-
pose OF raising money to pay subsidies
and bounties to wealthy steamship
corporations, and TO the producers of
sugar and silk, which are among the
least important of our domestic pro-
ducts, 1t is not at all strange that they
should become more dissatisfied than
ever and more urgent in their demands
for relief.
But no evil can be corrected. no
wrong can be righted by increasing
Its magnitude and extending the scope
of its operations. There is but one
eflectual remedy for the evil, which
undoubtedly exists, and that is to re-
verse the policy which produced it.
The demands made by the farmers in
some parts of the country have been
formulated, and at their request bills
have been presented in the House and
in the Senate, which many of them
think will afford the necessary measure
for relief. | need not undertake TO
state all the details of these plans, for
whatever the particular provisions of
the measures may be, the whole scheme,
in its general form and design, is
vicious in principle, and If adopted
would prove in practice ruinous in
every interest 1t is intended to ben-
eft.
The plan to which you allude in
your letter is to establish what are to
be denominated as sub-treasuries and
erect public warehouses in every coun-
ty In the United States which pro-
duces and sells annually more than
$500,000 worth of wheat, corn, oats,
cotton and tobacco, and permit the
owners of these products, whether
farmers or not, to deposit them in
these warehouses and receive from the
Government in Treasury notes, to be
issued expressly for that purpose, 80
per cent. of the market value of the
products. OF course there must be
officers and employees to take charge
of these warehouses and their contents,
receive and receipt for the products
deposited, receive the money when
the products are redeemed, sell unre-
deemed property, and generally TO
exercise the combined functions of
warehousemen, bankers, and execu-
tive officials.
All these officers and employees must
be compensated for their services,
either by fees charged to the deposit
ors of products or by payments out of
the public treasury, and all or nearly
all will he partisans of the administra-
tion in power, because under the Con-
stitution they cannot be chosen by the
people, but would be appointed by the
President or the head of department,
or the Judges of the United States