Omaha daily bee., 1890-10-11

cages in some speculativ We enterprisoin which
he expects to turn over his money, and he Is
willing to pay the money lender high rate
Of interest. But Speculation is dull, business
is quiet and there is large amount Of money
loanaoie at low rates OF mtereSt,
This has been the state OF affairs
for the last five or six years, the
rates of interest have gradually gone down.
Every ;y body who Knows anything ABOUT hnanr an,,
cia affairs will agree with me, that all over
the country there has been u gradual reduc-
tion of the interest rate, aud today there is n
very large amount of money loaned upon
farms in this state at per cent ana even aI
q per cent interest and any man who mas
good security can get loans renewed at that
rate. But the money shavers, mon who loan
money upon chatte securities, and the mlu.
die men between the legitimate banker ana
the borrower, have been charging : and
per cent month in this state. For that the
republican party is not responsible
Nebraska now has on her statute
books strong usury laws, and IN lts
platform the party is pledged to make these
usurv laws still more stringent through the
next legislature so as to protect these people
who are willing to avail themselves OF the
protection afforded by better laws. But, as
matter Of fact, all this hue and CRY about
cheapening money by filling the country WIN
grcenbacks, is delusion. If we had today
three times as much money in the country as
we have now, the debtor class would get no
much higher rate of interest than IL COM
mands now.
Our friend KEN in the Third district
points with pride to the $1,000 mortgage
he has on his farm, which he hopes some DAY
to pay Off by borrowing money at per cent or
the national government to the extent of one
half of the appraised value of his land. NOW
Mr.. Kem's 100 acre farm is assessed at 80
per acre. or $500. Under his own proposition
he would only be able TO borrow SivO at per
-
would he do with 800 in paying off 81 300
mortgage! He would have to raise Sl,lOO
somewhere else. Applause If he could
not raise it, he would have TO 1ntate the
appraisemens of that property up to the iull
$1,000 to secure that loan of 81 800 (Which
would be more likely than anything else
because that would be the most common
course pursued) and what would be the result'
The government would have a farm Tor sale
after while and KEN would be somewhere
else. Applause But probably not in
congress.
In the Argentine Republic the same thing
was tried recently with this result The
people of the Argentine Republic, taking eX-
ample from our fiat system during the war,
issued currency which the government
loaned at per cent on farming land. APP
praisers were appointed and everybody
wanted to be an appraiser. 1t was profit
able business better than going to congress
good deal. The appraisements were made
about three times the value of the land and
the government loaned the farmers money
and the farmers failed to pay the per cent
interest when it came due, and the govern
ment now has got the land. In the meantime
the Argentine Republic was filled with a
vast quantity of irredcemable currency. They
issued $3.50 per capita gold went up sltyhigh
and the country was speedily bankrupted.
Today the Argentine Republic is completely
wrecked and everything is almost at a stand
still. That Is exactly what would follow the
adoption of the wild SCENE proposed by our
alliance leaders. al
We were told today by my friend General
Van Wyck, that both parties have pursued
the same financial policy. That is true, and
no other policy could have been pursued with
safety to the people of the United States.
Certainly the democrats would have pursued
a different policy from the republicans, if for
no other reason than to differ, but when they
came into power they found they had to do
precisely the same. thing, Not because Wall
street ordered it, That IS simple nonsense.
What is Wall street anyhow! a lot of recl1-
less speculaters who go in Tor making
the largest amount of money in the
shortest possible time, men who gamble in
gold when it is at o premium, in railroad
stocks, telegraph stocks, mining stocks, and
every species of collateral. They don't care
how much you initiate Interchangeable more
the better. Wall street was behind the sill
YER bill and wanted free coinage; the conser-
vative people of the country do not. Wall
street men make millions one day and then go
on bearing down and depreciating the stocks
that they bulled up and make more money
Wall street was Ia its glory during the in =
fatien period between 1866 and 1873. Wall
street was Just booming. The gold exchange
gamblers made millions and millions, but
with 1873 came day of reckoning. The
Northern Pacific bubble that had been in
1ated by Jay Cook collapsed and hundreds o (
thousands Of men all over this country were
absolutely ruined hundreds of them COM
mitted suicide to escape the disgrace; many
of them were not able to face their families
who had been reared in magnifcence and
affiuence. Thousands migrated out of this
country and sought to recuperate their fallen
fortunes abroad. No one who remembers
this panic and collapse will want an ything
like this financial scheme so highly recon-
mended by our fiat money agitators.
II any one was wanted to go to Grand
Island to manage the sugar beet factory, you
would look for somebody who had some
knowledge of making sugar from beets; if q.
manager was wanted for the Omaha SmClt-
ing works we would want somebody who up-
ders tands the handling of silver and gold
ores and knew something about chemistry.
If you wanted somebody to run a great print
ing house you would want somebody who un-
derstOOd printing, or at least the manage
ment of it. But when you want somebody to
manage the finances of the nation you have
got to go to Il dugout aud get man who
never handled n thousand dollars in his life.
Although the American people can truth
fully boast of having the most stable and re-
liable currency in the world, every paper dol
lar as good as a gold dollar and gold, silver
and paper interchangeable without discount t
or premium in every section of the country
from Maine to Oregon. We are constantly
told that the administration of our finances
is going from bad to worse from year to year,
that the industrial classes and the soldiers
have never been able to keep correct ac-
count of the few tran nsuCtions incumbent on a
county judge in the settlement of estates.
Such geniuses feel perfectly at home in the
discussion Of the most intricate problems of
national tinancienng. They know just how
mucn and what kind of currency the govern
ment should ISSUE and how this vast rev
enue of the government should be collected
and disbursed, Compared with them
Salmon p. Chase and all his sue
cessors in the treasury Were mere ninnies.
And these reckless assertions are believed
by thousands of msnformcd farmers
and workingmen as gospel truth. Now
what is the history of the greenback
and our bonded debt.
When the war broke out, the cOnfederates
left the treasury empty. | heard General
Howell Cobb, Buchauans rebel secretary OF
the treasury, make a speech in which he said
"These Lincolnites who are going TO Wash
ington will not find any money. didn't try
to leave them any" He openly bOasted that
they had robbed the treasury and left il
| empty. That is the way Lincoln found the
national treasury when he started out to pro
| tect the union against lis confederate Guemi icS