Montgomery County sentinel., 1890-02-28

affliction and national calamity known to
history. In civilized society governments
are formed for the real or ostensible purpose
of securing to all the full enjoyment oi
what philosophers and phila nthropists have
claimed to be the natural and inherent
rights of man, but sometimes the machinery
of government has, by the ingenuity and
| devices of a combination OF wicked and un-
scrupulous men, been converted into an en-
| gine of oppression upon the people it was
expected to protect From the light | have
upon the subject there is no agency or in
strumentality equal to that Of the manage
ment of the finances and currency in afford
| ing to such combinations an opportunity to
put into operation policy that will under
! mine the people and eat out their substance
The great Astronomer Copernicus said,
"Numberless as are the evils by which
kingdoms, principalities and republics are
wont to decline, these four are, in my judg
| ment, most baleiu: civil strife, pestilence,
sterility of the soil and corruption of the
coin. The first three are SO manifest that
no one fails to apprehend them, but the
fourth, which concerns money, is consid-
cred by few and those the most reflective,
since it is not by II blow, but little by little,
and through Il secret and obscure approach
that it destroys the State"
The Historian Alison SAYS: "If an in
crease in the numbers and industry OF men
co-eXist with diminution in the circulat-
ing medium, by which their transactions are
carried on, (as in our case) the most serious
evils await society" and the whole rela
lions of its different classes 10 each other
will be speedily changed and it isin that state
of things that the saying proves true that
the rich are every day growing richer and
the poor poorer. At later period the same
author says: "lf the circulating meuium OF
the globe had remained stationary or de-
clinng, as it was from 1915 to 1859, from
the effects of South American revolution
and English legislation, the, necessary re
suit must have been that it would have be-
come altogether inadequate to the wants OF
man and not only would industry have
been every where cramped, but the price OF
produce would have universally and con
stantly fallen. Money would have every
day become more valuable; all other arti
cles, measured in money, less so; debt and
taxes would have been constantly increas
ing IN burden and oppression; the fate
which crushed Rome in ancient and has all
but crushed Great Britain in modern times
would have beset that of the whole family
of mankind. All Of these evils have been
entirely obviated and the opposite blessings
introduced by the opening OF the great re
serve treasures of Nature IN California and
Australia. lie then quotes from IL distin-
guished German writer who was large
land owner, writing OF the effect of the de-
monetzation ot silver upon agriculture,
thus-it is cruelty suffering from the re-
duced value of al! produce the farmers are
paying their rents lrregularly or not at all
their stock in trade has often to be dlslrain
ed To recover arrears OF rent The land
owners are overwhelmed by mortgages.
When at last, in order to eXtricate them
selves, they try to sell their estates, they
find no purchasers, or have to be satisfied
with a price one third below former esti
mates. The discouragcmenti is universal, NC.
In this connection ii should he borne in
mind that in 1878 Congress passed an act
dropping the standard silver dollar from
our coinage, and in 1875 demonetized it.
From the few samples given above of the
great array of authority at hand to the same
effect, we may account lor the financial crises
OF that period and our downward tendency
ever since.
In conclusion, permit me to say that when,
| ii ever, we get all the testimony on this an
other grave counts in the great bill of in.
dctment fairly spread before the American
people they will be better prepared to pass
intellgenty upon the political complexion,
principles autecedents and qualifications ol
men fitted to represent them in the National
Legislature. Submitted,
Tmos WATERS, of $.
Woo isdc, Feb Is, 1890.