The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1890-05-20
SPEECH BY BRO. J. B. PHILLIPS.
Delivered Before Battleboro Alliance,
No. 367, Recently.

No. 367, Recently.
Mr.. President and Brethren Of the
Farmers Alliance:
At our last meeting [ was requested
to deliver an address to the Alliance
today. 1t was left to me to choose
nv own subject, and after giving 1t
some thought, I decided MOTTO conine
myself to any one particular subject,
but to give in as brief a form as pos
sihle q rehash of what [ have read in
the past about the finances of III
country-intermingIed with my own
views, showing why we have not
prospered.
When the people of this country
first gained their independence, our
Constitution was framed by wise and
patriotic men who realized the fact
that Almighty God designed men to
Iabor-yet He did not design them to
labor without reward. Our laws
were so framed that every man should
have, as near as possible, equal rights,
and should be allowed to gain all he
could and to spend it at will, accord
ing to the talents given him by an
.AI-wise God.
Then there were but few million
aires on American soil. But that
period has passed and to-day the
United States boasts more milliOnaires
than any other country On the globe,
while she has more tramps, and there
is o general depression among the
stoiling masses than eve before.
What has brought about this great
change ? Why is it so I? These are
questions well worthy of our consid-
GRAFTON.
Let us go back to 1860, when the
war cloud was gathering. The old
men of the North shook their heads
and mothers on Bonded knee clasped
o closely their precious boys and
prayed God that the storm cloud Of
wal might pass. But above all the
prayers and wailings could be heard
from Wall street and all along the line
of the money centers the echoes of
iubilant satisfaction. Why this exul.
tation by the moneyed men over a
prospective civil war? Why were
the money kings Of Wall street so
anxious and positively joyous when
the guns were turned upon Fort
Sumter and the declaration of war
sent its thrilling notes throughout the
length and breadth of our land ? 1t
was not because they loved the negro
in the cotton fields of the South, but
it was because their love for gain had
stifed the finer instincts of their ma
ture and they rejoiced because they
saw in the preparation for war their
~longcoveted opportunity for plumber.
They knew the war must bring its
necessities and through these necessi-
ties they determined to subjugate
their unsuspecting brother-men. To
accomplish this it became necessary to
obtain possession of the national
finances. They knew their opportun,
ity was at hand and scarcely had the
war cloud broken ere the gold and
silver of the country disappeared.
What had become of it The Shy
locks on Wall street had obtained all
of it and for what purpose l will now
show you. From Appleton's ency-
clopedia for 1861, page 296, we learn
that the money kings of Wall street
gr~aciously rendered loans to the gov.
eminent in her distress at from "a to
SO per cent. interest-these same
money kings whom today we hear
quoted al those generous, patriotic
capitalists.
The gold and silver of the country
were in their possession and it would
not serve their purpose unless they
could loan it to the government at ex-
brilliant rates of interest.
But Lincoln read in the Constitu-
ton, Congress shall have power to
coin money" Then to the world he
declared that Congress would coin
money and that the government would
not submit to the Infamous demands
of the capitalists. Following this
declaration came the enactments of
July 18th, 1861, and February 18th,
1852, authorizing the issue of $780,,
10000 treasury notes, not bearing
interest ana payable Tor all debts,
public and private. These first issues
of greenbacks constitute the demand
notes which unlike all subsequent
issues, did not contain the exception
clause; consequently they have al
ways been at par with gold and estab-
lish the fact that had it not been for
the exception clause on the greenback
they would have always remained at
par with gold. Wherever gold
went, these demand notes could go,
even into the Golfers of the bond
holders. They paid his interest, paid
duties on imports; the millionaire took
off his hat to them and the banker
made obesiance.
We find that only four days after
the passage of the legal-tender act to