The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1890-09-16

say that this is a great iniquity, an in
excusable robbery of the people, and
our plan (the caldwell plan y invites
the suffering millions of III country
men of all clssses-to unite with US
and wipe out this great injustice, this
trampling on the Constitution, for L
do not believe that the idea of build
ing up a class at the expense of the
people was ever embodied in the Con-
stitution.
If you had your Sub Treasury bill
with its unconstitutional "fat money"
if you had control of the railroads and
telegraphs and all your other demands,
as long as you admit the false princi,
pie that a paternal government can
put money into the pockets of the PEG
pie with one hand and take it out
with the other, all will go for nothing,
for you may be sure it will always
take out more than 1t puts in.
"Oh but" says your correspon lent
in his most sarcastic style, chow will
you get control of the national govern
ment to have your demands enacted
into LAVISH" We reply by retorting the
question. How are you going to get
your Sub Treasury plan through the
national Congress :? You have had it
before Congress at least six months,
and five months before the Suo Ali
alces ratified and authorized you to
put it there, and it is not even re
ported from the committee to which
it was referred. Not one prominent
statesman of either party has endorsed
it. On the contrary, many have
shown its impracticability, and besides
all this it is so contracted in its In.
tended operation that millions are ex
cluded from its supposed benefits
Gust like the protective tariff and are
rendered, by that fact, bitterly hostile
to it. With these facts staring you
in the face, again / ask: how do you
propose to carry it through single
handed Don Quixote had the brav
cry to charge a gigantic wind mill
while in operation, but the result was
not very satisfactory to him or his
gallant charge.
Now our plan is totally different in
its principles and scope, and yet with
the same object. II toncilliates all
classes and invites our fellow sufferers
of every class to share the common
benefits, and triumphs when the battle
is won.
To start with, we have all the host
which, in the last great battle for tariff
reform, had a clear hundred thousand
majority of the millions that voted,
and now Mr.. Blaine has come more
than half way to our side Of the ques
ton when he advocates opening u
ports to all the nations of the new
world. | ask again, which plan has
the most reasonable prospect of u
cess q?
The saving of So on each bale of
cotton by the Sub-Treasury plan is a
pure assumption. The law of sup
ply and demand regulates the price
Of cotton as it does everything else
And if your SuO-T Treasury plan can
create a gigantic trust on cotton and
enable it to hold for prices above what
the manufacturers were willing to
pay, they would either stop their
looms Or seek and possibly create
otaer sources of supply just as they
did when our ports were closed dur
ing the late war. Two thirds of our
cotton crop is exported to Europe and
all the great powers are stirring every
nerve to acquire territory in Africa
that they may have cotton lands indie,
pendent of the United States, and the
success of the Sub Treasury plan
would only help them to their object.
We demand not the repeal but such
a modification of the national banking
act that as the United States bonds
are paid in there may be no unnece
sary contraction of the currency.
And if the tax on State banks was re.
pealed, whenever a community felt the
need of more currency, it could estab.
lish a bank, just as we did prior to
1850. Under the financial system
which we had prior to 1860, the
world never saw a more prosperous
class than the farmers of the South.
Let us return as near to it as modified
conditions will allow, and we will
again have prosperity as far as cur.
rency can give it. There are many
ways of increasing a sound currency
without risking the possible evils of
this untried Sub Treasury plan.
To sum up the Caldwell plan, let US
bring the tariff to a basis of justice
and to its constitutional limits. Let
US have no more public money wasted
on corrupt schemes, needless public
buildings and unnavigable harbors
and rivers. Let us return to the
financial system of our fathers. Let
us repeal and stop all centralizing and
sectional legislation by Congress,
thereby promoting a feeling of nation.
al brotherhood and confidence in the
justice and stability of our govern,
mont ubIobr ic tho hon;r - .o4Souo1