The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1890-09-17

THEIR RELATION WITH GREEN
BACK CRANKS.
The Fiat Money People Have swooped
Down Upon the Alliance Conventions All
Over the Country, snd Insisted on Dish
Ing Up Mess of Their Old Doctrines,
simply Warmed Over.
LChlcago Trlbune. |

tlOndl congress NJ COUNCIL BluHs last Wcch
platform was adopted according 10
which the following things are TO be de
manded" of congress:
They demand the unlimited coinage Of
silver, the abolition of the national banking
laws, the refusal OF our national govern
ment To extend the charters of national
banks now In existence. and the issuance OF
full legal tender treasury notes In lieu or
national bank notes I'm sufficient volume Ia
meet the business demands OF the country
and the constantly increasing demand or
trade.
These demands" are 90 be found i'm
the platform Of every Farmers alliance
which has held "A state or county con
vention. They prove that the long
haired, wild-voiccd grccnback fiat cranks
who were disturbing the peace
of the country some years ago, but who
for while back had no chance 10 air
their views. have Swoopcd down ON the
farmers. have taken advantage Of their
ignorance of political economy, and
have become their financial guides
blind leaders of the blind, bound 10 fall
in the ditch together
So the national banks must go. Why?
Because they issue notes. The amount
of their circulation is diminishing stead
v.
are left alone. and other forms of cur
rency will take its place. \ bill is be-
fore congress authorizing the national
banks 10 reduce their circulation To
small sum-lcavng only enough TO re-
tain their characters. Very few of the
banks desire TO have circulating notes,
as there is no longer any profit in
them. Why then do the alliances
want to destroy those solvent and useful
institutions? Is it because the farmers
have lost by these banksa Not by their
notes certainly, for nobopy has ever lost
"A dollar in that way. Is it because they
have lost money deposited i'm them? The
percentage of failures of such banks has
been small. and the loss of depoSitOrs
smaller still. No other bank system was
ever so safe and secure. Nor do farmers
as a class put their money i'm such inSti-
buttons. They are more apt To place it
in the little local concerns, which are
smashing and sticking their farmer de-
positors all the time.
Is il because the business relations be-
tween the national banks and the farm
.erS have been unpleasant? Not at all.
They have had no quarrel. Yet the ALI
ancc people want these banks abolished.
Can there bc any other reason for ii than
a wish 10 hurt those merchants and man
ufacturcrs whom these institutions ac-
comodate and who do not complain of
them?
If the alliances have their way and
damage causelcSsly their city ncighbors
by knocking out the national banks,
what will they put in their place? VIII
they allow the commercial and bus
mess classes To be consulted or will
the alliance farmers regulate the BUSH
ness of those classes % suit themselves?
Why they restore the bad old state bank
systems with their rotten, fluctuatng
currency and their lack of security for
.depositOrS or notc-holdcrS, or must every
man be his own banker and keep his
money i'm a crock buried in the garden or
in a stocking showed up the chimney?
Then all the alliance resolutions de-
mand unlimited coinage of silver and
any quantity more of grcenbackS in
order 10 initiate the currency 10 a high
degree. Here again is whore the cranks
have got i'm their work on the alliance
people. What would happen actually if
this prayer of the agriculturist were
granted and the currency were 10 be
Swelled up with silver and paper till it
,cqualled the grccnbackcrs' notions OF the
"business needs of the country?'
The prices of all manufactured arti-
clcs where there was no great surplus
made would rise. The clothing,
leather wear, household furniture, the
farm NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS., rcapers, now
ers. wagonS-iron utensils, glassware
etc. bought by the man on the farm
would cost him much more. The infla-
ton of the currency would initiate the
price Of all cty-madc goods and wares.
But with the products OF the soil IL
would be otherwise. The foreign prices
would still rule their selling value.
Wheat, corn. oats, flour. pork, beef,
butter, lard, cheese - in short,
all SURPRISES for which this
country could not furnish II
home markct-would continue low i'm
price-no higher than the foreign market
which bought the supluScs would give
because the farmer can dispose of those
SURPRISES abroad only. and the prices he
gets for them, regulated as they are by
competition with the world, determine
the price Of all tie crop he sells at home.
Thus the initiation of the currency will
not benefit his products, whose price is
fixed beyond the ocean and outside the
sphere of imitation, but will render the
cost OF lllc gOOuS ne DulS Uutu nlBntT
than before. Thus currency initiation
would damage every western farmer.
Hence il is seen that if the imitation of
silver and greenbacks were made the
granger would not benefit thereby. He
would get no more for his products, while
ne would have To pay dcarer on account
Of the imitation for all the things he got
I'm exchange for his stuff. The measure
which he thinks would be the making of
him would cut his throat, while the city
people would not suffer from il, for they
would get more farm articles in exchange
for their wares. The manufacturer
would be- sheltered from evil effects, for
as general thing he has not used the
full measure of his tariff protcction-has
sold goods below tariff price-but with
an imitation Of the currency he would
take advantage OF every inch of that
tariff wall and charge up to the top OF
il.
What is the matter Of the alliance
people that they cannot use their OWL
common sense and their own reasoning
powers? Why do they pick ont as their
guides dcmagoguc jack lawyers on the
one hand and long-haircd fiat cranks on
the other, who are leading them straight
20 the deepest depths OF folly? If they
brush away these bats and scrppc howl