Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1890-07-10
DESTROYED by Fire Il tune
81: FIST, BIB 6
Rel Fetal bIishe d Augllsti | is
1887 81

chants chan who came to borrow d few
hundred pounds must pied real &
estate for double the sum demanded 81
Many from all parts Of the State
|mado haste to avail Themselves 81
their their good fortune and mortgaged
fields strewn thick with stones aadl
covered with cedara and stt...tsd ts.d 4
pine for sums such as could mot
haIe been obtained. for ths, Il ssiiosllifsst|II
Ipastures."'
. A discount was quickly demande
however. Then the the bank ban sohsmu
people were enraged. & They argued
that their money was better than
metal, just as the sub-treasury 3adv vo-
Gates argue now. ssThe hard our
rency," they said, s'was secured BY
the intrinsic value Of the metal
which was imaginary security, one
that could neither be touched nor
SEEN Tho security Of the paper
money was far better. twas real;
it was broad trros of land which
fire could not consume and which
water could not destroy" So tho
Legislature passed q forcing aot, pro-
yiding that all who would not take
the paper for gold dollar; for dollar
should be fined one hundred pounds
and DISTINGUISHED. 35;llsss
The merchants and traders cloaed
their stores and shops. Rents were ere n
paid in grain and what trading was {
done was by barter. The word ssboy-
colt" was not then known, but the
thing was and the farmers used il.
They would not haul a dollars worth
Of their crops or provisions to the /
towns until the merchants agreed to
accept the paper. In turn the mer. 4
chants of ncighboring States boy
cottod the Rhode Island farmers and
refused to buy anything, of them.
The distress grew deeper. RiotsA
followed. Tho poorer people in tho
cities tried to break open the doors
of the merchants, who banded to-
gether and defended their property
with arms. The cribs and grain
cries of tho farmers were next at
tackled.
Conventions and town meetings
were held everywhere and petitions
and demands went to the Legisla-
ture in shoals and were responded to-
by new forcing acts and a scheme BY \
which the government was to col
lect its taxes in produce, provide
ships, carry the farm product abroad
and exchange it for gold to be paid
out to the farmers and tax the mer-
chants out Of existence,
The courts declared the forcing
acts unconstitutional and new ones :
were passed. Then law was pro-I
posed by which every man was rsr 4
quired under heavy penalties to TAX, 1
an oath to support the bank and it's
paper, which yet lay idle in the
hands of those who had first received
it. The sense Of the people reyolted
here and IT, law was defeated
Paper money went down to six for
one and those who had borrowed it
hesitated to return it by depositing
it in the courts and lifting their
mortgages. Us
The result was failure, utter and
complete, which left the people in
far worse condition than they had
been before lnwise tinkering with
the money was begun. S.
We do not suppose it would be
possible in this time to send men to!
Washington who would enact the
proposed sub-treasury law, which in
many Of its features is wi!aor t:ha:a.
the Rhode Island bank, and this Bit
of history is not cited fsr instruc-
tion. It's reproduced here because
it is a comforting assurance that We
are not retrograding in finance or
politics, that a hundred years back
people did and said things as queer,
as they now say and do, and that as 7
peace and prosperity were gathered
from error and prejudice then, they
will be SO gathered now and in the
future GaeenuiAe Weaos.
The language in which Shake
spcare and Milton wrote was thea
language Of less than 100000 peos
pie, and when Washington was