Woman's chronicle. (Little Rock, Ark.) 1888-1???, 1890-11-29
Industrial Depression.

FORT JEFFERSON, KY, Nov. 81 1890
Editor of Woman's Chronicle:
In your editorial relative to the question of in
dustrial depression (of which you invite discus
sion) you strike the keynote when you affirm that
''the agricultural classes have always been the
safest anchorage for pure government" This is
evident because agriculture is the primal pursuit.
the foundation upon which rests the whole national
superstructure, and if this foundation be not sus-
tanned, then this superstructure, grand and glitter
ing though it be, must crumble in every depart
ment. 1t is we'll known that since the establish
ment OF the national banking system, the farmers
have been completely at the mercy of the ylocks,
and for the condemnation of usury we have only
to refer to the 18th chapter of Ezekiel, or to the
words of Christ, "With what measure ye mete it
shall be measured unto you again" How detest-
able was the word, usury, so long as the Jews were
the only shyocks, but since Christian shylocks are
as abundant as black birds, it is no longer usury,
but 'intereSt' the devil is ever able to clothe
sin in semblance of plausibility. If money was
invented simply as medium Of exchange, why
should it be made a subject of speculation?
Shelley says, commerce has set the mark of self
shness, the signct of its all-enslavng power upon
shining ore, and called it gold, and SO it seems
for gold and silver have ever served the purposes
OF money monopoly. Paper currency is nearly
always issued upon the pretense of coin redemp-
ton, yet Brtton A. Hill tells us (and he is un-
doubted authority, that there is not in the whole
world, enough gold and silver to carry on the bust
ness that is transacted in the city of London, to
say nothing of the rest of the world. What is it
that makes thing money? Not the material of
w ia hnt o;, ,1,, -
nation. As Mr.. Fitch of Nevada said before the
Silver Committee, IF we stamp upon tin plate
that 1t is worth So, and will be received by the
Treasury of the United States for S., tin plates
will be current" Why should money be made of
anything that must be bought up for that purpose,
and OF which there is an inadequate supply, when
there is plenty of material that costs nothing and
that makes just as good money with the seal of the
nation; the Supreme Court has decided that money
may be made of anything, at any time, and in any
quantity desired. So long as gold and silver are
made into money the volume of paper currency
Will be contracted or expanded at the pleasure Of
spectators and gamblers, and producers of all
classes, farmers especially, will be oppressed.
When the war broke out in 81, it was suggested
to the Secretary of the Treasury that legal-tender
treasury notes be issued receivable for all debts,
demands and duties, TO the exclusion of all other
kinds of money. This was the suggestion of
woman-the daughter of Edward Kellogg, rich
merchant OF New York City, who, notwithstand-
ing his wealth, denounced usury and all forms of
oppression. If this wise policy had been adopted,
II is plain that there would have been no bonded
debt, no national banks, and few, if any, mort
gagged homes.
So, if the women of this nation would aid in
preserving the Institution of liberty, and restoring
the country to prosperity, let them oppose the
coinage both OF silver and gold, for the money
market is always controlled by men who gamble
In coin, and the few who now control it hold in
their hands the destiny of the masses, for they
thereby get control Of everything else, chiefly the