The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1891-12-18


straits has our proud and mighty
nation fallen that it should have
to borrow money from any man orsetof
men? A nation with sixty billions of
national wealth, half of which has
been amassed in the last twenty years.
and yet compelled to borrow? ma
ton OF 63. 600, 600 people, possessing the
right and prerogative, under the con-
stitution ito coin STAMP and issue)
money and regulate the value thereof"
and yet obliged to go to private indi-
viduals and crave the loan of their
credit to use as money. Away with
such bosh! To perdition with the fall
lacies metallic currency" and specie
basis" upon which this impudent as
sumption is built
But will Mr.. Wheeler tell us just
where the government borrowed any
money at four per cent? Does he pre-
sumo to tell intelligent men that the
calling in and destruction of the peo-
pies money, and the issuance of inter-
est-bearing bonds in its stead, consti-
tuted the act of borrowing? That is a
new name for it. The people have al
WoJ SdA1CA IL IOOOGTy. Anu AOW 4OI
Mr.. Wheeler's implied threat, which 1
italicized just above as follows: "And
this loss must be borne by the people
in the way of tax of high interest to
the borrower" That is to say that if
the people, in their organized capacity
as government do not accede to the
demands and bow to the dictation of
the banks, granting them such terms
as they demand, then, in that case, the
people, as individuals, will in any event
have to pay the demanded tribute, in
the shape of high rates of interest
upon the money they must have and
which they can obtain from no other
source. This should cause Andrew
jackson to turn over in his tomb, And
oh! the impudence of it, the calm as
surance and mighty assumption. These
men aspire to usurp the peoples pre-
rogative of coming money and regulat-
ing its value by controlling its volume
and debating the rate of interest it
shall bear, and having almost reduced
the masses of the people to condition
of serfdom with their internal gold
basis, they now seriously attempt to
Afix limit beyond which the volume
of money must not go. This is the
peoples first indictment against the
banks. "That they usurp rights, which
are the sole prerogatives of the whole
people through their congress-" In
the Cincinnati convention, these rights
were defined and demanded as follows:
THE right to make and issue money
is sovereign power to be maintained
by the people for the common benefit,
hence we demand the abolition OF
national banks as banks of issue, and
as a substitute for national bank notes
we demand that legal tender treasury
notes be issued in sufficient volume to
transact the business of the country on
cash basis, without damage or special
| advantage to any class or calling, such
notes to be legal tender in payment of
all debts, public and private"
And now have question to ask
Mr.. Wheeler. He demands that the
government shall refund the bonds at
one per cent, which he says will just
about defray the expense of engraving
the currency plates. ETC., and then upon
those bonds issue to the banks their
face value in bank bills, redeemable in
greenbacks. Now. what 1 want to
know is: If the people were
to loan their credit to themselves,
as individuals, instead of to the
banks at a rate of interest to cover ex-
penses, how long would it take the
people to pay off those bonds, with a
sinking fund amounting annually to
the sum they now pay banks in the
form of interest? And the people have
been studying this question, and have
arrived at the following conclusions:
First-The national banking system
is simply an intermediary loan bureau,
through which the government loans
to the people, such money being fur
nished to the banks at cost of issue and
loaned by them to the people at an
exorbitant rate of interest.
Second-The national banks and other
banking institutions claim 'loans and
discounts" amounting to five billions OF
dollars. AS there is only five hundred
millions of money in the hands of the
people, exclusive of bank reserves and
known boards, this shows nine dollars
of bank credits to one of actual money.
Third-The financial statements of the
national banks show that their capital,
surplus and undivided profits are in.
cluded in the item, "loans AMI dis
counts so their solvency depends upon
their ability to realize upon loans
secured by chattel and personal secur-
ity.
Fourth-The vast sum of five billions is
loaned at an average rate of not less than
ten per cent, thus involving an interest
charge to the people of five hundred
million dollars per annum
Fifth-If the people could loan their
own credit direct to themselves at two
per cent, they could, with the same
money they now pay as interest, wipe
out the interest-bearing national
debt" in about two years.
Reasoning from other premises, the
people have discovered:
First-Interest enters into all bust
ness calculations and is factor in de.
termining all prices. The current
prevalent rate of interest is the basis of
computation of all profits and values,
| includinU land and investmant soorr;