The advocate., 1891-06-10

In another place we present our
readers with Franklin's financial
views, which were adopted and put
in practice by the province Of Penn
sylysnia, and resulted in vast benefit
to the people. We regard this mat
ter as especially appropriate at this
time. One of the planks Of the Gin
cinnati platform reads as follows:
A-The right to make and Issue money is a
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 substitute for national bank notes we
demand that legal tender treasury notes be
issued In sufficient volume to transact the busl-
ness Of the country on cash basis without dam
age or especial advantage to any class or calling,
such notes to be legal tender In the payment Of
all debts. public and private, and such notes,
when demanded by the people, shall be loaned
to them at not more than per cent. per annum
upon nOn-perishable products as indicated In the
sub-treasury plan, and also upon real estate
with proper limitation upon the quantity Of land
and amount Of money.
The men who composed the Gin
cinnati convention are denounced as
demsgogues, visionaries and crsnks,
and this particular plank Of the plat
form is, and will continue to be, as
sailed with all the bitterness Of which
the opposition is capable, because it
strikes at the very foundation Of the
determinations that have enriched
the few at the expense of the many;
and because its adoption will put an
end to the power Of money to op-
press.
The name Of Benjamin Franklin is
one honored not only by Americans,
but alike by the people Of all civilized
nations. AS statesman and phi
losopher he stood without a peer in
any nation in the day in which he
lived. To his influence more than
any other America owed the support
Of France in the revolutionary war;
and to him more than any other are
we indebted for the favorable treaties
concluded at its close. In foreign
courts, and in the councils of his own
country he was honored and re-
speCted, and his opinions were ac-
corded the greatest weight upon all
public questions. In his sutobi-
ography, speaking Of the essay which
we to-day reproduce, he makes the
following observations:
There was cry among the people for more
paper money; only el5,OOO being sxtant In the
province, and that soon to be sunk. The wealthy
inhabitants opposed the addition, being against
all paper currency from the apprehension that
It would depreclate as It had done In New Eng
land, to the injury Of all creditors. We had dis
cnsSed this point In our juntO, where was on
the side Of an addition, being persuaded that the
first small sum struck in l723 had doae much
good by increasing trade, employment, and
number Of inhabitants In the province; since
now saw all the old houses inhabited, and many
new ones building; whereas l remembered wen
when first walked about the streets Of Phila-
delphia (eating my rOlD, l saw many Of the
houses In Walnut street, between Second and
Front streets, with bills on their doors, ITO be
Lett" and many likewise In Chestnut street and
other streets, which made ma think that the In
hsbitants Of the city were one after another de-
aartinV n OnF dahatea noaqeaaed ma an Fi1llv on