The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1891-07-18
THE FINANCIAL DEVIL FISH.

summer RAIN ms WaSIeu Ile StllleiihS
starch.
THE FINANCIAL DEVIL FISH.
ats folds strangle. Its contact
paralyzes. Victor Hugo.
During the first six months of 1890,
there were $685. business failures in
the United States. During the CORE
spending period in 1891 there We're
6,O74 business failures. The liabili-
ties of the failing firms in 1890 We're
S65, OOO, 900. The liabilities of the
failing firms in 1891 We're 500, 600 900.
The excess of failures in 1891 owe
those of 1890 was $50. The excess of
liabilities, S27, O0O, 900.
The devel fish of monopoly, corpor-
ate and concentrated capital is thus
gradually encircling the masses of the
people in its deadly folds.
One by one its long %tentacles, that
| girt one about like bands of iron, are
drawing the people into its embrace.
One by one its multiplied suckers are
applied to the naked flesh and the pus-
tules are drawing through the tissues of
the yielding cuticle the life-blood of
its victims.
The vampire will soothe you by the
tanning of its wings, while stealing
from you your vital force.
rhe money power soothes you by
false hopes; monopoly quiets you by
promises of a coming prosperity that
never comes.
The prosperity of the many is the
disappointment of the few. The pros
perlty of the few is the ruin of the
many.
The present financial condition is
like three in a bed when there is only
cover sufficient for n The one may
be comfortable enough, the other two
are bare and sleep in the cold.
For two years the financial prognos-
t~icators have been predicting in the
zeal future Il period of unparalleled
prosperity. Six months ago there was
II hope of an early fruition of this
promise. But it has vanished and the
clouds are setting down again
The money power does not want the
people to have prosperity. 1t seeks II
monopoly of that favor all to itself. TO
prevent that Measure of prosperity that
would inure t o all under IL liberal mon
ey supply, it struck down the green
back. Then it demOnetized silver, in
the fear hat the output of our mines
would keep adding to the peoples
store. Not satisfied with this it wen
to work last winter shipping gold out
of the country. Week by week the
current flowed on, until nearly $780,
600, 900 have been transferred to the
bank vaults of Europe.
The money volume being lessened,
it becomes that much harder for men
to meet their obligations. With the
contraction of money ome reduction
of the prices OF all kinds of production.
All kinds of business are failing.
Merchants, manufacturers, farmers.
Even bankers are not exempt. On the
contrary, the small banks of the country
frequently fall into the remorseless
NAV of plutocracy as any other kind of
business. Three of these failed in Yer
non county a few days ago. They do
all they a to aid the people and keep
the wolf away, which often-very
often-gets its fangs into their own
vitals. Do not talk these institutions
down, they are among the best friends
the people have, and the majority of
them render all the assistance they
possibly can.
But there must be a break in the con-
dition. There must be a change of
policy. There must come a day when
parsimony can be made to loosen its
purse strings. There must come a
time when usury shall cease to extort ;
when avarice shall no more grasp and
rob and hide away the treasures it has
taken from the people.
The remorseless grasp of the money
power upon the throat of the people
must be broken.
For the want of money business flags,
energy is dominant, enterprise dead.
For the want of money labor goes
without employment. The artisan is
lille, the merchant presides over empty
storeroons, the mechanic wastes his
time.
The way to destroy the devil fish is
to cut off its head. The way to destroy
the money power is to increase the vol
ume of money. The way to do that is
to rescue silver from the condition OF
commodity and restore to it the money
functions given it by the constitution.