The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1892-03-08

South, engendered by the ware Now,
Mr.. Editor | always think it policy to
give the devil his due, if perchance
we may get some good out of the old
fsllow, and l answered him yes, /
thought it very good, but I said while
you r doing this you are doing some
thing else, and something which may
be far worse in it's consequences. While
you are allaying one prejudice you are
exciting another, this one, not of sec
tions, but of classes; you charge the
~capitalistic creditor class of our coun-
try with conspiracy, some of you even
go so far as to say that this class con
spired. to overthrow negro slavery in
order to fasten a more OdiOUs form of
slavery upon the great mass of the PEG
pie viz: Capital control of labor, by
controlling money; thus exciting a war
Of classes. While I am not pleading
the case of the capitalist in these
pa 9ars, [ am endeavoring to get at
the truth of the matter; at the facts in
the case. Let us see. Thirty years
ago the political entity known as the
people North and the people South,
others threats, as it were, and for four
y OAAS ONSA GULL OJL4C1 4AAO CASO40-
They expended value, wasted wealth
and piled an enormous de0t upon
themselves and their children. The
government in the struggle must have
wealth, value to sustain itself and to
preserve it's integrity and existence.
AS one mean to supply the sinews of
war, the greenback was called into
being; the plea for it's issuance being
the necessities, the ~exigencies of war,
but necessity never made legal that
which was illegal in fact, but [ will
waive this point for the present The
greenback was made full legal tender.
Of course that applied only to its own
Jurisdiction. The importer buying
goods in foreign countries could not
pay for them in greenbacks. The
foreigner must have value for value.
The government being engaged in a
life and death struggle with itself, the
foreigner had some nus to discount
it's credit and he was not obliged to
take it's notes. A deadlock ensued.
Something mus be done. The ex-
ception clause was put upon the green
back. The government could then
control the world value of a part of
the products of its citizens, which
without it, it could not. In the mean
time my neighbor before spoken of got
his high prices in domestic money or
tender for his products, which in
any event or at all times would COM
mand a world value. The debtor
or producer took his inflated
money or legal tender notes, paid his
obligations, his debts, in mourning
which he received gold or its equiv
and in doingso exploited robbed
the capitalistic creditor class, thus vic,
the obligation Of contracts, which
the Constitution expressly prohibits
Congress from allowing to be done.
While l grant the power is in our gov
eminent to put its fat, or omnipotence
though it be as far as it goes, on gold
and silver, l deny it in the case of
paper or upon any other material.
Against these apostles of fat paper
money, these prophets of evil, upon
any arena in which the honest people
of the country could be fair judges, I
will pit the fat Of the Higher Law, the
empire of Good, the God Good of all
nations and show wherein it's edicts
hath proclaimed those things to be
good which they are proclaimipg TO be
evil, viz: The exemption clause GA the
greenback, the credit strengthening
act and even in the characterization Of
which they exhaust the vocabu-
Of abuse upon and denounce as
the giant crime of the century.
RUSTICUS.