Wisconsin Afro-American., 1892-10-29

over the country-clearly constitutional
and proper act. and that paper money is
the power and life of 60, 600, 900 of the
freest people that exist on the face of the
globe. But, my c0untrymen. Congress
from time to time failed to exercise its
power. In the early days of the govern
ment one party claimed authority to eStab-
liSh a national bank. And it was finally
adopted and agreed to. We had anational
bank for twenty years that issued money
intended to circulate In this country. But
the popular mind was against the national
bank of the United States. The people
afraid to trust this great power of Issuing
money to corporation even of their own
creation: therefore. at the expiration of
twenty years, it died out and disappeared.
Again In order TO have some kind of ma
tlonal money they again chartered an
other national bank, ana that encountered
the hostility of Andrew jackson, and l
think very properly.
jackson and bis party were opposed to
this kind of money. or to the transfer of
this power from the treasury of the United
states to any corporation whatever. and
that bank disappeared. The result of this
failure by Congress to have any form of
paper money gave rise to the state banks.
Some iaWyerS-and LAWYERS are ALWAYS at
the bottom of all the mischief that know
of laughter said that although the state
could not issue this money the state might
authorize corporation to issue the money,
and upon that plausible plea, which /
thlnk was without sense or foundation,
state after state decided to issue this form
OF paper money, authorize q corporation to
issue money in any form: red dog; wildcat,
bobtail, every other kind of money in the
world What was that kind of
money? Young fellows don't know.
Rhey never saw it. They don't
know the evils of it. But. my
co1rntrymen, those who lived before the
war of the rebellion know that this money
was the greatest evil that could be fastened
UPON the people: worse than old Sinbad
Sea bn his back. The result was failure,
fraud, defalcatIon, bankruptcy, year in
and year out. That money was ISSUED by
the different states in various forms, OF
every kind and of every value. In Michi-
gan they called it the wildcat because
there were more wildcats up there than
there was good money. Laughter
They called it rag-tail and bob-tail. The
Democratic party of old times denounced
this mon&y in unmeasured terms. Thomas
jefferson | declared when these banks
failed afteG the war of 1872 that it was the
act of Divine Providence that destroyed
these banks, that ought to have been de-
stroyed before.
/ have gre the language in which that
great apostle of the old Republican party,
not the modern Democracy, denounced
this paper money in the most unmeaSured
terms and said that it was wise circum-
stance that destroyed these banks so that
the power might be restored to the ma
tiOnal government to issue treasury notes
as money tor the people. Andrew Jack
son, whom some of the Democrats profess
TO admire s9 much denounced it and swOre
at it. because he always SwOre when he
got angry, land he expressed his honest
sentiments when he swore. He denounced
the issue of tthiS paper money and tried in
every way TO get rid of it. Some kind of
paper mOneN was necessary, so that finally
the Democratic party, in the last days Of
its greatness, The last act of the Demo-
cratic pa hat rs worthy to be recorded
in the l ry of, our nation, passed
what is called the independent treas
ury act, by which all officers Of
the United States were forbidden to
take that kind of papeE money. They
were forbidden to receiveNit They were
to take nothing but treasury Notes or gold
and silver, and they excluded vt therefore
from circulation and condemned it, and
that was the last act worthy of the>name of
the Democratic party. 1t drifted INTO the
power of slavery. 1t became impf&gnat-
ed, SubOrdlnated, bedevlled with slavery.
Ii had even given up It's name, the h0nOEed
name OF Democracy, which means gON-
ernment of the people. 1t should have givA
en- up that name and have taken its
truename of the Confederate Democracy
of the United States OF America.
Why, my countrymen, | will read you
what Daniel Webster said about this kind
of money. He was one of the greatest
statesmen that ever lived in our age or in
any age. He says: "a sound currency is
an essential and an Indispensable security
of the fruits of industry and honest enter
prise. A disordered currency is ore of the
greatest of political evils"
OF all the contrivanceS for cheating the
laboring classes of America, none has
been more etfectual than that which de-
ludeS them with paper money. This Is
the most etfectual invention to tertilize the
rich mans field by the sweat of the poor
mans brow. Ordinary tyranny, Oppres-
sion, excessive taXati0n-theSe bear little on
the maSSeS-are nothing compared with a
debaSed currency and the r0bberieS COM
mitted by depreciated paper. That is the
way that Webster looked at it. All the
great men of that time denounced it. In
1858, only two years before the commence
mencement of the civil war, you know
that the notes of the banks of the state of
Wisconsin and the state of Illinois were at
3 per cent. discount, and the people
OF the state had to lose per cent.
of their money before they could
convert il INTO exchange in which
to buy goods The money was so null
titudinouS, nefariOuS, changeable in It's
character, that man had to carry about
with him a book as large as the Old Testa-
ment IN order to find out whether a bill
was good or not Laughter. it was cOun-
terfelted by wholesale, and the crime of
cOunterfeiting was one of the most promi-
nent crimes of the age. Why, my country
men. it was more common than stealing
and it was much easier done than stealing.
These bills OF all kinds entered into cIrcu-
lation. | remember from my own per-
Sonal experience some of the inconyen-
iences losses and Sufferings of the people
by this kind of paper money. i went
around where 1 lived in the state of Ohio.
which is conservative state, as many of
you know. Many of our people are living
here in Milwaukee. They bought ii.
There was the Bank of Massiion, the
Bank of Norwalk and all those various
banks around that failed; and the trouble
was that whenever they failed no dollar of
the money was ever paid.
Tasks That Must Be Done
Nra,,-a ba. osOfonad mt kS N the