Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1893-02-15
PARTISAN COOPERATION.

The Two Old Parties Unite with Each
Other to Enslave the People to the Money
Power.
1t is frequently asserted, and as fire.
quently denied, that the machinery of
both the old parties is under the control
OF those financial magnates who do not
desire any change in the financial poll
cy of this country.
1t is confidently declared, by those
who ought to know, that this control
amounts to virtual submission of all
financial legislation to the scrutiny and
adjudication of those whose business it
Is to profit by the scarcity of money
and the consequent enhancement Of the
purchasing power of the bonds. 1t has
been openly asserted that after the ad-
Journment of the late Minneapolis and
Chicago conventions, those who had Sc
cretly formulated the platforms and
furnished the candidates at both places,
grimly shook hands in 'silent clandes-
tine friendship" Can this be true?
Is there substantial basis for these
most monstrous assertions?
To get a correct answer it is neces-
sary to review the public declarations
OF both parties as contained in their
national platforms since 1868
1t will be remembered by those ia
miliar with the financial history of the
war, that the first issue of greenbacks
or demand notes never deprecated at
all, and that John Sherman expressly
stated that the greenbacks were subse-
quently deprecated (by the exception
in ord 10
the bonds
up 10 and Tor some years after the
close of the war the bonds issued were
all purchased at par with these depre-
ciated eenbacks, so that $4,000 in
gold at one time would purchase $780,
600 in green backs or bonds 1t was at
or about 1868 that a movement to make
these bonds payable in gold was first
agitated. The republican party ap-
proved this subject in the following
cautious language:
s. The national debt, contracted as it has
been for the preservation of the union for all
time to come. should be extended over a fair
period for redemption, and it is the duty Of
congress to reduce the rate OF interest thereon
when it can be honestly done
That the best policy to diminish our burden
OF debt is to so improve our credit that capital
lists will seek to loan US money at lower rates
OF interest than now pay and must continue
TO pay, so long as reputation, partial or total,
open or covert, is threatened or suspected
While the democratic party, not vet
the willing servitors of Shylock, de-
clared as follows:
g. Payment of the public debt of the United
States as rapidly as practicable-all moneys
drawn from the people by taxation. except so
much as is requisite for the necessities of the
government, economically administered, being
honestly applied to such payment; and where
the obligations of the government do not ex-
pressly state upon their face or the law under
which they were issued does not provide that
they shall be paid in coin. they ought, in ri 3ht
and in justice, to be paid in the lawful money Of
the United States.
T. Equal taxation of every species of property
according to its real value, including govern
ment bonds and other government securities
3. One currency for the government and the
people, the laborer and the oficeholder, the
pensioner and the soldier, the producer and the
ondholder.-Democratic Platform, 1862
Upon this platform they named as
candidates for president and vice-presi-
dent Horatio Seymour aad Francis
Blair. At this time Manton Marble
was editor of the New York World and
August Belmont, representative of the
Rothschilds in America, was chairman
of the national committee of the demo-
cratic party.
Such utterances were displeasing to
the Wall street associates of Mr.. Bel
mont, and extremely unpopular with
that class who want to control the
money Market" hence it is not surpris-
ing that few days before election the
New York World withdrew its support
from Gov. Seymour and urged and ac-
complished his defeat.
From that day to this the attitude of
the democratic party has been gradual
ly drawing nearer that of the republic
an party on the money question.
Witness its Endorsement of the liberal
republican platform in 1872:
a. The public credit must be sacredly main
tained, and we denounce reputation in every
| form and guise.
g. speedy return to specie payment Is de-
| manded alike by the highest considerations of
commercial morality and honest government
The following is from the republican
platform:
73 We denounce reputation of the public
debt in any form or disguise, a national
| crime. We witness with pride the reduction of
the principal of the debt, and of the rate of in
| terest Of the balance, and confidently expect
that our excellent national currency will be
| perfected by speedy resumption of specie
| payment
Compare the planks above from the lib
eral repu ublican and republican platforms
with the sentiments expressed in the
labor reform party platform as follows:
Resolved, That it is the duty of the govern
ment to establish just standard of distribu-
| ton Of capital and labor by providing purely
/ national circulating medium based on the faith
and resources Of the nation, issued directly to
the people without the Intervention Of any sys-
tenn Of banking corporations, which money
| shall be legal tender in the payment of all
debts, public and private. and interchangeable
al the option of the holder, for government
bonds bearing a rate of interest not to exceed
365 per cent, subject to future legislation by
congress
2. That the national debt should be paid in
| good faith, according to the original contract,
4 at the earliest option of the government, with
out mortgaging the property of the people or
the future exigencies OF labor to enrich fe v
| capitalists at home and abroad.
| 8 That justice demands that the burdens of
| government should be so adjusted as to bear
| equally on all classes and that the exemption
| from taxation of government bonds bearing cx-
travagant rates Of interest is violation of all
lust principles of revenue laws--Labor Reform
Platform, 1872
Here, then. was the beginning of the
movement which twenty years later
polled 100000 and over for Weaver
and Field In 1876, emboldened by sue
cess, the republican party openly de-
clared for the gold standard, the de.
monetization of silver not being fully
understood by the people. Its platform
was as follows:
T. In the first act Of congress signed by Presi
dent Grant, the national government assumed
to remove any doubt of its purpose to dischars,
all just obligations to the pub ic creditors. ant
'solemnlv pledged its faith to make proyisio,
at the earliest practicable period for the re
demption of the United States notes in coin
Commercial prosperity, public morals and na
tional credit demand that this promise be ful
filled by continuous and steady progress I,
specie payment
The democratic party, not to be out
done by the republicans, under the
shrewd and unscrupulous leadership O
Samuel j. Tilden, even went further.