The Van Buren press. [volume] (Van Buren, Ark.) 1859-1914, 1893-09-16


Colonel 8 ". PEEPS Opinion,
Ed. DEMocRAT:-At yonr re-
quest l give you my views upon
the present financial condition Of
the country.
There has been . continuous,
concentrated effort by bond.hold.
ere aud capitalists Of London and
this country to force the United
States to y single gold standard
and reduce the circulating medium
or standard Of values, called mon.
ey, to gold aud national bank cur.
rency, aud when accomplished to
control the money Of the world.
This would enable them not only
| to control the money Of the world,
but the labor product of both farm
and shop-in short the destiny OF
men and nations.
To perpetuate national banks In
this country more bonds must be
issued by the United States, The
present panic or stringency in the
money market, in my judgement,
was brought about BY the national
banks principally Wall Street,
hoping 10 force the Government
to issue aud sell more bonds to
protect our gold reserve. Through
the manipulations Of these banks
with their allies In London, gold
was exported in large quantities
from this country. This run upon
our gold soon reduced our treas.
ury reserve below the minimum,
when the hue and cry was raised
and herslded Ill over the country
that cheap silver was driving our
gold ont ofthe country. The OBJ
iect Of this was two-fold, both In
line with the common object: First
to demonitixe silver aud bring this
country to . single gold standard
Second, to force the Government
to issue and sell more bonds an
der the pretext to protect 0uI
gold reserve and maintain the
credit Of the Nation, when In fact
the main object was to procure
more bonds in order that the ma
tional banks might continue for
ever.
This effort brought alarm to the
mind in Q greater or less degee I'd
every one, caused depositors to
withdraw their money from tht
banks, prevented others from de-
posting, imports cut short-in fact
the scare kept money from circu
lating aud performing its legiti
mate function. This feeling o,
distrust has doubtless gone farther
than the originators expected Of
intended, but like Q cOntagion il
| is much easier to start than to stop
The kind, quality and volume O
money should be at all times un
der the control of the Government
No individual or corporation
should at any time have power
over any part Of It. Individual
and corporations should only b,
allowed to use their fair share II
the course 0flegitimate trade. Gu
Constitution wisely confcrs tn
power of coming and regulating
the value of money upon the Con
gress of the United States-whicl
indirectly means the people. Golt
and silver should be coined OF
equal terms and kept ct Q parity
All paper money should be ISSUED
by the Government, limited in vol
ume 90 that oil our money gold
silver and paper would be ofequs
value, both IN purchasing and deb
paying power, each exchangeabl'
and redeemable with the other o.
convenience might require.
All this hue and cry about silve
being q cheap dollar 7O.cen
dollar--is . Islander and Q lie. VIII.
ever heard of Q silver dollar pass
ing or selling for less than 1O'
centsi Who ever heard of q oil
yer dollar paying less Of debt o.
purchasing less produce than
gold dollar or q paper dollarf l
cannot be found. The mistake
arises ont of the fact that the sill
YER bullion that goes into . silvel
dollar as bullion, is only worth II
the markets of London about n
cents. This has been brough
about by the powers mentioned o
the beginning of this article, ant
for the purposes therein stated
The same forces could have just o.
easily deprecated the price o
gold bullion-it all turns on tn
p0wOr Of Bulls and Bears!
The value of silver bullion and
silver coinage are quite two things
Silver bullion a. bullion 10 con
trolled like other things, by tn
markets OF the world. This II IL
CONNER cial value. Its coin vAlu'
is regulated by the sovereignty 0
the Government. When Congress
authorizes it's coinage into none.