St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-08-23

ment; money disappeared i'll a single
night and left the people in mourning
and deep trouble when tine morning
came. Had the mem in business and
the tOiiing millions who suffer most
been tempted in their distress to say
there was no longer money i'm this
country, the books showed that some-
thing more than 81, 800. 600. 00~0-nearly
S24 per ~capita-was in circulation with
latlon today. The government was
not in direct contact with the
on this subject. The ma
tiOnal banks were between the gov
and the people, and in their
vaults today lay hidden millions and
hundreds of ~millions-mot less than two
thirds of the whole amount dedicated to
circulation on the books of the treasury.
held there by cowardly, unpatriotic fear,
has always haunted great earthly
POSSESSIONS. Could any one be blind TO
the fact that the banks not only, and
without cause, except their own interest,
their keys on ali business pros
perity, but that they had also attempted
to seize the government itself by the
throat. and to play bully and mastltf to-
wards those highest i'll authority?
In this connection another great evil
from the selfish and greedy ill.,
stlncts OF tile money power demanded
thoughtful attention = Oh general
principles the contraction of the cur
Tency throughout the whole country
was an object eagerly sought by thaJ
but powerful C ASS of people
control fOur-fifths OF the wealth,
aud nearly the entire volume of the cir
cuiating medium OF the United States.
Ihfl nnNunr ri tha n,iftinpaIra ou., ti->
property, the labor and the very
Lives of the People
depended not merely upon the great
sums I'D his own Golfers. out equally as
much and far more, in the fact hat the
great industrial classes mad scarcely
any money at all in their hands.
and were deprived of every rea-
sonable chance to obtain money. a
conuItiOn of the two extremes of vast
cL.ovlIdated wealth OIL one hand and
absolute poverty on the Otntr-both
very dangFrOuS-WaS rapidly culminat-
ing in this country. Every proposition
to put more money in circula' on and
within reach of the peoples da ly toll!
was always %tearfulIy uenO ii by
those interested i'll minimizing the
wages and the eXchangeaOle NdJue of
property. Every dollar which tended
to make the people Independent Of the
bank of uSurerS and taSkmaSt rs was
looked upon with aVersion. Even the
pension rolls of the g0vernmtnt-thuse
recnruS sacred to the blood and tears of
millions, shed for the existence of the
uniOn-had not escaped de-
termIned and vindictive assault. The
fact Jnat the amount of money III circu-
IlIJnn IL 10 pr1IN JnarA1 SnI nunVyr tlrn.
months in the Year. by payment of pen
that it is done without the agency
of the banks, and beyond their control
for %1uctuatiOn has excited the open and
bitterest opposition Of the great money
centrrS from the very beginning of our
present pension system.
The charge maze of fraudulent pen
was simply a continuation Of what
had been made from the start, and had
the same Inspiration as in former years.
frauds were sometimes committed
in the pension Office was undoubtedly
tfne, and they should De investigated
and exposed. bat tile same could be
trutufully Sa d of every other Office or
i%nsGlTutiOn known among men. Fraud
was incident to human affairs, and from
it there could be
No Complete Escape.
but it were better far that even a fraud
ulent pension should be granted than
that any honest, w~eil-earnPd, we'll
merited pension should be denied. 1t
was the question of money, however.
and not the question of fraud which
provoked the greatest wrath in certain
quarters on the subject of pensions.
After quoting from his former speeches
eS on the pension subject, MIR. Voorhees,
said it was clear 10 his mind that the
pension money, amounting to over
$780, 00, 900 per annum, perhaps. and
going everywh re. was one of the
greatest sources of relief now left to
the people i'll the way of currency Inde-.
pendent of the contracting, retiring
power OF the banks.
Turning again TO a discussion of the
banking system. Mr.. voorhees,
asserted that the banks were entering
in a final fight for Il prolonged future
existence; that they we're engaged at
their Quatre Bras, preliminary to their
Waterloo. They intensely realized that
the preseat supply of government bonds
for banking purposes must be very
largely increased within the next i've
years, or they would be forced to COM
mence winding Up and retreating from
the theater of action where they have SO
lone appeared. Fourteen years hence,
in 1907, the last bond on which the banks
had issued their currency would have
been redeemed, and cancelled. Long
before this question of perpetuation OF
the national banking system would be
pressed peremptOrilv upon congress-. In
view of the recent action of the banks,
congress could not too soon consider
what system the government should
adopt in the nea future in furnishing a
circulating medium to the people. Wa
there a friend of
The National Banks
bold enough to 0un his belief that
the taX-paying American people would
consent to the indefinite continuance of
an immense Understanding bonded
debt, merely for the sake of unfolding
such a system as we now have. With
out such a continuing national debt, the
banking system of the United States
would pass away forever, and the re-
sources Of craftsmanship would be
called upon to establish another and a
different fiscal agency i'll its place. Mr..
Voorhees, took his stand against the eX-
iStence, the increase or the perpetual
ton of the national debt for purposes
of national banking, and called upon
the millions who constitute the great
army of laborers to take notice of this
issue from this time Oman issue that
will not down at any mars bidding.
Mr.. Voorhees, then proceeded to out
line his idea of what was TO follow the
national banking system, and said that
when the Democratic party declared in
its national platform for the repeal of
the government tax on the issue of
state banks. a hue and cry was raised
by Republican leaders as if a public
enemy under arms were about to invade
the country. Investigation of the sub
ject, however, showed that no ole had
yer lost a dollar by the depreciation of
the notes of a regularly chartered state
bank, or Its failure to redeem its cur
rency in gold or silver when called upon
to do do. 1t was this kind of a c~irculat-
ing medium, resting on specie basis,
and always redeemable, that was driven
out of existence by a spurious, insincere
mode of taxation for the benefit of the
national banks. Mr.. Voorhees, denied
the constitutionality of the 10 per cent
tax on state bank circulars, even though
a majority of
The Supreme Court
had reached such a conclusion, and
ornun6 for tho riuhf of tho c+ot. m C~o