The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1894-05-24
WHATCAUSED THE PANIC.

/ messenger lids d HotaoiN ihf III
which the real cause of The recent
panic is pointed out.
Our contemporary reminds its
readers that when the silver bill was
up last year Mr.. Cleveland and his
followers assured the country that all
would be well when Congress repealed
the purchasing clause of the Sherman
act. The purchase Of 100000
ounces of silver each month was
alleged to be the cause of all our
woes The goldbug newspapers fol-
lowed suit and swore that this great
country with its vast wealth and re-
sources was i'll danger of being ruined
forever by tine purchase of this trifilng
amount of silver each month, although
every citizen of common sense must
| know that we could afford to dump
that sum into the sea every month,
and never feel the loss, if we stopped
congressional extravagancies and the
pension frauds.
What really caused the panic? 1t
was not silver. The Messenger says
The truth about the panic of 1893 is
now known to those outside Of the
inner, sacred circle who manipulated
| the movement and set in motion the
cause or causes.
The prostration of the Countrywide
low prices and stagnant trade-pre-
coded the bankers panic movement.
These were the results Of the high
protective tariff under which the tens
of millions Of Americans had been
robbed and injured for the benefit of
nabobs and plutocrats. But the
bankers movement followed and
precipitated a financial storm that
came well nigh running everything.
But how can such statement be
scheme was planned and executed by
bankers. They issued private and
confidential circular, the object Of
which was to combine all the banks to
influence, to control legislation. To
this end the circulation was to be re-
duced one-thirG, and the other
measures, including the call of an extra
session Of Congress to repeal the
purchasing clause. Congressman were
to be manipulated and controlled in
the interest of the goldbug movement,
and the country mourns and groans at
this day over the success Of their
nefariOus, dangerous, wide-sweeping
plans. Banks sent a part Of their
money to Washington, and took the
bonds held there for their security.
The Referendum, an Iowa news
panic bulletin" of March IL, 1893:
In this unreserved charge we do not
except the national bankers Of Mt.
Pleasant. They are part and parcel
of the foul conspiracy to demonetize
silver, and did, at the command of the
National Bankers Association, retire
a large amount Of their circulation to
help precipitate the panic that was
falsely attributed to an oversupply Of
silver. One Of these banks alone sent
$25 200 of its money to Washington
and took up the bonds held there for its
security; the other bank probably did
the same. And this was done when
our business men were pleading with
them for money to save them from
bankruptcy, offering the best security
unquestioned by the banks. One of
these banks is recognized as Demo-
cratic institution, the other as Repub-
lican, and representative from each
Of them went together among our
business men and prominent citizens,
and solicited them to sign a petition to
Congress to repeal the purchase clause
Of the Sherman law. They represented
to those they asked to sign the in
famous document that silver was
causing the hard times and panic,
when they knew it was false, for with
their own hands they had helped to
produce the money stringency by
withdrawing their circulation. They
were conspirators, and every business
firm in Mt. Pleasant and every farmer
in Henry county, every producer and
consumer, every citizen, in fact except
the taker Of usury, has these same
home banks to thank for large part of
this local depression.
The Messenger goes on to say that
there were three circulars. One was
issued by an agent of the London
capitalists to the New York capitalists
in 1898. 1t was known as the
d" Hazard Circular" A second one
was issued by New York bankers, but
was not dated. 1t is known as the
g Banks Circular" The third was
dated March IL, 1898, and was issued
by the Bankers Association to the
national banks. This was called
"The Panic Circular" These docu,
ments did their work. They caused
the panic, and the purchasing clause
of the Sherman act had no more tc
do with it than the Greek alphabet.
The Messenger is one of the ablest
and most conservative of Southern
Democratic newspapers, and it is moi
in the habit Of making charges thai
can not be substantiated.- Atlanta
Constitution.