The Louisiana populist. [volume] (Natchitoches, Natchitoches Parish, La.) 1894-1898, 1894-09-07

by which the people have been sys-
tematically robbed. We take the
letters as published below from a
reprint of Photographic copies.
We must say that this is the bright
est calcium light that has ever
been turned on to the perfdy that
is responsible for the present de-
pressed financial condition. Read
them if you want to store your brain
with very important reasons why
the poor are growing poorer and
the rich richer, and that i'll time
when nature has so bOuntifully
yielded to the demands of labor.
Read it; preserve this paper and
re-read it until youfully understand
it.
A LARGE INCREASE IN PAPER
MONEY BROUGHT GENERAL
PROSPERITY.
The Government cannot. by
physical power, compel the work
shops to turn out millions of dol
lars worth of manufactures in
leather, and cloth, and wood, and
iron, which are the very first condi-
tiOns of military equipment. 1t
must stimulate and set in Il. Otion
the industry of the country. In
other words, it must purchase, but
it cannot purchase with specie.
This is soon exhausted, hidden or
exported. 1t must purchase by
credit. 1t cannot force it's citizens
to take its bonds. 1t must be able
to lay its hands on the currency
that great instrument of which
the people transact all their own
affairs with each other; that thing
which they must have, and which
lies at the foundation of all indus.
trial effort and all business in the
community. When the ordinary
disappears, as it often does in times
of war when business begins to
stagnate and general bankruptcy is
imminent, then the Government
must have power at the same time
to renOvate its own resources and
to revive the dropping energies of
the nation by supplying it with a
circulating medium. What that
medium shall be, what its character
and qualities, will depend upon the
greatness OF the exigency, and the
degree of promptitude which it de-
mands. These are legislative
questions. The heart of the nation
must not be crushed out. The
people must be aided to pay their
debts and meet their obligations.
The debtor interest of the country
represents its bone and sinew and
must be encouraged to pursue its
avOcatiOns. If relief were not Of
fered universal bankruptcy would
ensue and industry would be stop
ped and the Government would be
paralyzed in the paralysis of the
people. 1t is an undOubted fact
that during the late Civil War the
activity of the workshops and fac
tories, mines and machinery, ship
yards, railroads and canals of the
loyal States, caused by the issue of
the Legal Tender currency, consti-
tuted an inexhaustible foundation
of strength to the national cause"
Unable to destroy the greenback
money already issued by the Gov
eminent, the capitalists of the
country, their cupidity excited by
the sight of the vast wealth Gre
ated by the people by the aid of a
plentiful supply of money, induced
Congress in 1868 to pass the Ma
tiOnal Bank act. / was born that
year, having been issued by the
Britannia National Bank of New
York City, one of the first hundred
banks organized under the law.
The first preliminary step in the
organization of the Britannia Ma
tiOnal Bank was taken in June
1868, when the accompanying let
ter from Rothschild Bros, was
written: