The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-10-16
DOWN WITH THE BANKS.
A Conspiracy that Warrants Their
Extinction as Money Trust.
AMERICANS SHOULD RESENT 1T
A SCHEME TO DESTROY THE GREEN
BACKS IN THE NEXT SESSION OF
CONGRESS AND CREATE PER
PETUAL GOLD MONOPOLY FOR THE
uSURERS.
New York Voice.


country are gathering their forces for
mighty struggle during the next
session OF Congress.
No public proclamation has been is
sued and no brass bands are being
employed: but unless all indications
are misleading, there is on foot de-
finite, concerted movement that is
likely to change the whole line of bat
tie on the currency question.
The purpose of the bankers is this:
To strike with all their power for a
law that shall put out of existence,
once all, the entire issue of United
States notes known as grecnbacks.
The plea which they will make will
be the highly patriotic plea that this
action is necessary to rescue the
treasury from its perilous position
and establish the nations finances on
firm basis.
The plea will be false one, the pa
triotic professions will be delusive,
and the result of the action proposed
will be a far-reaching disaster whose
ultimate consequences are incalcul-
able.
Here are the facts. There are in
circulation today about $346, 100000 of
greenbacks. Those green backs repre-
sent policy in direct antagonism to
the policy underlying the national
bank system, and they have from the
beginning been regarded by the bank
ers with hostile eyes. They insisted on
their retirement as part Of the plan Of
resumption 20 years ago, and this re-
tirement was actually begun. So i'm
mediate and stern was the popular
protest. however, that that provision
OF the law was repe aled and the green
backs preserved as part of the ma
tiOnal currency. From that day to
this the ankers have Sulkily watched
for their opportunity and they think
1T or not, they cannot safely tcdit any
longer. The national bankers con ven
tiOn held a few weeks ago took steps
to urge upon congress the retirement
of the greenbacks. The journals that
best represent the thought Of the or
ganiZatiOn have been for six months,
with infinite tact and skill, testing
the public temper on the subject. The
time seems suspicious. The plans
have consumated. The bill is already
being prepared for effecting the de-
sired end.
What is the motive behind ali this?
The ostenSible motive is this: The
greenbacks are exchangeable on de-
mand, at the United States treasury,
for gold. They are the vehicle by
means of which the gold reserve has
been taken out of the treasury. On
the face of affairs they are to blame
for the treasurv's recent troubles.
What more plausible, therefore, than
to say, as the bankers do, that the
real remedy is to retire these green
backs as fast as redeemed, destroying
them at once instead OF rc-isSuing
them, and thus putting a stop to the
"endless chain of buckets" that is
carrying away our gold:
This is the argument. 1t is plauS-
ible. Is it sound or sincere?
No. On the contrary, it is lmpOS-
sible, when one is acquainted with
the facts, either to believe that the
proposed action will remedy matters,
or to believe that the bankers believe
IT will.
In the first place. the greenbacks
have not caused the treasury'S
troubles, for they have circulated for
20 years without trouble of any kind,
and conditions, SO far as they are con-
cerned, are the same now as hereto
fore. The gold drawn from the treas
ury has been drawn for export. De-
stroying the greenbacks would not de-
stroy the demand for gold for export,
nor render it any more di fficult to OBJ
tain it. The situation would be as
Mathew Mars hall, the financial writer
of the Sun, says it would:
''If the legal tenders were retired
all debts, including bank deposits,
would become really payable in gold,
tho ugh nominally in silver also. The
exporter of gold would demand it
from the banks and the banks would
have either to pay it or to refuse to
pay it. Ii they paid it the country
would lose the gold just as it is losing
it now, and if they refused to pay it
we should come to the suspension Of
gold payments. to avoid which we
have for the last two years made such
strenuous efforts"
The treasurer now reissues the
greenbacks in payment Of govern
mental expenses. If he is, instead Of
that, to destroy them, he must pay
L
he must receive green backs but can
not any longer pay out greenbacks, it
is as evident as that two and two
make four, that the treasury instead
of being relieved will be still more
greatly embarrassed, and more in
need of help than ever.
No: the associated bankers are not
proposing this action for the relief of
the treasury or the relief of the coun-
try. Their ostensible motive is not
their real motive. 1t is impossible to
believe that it is.
What then is their real motive?
Listen!
With the greenbacks out of the way,
there will be no longer any reason for
the treasury's keeping gold reserve.
1t will, as a matter of course, gradual
" disappear as the greenbacks are re-
tired. When that event occurs. the
banks will be the only place to which
any one can go to get gold. The en-
tire circulation of the country will be
based upon gold, but the banks will
have complete monopoly in the mat
ter of supplying gold, barring alone
the slow production of the mines.
The government itself will have to