The Louisiana populist., 1895-12-06
PROPOSED ROBBERY.
SHALL 1T DE BONDS OR GREEN.
BACKS2
ment OF Facts Regarding the Merits
of Interest-B Bearing Bonds aud Legal
Tender Paper Money.

The following plain statement oil
facts relative to the proposed course
OF the gold bugs. to substitute bonds
for greenbacks, is from the Caucasian
of Raleigh, North Carolina. Senator
Buffers paper:
The people individually aud collec-
lively should keep themselves fully
informed with reference to all the
schemes and plans of the powers that
be. Next year there will bs mighty
appeal to the people to express their
opinion, pro or con, concerning GER
tain schemes in connection with the
financial system of this government.
III they are not informed they will not
be able to properly decide on the is
sues presented.
One plan or scheme OF the present
national administration is the retire
ment OF all treasury notes and silver
certificates, and putting in their place
five hundred million dollars in inter-
est bearing bonds. Let's have a
plain simple talk about this matter.
Aud to begin with, let us admit the
assertion that there are now three
hundred and forty-six million OF dol
lars of treasury notes (greenbacks) in
circulation aud one hundred and fifty
millions of dollars in silver certificates.
What is treasury note? 1t is sim
ply q piece of paper with the govern
ment's stamp on it certifying that it
represents so much value. For in
stance, il the government should en-
ploy q man and agree to pay him one
dollar per day for work, when that
man had done a days work the gov
ernment can give him this pieco Of
stamped paper which certifies that
the man had done work to the amount
of one dollar. The mau can take this
note or dollar and exchange it for
something he wants. This is the old
'.greenback" kind OF money that
pulled this government through the
war. and the kind of money that paid
the soldiers aud bought the supplies,
etc. 1t goes for q dollar anywhere
now. Why? Because 1t is backed up
by the faith and credit of this gov
ernment. Now remember that the
man who holds this note has a dol
lar. He can hold 1t year If he wishes,
but it draws no interest, and a. the
end of that year or two years, it is
still worth but one dollar. The sane
rule applies to a thousand dollar note.
What is a bond? 1t is simply
piece of paper with the governments
stamp on it certifying that it repre-
sents SO much value, but it is issued
differently. Now, let's take q thou
sand dollar bond and talk about it
little. Suppose the government want
ed Thousand men to work one day,
and agreed to pay each man dollar
for the days work. 1t could. II 1t
wanted to, give each man q dollar
note, as above described, and each
note would pass for dollar, for each
dollar would represent days work,
and a thousand dollars would be ex-
changed for what each man needed.
aud would thus be put into circula-
tion. And this money would be as
good as any that has ever been used.
1t will be the old greenback money.
which erybody knows is as good as
gold, and passes everywhere. Then,
why doesn't the government do this?
This is the reason. Some man who
has found a Thousand dollars worth
gold. or has gotten 1t In some other
way, goes TO the government and
says: "Don'. pay those men who
work for you in treasury notes. Pay
them in gold. have got the gold
and will lend 1t to you II you will
pay it back with interest" The gov
ernment says: well, bring the
gold. We will give you note certi-
flying that we owe you one thousand
dollars with a promise to pay 1t
back to you with interest at per
cent" The man brings the gold; the
takes 1t and pays it out
to the men who have worked for q
dollar day each, and gives the man
who brought the gold note certify
ing that it owes him one thousand
dollars and promising to pay him four
per cent for the use Of the gold. This
kind of a note Is a government bond.
Now, suppose man does one thou
sand dollars worth Of work. The gov.
ernment can give him q thouDand
dollar treasury note (greenback) for
it and it will pass for that much
money anywhere. But if the man who
gets the treasury note should keep it
for one year it would be worth just
what 1t was issued for --one thousand
dollars. But II the man with gold
came along, and the government took
his gold and gave him a bond for it,
how would the matter stand? The
government would pay this gold to
the man who has done one thousand
dollars worth OF work. and at the end
Of the year the gold would still only