St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-03-16
BUSINESS VERSUS POLITICS.

money tney are spending.
BUSINESS VERSUS POLITICS.
Comptroller Eckels contributes to
| the Forum an article on THE Bust
| ness World Versus the Politicians"
| in which, combining himself to the
currency question, he shows how
| the coWardice, if not the ignorance,
| OF the politicians has sacrificed the
material interests of the entire coun-
try. He finds compensation for the
futilism of congress in the educa-
ton Of the people which the efforts
OF the president to restore a sound
currency, together with the discus
sion drawn out, has given the peo-
pie of the country on the entire
question of money and the relations
| of the government to it.
In the continuing depression in the
business world it is evident that
either our business methods are at
fault or that, in our extravaganza
| and speculation, or in the tone of the
discussion Of currency legislat ton,
there is something radically wrong.
With the tariff settled for a time,
with congress adjourned, with an
abundance of money on every hand,
he inquiries why the American today
feels poor; why does the stagnatio
still continue? He finds some war
rant for this in the loss of con-
hdence in the management of our
great railroad enterprises, growing
out OF their oVer-capitalization, and
also in the remaining effects of the
collapse of that period of over-spec-
ulation in which the country so re-
Gently rioted
But the main cause is the agita-
ton of the silver question, casting
a shadow OF doubt upon the solvency
/ of our currency and the mainte-
nance of the gold standard This af-
fects not only the currency of the
government, but all of those enter
prises of the country created by the
investment of foreign capital, and
those projected enterprises which
must rely upon the same source for
the capital for their construction.
- 1eSNi NaAiiiSoity III lllC
is the connection that has grown up
since the war, and partly as re-
suit of the war, between the govern
ment and the business interests, in
the currency, banking, revenue,
tariff and those other laws directly
affecting business, which have, as he
says, made the government a con-
trn1linor fnrno in,
In the legal tender issues and their
compulsory reissues Mr. Eckels notes
the greatest danger today to every
business interest and the cause of
much of the existing stagnation.
That they are in existence today is
not because of the demand of the
business world, but of the cowardice
or ignorance of the politicians.
Afraid Of, or sympathizing with, the
noisy denagogue, they first secured
the stoppage Of their retirement, and
subsequently, through the silver and
treasury notes, vastly augmented
their quantity. From first to last
he says, they have been the greatest
burden, the. most expensive debt
ever placed upon the government
The loss to the people by the specu-
lation engendered by them, the finan-
cial heresies to which they have
given birth, the damage to individ-
ual business enterprise, with the re-
curing doubt of the ability of the
government to maintain gold pay
ments, cannot be reckoned in figures.
but trustworthy statistics show that
the direct cost of maintaining them
has exceeded $3.50, OOO, 900.
1t is not alone in the actual loss
which this non-interest-bearin debt
has caused the country that we
must look for it's worst results. These
will be found in the false conception
that is prevalent in the minds of so
many Of the real nature of money.
TO this we owed the greenback
craze of the seventies, and it is
now the real basis of the free coin
age movement. AS the greenbaclS-
ers claimed that it was the stamp
OF the government that made the
rag paper actual money, so the sill
VeriteS now assert that it is the
mint's die, imprinting the fiat of
the government upon the bit of sill
we'd bullion that gives it it's value. SO
long as paper representatives OF
money issued by the government
continue, just so long will there be
a constant danger threatening the
solvency Of the currency and par
alyzing business. The interests of
the business world and consequently
of all Of the people imperatively de-
mand the permanent retirement of
these demands on the public treas
ury.