The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1895-07-30
BANKERS AND STATESMEN.
Correspondence of the Progressive Farmer.

denca that they are7 Do they love
their country for what a patriot loves
his country? Or for what the octopus
loves its victim-the blood (moneyl
they can get fromit Are they phiian
thropists and humanitarians7 Do they
love their countrymen7 Do they love
humanity in the spirit commanded by
the thunder from Sinai, Love thy
neighbor as thyself"7 Or as the slave
holders love their slaves, men their
horses-for the wealth they create for
them9 Have they shown themselves
capable of craftsmanship? Or dark
treachery, crime and selfish aggran-
dizament7 Is their motto virtue ard
honor9 Or avarice aud base ambition7
Have they shown themselves advocates
of justice of equal rights Or have
they fought to suppress equal rights
and to obtain special privileges for
themselves7 And do our laws indicate
that they have been success 'ul or IN
successful7 Do they buy bonds and
manipulate the nations finances to
make the people prosperous, or for
personal gain9 Did they and the Buz
zardite from Buzzard's Bay enter into
secret c~onclave in the silent hour of
midnight, because they were 80 sorry.
so anxious for the nations credit, or
because they felt like they were going
to commit 6 crime7 Did they take
those bonds just to accommodate the
government, or for the so 0O0, 600 i'm
mediate profit they received, and for
| the 12O per cent. interest they will re-
ceive during the nexs thirty years?
VINO profited by the civil war? The
bankers. Who demonetized silver in
1872 Tie bankers. Who killed the
purchasing clause of the Sherman act7
The bankers. Who owns the President
and Congress? The bankers. VINO
make the financial laws of this countryG
Indirectly the bankers. Yet this is
| America, and these arr the men. No!
not men, traitors into whose hands we
are called on to surrender our govern
ment and follow them blindly, implicit
". Whither2 To business s~tagnation,
TO degradation, to poverty, and ulti
mately TO Imperialism YES, these are
the patriots into whose hands we are
called upon to surrender the nations
blood (money), and not only its blood
but its heart (rhe money making power
which sends that bright blood leaping
through its veins channels of trade),
strengthening the system and giving
health, nourishment and prosperity to
commerce, life and civilization. Shall
We place all this-our very ~destiny-in
the hands and power of such irrespon-
sible men7
IT'S said, "Who owns the land owns
the people" Sill truer tits, who owns
and controls the money owns the land
and the people. Can we trust the most
vital function of our government-the
power to make money and place it in
circulation-in their hands? Can we
trust our freedom in their hands2
They did not assist to obtain free
dom. Can we hope that they will help
us retain it? In 1776 they organized in
New York and passed resolutions con
demning the father of our country, and
the Declaration of Independence, and
threw up their hats for the crown Of
England. But the D 1~claration of indie
pendence prevailed over the proclama-
ton of the Crown, and Uncle Sam"
spanked John Bull" and sent him
lover the sea-" And ever since that
time there has been a set of Tories,
bankers, traitors, marshalled under the
name, Conservative business men"
fighting the freedom of America-your
freedom, my freedom-and trying to
get certain functions of government.
which would ultimately give them
power to control, delegated to them
selves. Little by little, s~tealthily, con
tinually, onward they have advanced,
with brides In their hands and prom
ises of fame on their tongues, appealing
to the avarice Of some, 0 the ambition
of others; coaxing, promising, reward
ing, encountering, persevering, over
coming, conquering. until their con
quest, their spoils aud their plum
der have emboldened them to an open
fight for these special privileges and to
command you to stand and deliver the
most vital fUrction of government
the power to make money. Once again,
1 ask you, can you, will you trust them
with the money-th the blood of your
country-and the power to make
money, the heart which sends that