St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1895-08-09
POOR MEMS SAVINGS.
THEY WILL SUFFER BY A DEPRE.
GATED CURRENCY.

FallaCy OF "thehp money Argument hhu'
CIear-Laborers Are Not Debtors Free
silver VIII Enrich Wealthy Mine own
ers at the Expense Of the Poor.
The honest people (and they are a ma
ioritv) If this country will have nothing
10 do with free coinage at lG to /, ="
when they understand what it means.
Secretary Carlisle, in his Memphis
spcech. made it clear who the real debt
ors and creditors are Read this part OF
his speech and then ask yourself if You
think it right and just and fair to de-
clare that dollar debts shall be paid
with half dollars. Here is what Carlisle
said:
One Of the most effective arguments
made by the advocates Of free coinage,
in some parts Of the country at least, is
that the people are in debt, and that 1t
is the duty of the government to relieve
them by such legislation as will enable
them to procure cheap money for the
purpose Of discharging their obligations,
and in support Of this argument the
most exaggerated statements are made
as to the depressed and suffering condl-
ton of our farmers, wage earherS ana
other producing classes IhlS argument
comedies that unde. the proposed system
If froo coinop- at the ratioof 1G to all
fine varior, kind Of currency in use by
fine .rtople, including the silver dollar
ieef, would be worth less than they are
now, for Of course, if this is not TO be
the result money would be no cheaper
To assert that the people are in debt
is simply to say that they have traded
with each other on credit; that one part
Of our fellow citizens, relying upon the
integrity and fnal.--al standing Of their
neighbors and ac = intances, have lent
them money on time and sold property
to them without demanding immediate
payment in cash, and that in this way
they have enabled many people to carry
OH a useful business and live in comfort
able homes who otherwise could not
have done so. If it is crime to lend
money TO man who wants to borrow it,
or to sell property on credit to Il man who
wants to purchase it and has no ready
money to pay for it, let the perpetrators
be properly punished but let us not in
volve the whole country in confusion
and disaster and immediate the innocent
and guilty alike in order to punish the
real offenders. If our people are in debt,
they owe each other, and consequently
about as many would be actually in
jured as would be apparently benefited
by scaling the obligations down to a sill
yer standard. The Indebtedness of the
farmers, mechanics and other laboring
classes of our people, although large in
the aggregate, is quite small i'll com
parison with the whole Indebtedness Of
the great railroad and manufacturing
corporations, the national and state
banks, savings institutions, trust COM
panles, insurance companies building
associations and other organizations en-
gagged III financial and commercial enter
prlses. These various organizations are
indebted to the people to the extent of
many billions Of dollars, and while it is
true that many of the people are also in
debted to them their debtors and cred
ltors are not the same persons, and there
fore the debts cannot be set off against |
each other and eXtinguished in that way.
l deny that there is any such thing as
distinct debtor class" in this country,
for, while nearly every one owes some
debts, large or small, nearly every one
has also some debts owing to him. In
other words, he is both debtor and cred
ltor. The laboring people, as a rule,
owe very little at any one time, while
their employers are always indebted to
them, because wages are not paid in adj
vance, and besides many Of them have
small deposits in savings and other
banks III trust companies, in building
associations and large numbers of them
have their lives insured for the benefit
OF their wives and children. and consc-
quently they are creditors Of the banks
and the insurance companies. The say
lngS bank dopositors IN this country last
year numbered 4,I1GGS1, and thewiycs
and children Of the dcpositurS who de-
pended upon these accumulated earnings
for future support doubtless numbered
10000 GOO more There were 1.Q25.84O
depositors in the national banks last
year, and L12i,011of thcm had deposits
Of less thauSl 600 each, while state and
private banks and loan and trust com