The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-05-24

Hi
apparently benefited by scaling the o m1lo
CATIONS down to silver standard, ~
Indebtedness of the farmers, 1nechi'nlIIs'
ana other laborlng classes of our pooP;;p,
although large in the aggregate, Is qu,'e
small in comparison with the whoie -
debtedness of the great railroad anu Ilal ,
| ufacturing corporations, the national an
State banks, savings institutions, uI .1s
companies, insurance companies, pulN-
ing associations, and other organlz.sssI,loonns
| engaged in financial and commercial en-
terprlses. These various organlzatio1s
are indebted to the people to the eXteit
| of many billions of dollars, and while IL
| is true that many of the people are alio
indebted to them, their debtors and cree
therefore, the debts cannot be set on
against each other and extinguished N
that way deny that there is any SUN
thing as a
DISTINCT DEBTOR GLASS;
in this country, for while nearly every
one owes some debts, large or small,
nearly every one has also some debjs
owing to him. in other words, he is boh
debtor and creditor The laboring peope,
as a general rule owe very little at any
one time, while their employers are al
ways indebted to them, because wages
are not paid in advance; and besides,
many of them have small deposits in sa'-
ings and other banks, in trust companies,
in building associations, and large nun
bers of them have their lives insured for
the benefit of their wives and children
and consequently they are creditors OF the
banks and the insurance companies
The savings bank depositors in this couIh
+x,,r Irc,E ,hnta1 A q nj
wives and children of the depositors who
depended upon these accumulated earn
ings for future support doubtless mum
bered 10, 600, 600 more. There were ], 925,
$40 depositors in the national banks last
year, and l, 724, OFT of them had deposits
of less than 81, 600 each, while State and
private banks and loan and trust com
panies held deposits for 1, 1885, 63S people.
Our life-inSurance companies, to say
nothing Of companies insuring property
against loss by fire and otherwise, had
z, 505, $40 policies outstanding last year,
upon which the premiums had been paid
or were being paid, by the people, and
the mutual benefit and assessment COM
panies had Bats, 600 members. The
building and loan associations had nearly
2, 900, 600 members, all of whom had paid
their money in as required by the rules
of the body to which they belonged. Here
then, are about p, 900, 600 of our people,
generally poor, or at least people of mod
crate means, who have given credit to
these great corporations and companies,
and, in my opinion, it would be griev-
Gus wrong to adopt any policy which
would deprive them of the legal right to
demand and receive just as good money
as they parted with when they made the
deposits in the banks or paid the premi-
u1ns on their insurance policies. The
hard-earned
SAVINGS OF THE POOR
ought not to be sacrificed to the avari &C
of the wealthy mine-owners or the am.
bition of aspiring politicians, and if che
people who have substantial interest il
the welfare of the country and just ap-
probation of their responsibilities as citi-
zens will exert their proper infirerce in
public affairs this great wrong cali never
be perpetrated..
Mr. President, but little remains fer
me to say before bringing these remarks
to conclusion. 1t is not my purpose 20
discuss upon this occasion the variols
propositions which have been made from
time to time for the improvement of eA+'
OUR BANKING SYSTEM,
or for the retirement of United States
notes, because the questions involved in
them are so important and so large that
they cannot be properly considered in
connection with the subject to which my
time has been devoted. We have an
abundance Of money in this country fo1
all the purposes of trade, and the disturb
ances and hard times of 1S93and 1894 were
not caused by a scarcity or contraction OF
the currency, but by contraction o.
credit resulting from loss of confidence
in the stability and value of our currency
So far as the mere volume of our cur
rency is concerned, we had then and have
now an ample supply for all necessary
purposes, but under the existing system
it is not properly distributed and is not
sufficiently elastic to meet all the chang
ing requirements of business at different
should go entirely out of the banking
| business by the withdrawal of it's arbi-
| trary and compulsory issues Of notes and
afford the people an opportunity to sup
ply their own currency based upon their
own means and credit, thus enabling
every community to utilize it's own re-
sources when necessary and adjust the
circulation from time to time to the &C
| tual demands of legitimate commerce. In
what way this shall be accomplished IS a
question which has already engaged the
serious attention of the people and public
authorities, and it will no doubt con-
tinue to be investigated and discussed
| until a plan is formulated which, if not
perfect, will at least have the merit of
being great improvement upon the ex-
| listing system. In the meantime our
highest duty is to preserve the present
standard of value, maintain the parity of
| the two metals and keep all the money
in circulation, among the people, wheth-
er it be gold and silver coins, or paper
based upon them, equal in purchasing
power, so that no discrimination will or
can be made between those who receive
silver or paper and those who receive
gold. A great government should do
nothing to discredit it's own obligations
or diminish the value of the money in
the hands of it's citizens nor should the
people of great country ever consent to
the adoption of a policy, through expert
mental flancial legislation or otherwise,
which will vitiate the obligations of their
contracts, interrupt the regular course
of their business and destroy the founda-
lions upon which their industrial and
commercial ssytems have been construct
| ed The spirit of conservatism is still
strong among our people, and, notwith-
standing the delusive promises and selfish
appeals that are now largely influencing
| fhn1 0rn1V, 4Iaa