The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-09-18


effect: Be it enacted that the farmer shall
get 81 a bushel for wheat. He could then
be happy, provided he could get 81 bush
eI for wheat, and keep all other articles
down which he has to buy, at their former
prices But this happiness would De snoFt-
lived. Masons, carpenters, taliofs, shoe-
makers, lawyers, bankers, doctors, mer-
chants, manufacturers, seeing what good
luck the farmer has received out OF Iesis,,
lation, would go pell-mell to Congress ana
ask that good high prices be liked Tor
them. each equivalent to 81 a bushel for
wheat to the farmer. Congress could not
refuse to act, because the laWinaklng
P9Msr nus nS eNeTclssa LII s'A far,r I'D
got prices up to suit himself, the farmer
having to buy everything he needs at the
was, when he and his fellow-citizens were
dealing on low plane of prices
SO it is apparent that unless one man
enjoys privilege or monopoly which he
has no right TO enjoy legislation alone.
OF any sort, cannot help MN az. II VIII MI
all men up alike, or it will lift none OF
them.
THE STORY OF 1893.
1--WE had a panic in 1888. l shall talk
of its cause and effect little later on,
but suddenly depositors drew their money
out of banks to such an extent that banks
had no money to lend. What was the re-
suit? Why, it was then proved what a
vital element in the country's business the
banks are; for the moment they had to
say to employers of labor, Our money Is
all drawn out and we have none to lend
that moment the employers had to say TO
their laborers, we cannot get any money
in the bank with which to pay you, and
at that moment the laborer had to lay
down his tools and go into idleness.
Straightway shops mills, furnaces all over
the country were closed and stayed closed
until banks regained their money and were
able to supply money Tor wages TO the
laborer.
I'm june 1898, the owner of a large fur.
mace who employed a great number of
men and indirectly gave work TO miners
pany and said: I have orders for metal
enough to keep my business going for
months, but the banks cannot discount my
paper and give me money with which TO
pay my men. If you will take my COM
mercial paper for freight money | owe
you get little money for my men
and they will wait until 1 can get more
The railroad officers had TO say TO nun UNI
us any more than for you. We have to
pay our conductors, engineers. nremen,
brakemen and other employees IN money.
the furnace was closed. and furnace men,
coal and ore miners and a. part of the rail-
road forces were suspended from work all
because the banks could no longer give
money to business men.
Bear these facts in mind the next time
you hear a demagogue shouting inyectives
against banks. The Populists and free-sll-
yer DEMOCRATS are filled with savage lily lGrg
against Wall-street bankers ana Iorelgn
syndicates. They call them opprobr1ous
names, as coupon cutters, gold bugs
money sharks, bank oligarchiSts ana non,
producing drones. The Wall-street and
European capitalists who thus Vlo-
lently and maliciously assalled are
as important and Indispensable a fac
tor in our national development as the
banks are in local interests. They control
the savings of people at home and abroad;
and it is concentrated from wider areas ana
in larger amount than in country banks
ness men need a few thousand dollars they
can get it in country or inland city pah lt.;
or a steam railroad is to be built the
amount of money needed is far beyond the
capacity of banks or people IN tng vlc 81 ~
ternal Improvement go to Wall street, Lon
don. frankfort or Amsterdam, where
money is held in vast amounts; that money
is not forced on us. We need not take it
if we do not want it, and the question IS
shall we do without the improvements or
shall we condescend to borrow money of a
foreigner, The foreigner is neither cruel
that he viii get his money back in as good
money as he lends. and then he is satisfied
with a low rate of interest His money has
furnished horses, cattle, implements and
fences for farms all over the Western
country; his money has built bridges across
rivers vast buildings in cities, electric and
steam railways all over the country. With
out his money should not have had these
improvements, and if he receives his inter-
est and principal as promised he never
complains Why, he should be mark Of
vituperation and hate can be explained
nowhere but in a lunatic asylum.
WHY CAPITAL IS TIMID.
"Why is capital timid? 1t is afraid of be-
ing lost. The owner of capital loses con-
troll of it when he lends it. Whether he re-
ceives it again depends on the good judg-
ment and good faith OF the man to whom
he lends it, and upon thousand conditions
which neither the owner nor the borrower
can control. If it is loaned on a mortgage
the security may become worthless. If to a
railroad company, bad management or
competition may consume it. If to build a
bridge, other bridges may rob it of its
aIIa ohan in IF bIIs
ness may deprive it OF all income. If it is
loaned to merchants or manufacturers it is
beset with a thousand peris. When money
is thus lost, observe who loses il and who
gets it. The laborers who build house a
bridge or railroad invariably receive
their wages. The laws secure it to them in
every conceivable way, and public opinion
supplies any deficiency that may exist in
the law If a manufacturer borrows money
to use in his business he pays his employees
regularly; sometimes he buys materials for
which he cannot pay. If mistaken judg
! development of other business, or change
in politics finally embarrasses and ruins
him the result is that the laborer has got
| his wages, the employer owes his creditors
and the capitalist who loaned his money is
statistics were given some years ago to
| show that more than 50 per cent of men
| who continue long enough in business fail
| and cannot pay their debts. Business men
| never stop when they lose their own money;
they borrow as long as they can. and they
! fail what or how? Why, to pay their debts.
! They could not fail in any other way and
| it is the capitalist that is the final loser
THE history of our country in the last
| twenty-five years proves the truth of what
/ | have said and accounts largely for the
| prevailing depression. The speculative
| period which followed the close of our
| civil war eliminated in crisis in 1872:
| merchants, manufacturers and spectators
| were ruined, individuals and banks who
| loaned them money lost that money. Dur
| ing the six or seven years that followed
that collapse business was stagnant, enter
| prise checked, laborers were idle. During
| the summer of 1873 1879 it became zap
| parent that two causes were at work which
| would restore prosperity to this country.
An unprecedented crop of wheat in this
country and unprecedented failure of
| harvest abroad. There We're hardly ships
| enough on the ocean to carry our supplies
| to Europe, and season of prosperity fol-
| lowed for two or three years such as has
| never been surpassed. Everybody had
money to spend and capital again became
/ courageous and hopeful. The assassina-
! ton of President Garfield in 1881 was fol-
| lowed by another depression which lasted
about three years, not so bad, however as
| between 1872 and 1878, and from 1886 until
1893 the country enjoyed a fair degree of
| prosperity. But in 1891 and 1892 influences
| We're at work to alarm capital which Gull
minated in the money panic of May, 1893.
| what were those influences? Our govern
! ment, under the advice of quack doctors
| unprecedented experiments in finance I'M
| DER the Bland act of 1878 the government
had coined and pushed into circulation
regardless of the needs of business, in sill
Yer dollars and silver certificates. over $500,
100000. In 1891. under the Sherman act fhe