People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1896-02-06
People, S Voice.
The Bond and the Dollar.


1t was on the 18th of March, 1859
that the government Of the Unite(
States mace its first league and cove
nant with the fundholding interests
against the people. By the terms o
that league the millionaire who hat
given hundred thousand dollars fol
a bond Of the same denomination
should receive back, true enough, q
hundred thousand dollars, but should
receive it in units of another kind
worth about two for one.
From that day, distant from the
present by more than twenty-siy
years, there has been no deviation OF
shadow Of turning on the part Of in
trenched intrigue to carry out the
compact, Year by year the bolts and
bars have been driven ever further
and deeper with blow on blow OF the
sledge Of the money power, until the
national fraud has been glorifed"un.
der the name Of honor, and the whole.
some truth nailed in the coffin of con.
tempt. Each succeeding administra-
tion has been even as its predecessor,
but more so in its devotion to the
bOndholding interest at the expense
Of all besides. N
Having secured the declaration of
the payment Of the national debt In a
currency different from the currency
Of the contract, the next step was
that Of frightening and perpetuating
the bonds. II the bonds, now payable
in coin, were good for ten years or
twenty years, then they would be bet
ter for thirty years or forty years to
run. Nor will the government now
be so eager to pay when payment in
coin is impossible. The people can
now be made to believe, what is true,
that the government cannot for the
present pay our bonds. They must
therefore be extended. Great fnan-
cierS will they be who can sell us a
tive-per-cent bond with an extension
of ten years, and take up six-per-
cent bond which is falling due. That
is the process of refunding in a nut
shell, and that requires the gigantic
intellect Of some great secretary to do
it. We, the benefciaries, may hold
out to him the impossible prospect of
being preSident-if he will do the
work well!
The history Of the various refunding
operations by which the short high
rate bonds Of the government sold
during the war period we're translated
into long lOwer-rate bonds is but the
record OF a scheme which was con-
trived By the bondholders themselves.
ratified by an undiScerning congress,
and carried into execution by the
treasury department of the United
States, with the Interior design of
preventing payment by frightening
the time to run, and with the still
further hope Of making a perpetual
Understanding fund in the European
manner.
The bonds had now become the most
profitable Of all investments. =
When capital accumulates in large
amounts and there is no such thing as
national bond In which it NAV en-.
sconce itself and begin to grow, such
capital must Of necessity offer itself
Tor the promotion Of legitimate pro.
ductive, manufacturing and CONNER.
clal enterprises. 1t must under such
conditions do something useful for
mankind; but where the bond exists.
surplus capital takes the form of the
oond by preference of all other enter.
priSes, and to that extent all other en-.
terpriseS anguish and weaken for
their wOnted stimulus.
By the beginning Of the eighth
decade thus much had been accom-.
plished: The fundholding interest
had confirmed itself to the extent of
getting a long bond for a short one,
with the guaranty of payment of both
principal and interest in coin. The
next point attained by the bondhold- |
ing power-for it had now become a |
power-can hardly be touched upon
with equanimity. The coin of the
United States existed 10 two kinds.
silver and gold. Should the govern
ment ever again reach the basis OF
specie payments, the debtor would
have the option of paying in the one
coin or the other, according to bis
convenience and the plentifuluess of
the given kind. This option cousti.
tutes the essential element Of bimetal.
lism. That it could be taken awav
from the debtor seems 10 the retro.
spect thing so mOnstrous as TO he
Incredible. 1t was a valuable option
which the debtor in the United States
had held unchallenged from the foun.
dalton Of the government. No credi-
tor had ever tried to take il from hi p