The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-07-29
LET The TRUTH Be HEARD.
HON. JOHN DAVIS REPLIES.
The Great Kansan Wipes the Earth
With Knave.
He Replies to IN Article In ''The Kingdom"
Minneapolis, and They Refuse 70
Print II. -
(coNrrNuArroN.)

WIN
Mr.. G. says that the supply Of money
during the late panic was larger than at
any former time in the history Of this ma
ton. That fatal error is derived from
the erroneous reports published monthly
by the United States treasury in the in
terest Of the usurers. Those reports ig-
more the use of various sorts Of monetary
obligations issued by the government
during the war, which were used as
money, but have since been refunded into
registered bonds and can no longer cir
culate as money. The most prominent of
these currencies were the $3.50, 00O, 900 of
$50 treasury notes, which General Spin
ner said were intended, prepared and
used as money" Secretary Fessenden
paid out $40, 000. 900 of them in one pay
ment to the soldiers In the field, and they
circulated freely among the people, or
were held in the banks as reserves, set
ting free other forms of currency. This
view Of the case is sustained by the his
tory of the times, and is plainly described
by General Logan in his speech in the
United States senate, March II, 1874.
BY ignoring that class of currencies the
former supply Of money per capita Is re-
duced. And, then, in order to raise the
present per capita, hundreds Of millions
of exported gold, and nearly as much lost,
wasted, destroyed and retired paper notes
are counted as now circulating among the
people. This statement was fully proven
by the late Senator Plumb in his able
speeches Of April, 1883, and June 1890.
If Mr.. c. desires to test the truth Of this
last position let him inspect the recent
reports. The one before me is for Sep
TENDER, 1895. The amount of gold coin
said to be in circulation at that time was
$479. 1877 $751; The amount Of silver coin
Of all sorts is placed at SIP, 675,0O1. Ac-
cording to that statement, there were ut
that time more than four times the
amount of gold coin in circulation as of
silver coin. The statement is so unrea-
sonable that every business man familiar
with the current monetary circulation
will spurn the statement as false. And,
then, to add to the absurdity of Mr.. C.'s
position, he should remember that the
money we have does not circulate, be-
cause Of falling prices. Money will not
circulate freely in time of approaching
money and falling prices. And, still fur
ther, it must be remembered that during
"the late panic of 1893 the banks laid
violent hands on the money Of depositors,
and by force reduced still lower the VOL
ume Of money among the people at that
particular time.
That act Of violent anarchy, which vio-
lated every law Of mercantile honesty in
order to reduce the supply Of money in
circulation. and to give the people what
President Cleveland called an "object
.esson," proves that the banks belle wed
that to reduce the supply Of money would
intensity the hard times. Mr.. c. should
learn from this case that his masters do
not hesitate to stultify themselves and all
their followers whenever it suits their
purposes to do so.
But let us sum up this contraction mat
ter. According to General Logan's ia
bles, constructed from McCullough's re-
ports, there was In Circulation IN 1866
81, 75e, 240,70 This was for the North
ern states mainly, and it was for the sup
ply Of only about 3,0O0,0 900 people. It
amounted to more than $50 per capita
Other authorities make the figures about
the same. Then came the contraction
law Of 1866, under which, according to
Secretary Foster, was refunded into reg
istered bonds, $1,265,815,O81, Of various
forms of monetary obligations, many Of
which had circulated as money. In 1873
came the demonstration of silver, which,
added to other causes, precipitated a
U41lllC. uCu tuCIC was IuC COAtl 0NLkU4
law of 1875, under which some millions
OF greenbacks were retired. During all
those years and all the years since, all
forms of paper currency, including eight
or ten millions of fractional currency,
were retired by loss, fire and flood and
general waste; also the export of gold
went on, almost continuously, at the rate
of millions, or hundreds Of millions per
arnum; and, since 1882, the banks have
retired over $150,000,000 of their cur
rency. To offset all these hundreds of
| millions, amounting, since 1865, to per-
haps 81 300, OO0, 900 of retired and export
ed money, we have the paltry products of
cur own minis, closed most of the time
against silver, and not doing much in the
line of gold coinage.
| The false tables and reports which have
misled Mr.. G. are mere limitations of the
British reports of 1929, made by the Brit
ish finance minister to deceive the people
as to the crime of contraction, as ours
are now doing. And the falsity OF those
tables and reports was proved by Cir
Thomas Doubleday and others, as ours
have been most fully disproved.
Mr.. G. mentions some of the colonial
currencies as failures, and gives Massa-
chusetts and Rhode Island as special fail
ures. Two things he forgets. First,
that in each and every case, coin utterly
and entirely failed before the paper was
issued; and second, the paper system Of
Pennsylvania was complete and happy
success for period Of fifty years Q723 to
1873, until destroyed by an act of the
British parliament which annulled the
quality of legal tender.
1t is the uniform testimony of the times,
by such men as DR.. Franklin, Governor
Pomnal, Edmund Burk, David Hume, Rev.
John Twells, of London, and others, that
no system of finance could be more sue
cessful and beneficial than the colonial
currency of Pennsylvania, until overthrown
by the British government
The colonial currency Of North Carolina
was. also, marked success, and remained
at par with coin long time after the war
Of independence, because the state con-
!! tinued to receive it in the public revenues,
but without coin redemption Mr.. C. should
have given us fair statement Of the colo
NAL currenc:es, or, otherwise left them un-
mentioned. He should not attempt to mis-
lead his readers.
think it but fair in this connection to
give the statement OF DR.. Franklin on the
subject Of colonial paper money and the
prior failure Of CON, which compelled the
use Of paper. He doubtless knew as much
about the matter as Mr.. c. Does. In a
pamphlet dated 1894, DR.. Franklin said:
"The truth IS, that the balance Of their
trade with Great Britain being greatly