Arizona weekly citizen. [volume] (Tucson, Ariz) 1880-1901, 1896-09-12
Highest of all In Leavening Report
Ra:al! q! Rs,xasSE RRakiRS
What Does it Mean? How Did ft
Come?

What Does it Mean? How Did it
Come!
"ToMBsToNE, ARIz., Aug. 25, 1896.
EDITOR ORB.-Whsn / was in Bisbes
about ten days ago 1 met an old friend
q man of more than average education
and intelligence, Who appeared to bs
very much surprised that 1 had become
Q populist, and in strong terms bsmoan-
ed the possible election Of w. j. Bryan
to the Office of president of the United
States, and the consequent triumph OF
what he called populistic heresies, and
said, 81 hope you will get all you want
(meaninR the election of Bryan, free
coinage, etc., etc., and then you will
sec four years Of such stagnatiop, dis
tress and suffering that the people will
rise up and drive out of politics all these
dsmagogues and crapks with their here.
lies and fsds." =
About this time at the fret call for
troops in 1861, all or nearly all gold and
silver had disappeared from circulation
and been boarded by the banks, with
the expectation Of controlling the our
| rency and sli business.
Then it was that the money changers
OF London, with their agents in New
| York and other American cities, seeing
that continuous issue of these treasu.
~ notes would stop their profits and
curtail their power, besieged congress
with whole bsttalions Of lobbyists, male
and female, and whether by persuasion
or bribery or both care not, persusd-
ed that body the treasury must have
gold to suppress the rebellion.
SO the next issue and all further is-
| sues OF treasury notes, contained the
Joker, excepting duties on imports and
. interest on the public debt" from its
legal tender qualities.
This OF necessity created a demand
for gold and silver coin, thereby gave
the money changers the power to re-
duce the treasury notes to from 95 to "a
cents on the dollar as measured in coin.
Thus the treasury had to issue bonds
payable in coin, and the money changers
bought the treasury notes, (cslled green
backs) at the discounts mentioned,
probably averaging 80 cents on the dol
lar and then got another act of congress
passed by the same mesns authorizing
the treasury to issue bonds, dollar :or
dollar, payable in coin to redeem these
5O-cents dollar.
Now Mr.. Honest Dollar" man with
wheat at 80 cts., oats and corn at five to
ten and cotton five to seven cents, and
all other products of the industry and
energy OF seventy millions Of people, at
corresponding prices, when will we sue
ceed in paying this dect? How long will
We be able to pay the interest without
issuing more bonds, or imposing excess
sive taxes on people already tax rid
DAM
Friends. honest dollsrmen, do you
want this? x
(Signed) JAMES RILEY"
Considering the enormity Of the folly,
not to say the crime, OF congress, in
hictinR upon the country such legisls-
tion as Mr.. Riley describes, the editor
of the Orb, (who is q young mani may
we'll inquire, "what does it mean?"
"How did it come?" and the ''honest
dollar man" and all other honest men
may seriously ask, what can We do
about it?"
Your correspondent will epdeavor to
inform the Orb "How 1t come" and will
suggest what he thinks is best to do
sboutit-
The facts set forth by Mr.. Riley are of
themselves 30 suggestive of corruption
that, most OF the actors in that drama
being now dead, Mr.. Riley might chsrit-
ably have omitted the hint of over per-
sussion and bribing; fortunately it 90
happened that the republican party then
in power and responsible for the legis-
lstiOn OF that congress, is much alive to-
day, proud Of its achievements boast
ing an honorable record with which il
comparison with the record
Of any party OF any epoo of our history.
The republican party, when it came in
power, inherited from its predecessors
divided country and civil war which |
developed proportions appalling to the |
patriot, the government and to civiliza-
lion itself.
With the exception OF two brief inter-
vals the government had for thirty years |
been controlled by party whose econ-
omio policy had been to export raw ma
terisls and purchase manufactured pro-
ducts in the cheapest market; hence the
crisis caught the country with mesger
'acilities for creating the necessary ma
tsrial for war and largely dependent up
,n Europe for the indispensable material
and ammunition.
Our credit, impaired in peace vanish
ID in war. Gold in all foreign trans
actions was required with the order"
The Joker failed to bring sufficient
yold from the custom department..
One OF the two methods had to be
to send the soldiers to
,pen the vaults OF the capitalists with
heir bayonets; or, devise some scheme
70 induce them to open them themselves.
The army had a big job on hand already,
md of course capital named the terms,
made all the harder because not only
he south and most OF Europe, but N uch
II the democratic press joined that Gov
'rnment could not survive the conflict
Who shall say that our great and unit
ID country is not worth the blood and
reasure sacrificed in its defense?
When will We succeed in paying this
lebt?"
After ell we can do to smooth the rug
.ed path of the old soldier, we must
ransmlt to posterity q debt of graft
ude as q proud inheritance. There are
)Qb tWO Woyo W kCs kAa VI tuc DOuues 4
me Is to repudiate them, Il will not al
ow myself that any considerable party
will consider that plan) the other la to
'lect Mckinley, return to the old Ameri-
IAN protection system OF Henry Clay,
low nicknamed McKinleyism-fre up
ur forges aud furnaces, revive our in
lustries, turn the flow of gold toward
'ur shores, adopt bimetallism and with
he return Of prosperity resume the re.
,ublicsn custom of making monthly re-
Iuctions Of the national debt. Two
'aths open before US, one leads to dis .
lonor, prsverty and anarchy; the other
o prosperity, honor and higher civil ,
sation. The American people will not
Iesitats which to pursue.
A READER.
RHEUMATIS M in the back, should {