Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1897-05-21
INGALLSISOUT.
CUTS LOOSE FROM THE MONEY BARONS'
LEAD.
Denounces Attempts to Crush Greenbacks.
RIPS DlNGLEY's BILL
And vi .lentIy opposes the Proposed Tariff

CINCINNATI, May I3.-The Enquirer prints
the following letter from John ]. ingalls,:
"ArcH1soN, KAs., May 10, 1897.
'It is obvious that if the greenback treasury
notes, silver certificates and other paper obliga
tions of the government are to be presented for
redemption in gold, redeemed in gold, reissued
and presented again for redemption in gold in
definitely, it will be necessary to have surplus
revenues in gold or to sell more bonds for gold.
{" 'There needs no ghost, my lord, come
from the grave to tell us this
Gas an economic proposition, it does not
make much difference whether the people are
taxed to obtain the surplus revenue or taxed to
pay the bonds issued, to enable the gamblers
and brgands to plunder the nation by methods
that make Monte Carlo respectable.
cit seems incredible that the ink is yet wet
upon a contract by which President Cleveland
transferred the protection of the treasury and
the defense of the public credit to foreign
syndicate which agreed for profit OF $S,ooo,-
900, to restraih their own depredations upon
the gold reserve till the following October. Any
private business conducted on such a scheme
would consign its proprietor to the bankruptcy
court, the almshouse or the penitentiary, &C.
cordine to the caiber OF his lawyer or the dis
position of the jury
"The fatal in6rmity of Mr.. Dingiey's theory
is the assumption that the executive has the
right TO hold the greenbacks in the treasury,
either to exchange for gold or for the purpose
of bonds. The greenbacks, limited to $780,
61S.o16 were intended as permanent and con-
stand addition to the legal tender currency
of the country, and any policy which has tor
its object their temporary or final withdrawal is
without warrant i'll law.
"Another defect in the hypothesis OF Mr..
Dinpley is his assertion that the retention of
the ereenbacks of the treasury would not con-
tract the currency because the gold tor which
they were exchanged would enter into and be-
come part of the circulating medium OF the
country. Everybody knows to the contrary.
"Practically, gold is never in circulation
It is not available in the daily transactions
of waee-earners because it is not susceptible of
subdividiug into coinage of small denomina-
tions. In placid times of tranquil and content
ed prosperity the people prefer paper and gold
remains in unsought seclusion. When distrust
and apprehension prevail, when credit is i'm.
paired and confidence shaken, then gold is.
boarded or transferred in bulk from kingdom to-
kingdom, to be buried in the vaults of the Jews,
or to replenish thetreasures of monarchs.
"The statement of Dingley emphasizes the
declarations of those who framed the financial
plank in the St. Louis platform, and of their
Democratic allies, that "sound money" means
ultimately the retirement OF the greenbacks,,
the degradation of standard silver money, and
the transfer of the legal tender function of gold
coin alone. The volume of the currency should
have 10 more to say about the number of dol
lars to be issued than about the number of hats
to be made or the number of bushels of wheat
to be ground or the number of cattle and hogs
to be raised.
sIt should retain and assert such power as.
would punish counterfeits and insure security,
but the amount of money should depend on the
reoure.nents of business, and not on the caprice
of congress, the edicts of rapacious syndcates,
or the compliant vagaries of renegage,s ,secre--
taiy Of the treasury
"Al the people of the United States are un-.