The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1898-06-24
WOULD ENSLAVE AMERICAN PEOPLE
SENATOR ALLEN DENouNcEs THE ATTEMPT TO ENsL AVE
THE PEOPLE WITH A PERPETUAL DEBT.
THE PROPER WAY TO RAISE REVENUE FOR The WAR
An Income Tax Law Should b q Substituted For the Scheme to Issue
Hundreds Of Millions Of Gold Bonds.
Law Should be Substituted For the
Hundreds OF Millions of Gold Bonds.

Mr.. President, if we authorize thu
of $40O, 600, 900 more of bonds
we will have placed the bonded indebt.
edness of the country at over half what
it was at the close of the late civil war
We will make 1t almOSt thirteen hun
dred million dollars, and 1 think in
round numbers it was only tw~enty-three
hundred million dollars at the close OF
the war, making something like twenty
eight hundred million dollars with the
non Understanding obligations added.
But senators say it wOu'd not be a
wise thing to do to coin the seignior-
age. Why not, Mr.. President? Can
any gentleman point out in what re-
Spect there would be a lack of wisdom
in coming the silver s~eigniOrage in the
treasury? No, Mr.. President. that man
does not occupy a seat in this chamber,
unless he shall adopt the ~hackneyed and
exploded theory that there is a diff
ference between coin one INC a linn
tied volume Of paper money having the
same legal functions.
l heard a senator say this morning
in this chamber, possibly it was yes
terday, that silver had deprecated: and
we hear it all over the country among
a class Of men who would enslave the
American people by a perpetual inter-
est-bearing debt. They say that silver
has deprecated. Mr.. President, silver
AAoo " III IlO olI6llISSl
degree. There has been no practical
depreciation in silver n gold and cast
ing all the money work upon gold alone,
gold has risen and silver has stood
still. 1t is the appreciation Of gold
and not the depreciation of silver that
has made the difference.
Even the present secretary Of the
treasury, whose financial career has
been confined until recently to the back
parlor Of a bank in Chicago, in a circu-
lar recently issued, Circular No. 143,
on page Is, says:
Gold coins n standard silver dol
lars, being the standard coin Of the
United States, are not redeemable."
He goes on into quite a discussion Of
the standard silver dollar n standard
gold coin. Does any nan doubt that,
If we will give silver the same office
we give gold, if we will coin silver with
out limitation and make it a full legal
tender for all debts public and private,
it will stand as coin money upOn a
parity with gold in all respects?
Mr.. President, it is the office or func-
ton OF circulation and exchange per-
formed by none that gives it it's value.
I have no patience, absolutely no pa
thence whatever, with that class of
pseudo %financiers who argue that the
value Of o resides in the CONNER
cial value Of the material employed. We
can displace every dollar Of silver and
gold in the United States and replace
them with full legal-tender paper
money, and If we limit that volume,
every paper dollar will be equivalent
to a dollar in gold.
Gold and silver are valuable over
paper only in so far as nature has regu-
lated the output and made it impossible
for man to Increase it; but regulate
h volume of paper and coin at the
same point and the paper dollar will
be worth as much, will buy as much,
ness as the gold dollar. And yet. Mr..
President, we hear goldbugs calling
for gold all the time and they tell US
that we must have the money of the
world, when they know there is no
such thing as money of the world. There
is but a single instance I car now re-
call, where, in modern times, there was
and that was paper money that was
issued by England and the joint powers
In the wars against Napoleon, n from
that sprang the English pound note that
is 50 popular today.
Mr.. President, $42, 900, 900 of additional
silver money would be absorbed without
anyone noticing it. There Is not a
state in the union where 1t would no
be absorbed without creating a wave In
commercial or Industrial circles. The
people would take it readily. The man
who holds the pillow M Yields the az
and the hoe and spade will take 1t
and be glad of the opportunity. 1t will
bring relief to hundreds and thousands,
yea, millions. Of oppressed American
citizens today. But the banker does
not want it, the stockbroker does not
want it, the gambler in money does
not want it; and as the money gambler
rules politics and controls the political
throne, he is to be consulted and his
wishes followed by the party In power
Then, MI. President, We can raise
SO, 600, 600 more by imposing an income
tax It may be that the supreme court
have decided the income tax to be un'
bow to the decision. I would give them
nm opportunity to decide it again. Thu
supreme court left the impression ir
their decision that in the event of wal
or of unusual conditions congress woulG
have the power to impose an income
tax. Here exists the exact condition
described by them, an exceptional con.
dftion. a great public exigency created
by the existence of war with q for
eien country. Let us revive the In
come features of the tariff act Of 1894
and by that means increase the annua
revenues $40. 100000
Mr.. President. I have proposed ant
shall offer at the proper time the fol
lowing substitute for section q OF tn
pending bill:
That so much of the act OF Angus
n. A. d. 1894, entitled An act to re
duce taxation, provide revenu for tn
government, and for other purposes.
rs relates to the levying and collec
ton of an income tax be. and h sam,
Il hereby, revived and r~e-enacted; am
it is hereby made the duty OF the sec
rotary of the treasury to collect tn
income tax therein imposed. beginning
with the fiscal year commencing IN
hrst day OF July, 1898; n all Prov
a-.~R~~la -aok -noooaaaH 1Z and nEQne1