Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1898-03-25
A DANGEROUS WEAPON.
The Money Powers Contempt of Law
and Justice Hardly a Safe
Argument to Use.

SynulCdtc III lug duu, Is uudue IIlc O4>
fetal medium for another threat of a
bankers panic in case of the triumph
of free coinage in America. In re-
cent issue it says:
If Mr.. Bryan should be elected president
In 1900, and if. at the same time, the silver
lite majority In both houses Of congress
should be chosen, there can be no reason
able doubt that panic would follow more
severe than has been witnessed in any part
Of the world~fo for very long time.
This threat has been used before, but
never with quite such directness as is
contained in the paragraph which fol-
lows. After enumerating the damage
which silver coinage would, in it's es-
timation, work to banking interests,
unless, of course, silver rose to the
value affixed to it by the coinage laws"
the Statist Declares:
But bankers and other capitalists would
not wait to see whether, as matter of
fact, silver would or would not rise. They
would at once reduce their note issues. pre-
sent the legal tenders at the treasury for
redemption in gold, and also they, as we'll
as other lenders, would call in all loans
outstanding. 1t would be impossible for the
borrowers to pay, for everybody would be
calling in loans, and nobody would be lend
ing. The resulting panic would be indie
scribable.
Heretofore the arrogance of the
money power has been confined to pre-
dictions as to what must inevitably hap
pen in case it's dictum should not be fol-
lowed to the letter, but here is a direct
threat of what it would cause to happen
in case the American people should see
fit to establish a monetary system cal
| culated to serve their own interests. I'm
less it shall be allowed to dictate the
measure of it's tithes and fix the manner
of taking it's pound of flesh, it will an
initiate the business interests of the
country, or at least crush them ben eath
the indescribable terrors of financial
! panic of it's own creation.
There is no attempt to justify such a
course. On the contrary the Statist dis
tinctly proclaims the legal as well as the
moral justice of bimentllism in the fol-
lowing frank confession:
Mr.. Bryan maintains not only that silver
coin and notes based upon silver should be
kept at the value assigned to them by the
United States law. but that they should be
Therefore it seems safe to conclude that Mr..
Bryan, if he were in power, would redeem
| the greenbacks and pay the interest upon
the United States debt indifferently in sill
YER and gold. In doing SO he would be act
ing within the law. The law requires that
they shall be paid In lawful money Of the
United States, and there Is no question that
the legal tender silver dollar is lawful
money. 7:
If the people of the United States, rep
resented by Mr.. Bryan as their presi-
dent, are to act within the law, what
justification, pray, would there be for
the creation of a bankers panic? What
excuse for resistance to the payment of
lawful obligations in perfectly law
full manner? We fear that the Statist
has unwittingly placed the bankers of
the country in very compromising
and embarrassing position.
The Statist and it's friends will do well
to pause and reflect before giving ut
terance to further threats of this kind.
Contempt of law and justice and the
rights of others is a dangerous weapon,
even in the hands of those who are
proud to boast of themselves as 1.-THE
governing classes" Contempt breeds
| contempt, and the example of wealth
and intelligence is apt to be followed by
poverty and Ignorance. When the
wealth controller ignores moral obliga-
tons the wealth producer is almost'cer-
! tain to do the same. When both become
imbued with this spirit, anarchy finds
! birth. Rule or ruin is a game at which
two can play. .r .....H >
| The bankers should call off their
hounds, lest they develop into dogs of
war.-Denver Times-Sun. s. ". .z5s55.. !