Hutchinson gazette., 1899-04-13
reno need Of such measure of re-

treme need Of such measure Of re-
lief.
Currency notes, 40 Mr.. Hammond
points out are issued only by national
bunlts, and these banks arc not adapt
cd as the law now stands TO meet the
needs Of the agricultural classes The
result is that only the dwellers In
towns and cities have the benefit OF
banking facilities, while the farmers,
who before the war paid large profits
into the banks OF that day, are left out
In the cold. Mr. Hammond very cor
rectly translates the demand for more
money" (Which rises In the agricultural
regions to vex the ears Of the city
bankers) as n call for tho ordinary in
struments OF credit. II Is this call for
an ordinary supply Of the ordinary In
struments Of credit which the hnan-
ciers translate as demand for de-
preciated currency. These magnates
would have had more repose than they
have enjoyed during the past quarter
OF century II they had translated the
demand for "more money" into what
1t really and truly means,
Mr. Hammond puts his finger on the
sore spot In the south. After emanci-
patton had swept away the available
capital OF the south and when local
and interior buyers had taken the
place Of the factors ut the seaports on
whom the antebellum planters had de-
pended for funds the small farmers
who took the place OF the old planters
"were compelled TO resort to indirect
means for obtaining credit" They
had no commercial standing and could
not borrow cash, so they were COM
PEELED to mortgage their cotton crops
for the food and supplies necessary to
run them until the crops were gather
cd. This was the beginning, and nee
essity has brought about this continu-
ance.
The farmers, owing to their own
lack Of credit and TO the lack Of credit
notes, hAvo been compelled to make
cotton their medium Of exchange. A
currency system well enough 1t It's
way for dwellers In cities but infam'
GUS in Its effects on the agricultural
classes has reduced them to the neces-
sity Of returning to the primitive
methods Of barter--method that arc
simply ruinous, but from which there
can be no escape, except in individual
instances, until our currency system
has teen 30 thoroughly reformed that
all can share its benefits. From tho
very necessities of the case people
must have some medium of exchange.
In old times it was tobacco, indigo and
the pelts Of wild animals; in the south
today it is cotton, and that is why the
crop continues TO increase In spite Of
the fact that each increase carries dis
aster in its wake. All this has been
going on for years, and every demand
of the farmers for more money"-for
an equal chance In the matter OF cur
rency--has been met In the money
centers by denunciation and by loss OF
sleep on the part of the gold worship.
pers,
The Constitution has described the
situation in the south as pitiful, and II
has been criticised for 1t by those who
are either willfully ignorant or sci.
fishly blind. Mr.. Hammond, who
seems to know all the conditions, JUS.
tifies every statement The Constitu.
tion has ever made. He says that the
situation was so serious and so dis.
heartening the present season that the
tenant farmers in many sections de,
serted their own crops in the field In
order to earn little money by pick.
ing cotton for others Could anything
more clearly show tho results OF
scarcity of money?
AS remedy for this credit system,
which is slowly eating out the heart OF
the south and destroying It's most nee.
essary income, Mr.. Hammond urges
that bank be authorized to issue
notes against its general commercial
assets to the extent Of 40 per cent OF
its capital at once, and ultimately to
the extent of so per cent Of It's capital,
and, second, tho establishment OF
branch banks.
The article OF Mr.. Hammond, inter.
esting in itself, takes on new interest
as coming from so strong a source as
the Reform club Atlanta Constitu.
tion.