Iron County register., 1900-04-26
A TRIUMPH FOR BANKERS.
,Eut Severe Eiow TO the BusInessE II.
terests OF the American
People.

I 1hC DdIhCI0 Ol IIiC 1AlIC(t oldLCS
/ have triumphed over the people and Sc
i cured the enactment of law to retire
/ the greenbacks and treasury notes and
/ confer upon them the power to issue
| bank notes to the full limit of the pub
| lie debt. The passage of this bill is a
| severe blow to the business interests
of the American people. From an
/ economic standpoint the proposition IS
! unsound and from moral standpoint
| it is criminal. The notes of the banks
are not legal tender, and while they
have the power, through obtaining
free circulation and general accept
ance by the people, to advance prices,
being dependent upon gold for ulti-
mate redemption, they do not possess
| the power to sustain prices and are
| therefore a mischievous, panic-breed-
| ing currency, designed to enrich the
banks, but containing every element of
danger and no element whatever of Sc
curity for the people.
The monetary bill which confers
such extraordinary power upon the
| banks reduces silver to token
money to be redeemed in gold, thus
putting it on par with paper in the
event Of panic. Thus the whole tenor
of the bill is to restrict the supply of
| money of ultimate, payment while
furnishing the banks with the power
| to initiate promises % pay. The absurd
| ity of the proposition needs to be but
stated to become apparent to the ra
tiona1 mind.
The greenback and treasury note
rested upon the credit and strength of
the government itself and were legal
tender in the payment of debts. They
were an ideal money. In 80 years they
have stood every storm of panic and
monetary stringency and have never
failed. In the panic of 1878 national
bank notes were at discount below
greenbacks, because the greenback
possessed the power to pay debts,
which the national bank did not. Bank
notes are good enough fair-weather
money, but are worthless in a panic,
when angry creditors are demanding
payment and will accept only that
from their creditors which will enable
them in turn to pay the debts they owe
and are demanded in legal-tender
money.
In 1898, when a severe panic devas-
tated the country and every outgoing
steamer was carrying our gold away,
the greenbacks and treasury notes of
the United States government were
competent to discharge the demands
of the most eXacting creditor and
saved the property of the people from
confscation by money sharks. If in
ca Of IT
per there were only non-legal-tender
bank notes in 1898, who can fathom
the losses that would have accrued to
the merchants, business men and debt
ors of the country at that time. The
absurd notion that because with
large increase in the output of gold
and half billion of legal-tender silver
dollars, and nearly half billion of le-
gal tender government paper, we
have plenty of good money, that we
can afford to reduce our legal-tender
silver to token coin, retire the green
backs and treasury notes and add to
this a still further imitation of bank
notes and still have sound currency,
is worthy of a FIJI islander rather than
an American business man.
y
people in having any form of currency
circulate that can advance prices that
will not be capable of sustaining prices
and meeting all the monetary require
ments in time of panic or distress. A
money that will circulate in fair
weather only, but becomes useless in
time of distress is a delusion and
snare. Such a money is no better than
a fire company that is good on dress
parade, making a spectacular appear
ance on festive occasions, but is of no
value whatever when a fire breaks out.
Such a currency may be likened to a
military company that parades the
streets with piping music in times of
peace and draws its salary regularly
from the treasury but Immediately dis
solves upon the first rumors of actual
war.
Dollars that are not dollars in re-
ality, but depend upon the existence of
other dollars to redeem them, are a
fraud. The paper money of the coun-
try should be legal tender and used to
supplement coin and should possess
the power to pay debts equally with
coin. Such money can be furnished by
the government alone and not by
banks. The greenback proved it's po-
tency i'll the dark days of the rebel
lion when we had neither gold nor sill
yer. AT that time Notwithstanding
the gold board and the spectators
who took every advantage of our re-
verses in the field to discredit the ma
tion's currency, the greenback vital
lied the arm of the nation and saved
the union.
If the government made no provision
to pay any portion of its debt in gold
and made no exception to the legal
tender power of the greenback the
gold board could not have existed and
the nation would have been saved more
than the cost of the war. But the gold
combination was on hand in the days
of the civil war selfshly plotting to
coin the blood of our soldiers and every
disaster of the nation into gold to
swell their Golfers.
A criminal conspiracy was organ
lied in Europe nearly half a century
ago. composed of the great creditors
of the world for the purpose of
controlling the law-making bodies
of all nations, and restricting mon
ey supply in order to make mon
ey dear and all things else cheap.
They first attacked gold and sought
to outlaw t and succeeded in
having that metal shut out from the
mints of number of nations. But