Willmar tribune., 1900-05-09
A TRIUMPH FOR BANKERS.
0ut Severe Blow to the Business In
terexts of the American
2'.. People.

AeEeAlS u INC american
People.
After continuous struggle of 30
years the bankers of the United States
have triumphed over the people and Sc.
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 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 a 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 to pay. The absurd
ity of the proposition needs to- be but
stated to become apparent to the ra-
tional 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 1873 national
bank notes were at a 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 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 1895, when a severe panic devas-
tated the country and every outgoing
steamer was carrying our gold away,
the gree nbacks 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
confiscation by money sharks. If in
stead of legal-tender government pa
per there were only non-legal-tender
bank notes in 1899, 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 a
large increase in the output of gold
and half billion of legal-tender silver
dollars, and nearly half a 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 still further imitation of bank
notes and still have a sound currency,
is worthy of Fiji islander rather than
an American business man.
There is no safety whatever for the
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 delusion and a
snare. Such a money is no better than
a fire company that is good on dress
parade, making spectacular appear
ance on festive occasions, but is of no
value wha tever when fire breaks out
Such currency may be likened to a
military company that parades the
streets with piping music in times of
peace and draws it's salary regularly
from the treasury but Immediately dis
eO1|eS uPOH tue uiSt IuIuOIS OI dciudl
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 in 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 it's debt in gold
and made no exception to the legal
tender power of the greenback the
81 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 selfishly plotting to
coin the blood of our soldiers and every
I disaster of the nation into gold to
swell their Golfers.
A criminal conspiracy was organ