Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1900-01-17
could have been at the time they were

could have been at the time they were
contracted
But what has all this noise of bat.
tie between the standards to do with
populism, or the populist demand for
full legal tender, inconvertible paper
money, for domestic use, issued direct
to the people without the interven-
tion of banks, in volume sufficient to
properly transact the business of the
country? Nothing, absolutely moth
ing.
But to return to the republican cur
rency measure. The bill proposes to
impose an infamous outrage upon the
masses of the people, who are the
debtors, in favor of the bondholders,
who are the privileged creditors, in
that it provides for the payment of
United States bonds in gold, whereas
they are expressly payable, by their
own terms, in either gold or silver.
In this case gold must be furnished,
as the government has no labor or
commodities at it's disposal, but must
pay the metal itself In thus chang
ing the express terms of payment of a
national obligation, the act affords
striking illustration of the imperfec-
ton of representative form of gov
ernment and is retroactive measure
which 1 believe the supreme court of
the United States would declare ille-
gal and unconstitutional
The act further provides that the
greenback bills and treasury notes of
1890 shall be redeemable in gold sat
the will of the holder" This is not
now the law. but it has been the prac-
tice ever since it was inaugurated by
John G. Carlisle, during the latter
part of Grover Cleveland's last term.
Silver certificates are to. continue to
be redeemable, as now, in silver dol
lars only, except that the secretary of
the treasury is authorized, ''at his
discretion" if he thinks it necessary
| in order to preserve "the parity and
equal value of all the money of the
United States" to exchange
gold coin for any other money issued
or coined by the United States.''
The term coined would seem to au-
thorize the redemption of silver dol
lars with gold coin ''at the discretion"
of the secretary of the treasury. The
money for which gold coin is thus ex-
changed is to remain in the reserve
| fund unless gold coin is paid there
into by the public in exchange there
for, or it is placed in the general fund
of the treasury in exchange for gold
coin to be taken from such general
fund. Nothing in this provision will
tend to lessen the demand for paper
money and silver dollars to move the
crops, or to render bankers less anx-
ious to exchange gold coin therefor.
than they are under the operation of
the -aresHnt law.
The crowning infamy and most dam
gerQus feature of the law is the pro-
visiSa for the unlimited issue of bonds
in exchange for gold coin to be used
to redeem all other kinds of money
and the impoundment, or withdrawal
from circulation, of such money un-
til its reissue in exchange for gold
coin. In the case of heavy gold ex-
ports, every dollar exported would
work a contraction of two dollars
one impounded and one exported.
This plan of the wolves to stop the
slaughter of the lambs is unique and
startling in it's possibilities. Given a
ripe condition of national finances, it
will not be necessary, under its pro-
visions, to have any gold in order to
| get gold bonds. The mode of proce-
dure is this: A band of conspirators
get together three or four hundred
millions in paper currency. With
$100,0O0,000 they draw out the reserve
fund and then sell it back to the gov
ernment for bonds. They then draw
it out again and sell it back to the
government for bonds. This opera
ton can be repeated as long as the
clique has any paper currency. They
will need no gold, as the original re-
serve fund will be all that is needed.
This is the republican remedy for
the endless chain.'' The populist
remedy is the retirement of all paper
promises to pay and the substitution
therefor of full legal tender paper
money, not redeemable in specie. In
hoe signo vinces.
GEORGE C. WARD.