The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1920-11-04

The income tax points the way to the
confiscation, and used ruthlessly
as it will be, it is an engine Of oppres-
sion more unjust and hardly less
cruel than the methods Of Lenine
and Trotsky.
have been through three panics
in my life. The great panic OF 1873,
following the Civil war, was brought
about by an amendment to curren-
cy bill introduced by John Sherman.
This seemingly harmless amend
ment was construed to mean that
currency should be retired and silver
coinage limited, and that all money,
including silver, should be redeemed
In gold. 1t was known as BLACK
Friday" The panic that followed
did not hurt the South much because
we had nothing left to lose. 1t made
over night the monied class twice as
rich and doubled the debts OF the
country. These conditions kept up
more or less until 1893, when Cleve-
land undertook to repeal the entire
purchasing clause in the Sherman
act. 1t is q we'll known fact that
prices of products are absolutely
regulated by the increase or decrease
of the amount Of money in circula-
ton. Under the Sherman act In
1873, they brought panic by the
retirement OF currency; in 1898, 1t
was silver. We were to 60 from the
bimetallic to the single gold basis.
Everybody was told that We must
maintain the gold reserve, and the
first thing a man did in the morning
was to look at the paper and see
whether the gold reserve was up or
down. Wall street would gather up
currency and send it down and get
gold. The treasury would issue more
currency and Wall street would re-
peat the performance. 1t is fool
thing to look at now, but 1t put cot
ton to five cents a pound, wheat 20
cents a bushel, and Kansas farmers
burned corn instead OF coal. re-
member in 1898, that travelled from
Bennettsville to Washington ana
never saw the smoke coming out OF a
single factory chimney.
Cleveland went out Of the office
hated by Democrats and his only de-
tenders in congress, Republicans rep
resent the monied interest. NC
Klnley was elected and he brought
about the first real prosperity TINS
country had had since 1873. He ala
it by issuing currency and expanding
the volume of credits. He followed
the same policy that Bryan was de,
feated for advocating and colneu
more silver than Bryan could nave
coined, because Wall street was sup
porting Mckinley and fighting Bry-
an. Yet strange to say, Mckinney
died at the hands of an assassin. he
was one of the kindllest, sanest' ana
most lovable characters / have ever
known, breathing with his dying
Inns forgiveness to the miserable
wretch who fired the fatal shot.
Roosevelt came into power, stren-
nous and energetic. He undertooK 10
curb the trusts. The people backed
him ND. and certain malefactors OF
great wealth" engineered an artiti-
cial panic to curb Roosevelt, anu
they did it, by contracting credits.
There was the anne tremendous
drop in prices a sin 1873, but very
few failures, because 1t was not d
real panic. Banks suspended pay
ment: even the National City bank
of New York issued scrip. Some
states passed stay laws, and we all
used clearing house certificates IN
stead of money. Now l call attention
to one strange thing. In 1873 ana
1898, it was a farmers panic, ana no
scrlp was issued. We tried clearing
house paper in 1898, and to his ever
lasting shame John G. Carlisle, theh
secretary of the treasury, placed d
10 per cent tax on it. In 19Oi' II
was a bankers panic, and they lssu,
ed all the scrip they wanted, anu
farmers had to take it. This is a
farmers panic and ] do not hear any
thing about stay laws or clearing
house certificates. Now coming
down to present conditions: Senator
Aldrich of Rhode Island, a represen-
tative of Wall street, proposed the
present Federal Reserve act, DuI ue
fore it could be passed the Repuoll-
cans passed out OF power and WOOD
row Wilson became president. Inc
Democrats Immediately took pos
session of the Aldrich-Vareeland act
and converted it to their own uses.
They inserted section 13, which pro-
yides for the discount Of agricultural
paper based either on live stock or
field acrops, not only when in actual
existence, but also for money to grow
the crops. 1t does not say that such
paper may be discounted, but that 1t
shall be discounted.
1t was the intention of this act TO
provide an elastic currency Whlcn
should contract and expand as the
business needs of the country ex-
pands and contracts. Last spring
federal reserve banks were freely
discounting paper on cotton as high
as 35 cents pound. This of course
encouraged a large acreage and eX-
/ travagance. The time to contract