Belt Valley times. [volume] (Armington, Mont.) 1894-1977, 1923-11-15
WHEELER fLAYS
RESERVE CRAFT

A plea for the people to unite and
destroy the economic slavery which h
declared existed in America, VIZ
made recently in an address by Unitsd
States Senator B. X. Wheeler of Mon
tana at the unveiling of monumeus
that marks the place of surrender al
Gen. Joseph f. Johnston to General
w. S. Sherman, near Durham, N. C.
Senator Wheeler attacked the feder-
al reserve system as one that placed
the control of money and credit in tke
hands Of few private banking insti-
tutions, assailed machine politics ~
another form of political slavery and
pledged his aid to bring about the COM
plete abolition of child labor. Strength
ening of the present primary System,
which Mr.. Wheeler said went long
way in weakening the power Of pok-
ticians. was advocated by the senator.
His address in part is as follows:
Ny friends, as a united people,
there are many battles ahead Of us
that we must fight together. We
have so much in common, especially
the great agricultural sections of tAin
nation, that we naturally must make
common cause.
Here on this spot marks the sur
render of chattel slavery, and follow
ing II was written into our fundamen-
tai law prohibition against It. Thssw
is no section Of the country today that
realizes as we'll as does the south what
a wonderful thing it has been for tha
south. The south has suffered and has
paid the penalty. None Of the rest Of
us can teach her anything in that re-
spect
But my friends, there are other
forms of slavery rampant in America
today, whose iniquitous influences ara
proving almost as great curse.
II believe it was in North Carolina
that the case originated upon Which
the supreme court of the United StatsS
finally declared child labor law un-
| believe that question
mas been quite thoroughly discussed in
this state and that North Carolina
public sentiment has expressed tha
conviction that the slavery of little
children must cease. The decision Of
the court declaring the law unconsti-
tutional has resulted in temporarily
child slavery in some Sec
lions, but the fight is on and thos~
Who are content TO wiring their con-
profits out Of the bodies Of
little children had best look to their
runs. This form of slavery must Be
abolished, and it will be abolished,
sven if il becomes necessary for il to
,e written into our fundamental law.
And when the battle line is drawn
believe that the spirit of your grand
I'D war governor. Zeb Vance, will be
abroad in your state, and the challenge
viii echo from the mountains to tbs
Iea, ITO your tents, o Israel"
There is another form of economic
layery in this country today, my
riends, that affects every man, wo-
nan and child in the nation, and that
$ the control of money and credit by
few private banking institutions or
,anized for private gain. In 1920 we
Witnessed an almost unimaginable dis
,lay OF power placed in the hands Of
few men. Over Is billions In value
we're destroyed in a single year. Over
Is 900 ,000, 900 in value was Topped off
( single crop. Can you think Of
ghat that means to the farming inter-
SITS of this country? Let US make .
oncrete illustration: If cotton brot
o cents per pound, or $125 per bale,
S 1000 900 900 would purchase 40.000,-
90 bales. or the entire cotton crop Of
he south for three years. Was not
his a staggering price to pay to
mall bunch Of men to whom had been
the sovereign functions Of
,suing and controlling the money and
redit of this nation There was .
Ime when we supposed that the IL
sderal reserve banks were virtually
wned and controlled by our govern
tent for the benefit Of the American
eople. But now we are calmly ad-
ised that they are privately owned
anking institutions. 1t is fact well
roven.
"Of course, we frequently hear the
efense that the reason we had trou-
e with our present financial system
as due to the fact that it WAS badly
iministered."
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