would pay off the bonds, stop the interest, reduce taxation, and put the money into circulation without paying any interest whatever. CLASS LEGISLATION. Think of the class legislation which surrounds our National-Bank system? Has Congress ever enabled the farmer to reap two crops of corn or cotton where he planted but one? No. Has Congress ever enabled the laborer to receive pay for two days' work when he has worked but one? No. Has our government ever permitted the farmer, merchant, manufacturer, or any other citizen, except the bondholder, to deposit his property with the Secretary of the Treasury, and receive as a loan ninety per cent of its value from the government? No. Why then should Congress grant this privilege to the bondholder and exclude all others? Is it any wonder that under such a banking system, which permits one class to reap twice where they plant but once, the wealth of our country has become concentrated within the last thirty years? Suppose Congress should by law provide ways and means by which the farmer could reap two crops where he plants but one? Would not he also prosper and accumulate wealth as easily as the National Banks have done? The financial policy of our government for more than thirty years has been an exceedingly paternal one for the bankers and bondholders, but an exceedingly infernal one for the farmer and the laborer. These are harsh words, but not harsh enough by a thousandfold to express the honest indignation for any law which will permit one class to reap twice where they have planted but once, at the expense of every other class. DEMOCRACY OF JEFFERSON. Think of Grover Cleveland and many other leaders of the Democratic party calling themselves followers of Jefferson and Jackson! When Jefferson said, "A privileged class is a dangerous class." In a letter to Mr. Taylor dated May 28, 1816, he said: The system of banking we have both equally and ever reprobated. I contemplate it as a blot left in all of our constitutions, which, if not converted, will end in their destruction, which is already hit by the gamblers in corruption and is sweeping away in its progress the fortunes and morals of our citizens. ... And I sincerely believe, with you, that banking institutions are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money, to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale. In 1803 he wrote to Mr. Gallatin : This institution [National Bank] is one of the most deadly hostilities existing against the principles and form of our government. Ought we then to give further growth to an institution so powerful, so hostile? .. Now, while we are strong, it is the greatest duty we owe to the safety of our constitution to bring this powerful enemy to a perfect subordination under its authorities. The first measure would be to reduce them to an equal footing with other banks, as to the favors of the government. On September 11, 1813, he wrote to Mr. Eppes: Bank paper must be suppressed, and the circulating medium must be restored to the nation, to which it belongs. Treasury bills, bottomed on taxes, bearing or not bearing interest as may be found necessary, thrown into circulation, will take the place of so much gold or silver, which last, when coined, will find an afflux into other countries, and thus keep up the quantum of medium at its salutary level. Andrew Jackson said: If Congress has the right, under the Constitution, to issue paper money, it was given them to be used by themselves and not to be delegated to individuals or corporations. This is Jeffersonian Democracy, and is indorsed by all Democracy's great leaders, as Calhoun, Benton, and hundreds of others. THE CONTRACTION ACT. In 1866 Congress passed the Contraction act, which authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to receive United States currency and greenbacks and exchange them for interestbearing bonds. The purport of this act was that any person holding United States currency or greenbacks could take them to the Secretary of the Treasury, have them destroyed, and receive bonds in exchange. This act, from 1866 to 1873, destroyed more than onehalf of the money of the United States. The following THE CONCENTRATION OF WEALTH, ITS CAUSES AND RESULTS. BY HERMAN E. TAUBENECK. IN PART II. THE NATIONAL BANKING ACT. N 1863 Congress passed the National Banking act, which enabled the bondholder to deposit his bonds with the Secretary of the Treasury and receive ninety per cent of their face value in banknotes, with which to start a bank. To illustrate our National-Bank system, we will suppose that in the city of St. Louis are five persons who own $20,000 each of United States bonds. These five persons can organize a National Bank as follows: First. They will deposit their bonds with the Secretary of the Treasury at Washington, D. C., as security for the banknotes to be issued. Second. The Secretary of the Treasury will then issue to them $90,000 in banknotes, and charge them a tax of one per cent per annum to pay for printing and engraving. Third. These five persons can then take these banknotes, return to St. Louis, open their bank, and loan the notes to the people. This is the way National Banks are created. They are only creatures of the law, and derive all their rights and privileges from Congress. (a) These five persons will have $100,000 in bonds deposited at Washington, drawing interest from the government. (b) They will have $90,000 in banknotes loaned to the people at home, upon which they receive interest. Thus, with an original capital of $100,000 in bonds to start with, this law has increased their capital to $190,000, or, in other words, it enables them to receive two interests upon one investment. By law they are permitted to harvest two crops where they plant but one. Thus, every dollar of profit which has been made out of this system since 1863 has been money legislated into the pockets of the bankers and out of the pockets of the people. It is a difficult task to find out the amount of wealth this act has legislated out of the pockets of the people. Mr. N. A. Dunning, in the National Watchman for June 22, 1893, says: No other business can show such enormous profits or has become such a menace to our free institutions. Below are given the figures of the profits of one bank, the First National Bank of New York City. These figures are from a speech of Senator Vest's in 1888. It will be of interest to read them carefully. The statement begins with 1873. The capital stock was $500,000. The surplus, dividends, and annual profits are given below: Let every reader of this article consider well the importance of this table, -$6,668,100 profit on $500,000 in ten years. . . . All this vast amount has been contributed by labor in production for the use of a tool of exchange that the government should furnish. This is the tribute paid to a single bank. From it can be estimated what 3,700 banks have received. Every banknote which goes into circulation costs the people double interest: First, the government issues bonds and pays interest on them; second, the bankers deposit these bonds and receive ninety per cent in banknotes, for which the people, to get them into circulation, must also pay interest. Thus, under the National-Bank system it costs the people from ten to fifteen per cent annually for every dollar of banknotes put into circulation. Suppose the government should issue this money directly to the people, and pay it out for debts and the expenses of running the government? This would pay off the bonds, stop the interest, reduce taxation, and put the money into circulation without paying any interest whatever. CLASS LEGISLATION. Think of the class legislation which surrounds our National-Bank system? Has Congress ever enabled the farmer to reap two crops of corn or cotton where he planted but one? No. Has Congress ever enabled the laborer to receive pay for two days' work when he has worked but one? No. Has our government ever permitted the farmer, merchant, manufacturer, or any other citizen, except the bondholder, to deposit his property with the Secretary of the Treasury, and receive as a loan ninety per cent of its value from the government? No. Why then should Congress grant this privilege to the bondholder and exclude all others? Is it any wonder that under such a banking system, which permits one class to reap twice where they plant but once, the wealth of our country has become concentrated within the last thirty years? Suppose Congress should by law provide ways and means by which the farmer could reap two crops where he plants but one? Would not he also prosper and accumulate wealth as easily as the National Banks have done? The financial policy of our government for more than thirty years has been an exceedingly paternal one for the bankers and bondholders, but an exceedingly infernal one for the farmer and the laborer. These are harsh words, but not harsh enough by a thousandfold to express the honest indignation for any law which will permit one class to reap twice where they have planted but once, at the expense of every other class. DEMOCRACY OF JEFFERSON. Think of Grover Cleveland and many other leaders of the Democratic party calling themselves followers of Jefferson and Jackson! When Jefferson said, "A privileged class is a dangerous class." In a letter to Mr. Taylor dated May 28, 1816, he said: The system of banking we have both equally and ever reprobated. I |