The Tecumseh Leader. (Tecumseh, Okla. Terr.), Vol. 2, No. 12, Ed. 1 Friday, June 14, 1895 Page: 3 of 8
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GREAT DEBATE.
EDITOR HARVEY MEETS AND
VANQUISHES A COLD BUG.
> Synopsis of the Argument on lloth
Sides—Tiie <>old Standard Man Badly
Worsted — Cheers for Free Silver
Coinage.
A stirring political encounter took
laco in Chicago the other night hardly
paralleled in the West since the famous
truggle between Lincoln and Douglas
n the eve of the civil war. The plat-
form combatants were two giants of
£ he opposing sides in the raging flnan-
; pial controversy—J. Lawrence Laugh-
ling, professor of political economy in
tli^Univereity of Chicago, the favorite
jiuthority of President Cleveland, and
; ^Villiam H. Harvey, author of "Coin's
financial School."
^ The spacious rooms of the Illinois
lub on Ashland boulevard were crowd-
to almost suffocation when the presi-
t of the club, Dr. Homer M. Thomas,
Yir.ouneed all in readiness for the
■- Iress-suit gladiators.
The proposition to be discussed wa3
ead as follows:
j "Resolved, That the United States
fhould at once enter upon the free coin-
age of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1, in-
Jependently of the action of any other
batlon."
! Mr. Harvey, It was stated, would
>!peak for an hour in the affirmative
Ijnd Prof. Laughlin one hour and thirty
Minutes iii the negative, Mr. Harvey
jfien having thirty minutes for a re-
inder.
Mf. Harvey is a rather tall, spare,
k-complexioned man of engaging
sence, but of a nervous tempera-
ent. He was evidently full of sup-
ressed excitement when he came for-
ward to begin his address, but he soon
:eadied himself admirably.
Prof. Laughliu's wiry frame and
londe but stern appearance is sug-
£stive of a less emotional make-up,
tjd he had the advantage of not being
f'e first to speak. Both men were liber-
Iy applauded.
I: HARVEY'S ARGUMENT.
I In opening for the affirmative Mr.
Jarvey said: "The first reason why I
(n in favor of independent action by
^ ikis country is that we should not be
y |ibftcted to the influences of the gov-
rnment3 of Europe. If the people can
(J e reduced to poverty and the prosper-
w of the United States can be ruined by
inging to the financial policy of Eu-
pe, then we can be reduced to the
•me condition by financial legislation
s. war of conquest would reduce us."
Alter referring to what he termed the
utocracies of Europe and stating that
e few control class legislation, while
masses are hewers of wood and
awers of water, he said:
'Now, if financial legislation is one
the classes of class legislation by
lich the many are robbed and the few
; enriched, by which the lemon is
jeezed, then it is one of the institu-
ns of the European governments
it we, as a nation of people, repub-
an in form, should declare our in-
pendence of. That is the first rea-
u why independent financial action
ipuld be taken by the United States,"
The speaker went on to say that this
tmtry can have an independent finan-
m Jsystem without any reference what-
to the balance of the world. There
no such thing as International
ney. What he was contending for
s the opening of the mints to the free
nage of silver and the establishment
bimetallism on the principles that
•e adopted by statesmen who had in
w the interests of no class, best of
the people,
le defined scientific bimetallism
s:
. Free and unlimited coinage of both
i and silver; these two metals to
stitute the primary or redemption
ley of the government.
, The silver dollar of 371% grains of
e silver to be the unit of value, and
Vf
to be coined into money at a ra-
V
| } be changed if necessary from
e to time, if the commercial parity
he legal ratio shall be affected by
action of foreign countries.
The money coined from both
,s to be legal tender in the pay-
of all debts.
The option as to which of the two
leys is to be paid in the liquidation
i debt to rest with the debtor, and
government also to exercise that
on when desirable when paying
Redemption money.
e then referred at length to the ad-
tages given gold over silver, by the
mited coinage of the former, silver
ing a limited demand and being a
modity measured by gold. Silver
been shut out and was token mon-
He wanted it restored to the un-
ted demand it enjoyed prior to
He would give silver the same
lieges as gold. Restoring it to this
mited demand would cause the
; of silver to rise as compared
gold. He would again make the
lard silver dollar the unit of value,
| was before 1873.
rvould thus be $1, and the bullion
would be worth $1. As the num-
of grains of bullion In $1 would
the right to walk into the mint
be coined into $1 no man would
take less for it when he could have It
coined at pleasure into $1. He would
make gold coins of the value of so
many silver units or dollars as the law
existed prior to 1873. Twice when the
commercial ratio between the two
metals made it advisable to change
the legal ratio, the change was made
by re-coining the gold coins. This was
in 1834 and 1837.
He would make both gold and silver
legal tender in the payment of all
debts and would repeal the law of 1878
and the Sherman law of 1890. He would
allow no discriminations to be made
between the legal tender character of
the two metals.
The debtor would be given the option
if thsre were any preference as to which
of the two metals he would use in the
payment of a debt. To give this option
to the creditors causes the dearer metal
to be demanded and it thus grows
dearer and dearer and a parity is per-
manently broken, and the gap grows
wider and wider. When the debtor has
the option these two metals will oscil-
late close to a parity and substantially
as at a parity. This oscillation is the
elacticity that bimetallism gives to
primary money.
Mr. Harvey then referred to the de-
monetization act and the scandals
which were rife at the time it went
into effect, and said that at this period
by national legislation a money trust
was formed. Silver at that time was
at a slight premium over gold.
Silver then began to fall, as measured
in gold, and the breach in the com-
mercial parity of the two metals gradu-
ally widened. With redemption, gold
asserted its importance, and silver cor-
respondingly declined. Under the
Bland-Allison act of 1878 creditors be-
gan to make their notes, bonds and
mortgages payable in gold, to the ex-
clusion of all other forms of legal ten-
der money. This increased the de-
mand for gold. Silver had ceased to
be a primary money.
The speaker asked: "What is the
remedy?" and replied:
"Let us have nothing more to do with
the men who have assisted in tying the
hands of this great nation, and deliver-
ing its financial policy over to the gold
gamblers of the world. The bank of
the Rothschilds in England is now be-
hind the United States treasury. They
are our financial agents; our financial
managers. We are paying them the
princely salary of $8,000,000 for each
six months of their valuable services.
We are in the hands of the pawnbrok-
ers of Europe."
The remedy, he declared, was to re-
store silver; put it on a legal ratio with
gold; repeal all laws discriminating
between the two metals, and put sil-
ver in competition with gold as quickly
as possible."
Continuing, he said: "Silver once In
competition with gold, and this will
take some of the demand off of gold.
To that extent it will lower the value
of gold. The extra demand for silver
will raise its value. Everything will
advance in value at once. We can show
gold that we do not depend on it for
money. It will then be our slave. It is
now our tyrant. It will then come back
and beg us to take it as in 1873, when it
■—one of these gold dollars—was worth
2c less than a silver dollar. Our trade
with foreign nations is only 4 per cent
of our business and our domestic busi-
ness is 96 per cent of all our business.
Which do you want legislated in the in-
terest of, the 96 per cent, or the 4 per
cent?"
In conclusion Mr. Harvey said: "If
an unrighteous influence by schemers
and tricksters abnormally enhances
the value of gold so a commercial parity
at 16 to 1 cannot be maintained, then
do as our forefathers did, change the
ratio, and make the change in weight
and size of the gold coins. Monroe and
Jackson did it. They were not called
dishonest for doing so. They were legis-
lating in the interest of the people,
and not in the interest of the favored
few. We are not compelled to keep
the legal ratio at 16 to 1; we can change
it to 20 to 1, if necessary, to fix the
legal ratio to correspond with the com-
mercial ratio, but if the change is made,
let us make it in the rich man's money
and not in the poor man's money.
""This is a question'of capitaron'one
side and humanity on the other. Of
sound money—the sound of the clod on
the coffin—on one side, and sound mon-
ey—the sound that has the honest ring
of the people's money in it—on the
other side. It is a question of an En-
glish policy or an American policy.
Which shall it be?"
LAUGHLIN'S REASONING.
Prof. Laughlin, plying for the nega-
tive, began: "Apart from the well-un-
derstood use of money as a medium of
exchange, money is used like a com-
mon denominator of value with which
other articles are compared. As a
measure af value, it serves in a similar
way as a quart cup may serve as a
measure of capacity; and as there is
not needed a separate cup for every
quart of milk in existence, one can
measure hundreds of thousands of
goods by comparing with the same
standard of measure. There is no need
of an amount of money equal to all
the goods in existence. The measure
of value is that in which prices are
stated and debts are paid, provided
the measure of value is also made a
legal tender in any country. It is evi-
dent, then, that the quantity of meas-
ures is not so valuable as the unvary-
ing stability of the standard of tha
measure."
He stated that goods, when expressed
in terms of a common denominator
of value, are today exchanged in enor-
mous quantities, mainly without tha
use of any money. The necessity of an
increasing quantity of money is grow-
ing less important with the develop-
ment of this system of exchanges. From
92 per cent to 95 per cent of tranac-
tions are performed by this machinery
without the use of money, and recent
investigations made by the comptroller
of the currency show that 54 per cent
of retail transactions are similarly per-
formed without the use of money.
Prices since 1873 have not fallen be-
cause of lack of money. Silver has fall-
en about 50 per cent, as compared with
a very modest fall in the price of com-
modities. Silver does not have the same
purchasing price in 1895 as in 1873.
Hence, free coinage can not be urged
as a just means of paying debt.
Prof. Laughlin said: "Since we un-
dertook the purchase of silver in 1878
it has fallen about one-half in value,
although we have purchased about
$600,000,000. It is perfectly evident
that there is no use in the United States
acting alone to bolster up the price of
silver when we have failed even in con-
cert with the Latin Union. Free coin-
age of silver at 16 to 1 means the single
silver standard. Today the market
ratio between gold and silver is nearly
34 to 1. If we had the free coinage of
silver at 16 to 1 there would be the
premium of about 16 ounces of silver
as a premium on withdrawing every
ounce of gold coin in circulation. The
free coinage of silver under such condi-
tions as exist today would not mean the
concurrent circulation of both gold and
silver. It would mean the immediate
adoption of the single silver standard.
Free coinage of silver would not in-
crease the quantity of money. Since
gold must be inevitably driven out the
silver coinage would result in a dimi-
nution in the quantity of money.
"To adopt free coinage of silver at 16
to 1 when the market ratio is but 34
to 1 would mean the instant retire-
ment from circulation of nearly $600,-
000,000 of gold circulation. It could
not change prices therefore by merely
increasing the amount of the medium
of exchange. The way it would act,
however, would be to change the prices
of everything because reckoned in a
cheaper medium than that of gold. As
free coinage of silver would inevitably
result in a rise of prices so it would im-
mediately result in a fall of wages.
Its first effect would be to diminish the
purchasing power of all our wages.
Free colnaga of silver would make all
the articles of the laborer's consump-
tion cost him 100 per cent more, un-
less he can get a rise in his wages by
dint of strikes and quarrels and all the
consequent dissatisfaction arising from
friction between the employer and em-
ploye.
"It is usually supposed that free coin-
age of silver is in the interest of the
debtors. I think it will be found quite
the contrary. Not only will it prevent
a person in distress from being able
to borrow money when he needs it,
but it will create conditions which will
make it impossible for the debtors to
meet their indebtedness. But greater
than all objections is that of public
dishonor and repudiation. If free coin-
age of silver were to be passed it would
mean that every depositor in a savings
bank, every investor in a loan associa-
tion, every holder of a life insurance,
every recipient of a pension, would
have his dues reduced one-half. Is
it possible that there is something be-
hind this free coinage scheme not really
discovered? Is it possible that it is
aimed at the great mass of the indus-
trious and intelligent, and is it
really intended to serve the interests
of the very rich and of great corpora-
tions? The bonded debt of the rail-
ways in the United States is about $6,-
000,000,000. If free coinage of silver were
introduced it would enable these rail-
ways to pay off their debts with what
is now equivalent to $3,000,000,000.
They would thus be relieved of the
necessity of paying to small investors
who have taken their bonds one-half
of what these corporations now owe
them."
Prof. Laughlin concluded as fol-
lows:
"Extraordinary as is the proposal for
free coinage, it is in truth only a huge
disease. It was born in the private
offices of the silver kings, nursed at the
hands of the speculators, clothed in
economic error, fed on boodle; and
as sure as there is honesty and truth
in the American heart, it will die
young, and be buried in the same ig-
nominous grave wherein lies the now
forgotten infant once famous as the
rag baby."
The Democrats say now that good
crops is all that will save them. That is
to say having allowed every opportun-
ity to go by to relieve the people they
are now willing to permit the Lord to
furnish the relief and they will ap-
propriate the credit. It is about the
only thing left they have not appro-
priated.
Labor produces all wealth, but the
"sound currency" men manage to gob-
ble it up.
Yi Have Maoe-It a- Den «Of- 1hie vis
If Christ come to Washington.
INTEREST A THIEF.
ITS POWER TO CONCENTRATE
THE COUNTRY'S WEALTH.
The Drone With a Few Dollars More
Powerful Than the Man Who Pro-
duces Wealth—Some Figures That
Will Startle You.
The power of interest to accumulate
is not appreciated as it should be.
When it is, there can be no question
but that an intelligent people will re-
fuse to continue a system fraught with
such a terrible danger to the progress
of civilization and the welfare of hu-
manity. The following table will dem-
onstrate the astonishing rapidity with
which compound interest accumulates
as the rate per cent increases;
TI 100 yrs. at 1 per cer.t„ $2.75
2 • 7.25
" " " " 2V2 " 11.75
3 " 19.25
3% " 31.25
4 " 60.50
4% " , 81.50
5 " 131.50
6 " 340.00
7 " ' 868.00
8 " 2,203.00
9 " 5,543.00
'10 " * 1 a,809.00
" " " " 12 " «, > 84,675.00
" " " "15 " \ 1,174,405.00
" " " "18 " 15,145,007.00
"24 " 2,551,779,404.00
Another practical illustration is to
compare the man at work with the dol-
lar at interest. At first thought it
would seem ridiculous to make the com-
parison with even one man, but we
shall make it with all the producers
of the nation pitted against one dol-
lar.
In 1890, after almost 400 years of la-
bor of many millions of people, the total
accumulation of wealth of the nation
was about $62,500,000,000. This in-
cluded a large amount of wealth
brought to this country by immigrants;
it also included the vast value of our
lands, forests, mines, etc., which we
did not produce, but found ready for
our use.
With the great shrinkage in values
that has since occurred the total accu-
mulation would probably be less than
$50,000,000,000.
Now suppose that Christopher Colum-
bus when he landed in America had
started a bank on a capital of one dol-
lar, loaning the money at the rate of
10 per cent compounding at the end of
every three months as is the usual cus-
tom with banks where they do not
charge interest in advance.
The capital would double every seven
years, and by 1890 would have ac-
cumulated $143,603,198,813,228,032.
As a wealth accumulator the dollar
proves far superior to the most in-
genious, and industrious people; oc-
cupying tne most fertile country on
earth. Great are the United States of
America.
Great are the American people.
But 2,872,064 times greater is the
Shylock dollar at 10 per cent interest.
Another comparison which will come
closer home will be to anticipate the
result for the future by comparing the
power of the banks to accumulate
through interest with the ability of the
people to accumulate through produc-
tion.
How long can the people keep ahea:l
of the banks?
How long until the banks own the
people and the nation?
We will take as the basis of our clr-
culafion the average increase of the
wealth of the nation during the period
from 1880 to 1890 as per census reports,
and will ignore the great shrinkage of
values already a fact.
Assume (an assumption not war-
ranted by the facts or prospects) that
the nation will enjoy the same degree
of prosperity as iu the past decade,
with an annual increase of three per
annum and no financial depressions,
panics or set-backs; the producers with
a full head of steam on and sails set
to a favorable breeze; the drones quietly
and placidly clipping 10 per cent inter-
est coupons.
From the report of the comptroller
of the currency for 1892, page 45, we
find that the national banks had loaned
out at interest (including stocks and
bonds) $2,509,000,000; (page 85), state
banks, loan and trust companies, sav-
ings banks, and private banks (6 per
cent not reporting) the amount was
$3,145,000,000, or a total for the banks
of $5,654,000,000. The result by seven
year periods would be as follows:
Nation's Bankers'
health. Wealth.
1892 $ 66,306,250,000 $ 5,654,000,000
1899 82,188,953,986 11,308,000,000
1906 101,082,046,427 22,616,000,000
1913 124,318,167,160 45,232,000,000
1920 152,895,675,393 90,464,000,000
1927 188,042,405,297 180,928,000,000
1934 231,256,847,012 361.856,000,000
When we take into consideration the
fact that all values have decreased
fully 25 per cent during the past three
years instead of increasing at the rate
of 3 per cent per annum, and the further
fact of the vast amount of interest
collected by insurance companies, land
loaning syndicates, dividends of rail-
road and other corporations, it is evi-
dent that the nation cannot stand the
strain for another twenty years.
Interest must be abolished or we
perish as a nation.
The power that the system gives to
the bankers over the industry and com-
merce of the country is well illustrated
by the following clipped from the Bal-
timore Sun (Dem.) of Aug. 20, 1893:
"When Venice was the republic that
ruled the financial and commercial
world the Council of Ten were the
potent magnates who swayed the des-
tinies of nations. But not even in
their most influential hour did they
possess a tithe of the enormous power
that the council of six men, sitting daily
in New York, now wield. This modern
financial junta have an authority and
direct a wide reaching influence that
is probably unprecedented in the his-
tory of all nations. No president's
cabinet, not even the directors of the
world-renowned "Old Lady of Thread-
needle street," herself could approach
their possibilities. Their identity is
known to comparatively few of the mil-
lions their actions affect. They are
the half dozen members of the loan
committee of the New York clearing
house. F. D. Tappan, president of the
Gallatin National bank, is the chair-
man and his associates are E. H. Per-
kins, Jr., president of the Importers'
and Traders' bank; J. Edward Simons,
of the Fourth National; H. W. Cannon,
of the Chase National; W. A. Nash,
of the Corn Exchange bank, and
George C. Williams, of the Chemical
bank. Each business day they meet
at the clearing house, 11 Pine street,
and by their decisions formulate the
policy of the New York banks, which
in turn dominates the tone of the finan-
ces of the whole country and incidental-
ly affects the rest of the world. In
the present emergency they have is-
sued the $64,000,000 of loan certificates
that have stemmed the rising tide of
commercial depression. Their word is
the law countenancing the loan that
saves banker or merchant or the re-
fusal that brings ruin. How few know
how much depends on the judgment
of those six men, and how few appre-
ciate their tremendous power. —Dako-
ta Ruralist.
The ratio is the biggest part of the
silver question.
England owns part of this country
and bosses it all.
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Mounts, N. S. The Tecumseh Leader. (Tecumseh, Okla. Terr.), Vol. 2, No. 12, Ed. 1 Friday, June 14, 1895, newspaper, June 14, 1895; Tecumseh, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc177812/m1/3/: accessed May 1, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.