The History of Banking Fraud:
Chapter 11
SPECIAL SESSION OF CONGRESS REPEALS THE SHERMAN LAW.
The Coming Battle
By M. W. WALBERT, 1899
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"I cannot suppose that everybody is wise. Just think of the folly o the
United States when they were a debtor nation in adopting a gold coinage.
They know nothing about currency matters; they did not know that it me
going to increase their debt enormously. " - Daniel Watney.
Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of
labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor
is the superior of capital and deserves much the higher consideration.
"No men living are more worthy to be trusted than those who toil up from
poverty; none lese inclined to take or touch aught which they have not
honestly earned. Let them beware of surrendering a political power which
they already possess and which, if cur-rendered, will surely be used to
close the doors of advancement against such as they, and to fix new
disabilities and burdens upon them till all of liberty shall be lost." -
Abraham Lincoln.
The substance of the proclamation issued by President Cleveland, convening
the special session of Congress, is as follows: -
"Whereas the distrust and apprehension concerning the financial situation,
which pervade all business circles, have already caused great loss and
damage to our people, and threaten to cripple oar merchants, stop the
wheels of manufacture, and bring distress and privation to our farmers,
and withhold from our workingmen the wage of labor;
"And, whereas, the present perilous condition is largely the result of a
financial policy which the ex-
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ecutive branch of the Government finds embodied in unwise laws which must
be executed until repealed by Congress; "Now, therefore, I, Grover
Cleveland, President of the United States, in performance of a
constitutional duty, do, by this proclamation declare that an
extraordinary occasion requires the convening of both Houses of the
Congress of the United States at the Capitol in the city of Washington on
the 7th day of August next, at 12 o'clock noon, to the end that the people
may be relieved, through legislation, from present impending danger and
distress."
On the 7th of August, 1893, Congress met promptly at the hour indicated in
the call. Both Houses organized and the President was notified of the
fact.
On the 8th of August, he transmitted a special message to the House and
Senate, respectively, in which he set forth his reasons for existing
financial depressions, end urged the repeal of the Sherman law as the
means to dispel the distrust which wrought such distress among the people.
He said: -
"The existence of an alarming and extraordinary business situation,
involving the welfare and prosperity of all our people, has constrained me
to call together in extra session the people's representatives in
Congress, to the end that through a wise and patriotic exercise of the
legislative duty with which they solely are charged, present evils may be
mitigated and dangers threatening the future may be averted.
"Our unfortunate financial plight is not the result of untoward events nor
of conditions related to our natural resources; nor is it traceable to any
of the afflictions which frequently check national growth and prosperity.
With plenteous crops, with abundant promise of remunerative production and
manufacture, with unusual invitation to safe investment, and with
satisfactory assurance to business enterprise, suddenly
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financial distrust and fear have sprung up on every side. Numerous moneyed
institutions have suspended because abundant assets were not immediately
available to meet the demands of frightened depositors. Surviving
corporations and individuals are content to keep m hand the money they are
usually anxious to loan, and those en in legitimate business are surprised
to find that the securities they offer for loans, though heretofore
satisfactory, are no longer accepted. Values en to be fixed are fast
becoming conjectural, and loss and failure have invaded every branch of
business."
An analysis of this extract of his message adds accumulative evidence,
that this panic was pre-arranged by the nationa1 banks to coerce Congress
to repeal the hated Sherman law.
The President asserts that all the elements of prosperity were at hand,
and suddenly distrust sprung up on every side.
In speaking of the coinage of silver, he said: -
"Between the 1st day of July, 1890, and the 15th day of July, 1893, the
gold coin and bullion in our Treasury decreased more than $132,ooo,ooo,
while during the same period the silver coin and bullion in the Treasury
increased more than $147,ooo,ooo. Unless Government bonds are to be
constantly issued and sold to replenish our exhausted gold, only to be
again exhausted, it is apparent that the operation of the Silver Purchase
Law now in force, leads in the direction of the entire substitution of
silver for the gold in the Government Treasury, and that this must be
followed by the payment of all Government obligations in depreciated
silver."
A perusal of this part of his message exhibits his animus against silver.
He further says: -
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"At this stage, gold and silver must part company, and the Government must
fail in its established policy to maintain the two metals on a parity with
each other. Given over to the exclusive use of a currency greatly
depreciated according to the standard of the commercial world, we could no
longer claim a place among nations of the first class, nor could our
Government claim a performance of its obligation, so far as such an
obligation has been imposed upon it, to provide for the use of the people
the best and safest money."
With a remarkable disregard of existing facts, he speaks of a depreciated
currency.
He adds: -
"The knowledge in business circles among our own people that our
Government cannot mate its Sat equivalent to intrinsic value, nor keep
inferior money on a parity with superior money by its own independent
efforts, has resulted in such a lack of confidence at home, in the
stability of currency values that capital refuses its aid to new
enterprises, while millions are actually withdrawn from the channels of
trade and commerce to become idle and unproductive in the hands of timid
owners. Foreign investors, equally alert, not only decline to purchase
American securities, but make haste to sacrifice those which they already
have."
The last sentence of the above extract affords a key to the reason why, in
the opinion of the President, the Sherman law should be repealed, that is,
with reference to the war waged by him against silver.
At the very time that the President was penning this message, in which he
asserted that the stock of silver coin and bullion in the Treasury had
increased more than $147,ooo,ooo, silver certificates were sold at a
premium of two per cent. by the money brokers of New York City.
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On the 5th of August, two days before Congress met, a great banking firm
of New York City had the following advertisement inserted in the New York
Times and in the Herald: -
"WANTED-SILVER DOLLARS - We desire to purchase at a premium of 3/4 per
cent., or $7.50 per thousand, standard silver doll in sums of $1,ooo or
more, in return for our certified checks payable through the clearing
house.
Zimmerman & Forshav, Bankers, 11 Wall street."
The object of storing up $147,ooo,ooo of silver coin and bullion in the
Treasury, at a time when it was at a premium, and then pointing at this
accumulation of money and bullion, as a reason for requesting hostile
legislation against it, is a damning blot upon the administration..
It exhibits the length to which President Cleveland went, in his efforts
to make silver the scapegoat for the traitorous acts of the national
banking money power, in assailing the credit of the Government, and in
precipitating the panic.
With reference to that part of his message, where President Cleveland
sought to convey a wrong impression to the people with reference to the
quantity of silver on hand in the Treasury, and in which he asserts that
bonds must be constantly issued to replenish the gold reserve, and that
there was danger of the Government going on a silver basis, we refer to
the following resolution by the Senate August 16, 1893: -
"Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby,
directed to report to the Senate what amount, if any, of the treasury
notes issued under the act of Ju1y 14, 1890, commonly called the Sherman
Act, have been daring the present month redeemed by the
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Government, at the request of the holders thereof, in silver dollars, and
whether the holders of such notes were advised, at the time of such
redemption, that they could have gold instead of silver if they so
desired.
"The Secretary of the Treasury is also directed to inform the Senate
whether gold coin has been recently presented to the Treasury Department,
or any subtreasury, and silver dollars asked in exchange therefor; and, if
so, if such exchanges have been made, and whether the department would or
could exchange silver dollars for gold coin if requested to do so by
holders of gold."
On the 17th of the same month, the Secretary, after reciting this
resolution, replied as follows: -
"In response thereto, I have the honor to say that during the present
month, treasury notes issued under the act of July 14, 1890, amounting to
$714,636 have been redeemed by the Government in silver dollars.
While I do not pretend to have knowledge of the degree of information
possessed by the holders of the notes so redeemed, I am of the opinion
that they mere fully advised at the time of such redemption that they
could have gold instead of silver, if they so desired. I base this opinion
upon the general publicity which has been given to the terms of the Act,
no less than upon the instructions of this department to the Treasurer and
Assistant Treasurers of the United States, which have been to the effect
that such notes were redeemable in silver dollars at the option of the
holders. I am also supported in my belief by the fact that in the circular
of this department, issued to the public for their guidance in their
dealings with the Treasury, and containing the regulations which govern
the issue, redemption, and exchange of the paper currency and the gold,
silver, and minor coins of the United States, there is a paragraph which
reads as follows: -
"4. 'Gold coin is issued in redemption of United States notes, in sums not
less than $5o, by the Assistant Treasurers in New York and San Francisco,
and
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in redemption of treasury notes of 1890, in like sums, by the Treasurer
and all the Assistant Treasurers.'
"In further response to the resolution, I have to say that recently gold
coin has been presented at an office of this department, and silver dollar
asked in exchange therefor, and that the exchange was not made for the
reason that all the silver dollars in the Treasury at the time were
required under the provisions of the laws relating to the currency to be
held in the treasury to cover outstanding silver certificates and treasury
notes issued under the act of July 14 1890. At present the department
would not and could not exchange silver dollars for gold coin if requested
to do so by holders of gold, for the same reason; bet if the condition of
the funds of the Treasury were each as to afford a margin of silver
dollars in excess of silver certificates and treasury notes outstanding,
such exchanges would be made.
Respectfully yours,
J. G. Carlisle, Secretary."
Thus, while President Cleveland was holding up the Treasury accumulation
of silver as a scarce to frighten Congress and the people, the Secretary
of the Treasury, nine days after President Cleveland transmitted his
message to Congress, officially states that gold coin was recently offered
for these despised "5o-cent dollars," and the exchange could not be made
because the Treasury did not contain any of this money available to supply
the demands.
The Secretary also says that at that time, the department would not, and
could not, exchange silver dollars for gold coin because it did not have
them.
In the face of this statement of the Secretary, where is that awful
avalanche of silver which so frightened the President, that he convened
Congress in special session to save the country from being overwhelmed in
disaster by it?
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Here were holders of gold coin actually offering gold coin, that superior
money, for silver.
One carious feature of this condition was, that, while the Secretary was
paying out gold to the New York banters for export, who average American
citizen was offering to take silver in exchange for gold.
On the 1oth of August, Mr. Wilson, of West Virginia, introduced House bill
No. 1, providing for the repeal of the purchasing clause of the Sherman
law. On the same day, a resolution was adopted limiting the debate on that
measure to fourteen days.
Upon the appearance of this repeal bill in the House, the Chambers of
Commerce, Boards of Trade, and various other commercial bodies flooded
Congress with petitions praying for the repeal of that law.
The newspapers of the East kept up a terrific din urging Congress to
prompt action.
Meanwhile, a great debate was going on in the House. On the 12th of
August, Mr. Hendrix, a national banker, representing a Brooklyn district,
delivered a speech in the House urging the repeal of the purchasing
clause. He said: -
"Repeal the Sherman silver law, gentlemen; adjourn and go home; and let
the country take care of the rest."
Further on, he predicted that a repeal of this law would compel England to
make proposals for a monetary conference, whereupon the following colloquy
took place between Mr. Hendrix and Mr. Bland:-
MR. HENDRIX: Let us try the experiment just once and see whether we cannot
bring this proud old lady down from her perch. I predict to you that
inside of three months - before this Congress meets again - if you repeal
this Sherman law and adjourn, England will
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make proposals to this country to come into a monetary conference and see
what can be done for the sake of her ward, India. The propositions already
said to have come through financial magnates. Their names are not given,
and therefore I distrust the information, because when men are mentioned I
like to know where I can find them.
MR. BLAND: Will the gentleman allow me a question right there?
MR. HENDRIX: Ycs, sir.
MR. BLAND: I understood the gentleman to say a moment ago that we were
evoluting toward a gold standard.
MR. HENDRIX: Yes, sir.
MR. BLAND: And now you claim that England is evoluting toward silver. [
Laughter.]
Such was the absurd inconsistency in which this national bank member of
Congress involved himself. On the same day, M. D. Harter, of Ohio, also a
national banker, with a view to show that there was an abundance of money
in circulation, made the following statement: -
"Gentlemen talk a good deal about our circulation per capita. I have very
little faith in this per capita claptrap. Let us talk a little about our
per capita circulation. They tell us that we have got $24 of circulation
per capita, but under our banking methods what have we got? First, the
national banks have $27 per capita, as represented by deposits; the
savings banks hold $27 per capita; for the trust companies and the private
banks $18 is a very small estimate. Add these figures together and you
will find what amount of circulation your banking methods give you. They
give you $72 per capita. In other words, through this machinery of banking
we have increased the currency of the country three times over. But that
is not all. Look at the clearing house returns. They show that for the
year ending with the 30th of June last, we had
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exchanges amounting to $1,ooo per capita throughout this country."
In less than five minutes after this deliverance, he utterly overthrew his
former assertions by the following: -
"Your boasted millionaires, your owners of banks, your men who employ
thousands of operatives in their manufactories, are begging at the doors
of the banks for accommodations as small as $1oo and $2oo. And here at the
capital of this great nation, with everything, according to the theory of
the silver men, to make prosperity, if you go with a New York draft to a
bank, a good bank - for there are none but good banks in Washington and
not very many of any other kind in the United States - if you go to any of
these banks with a draft on New York for $4o, $5o, or $1oo, you can
scarcely get it cashed."
A perusal of the Congressional Record, containing this debate, will bear
out the statement that every gold standard advocate who urged the repeal
of the Sherman law, produced arguments in favor of repeal that ate each
other up as fast as they issued from his mouth. Hon. Burke Cockran, that
arrogant and much-vaunted orator, in the course of one of his usual frothy
speeches, made the following statement, August 26th: -
"Mr. Speaker, I venture the assertion that we are not suffering to-day
from a lack of money, but from a redundancy of money; and I think that
proposition can bc demonstrated to the satisfaction of any man who sits in
this Hall. According to the statement of the Secretary of the Treasury the
circulation today exceeds by some seventy millions the amount in
circulation last year, but last year the volume of business was vastly
greater than it is today. If a smaller amount of money be able to
circulate a greater quantity of commodities, will anybody pretend that the
quantity of money we have now is not sufficient for all the purposes of
commerce?"
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Fourteen days preceding this statement of Mr. Cock-ran, he had a check for
$1oo payable on a New York bank, and he could not get it cashed in
Washington, because at that time the banks of the former city refused to
pay the checks of their depositors.
Representative Bowers, of California, gives the following version of this
fact, he said: -
"A curious circumstance happened to me yesterday. One of my constituents
of California came to me with a $5o check on a New York national bank,
drawn in Rhode Island, a for hours from here, and could not get it cashed
at the banks in Washington. To-day, my friend, Colonel Cockran, many of
you know him, came to me with a check for a hundred dollars, drawn on a
New York bank and he could not get it cashed in Washington. I sent it off
for collection."
This statement of Mr. Bowers was made in the presence of Mr. Cockran,
August 12, 1893, and yet, in view of this fact, the latter subsequently
asserted that the country was suffering from a redundancy of money!
The mendacity of those members who spoke for repeal was shameless in the
extreme.
Mr. Patterson, of Tennessee, strongly denounced silver in a speech made by
him August 14th. He declared that the cause of the panic originated from
the fear of the people against the use of depreciated dollars.
At this identical period, the New York banks were offering a premium for
the standard silver dollar.
The following debate took place between him and Mr. Williams: -
MR. WILLIAMS, of Mississippi: If it be true that the masses who are scared
by the causes which the gentle-
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man states, but which they do not understand, and that the capitalist, who
docs understand this question, is scared for a different reason, why is it
that the capitalists are to-day paying a premium for the silver dollar in
New York City?
MR. PATTERSON: Well, that, Mr. Speaker, is a business matter which I have
not investigated.[Laughter.]
MR. BYNUM: They are paying a premium for paper money, too.
MR. PATTERSON: Yes, they are paying a premium, I understand, for other
small currency. I cannot give the reason for that, unless it be to secure
currency to pay wage-earners. The question is outside my line of thought
and of my argument.
On the same day, Mr. Harter said that the silver dollar was worth only
fifty-eight cents.
The following colloquy took place between him and Mr. Cox, of Tennessee: -
MR. COX: Will the gentleman from Ohio yield for an interruption?
MR. HARTER: I yield with pleasure to my friend from Tennessee.
MR. COX: I have listened with a great deal of pleasure to the gentleman's
argument. He has that the silver dollar is worth to-day fifty-four cents.
MR. HARTER: Fifty-eight cents.
MR. COX: Well, fifty-eight cents. Now, the question is, do you know of any
man in the United States who has silver dollars that he will sell at that
price, fifty-eight cents?
MR. HARTER: Certainly not, under present conditions. But I know every man
who has a silver dollar-
MR. COX: One moment, please. Does not the 58-cent silver dollar buy just
as much of the products of this country as any other dollar?
MR. HARTER: To that I answer yes. But that is not
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the point. That is the present condition under limited coinage, bat you
are proposing to change it. In further answer to my friend from Tennessee,
whom I regard as an authority on his side of this subject, I say to him
that while that is true to-day, the very morning that you have by your law
established free coinage in this country, then it ceases to be true, and
that every dollar in existence which is now held up to its full nominal
value by our present law will sink to fifty-eight cents, the bullion
value, as soon as your law becomes operative.
This is an example of the reckless statements put forth by these Cuckoo
statements.
On August 21st, Mr. Cooper, of Indiana, who, by some mysterious process,
had suddenly become an advocate of the gold standard national banking
system, delivered a speech laudatory of credit. He said:-
"Some gentlemen may ask, Why not have morc money and less credit? My
answer to that is this with credit you would not need the money and yon
would not want it, and without credit it would not circulate, and you
could not get it, however great the volume might be. Besides, the world is
not moving in that direction; The time has come when 'a good name is
rather to be chosen,' even in the commercial world, 'than great riches.' A
good name will cause the transfer of more property to-day than all the
camels of Job could have carried. A good name unlocks the vaults of the
usurer, turns the wheels of industry, and sets the sails of commerce upon
the seas. Cash is the law of the savage, confidence an inspiration and
instrument of civilization."
At the time he made those remarks, the great national banks of New York
City were discounting the checks of their depositors.
This distinguished (?) statesman, after his failure to return to Congress
in 1894, gladly accepted the post-
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mastership of a small city, in order to obtain some of that cash which he
had denounced as "the law of the savage."
On August 14th, Mr. Boatner, who opposed the striking down of silver,
severely arraigned the supporters of the repeal bill. He said: -
"I charge, sir, that the advocates of this measure, these thick-and-thin
gold men of the Democratic party and of the Republican party who have been
endeavoring ever since I have been in Con to force this Government to an
issue of cheap bonds, are responsible for the excitement which has created
the destruction of pub1ic confidence, and has caused a run upon the banks
and the withdrawal of large amounts of money from circulation. They are
the men who have sown the wind, and we are now reaping the whirlwind.
There is nothing in or about the Sherman law, there is no deduction that
can be drawn from that law, which would justify anybody in making the
assertion that the United States Government is not good for every
obligation that it has put upon the market."
This charge of conspiracy on the part of the gold standard national
banking element in the House was not denied by the supporters of that
system.
On the 1rst of August, Mr. Cox made the following attack upon Mr. Hendrix
and the other national bank members of Congress He said: -
"Mr. Hendrix, who sits just in front of me, delivered his defense of his
position for this repeal. I charge here in his presence that nearly one
year ago there was issued from the Bankers' Association at New York a
circular to the rural banks all over this country, asking for a
contribution to procure the repeal of the Sherman act. Does he or any man
from New York City deny? That was before the panic. True, a second
circular followed, condemning the clerk of that association for issuing
that circular, and probably discharged
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him; but have you retracted the purpose announced? I want a reply if I
have done any one injustice.
"Did you tacitly agree or discuss the question in New York that yon would
not rediscount notes from the South unless we would vote for the
unconditional repeal of the Sherman act? Did not one of your speakers in
one of your bankers' meetings openly declare that you could and would
control the finances of this Government?
"Did your papers not boast that you had in your city two hundred millions
of gold hoarded in your vaults?
"If I do any man injustice, I pause for correction Here is the fundamental
error. Let this Government rule for the people. Let it rule its finances
for the purpose of trade and commerce, and forever let it put its
everlasting stamp of indignation and condemnation on legislation that
legislates one man's property up and another's down. Give as a fair and
equal fight for human happiness. [Applause.]"
At the time this debate was going on in the House, the banks of New York
were refusing to pay checks drawn on deposits; and were issuing Clearing
House certificates in lieu of money.
Exchange on New York banks ranged at from ten to fifty dollars on the
thousand.
After quoting a New York bank circular, Mr. Hatch, of Missouri, made the
following criticism on the national banks of that city.
On August 23d, he said: -
"Fifty dollars on a thousand dollars in exchange on New York. Why, sir,
usually in the West New York exchange is at a small premium or at par. I
received a few days ago a letter from the cashier of a bank in which I do
my business at Hannibal, Mo. He informed me that he could not take New
York exchange for anything less than $1 on the hundred dollars or $10 on
the thousand dollars.
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"I thought that enormous; but here it appears by this Net York circular
that there are other cities in the country that have not as much
confidence in the New York banking system as the bankers in my own town.
In some of these other cities they will not take exchange on New York at
less than $5o on the $1,ooo.
"What have the banks of New York been doing to keep up confidence. Nobody
ever lost confidence in the banks of New York until after they entered
into that conspiracy in April last to produce a panic in this country-
money famine and a panic. But they lost confidence in each other.
"Let me tell my New York friends right now that, in my judgment, the most
herculean task ever attempted in any legislative body on the face of God's
green earth since the creation of Adam down to the present time will be to
restore confidence between the New York bankers. They know each other too
well [Laughter.] And there is such a splendid minority of them that have
embellished the pages of New York financial history in the last few years
by moving across the line into Canada, that I suppose the next step would
be to establish confidence between the bankers of New York on this side
and those on the other side of the Canadian border.
"Mr. Speaker, I offered on yesterday evening to give my distinguished
friend from New York [Mr. Fellows] part of my time, and I intended if he
accepted it to make but one condition, because we all know him to be a
splendid lawyer; but I wanted some legal ability to blaze the road along
that way so as to point out in a clear manner the use of and the character
of what is called 'clearing house certificates.'
"I ask the gentleman, or any other gentleman from New York when he its the
floor, to please tell us what a clearing house certificate is, and how it
can be used as money without violating the laws of the United States? Do
you pay any tax on it? What is it? The promise to pay of a class of men
who will not take even their own promises to each other! And
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tell me another thing. Why is it every national bank in the city of New
York to-day, and for the past thirty days, has been doing business in open
and notorious violation of the law, absolutely refusing to pay its checks
when presented at the counter? Why is that?"
This challenge of Mr. Hatch was not accepted by the able and brilliant
Fellows.
The Missouri congressman truthfully portrayed the methods and character of
the New York bankers in their systematic efforts to influence the
legislation of congress.
A member of that Congress bore testimony to the fact, that he had
seventeen thousand dollars on deposit in a bank in New York City, and that
he had presented a check for two hundred dollars at its counter for
payment, and that he was refused his own money.
Matthew Marshal, the able financial editor of the New York Sun, exposed
the conspiracy of the banks in aggravating the distress then prevalent.
On August 21, 1893, he said: -
"The question is, how much longer our banks can, without bringing on a
catastrophe, continue in their course of increasing the volume of clearing
house certificates and of denying to their depositors payment in lawful
money of their checks. Thus far depositors have been very patient and have
good-naturedly submitted to the enforced scaling down of their dues; but
they cannot be expected to submit to it forever. A bank that cannot or
will not pay claims against it in the regular course of business is, by
the decisions of our State courts, insolvent, and, if the Bankrupt Act of
1867 were now in force, a refusal by a bank for forty days to pay checks
on demand would be a commission of bankruptcy."
The clique of national bank congressmen did not even attempt to repel
these bitter accusations. They knew they were true in every particular.
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During the panic now raging, a stock gambler of Wall street rushed into
the Stock exchange, and excitedly announced that one of the greatest banks
in the city had failed.
A tremendous fall of stocks immediately took place, and this knave bought
in vast quantities of the securities injuriously affected by this false
rumor.
It is said that this scheme netted this stock gambler the sum of
$1o,ooo,ooo.
On August 18, Hon. J. C. Sibley referred to the false reports spread
abroad by these lawless speculators, and he instanced this recent case. He
said: -
"Another reason for your panic has been chargeable directly to the action
of your Wall street gamblers, who have circulated rumors by the wholesale.
They permitted one of these gamblers to go into their chamber a few weeks
ago and announce that one of the greatest banks in New York had failed.
And how did that body punish him for putting in circulation this false
report? They suspended him for a year; and it is said his profits through
bear operations since this panic commenced have netted him in clear cash
over $1o,ooo,ooo. I think he can afford to stand the suspension. "
Acts like that described by Congressman Sibley never failed to win the
admiration of the stock gambling element.
Men who were able to engineer a comsummate piece of villainy like the
above to a successful termination, were hailed as heroes by the smaller
fry of Wall street.
The press of the city glowingly referred to such achievements as "master
strokes of financial genius."
Mr. Sibley spoke of the great decline in the farmlands since 1873. He
said: -
"We can only judge of the future by the past and
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the present. Everything has declined since you demonetized silver, since
you commenced hostile legislation against it. Pennsylvania farmlands
to-day are not worth forty cents upon the dollar of what they were in
1873. Is not that correct?
"Ma. Hicks: I am sorry to say it is the fact."
The gentleman upon whom Mr. Sibley called to verify his statement, was a
Republican member of Congress, and a fanatical believer in the efficacy of
a high protective tariff, and he made this admission long before the
Wilson tariff bill became a law.
On August 25th, Representative Doolittle, of Washington State, exposed the
means practiced by the bankers of the East in strangling the industries of
the Pacific coast. He said: -
"There are many things I would be glad to say upon this subject, but my
time is limited. A great deal has been said during this debate as to the
cause or causes of the trouble that is now upon us. When I came to this
city last January to witness the closing of the Fifty-second Congress, I
left my home on the shores of Puget Sound, when, so far as confidence was
concerned, everything was as placid as a May morning. There was not a man
who had not the utmost confidence in the banks throughout that entire
country. I know that during the latter days of that Congress an effort was
made here to repeal this purchasing clause of the so-called Sherman law,
and also to obtain an issue of gold-bearing bonds from the Government.
"I know that those attempts failed. Upon reaching my home early in April,
I found that circulars were being received by every banking man and by
people engaged in every business on the Pacific coast, from New York and
other money centers of the country. I know that these circulars were full
of statements foreboding financial disaster and ruin. They contained
notice that credits should be shortened and that money should be withdrawn
in many instances where it had
381
been loaned to people in the West; and all this trouble was to result from
the failure of the Fifty-second Congress in its last session to repeal the
so-called Sherman Act. These people, interested selfishly in the repeal of
the Sherman law and in their attempt to cause the issuance of gold-bearing
bonds, were endeavoring to stampede business men all over the Western
country into a support of their position.
"Now, Mr. Speaker, it is much easier for people to tear down credit and
confidence than it is to establish that credit and confidence. The result
of sending out these circulars over the West was that the confidence of
people regarding financial conditions began to wane; they began to lose
confidence in the banking and other financial institutions of their States
and towns. This was the immediate cause, I know, generally over the
Pacific coast of the failures that followed."
In the light of this accumulated evidence, who will deny that the
murderous panic of 1893 was planned by the national banking money power to
force a repeal of the purchasing clauses?
The whole tenor of the arguments advanced by those who urged the repeal of
the purchasing clause of the Sherman law was to restore "confidence," to
prevent the exportation of gold to foreign countries, and to maintain the
credit of the United States.
But the following declaration made by Mr. Hendrix, President of the First
National Bank of New York City, otherwise known as "Fort Sherman," clearly
shows what influence was brought to bear upon Congress to procure this
legislation.
On August 28th, he said: -
"There are petitions from nearly thirteen thousand bankers in the hands of
different members here which register the sentiment against the
foolishness of our
382
silver-supporting policy. The wave of popular opinion has reached this
House. It betokens a revolution in the American mind. We are not to fool
any longer with a depreciated and a rejected money metal, and try to bear
alone a burden which civilized nations should share in common. The silver
problem will, after our action remain in the world, and on the world, bat
not on this country alone. We can take care of the forty cents of credit
in our silver dollar. We can keep all of our large stock in free
circulation on a parity with gold, and the banks will take care to keep in
such position as to meet the demands for foreign exchanges."
The debate upon the repeal bill came to an end An-gust 28th, and a vote
was taken on the measure, and it was adopted by 239 yeas to 108 nays.
An analysis of this vote will prove that the Eastern Democrats and
Republicans cast an almost solid vote for the bill. It is also evident
that President Cleveland "worked in Congress" by means of the enormous
influence of his patronage, for an inspection of the vote bears testimony
to the fact, that scores of members of the House voted to repeal the
purchasing clause who had been lifelong advocates of the free coinage of
silver.
The unconditional repeal of that clause did not leave a single law upon
the statute-books of the nation that would provide for the coinage of a
single additional dollar of silver.
The national banking money power once more gained its point by wholly
eliminating the further use of silver as money.
Immediately upon the repeal of the purchasing clause by the House, the New
York bankers cabled the news to London.
The action of the House gave great satisfaction to
383
the money-leading classes of England, as the following extracts from the
London press abundantly prove.
In speaking of the effect of the action of the House upon the price of
silver, the London Times, on August 29th, said: -
"It is the expiring effort of the silver party. Silver, deprived of the
support of the Sherman Act, will sink to a level too low to suit the bi-metallist
notions of a proper ratio or to facilitate the establishment of a double
standard."
On the same day the Pall Mall Gazette editorially said: -
"When confidence -and credit are restored by the repeal of the pernicious
Sherman Act, the task of fiscal reform (single gold standard) in the
United States will become easier."
The Daily News of the same date thus expressed its views: -
"The Daily News to-day expresses the opinion that the repeal of the
Sherman Act will prove a serious blow to bi-metallists throughout the
world, bet a great victory for common sense and the single standard."
It appears, therefore, that the sole object of repealing the purchasing
clause of the Sherman law was for the express purpose of depriving silver
of its only support, thus lowering its value, and thereby furnishing
reasons against its use as money.
Is it not singular, that every effort made by the associated banks of the
United States against silver, met the hearty approval of the influential
press of Great Britain?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To
Chapter 12
To the
Table of Contents
This is a crazy world. What can be done? Amazingly, we have been mislead. We have been taught that
we can control government by voting. The founder of the Rothschild dynasty, Mayer Amschel Bauer,
told the secret of controlling the government of a nation over 200 years ago. He said, "Permit me
to issue and control the money of a nation and I care not who makes its laws." Get the picture?
Your freedom hinges first on the nation's banks and money system. Freedom is connected with Debt Elimination for each individual. Not only does
this end personal debt, it places the people first in line as creditors to the National Debt ahead
of the banks. They don't wish for you to know this. It has to do with recognizing WHO you really
are in A
New Beginning: A Practical Course in Miracles, an informational study.
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Survivor In 1942 a US Navy destroyer was shipwrecked off
Newfoundland. Of the few who survived, one man, Lanier Phillips, was black. The rescuers, never
having seen a black man before, tried to scrub his skin clean and white. This is a story about
growing up with fear in segregated Georgia, enlisting in a segregated navy, facing death in the
icy North Atlantic, and a rescue which galvanized a man to fight racial discrimination.
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Remembering Kent State 1970 When thirteen students were shot by Ohio
National Guard Troops during a war demonstration on the Kent State University Campus on the
first week of May 1970, four young lives were ended and a nation was stunned. More than 30
years later, the world at war is a different place. However, those thirteen seconds in May,
1970 still remain scorched into an Ohio hillside. Through archival tape and interviews,
Remembering Kent State tracks the events that led up to the shootings. Listen to Remembering Kent State 1970 with Real Player
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War Comes to Twin Peaks explores the rumblings of protest at home during
the 1991 Persian Gulf War. From a priest who takes up the anti-war protests, disillusioned war
veterans, and a mother who fears for her son as he departs for service, War Comes to Twin Peaks
shows us the varied human faces affected by administration policy. Their stories strike a
familiar chord as the United States again confronts the possibility of war with Iraq more than
a decade later Listen to War Comes to Twin Peaks with Real Player
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:: (37:01) The Biggest Game in Town exposes the two-tiered accounting of all federal,
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discussing the investments. There is no reason for continued taxation.
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Aldous Huxley: The Ultimate Revolution, March 20, 1962
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New World on the subject of "The Ultimate Revolution." He talks about using terrorism to
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