Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1756-1963 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities external link and the Library of Congress. Learn more
Image provided by: Kansas State Historical Society; Topeka, KS
Newspaper Page Text
G ADVOCATE. THE EXCEPTION CLAUS3 ONCE M02E. A few republican speakers and a few newspapers have so far neglected their cesspool campaign as to men tion one matter which is of vital im portance in the proof it affords of re publican fraud in- the early days of the war. They mention it, not to throw any light npon the subjeat, but to pervert the facts and to de ceive the people as to what was act ually done. Mr. Dawes is one of the statesmen who is engaged in this undertaking, and the Capital of Sdptember 18 enters the ring as an other of the champions of falsehood upon one of Mr. Dawes' favorite themes. We have frequently cited the page in the Congressional Globe where the remarks of Thaddeus Stevens upon the legal-tender act may be found, but these cesspool politicians have no desire to find the trath upon this subject. It would not answer their purpose, and hence they can never be induced to look for it. Without again quoting Mr. Stevens' remarks we will once mora state concisely the facts relating to the aot of February 25, 1862. The bill as introduced in the house and passed by that body provided for the issue of treasury notes, a full legal tender for all debts both public and private. In this form it went to the senate where the cashiers and the bullion brokers of Wall street as sailed it and succeeded in having an amendment attached excepting the notes from payment of interest on the public debt. The house refused to accept this amendment because it would compel the secretary of the treasury to go into the market every six months and buy gold at whatever price the brokers would choose to ask for it to pay these same pirates their interest on the bonds. A commit tee of conference of the two houses was appointed to adjust their differ enods. When that committee met the members on the part of the sen ate refused to recede from the amend ment and the members on the part of the house refused to agree to it, on the ground before stated, that it would sompel the government to sell bonds every six months to buy gold to pay interest. After a bitter con test, the obstinacy of the senate being likely to effect a total defeat of the bill, a compromise was agreed to by adding another amendment excepting the notes from payment of duties on imports. The committee on the part of the house who were ' opposed to the senate amendment, when the7 foand they could not in duce the sanjta to raoede from its position, favored this latter amend ment in ordjrta provide a means whereby the government might ob tain gold o pay interest without buying it jf the brokers to whom the mtera t would be due and pay ing their price for it. Mr. Stevens did favor this amendment as an off Bet to the other, by means of which some of its evils could be cured, but he and Mr. Spaulding, and in fact f.lmost the whole house of repre sentatives, were opposed to the -1 3 crher.o of ths sonata, whio h had in view, as Mr. Stevens expressed it, the creation of two kinds of money one for the banker and bond holder and another for the people. Now, the point in the Capital's article, if there is any point in it, is that Mr. Stevens favored the bonds into which these notes were funded, and was opposed to "fiat" money. If this is true, which it is but partially, it entirely ignores the only point that we have ever made against the exception clause, and that is that by it the government discriminated against its own money and, by dis crediting it in advance, caused it to depreciate as compared with gold. We have shown that this deprecia tion was premeditated, and that was the position of Mr. Stevens upon the subject. This discrimination against the money upon which the government was compelled to rely, and with which it paid the army and navy and the farmer and manu facturer who furnished supplies and munitions of war, and in favor of the money upon which Wall street pirates were speculating, and which they kept locked in their vaults for that especial purpose this is the ground of complaint upon this subject, and this is a point which no republican speaker or writer can be induced to mention. This is the point which the Capital studiously avoids, and which Mr. Dawes will be very careful not to refer to. We again refer those who may honestly desire to know the facts upon this subject to Congres sional Globe, Thirty-seventh con gress, second session, page 900, and subsequent pages of proceedings of that session. KNIGHTS OF LABOR AND TYPOGRAPH ICAL UNION. In former times, when there was no People's party to make love to, Kansas republicans expended their terms of endearment upon organ ized labor. For instance, in the campaign of 1885, Charley Curtis, in a speech at the school house corner of Thirteenth and Quincy streets, in this city, said: We don't want the Knight of Labor rote. If I had to depend on the Knight of Labor vote electing me to an office I would not want an office, as there is cot a Knight of Labor in the city of Topeka who has an honest bone in hia body. How does Charley feel about the Knight of Labor vote now? Does he want it ? Will he give a reluctant consent to go back to congress if his election should hinge upon this vote! There are some Knights of Labor left in the Fourth congressional dis trict yet who would possibly like to know before November whether their votes would be acceptable or not, and if not they will not wish to waste them. But Charley was not alone in his estimate of organized labor at that time. It teemed to be a funda mental element of the republican creed then that labor organizations were made up of anarchists of the blood and thunder variety, and the endearing names now bestowed upon the Populists were then applied to Knights of Lbor and fctaoafcm cf the typographical union. The Leav enworth Times, for instance, of Octo ber 26, 1886, speaking of the neces sity of the labor vote to elect Gov ernor Martin, said: It is a Bad commentary if the election of Governor Martin, or any other decent re publican, depends npon the vote of out laws. The Leavenworth Times is a repub lican newspaper. The republican party is in favor of law and order and has so ex pressed itself in every state platform. The Knights of Labor and typographical union have defied the laws of the state by destroying property, threatening the lives of honest citizens, wrecking trains, bull dozing workingmen and preventing them from working in positions vacated by strikers. These two organizations have . united in issuing their anarchist pronunoia mentosandin the eyes of the people are guilty of oonspiraoy against the peace and against the commonwealth. They last spring sowed the seeds of anarchy at Atch ison, Parsons, Wyandotte, and other places, and yet the perpetrators went unpunished. It is a sad state of affairs when the state ment is sent broadoaat that the executive of Kansas depends upon the vote of a lawless element for eleotion. I The Times believes there are enough hon est, law-abiding republicans in Kansas to elect Governor Martin without the aid of train wreckers. The republican party can not afford to treat witn suon an element, it wouia out drag it down from its grand, glorious and honorable position to a level with orime and outlawry. It has no place for such criminals. How is it to-day ' Has the repub lican party any place for Knights of Labor and members of the typo graphical union this year! Can re publican managers "afford to treat with this element" in this campaign! Are they afraid of being "dragged down from their grand, glorious and honorable position to a level with crime and outlawry" by suffering members of labor organizations to vote their ticket! Such talk as that could be indulged in when the re publican majority in the state was 82,000, but will it be repeated this year! Don't all speak at onoe upon this question. THE REPUBLICAN POSITION ON SILVEB. The national and the Kansas state republican platforms declare for the use of "both gold and silver as stand ard money, with such restrictions and under such provisions, to be de termined by .legislation as will secure the parity of values of the two metals." This, the Capital assures us, means the recoinage of our pres ent silver currency, putting a gold dollar's worth of silver at its present bullion price in the market, into the silver dollar. This is the opinion of Congressman Curtis also. In his little speech in the house August 20, 1803, on the repeal of the Sherman law, he said: I believe that the only way to maintain the parity between gold and silver is to put a dollar's worth of silver into the silver dol lar and a dollar's worth of gold into a gold dollar open the mints to their free coin age and make them a full legal tender; but silver should be measured by its true value, and not by a flotations value. The people will never be satisfied with free ooinage at 16 to 1 for this will drive gold from the oountry. (Congreesional Beoord, page 321.) The republican state platform of New York makes this declaration on the stibject: - 77a !zi:t n hssrj doUsr,!s33 cppccj any effort, whether by the removal of the tax on state bank issues or the free ooinage of silver, to lower our currency standard, and we favor an international agreement which shall result in the use of both gold and silver as a circulating medium. That is, the republicans of New York are utterly opposed to the free coinage of silver, but will consent to accept the terms of an international agreement respecting the use of the two metals. If Europe will consent to the use, b this county, of the pro duct of our American mines oui New York friends will permit it. E. N. Morrill says he is in favor of the coinage of our American product at the present ratio of 16 to one of gold, with a duty on foreign silver bullion. Dick Blue is for the use of both gold and silver as money at any ratio that may hereafter be fixed by legislation. The ratio, he says, is a mere matter of detail and is of little consequence anyhow. Bernard Kelly, who is one of the chief fuglemen of the present re publican managers in this state, is telling the people in his speeches how the free coinage of silver has ruined the finances of Mexico, and the logical inference is that if adopted here it would ruin this country also. He tells them that one American dollar is worth two Mexican dollars, even in Mexico, which is true. Sjme facts will be found in another column on this subject If the free coinage of silver has brought as much ruin upon Mexico as Mr. Kelly claims it has, isn't Mr. Morrill a little reckless in favoring free coinage in this country! The position of the republican party upon the silver question is very clear and explicit, isn't it! Any man ought to be able to find some one of the propositions laid down by the party in different parts of the country, and by the different men who are reoognizsd exponents of re publicanism, that he can agree to. You pays your money, you takes your choice. THAT RELIC OF BARBARISM. If wisdom rules the next legislature that infamous relic of barbarism, known as the metropolitan police bill will be blotted from our statute books. Atohison Cham pion, September 14. We were aware that this is one of the things that has been handed down to our present civilization from a barbarous reign, but we were not intending to put it just that way. In asmuch as the Champion has stated the case, however, we desire to add that there are several other relics of the same barbarous period that should be blotted out along with the metropolitan police bill The very best thing that could be done would be to pass a general repealing act and get rid of all of the relics of that period. We could then begin anew with a clean slate and adopt such laws that newcomers to the state would not know from our statutes but we had always been civilized. If the Populist representatives of the civilized tribes get control of the next legislature this should be the first duty they attend to after eflectinsr ua crjtiizatioa.