The farmers' union., January 18, 1894, Image 1

About The farmers' union. (Memphis, Mo.) 1891-1895

Image provided by: State Historical Society of Missouri; Columbia, MO

                
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Volume III.
MEMPHIS, MISSOURI, THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, ISM.
Number rl
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A FINANCIAL HISTORY.
Course and Effect of Legislation
Since 1861.
The
Constitution provides that
Congress shall have power to pass
"all laws necessary and proper" for
carrying into execution all the pewers
granted to the government of the
the United States, or any department
or office thereof.
The word necessary, as lised, is
not limited by the additional word
"proper'' but enlarged thereby.
"If the word necessary .vas used in
the strict, rigorous sense, it would be
an extraordinary departure from the
usual course of the human mind, to
add another word, the only possible
effect of which is to qualify that strict
and rigorous meaning, and to present
clearly the choise "of means in the
course of legislation. If no means
are to be restored to but such as are
indispensably necessary, there can be
neither sense or utility in adding the
word 'proper.' for the indispensible
necessity would shut out from view
all consideration of the property of
the measures." 3 Story's Commen
taries, sec. 122.
Alexander Hamilton, in discussing
these high powers of the constitution
says:
"The authorities essential to the
care of the common defence are those
to raise arraes; to build and equip
fleets; to provide for their support.
These powers ought to exist without
limitation; because it is imposible to
foresee and define the extent and
variety of national exigencies, and
the corrcspeudent extent and variety
of the means necccssary to satisfy
them. The circumstances which en
danger the safety of nations are infi
nate; and for this reason no consti
tutional shackles can wisley be im
posed on the power to which the care
of it is impossible" "This
power ought to be under the direction
of the same councils which are ap
pointed to preside over the common
defense." "It must be ad
mitted as a necessary consequence,
that there can be no limitation of that
authority which is to provide for the
defense and protection of the com
munity in any matter esential to its
efficacy ; that is in any matter essential
to the formation, direction, or support
of the national forces."
This statement adds Hamilton
"Kates upon two aximous, simple
as they are universal; the means
ought to be proportioned to the end;
the persons from whose agencies the
attainment of the end is expected
ought to possess the means by which
it is to be attained." Federalist, No.
23, pp. 95, 99.
Congress may judge of the necessity
in the present exigency. It may de
cide whether it will authorize the
Secretary of the Treasury to issue de
mand Treasury notes, and make
them a legal tender in payment of
debts, or whether it will put its six
or seven per cent bonds on the market
at ruinous rates of discount, and
raise the money, at any sacrifice the
money-lender may require, to meet
the pressing demands upon the Treas
ury. In one case the government
will be able to pay its debts at a fair
rate of interest; in the other it must
go into the streets shinning for the
means, like an individual in failing
circumstances, and shure of being
used upin the end by the averice of
them. Its capital is much greater.
It has control of all the bankers' mon
ey, and all the property of the thirty
millions of people under its jurisdic
tion. Why, then, shouid it go hrto
Wall street, State, Chestnut street or
any other street, begging for money?
Their money is not as secure aa gov
ernment money. All the gold they
possess would not carry the govern
ment for ninety days. They issue
only promise to pay, which if con
gress does its duty, are not half so
secure as United States Treasury
note based on adequate taxation up
on all the property of the country.
Why, then, go into the streets at
all to borrow money? 1 am opposed
in our present extremity, to all shifts
of this kind I prefer to assert the
power and dignity of the government
by the issue of its own notes, pledg
ing the faith, the honor and property
of the whole loyal people of the
country to maintain their circulation
and provide for their redemption.
Ou the question of constitutional
proper we are not left without the re
corded opinions of the ablest jurists
in the country, 1 Kent's Com , 351
2; McCulloch v. The Slate of
Maryland, 2 Wheat, It, 41320.
Chief Justice Marshal, Daniel
Webster and Judge Kent lay down
the doctrine as follows:
"The government of the United
States is one of enumerated powers,
and it can exercise only the powers
granted to it; but though limited in
the powers, it is supreme within its
sphere of action. It is the govran-
ment of the people of the United
States and em 'mated from them. Its
powers were delegated from all, and
it represents all, and acts for.
"There is nothing in the Constitution
which excluded incidential or im
plied powers. The articles of Con
federation gaye nothing to the United
States but what was expressly granted
but the new Constitution dropped
the word expressly, and left the
question whether a particular power
was granted to depend on a fair con
struction of the whole instrument.
No constitution can contain'an acurat
detail of all the sub-division of its
powers, and all the means by which
they might be carried into execution.
It would render too prolix. Its
nature requires that only the great
outlines should be marked and its im-
I portant objects designated, and all
the minor ingredients left to be de
ducted from the nature of those ob
jects. The sword and the purse, all
the extern-1 relations, and no incon
siderable portion of the industry of
the nation, were entrusted to the
general government; and a govern
ment entrusted with such ample
powers, on due execution of which
th? happiness and prosperity of the
people vitall' depended, must also
be entrusted with , ample means for
their execution. Unlets the words
impersiously require it, we ought not
adopt a construction which would im
pute to the framers of the constitution
when granting great powers for the
public good, the iutention of impend
ing their exercise, by witholding a
choice of means. The ppwers given
to the government imply the ordinary
means of execution; and the govern
ment, in all sound reason and fair
interpetations, must have the choise
of the means which it deems most
convenient and appropriate to the
execution of the power. The Con
stitution has not left the right to
Congress to employ the necessary
inert us for the execution of its powers
word necessary admits of all degrees
of comparison. A thing may be
necessary, or very necessary; or ab
solutely or indespensably necessary.
The word is used in various senses;
and in its construction the object,
the context, the intention, are all to
be taken into view. The power of
the government were given for the
welfare of the nation. They were
intended to do for ages to come, aud
to be adopted to the various crises in
human affairs. To prescribe the
specific means by which government
shoukl in all future time execute its
power and to confine the choice of
means to such narrow limits as should
not leave it in the power of Congress
to adopt any which might be approp
riate and conductive to the end, would
be most unwise and pernicious, be
cause it would be an attempt to pro
vide by immutable rules, for ex
igencies which, if foreseen at all,
must have been foreseen dimly, and
would deprive the legislature of the
capacity to avail itself of experience,
or to exersize its re son, and accom
modate its legislation to circum
stances. If the end be legitimate, and
within the scope of the Constitution
all means which are appropriate,
and plainly adapted to this end. and
which are not prohibited by the Con
stitution, as lawful."
It is plainly within the scope of the
Constitution that the government
should maintain itself; that the navy
should be maintained. The ways
and means of doing this are left to
Congress to provide. Congress may
do this entirely by taxation. It may-
provide by law to levy and collect
taxes enough every year to pay the
whole expenses of the war during
each current year, and so 'pay as we
go." It may issue six per cent bonds
and sell them on the market for what
they will bring even if they will not
sell for over fifty cents on the dollar
To raise money to carry on the
war. it may iss-.e treasury note
payable on demand, ami make them
a legal tender in payment of all debts
Either one or all these mode of pay
ing the expenses of the government
is left to the discretion of Congress
Either mode is constitutional; and it
is left to the sound discretion of Con
gress to decide which mode it will
adopt, or whether it will adopt a part
of each, as being the best in the
present crisis.
My own impression is, that it will
be best for us to adopt, in part, all
of these modes for providing the
means.
1. liaise by taxation the current
year over and above the amount re
ceived from duties on imports, the
sum of $150,000,00(1.
2. Issue $100,000,000 of demand
Treasury notes in addition to the
$500,000,000 authorized in July
making them a legal tender in pay
ment ot debts, and exchaugable at
any lime for ti per cent twenty years
bonds; with a further issue of de
exchange them for the six per cent
twenty years' bonds.
These circulating notes in the hands
of the people would enable them to
pay the taxes imposed, and would
faciliate all business operations be
tween farmers, merchants, commercial
business men, and bankers, and be
equally as good as, and in most cases
letter, than the present irredeemable
circulation issued by the bankers.
3. The $500,000,000 six per cent
twenty years bouds in the hands of
the Secretary of tlie Treasury, ready
to be issued; would afford ample
opportunity for funding the treasury
notes as fast as capitalists might de
sire to exchange treasury notes not
not bearing interest for the cupon
oinls of the United States bearing
six per cent iuterest, aud amply se
cured by a tax upon the people aud
all their property.
Iu this way the government will
be able to get along with its immed
iate and pressing necesities without
eing obliged to force its bonds ou
the market at a runious rate of dis
count; the people, uuder heavy tax
ition, will be shielded against high
rates of interest; and the capitalists
will be afforded a fair compensation
for the use of their money during the
lending struggle of the country for
existence.
those who may exact unreasonable ! to general reasoning. Article 1 , sec-
' terms. The government needs and
i should have, in her present peril, the
aid and protection of all patri.tic
! citizens.
But, sir, knowing the power of
j money, and the disposition there is
: among men to use it for the ac
j quisition of greater gain, I am un
i willing that the government, with all
its immense power and resources,
should be left in the hands of any
class of men, bankers or money-lenders,
however respectable and pa
triotic , they may be. The govern-
tion 8, of the Constitution, expres
sively confers on Congress the power
-to make all laws that may be neces
sary and proper to carry into execu
tion the foregoing powers.' Congress
may employ such means and pass
such laws as it may deem necessary
to carry into execution the great
powers granted by the Constitution;
and necessary means, in the sense of
the Constitution, does not import an
absolute physical necessity, so strong
that one thing cannot exist without
the other. It stands for any means
WELCOME MR. CLAGETT.
The Gray Eagle of the North Follows
His Convictions and Leaves
The Republican Party A Letter Giv
ing Ample Reasons For the
Chancre Too Anti
quated. Win. H. Clagett, son of Judge
Chigett who edited the Keokuk Con
stitution many years ago, has been a
prominent Republican of Idaho, and
in a letter to Senator Stewart, of
Nevada, states his position on the
greatest question in a masterly manner.
been treacherously obtained and the
power of monopolies preserved and
strengthened.
These great monopolies have, by
law, control of the money, trauspor
taf.on and, largely, the land of the
people. 1 hrough ( their control of
the circulating medium they con
tracted the currency until they have
practically destroyed the value of all
fixed property and the products of
labor, and left the producing classes
at the mercy of those who are en
gaged in that kiu 1 of business which
concern the distribution of wealth.
The producers of wealth (with the
single exception of the manufac
turers) have been driven to the wall,
and the countrv is bankrupt through
a private indebtedness aggregating
$20,000,000, a sum equal to. if it
does not exceed, the combined nat
ional debt of all Europe.
xneie are many questions mat de
mand solution. The controlling ques
tion for the present, however, is the
iinancial one. llelief can only come
by the speedy increase of the circu
lating medium, to such an amount us
will restore the price of property and
the products of labor to a bassis of
adequate profit. This increased
circulation should be supplied directly
by the government through the free
coinage of both gold and silver and
paper issue based upon coin and re
deemable in coin, and not through
private banking corporations, where
every dollar authorized by law cornea
into extstance with an interest charge
fas tend to it at the moment of its
creation.
Nor should this coin reserve be
procured through the sale of interest
bcariug bonds. A change in the law
so as to require the custom duties to
be paid in coin would supply the uec-
.
essary coin reserve. Keep mis com
in the Treasury, and for every dollar
issue three or four dollars of legal
coin certificates, until the circulation
becomes sufficiently abundent to re
store prices to a nominal and profi
table bassis, by this means the circula
tion can be increased readily $800,-
000,000 in a single year, every dollar
as good as gold, and without cost to
the people. To prevent any run upon
the Treasury iu the interest of ex
porters of gold authorize the Secre
tary of the Treasury to refuse tempo
rarily to redeem certificates when the
coin is desired for export, or in case
of a temporary premium on gold to
change the amount (if this premium
for the coiu and thus check its ex
port. An adequate supply of money thus
being provided, utilize the postolhYt s
as banks of deposit and exchange
where depositors can safely keep their
money and handle it for their own
benefit, instead of turning it into the
banks to be used for the benefit of
ment is much stronger than any of I calculated to reach the end. The
maud notes if Congress shall here
after deem it necessary.
3. Provide for the issue of all the
twenty years' C per cent bonds that
may be necessary to fund the demand
Treasury notes, and other fundable
Treasury notes that may be issued
(say $500,000,000 six per cent twenty
years' cupon bond) and pledge $30,
000,000 of the annual taxes to pay
the interest half-yearly thereon, and
pledge $25,000,000 more as a sinking
fund to redeem the principal in twenty
years.
The tax of $150,000,000 would
afford an amble bassis upon which to
rest the credit of the government for
this large issue of treasury notes anil
bonds, and would insure the punctual
payment of the interest to the capi
talists who might hold them.
2 The demand notes put in circu
Iation would meet the present ex
igencies of the government in the
the discharge of its existing liberali
ties to the army, navy and contractors
and for supplies, ainunitions of war.
These notes would find their way into
all the channels of commerce amcng
the people; and as they accumulate
in the hands of capitolists, they would
Osburn, Idaho, Nov. 25, 1893.
Hon. Wm. M. Stewart, United Slates
Senate, Washington. D. C. Friend
Stewart: Owing to my absence for
the last ten days, your favor of the
fifth instant is just received.
Your appeal to me as an old friend
to espouse the cause of the people in
Idaho was unnecessary, as I bad left
tue llepublican party before your
letter was written. It was not easy
for me to do. 1 1 was most painful
to dislocate old and cherished politi
cal friendships and abandon the par
ty, which others may have served with
more success, but which no one has
served with more unselfish devotion
I have not taken this step without
due consideration. The causes which
have led to it are numerous, and some
of them are stated in your letter.
These causes combined, deprive me
of all hope, even that the Republican
party as at present organized will or
can meet the just expectations of the
people. Yet it is largely to the mag
nificent rank and file of that party the
country must look for redemption.
This redemption, however, cannot
come through either the Repjblicau
or Democratic parties. The reason
for this is apparent on the surface.
They were not organized to deal with
the vital questions of the present.
The great monopolies which both par
ties have cherished in the past have
grown two powerful to have their in
fluences impaired by either of those
parties. Whichever one of them
should openly espouie the cause ot
the people would be hurled out of
power by the monopolists transferring
their influence t the other. The pat
ty managers know this. The result
of this knowledge is seen in the plat
forms of both parties iu the great
stress laid upon matters about which
there is no dispute; in their total
silence upon questions of the utmost
concern to the people; in the purpose-
I . nmliliniAiia I'lnrrnicrn in vliioli Ihnr ! Tt ii crnrwl tllifMP for the Re nil hi!.
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w w r 1
palter in a double sense with great ! cans to remember that out of 113
a m . . m - - - 1
to mm mm mmm mmm mm m mum ini - tiiu mmm m mmmm m m mm m m m mm m mm m m ibiubk. m mm m mm mm m m
and in the faithless breach of oartr ! sreaa, 100 of them voted to demons-
promises after the spoils of office have ! tue silver. Lamar Union.
such hanks. A great number of the
depositors would soon become money
lenders, aud the rales of inUrcst
would fall, as there cwuld be no com
bination to raise the rates ot interest,
as the bauks now do. In times of
pauic (for panics are iu separable f r in
busiuess), as soon as property began
to seriously decline, the d ;' sitors
would seek for bargains; the.r money
would be withdrawn from the govern
ment vaults for investment, and the
panic stopped through relief of tho
money market.
i fin nslc tne r r mv vu-.v I I:nvn
given some of them brietly. The
PoDulist is the only organized oartv
mv
who- e entire membership is d voted
to the interests of the mas cs of the
I .. i. i i . i ... i t-A
Meuu.e. ii una iiiuue ui.n w 11 i.i;im,u
m'iMkTii mil w cruiiw. tit i ;iimi
: . . . l i . l .. i -. iv
is iiie oiiiv )r";.niz-ii !:. vkinvu
nlaeea iirineiiiul ubuve ttitrtv feUCCCMl
and 'subordinates the mere place-
seekers to the needs ot the country
As long as it continues io do this I
shall support it.
Truly your lriend,
Wm. H. Ci.aoett.