The Southern Mercury. (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 11, No. 52, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 29, 1892 Page: 1 of 16
sixteen pages : ill. ; page 15 x 11 in. Digitized from 35 mm. microfilm.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
4
I
r
"Organize, Educate, Co-Operate. " } Official Journal of the Farmers State Alliance of Texas.
Liberty, Justice, Equality."
YOL. XI, NO. 52.
DALLAS, TEXAS, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1892.
VHOLE NO. 555.
THE TOILERS FUTURE.
•fc i
.k \
A /
Startling Exhibit of the Census
Bureau.
Kaman.
"Men of America, look where you
stand,"
The carse of the usurer covers our land
In the North, in the South; the East
and West.
Behold the dead march of this terrible
pest,
From the great vital centers of finance
and trade,
Monopolies swarm of every grade.
With their network of iron and gold at
command,
They are crushing life from your beau-
tiful land.
And all their great wealth—deny it who
can,
Is wrung from the toil of the working
man.
The census reports of 1890 show
that there are on record in the
United States nine million mort-
gages, which average $450 each,
making a total of about $5,000,-
000,000. The census reports also
show that the average value of
each farm in the United States has
depreciated $1,620; the average
per acre of depreciation since 1864
has been $28.
That in 1840 the farmers owned
90 per cent of the wealth of the
country and that they owned less
than 21 per cent in 1890.
Total number of farms in the
United States, 4,225,955; of these
1,024,701 are renters.
Of these renters 702,224 are
compelled to divide equally their
crops with their landlords, while
the greatest share asked of the
British farmers is one-fourth.
Over one million American rent-
ers, while the homes of our peo-
ple, the heritage of our children
are owned and controlled by for-
eigners. Think of it—foreigners
own 84,000,000 acres of our land
—enough for a farm of 160 acres
for 500,000 of our renters. Two
hundred and eighty-one million
acres of our land owned by rail-
road corporations and syndicates—
enough to make nine States the
size of Ohio.
Who owns the railroads? The
money power; composed principal-
ly of English loras* and dukes.
And yet we have over a million
Afuerican farmers without farms.
New York, with its 2,000,000
inhabitants, only 13,000 own their
homes. In Chicago, with a popu-
lation of 1,200,000, less than two
and a fourth per cent own all the
real estate. From 1880 to 1890
the producers increased the wealth
of the country 50 per cent—they
increased it from $44,000,000 to
$66,000,000. Who got the in-
crease? In 1890 of the $66,000,-
000,000 of wealth in t^e United
States, 30,000 leading capitalists
possessed $38.260,000,000, leaving
$29,750.000,000 for the remaining
64,000,000 inhabitants.
It will be seen from these lig-
ures that although our farmers, ar
tisans and other toilers produced
the increase of $22,000,000,000, a
few capitalists absorbed most of it
The wealth of the Vanderbilt
family is estimated to be $300,
000,000, annual income at 7 per
cent is $21,000,000.
The average annual income of
our farmers is $300. To pay the
income of the Vanderbilts requires
all that 70,000 farmers can pro
duce. If this thing is to go on for
a few years, a few thousand pluto-
cratsi will practically own the
whole country.
Think of it; two-thirds of the
wealth of the money changers is
not assessed one farthing for the
purpose of taxation, while the far-
mer who has a mortgage on his
farm pays tax on the mortgage he
owes as well as on his equity in
the land. The farmers own less
than 21 per cent of our wealth, but
pay 80 per cent oí the taxes.
The government has the pewer
to force every taxpayer in the land
to offer his life in defense of this
untaxed wealth.
A dollar will pay no more on
your tax or debts than it would in
1865. One bushel of grain will
pay only one-fourth as much on
your tax or debts.
The national debt Aug. 31,1865,
was $2,844,749,626.56, on which
there has been paid—
On principal, . $1,879,874,117.58
On interest, . . . 2,530,357,047 05
Total, . . $4,410,231,172.63
The total debt July 31, 1892,
was $997,378,835.13.
At the prices current in 1866 it
would have taken 1,000,000,000
bushels of wheat to pay the entire
public debt of the United States.
After all the four billion dollars
that has been paid, at the current
Chicago price of wheat, it would
take 1,111,930,000 to pay the net
public debt of July 31, 1892. This
is the way the farmer is getting
out of debt.
While you have to raise four
times as much grain now to pay a
dollar on your taxes or debts, the
money power piles up its dollars
four times as fast.
Commissioner Porter tells us in
his eleventh census that the little
State of Ma8sachuseets, from 1880
to 1890, increased its assessed
wealth $569,377,824, which was
$10.000,00f> more than the nine
great States of Indiana, Illinois,
Iowa, Nebraska, Louisiana, Mis-
sissippi, Alabama and North and
South Carolina.
And yet these nine States are
more than fifty-eight times as large
as Massachusetts and have seven
times as many people and twice
th« assessed value.
If we add Florida, Kentucky and
Kansas to the list, making twelve,
the State of Pennsylvania
gained more than the twelve. If
we add the two Virginias and Ten-
nessee, making fifteen, New York
increased its wealth more than the
fifteen.
The West and South produces
most of our wealth—New York,
Pennsylvania and Massachusetts
get it.
About 95 per cent of the busi-
ness of the country is done on cred-
it. The producers of wealth must
pay interest on this ciedit.
The total amount owing by all
the banking institutions of the
United States (18,055) to deposi-
tors in July, 1889,was $4,603,844,-
157. Total cash in all of these
banks at the same date was: Gold
coin, $99,811,911; silver, nickels,
foreign coin, etc., $7,211.478; pa-
per money. $349,694,406; total,
$478,816,693. uOnly enough mon-
ey on hand to pay a fraction over
10 cents on the dollar to deposit-
ors on demand.
If gold was the only legal tender
there would be on hand about 2
cents on the dollar for depositors.
According to Secretary Foster,
we have of money of all kinds in
this country at the present time,
$1,588,781,729. Our banks alone
have loaned out to the people
$3,803,851.799. Where did they
get this money to loan?
Reader, we entreat you to sit
down quietly and frankly look this
question squarely in the face. It
is your duty as an American citi-
zen—as a voter—to do so.
« — 4
A man who w*nts a saloon in a
community is not fit for member-
ship in a Christian church. A sa-
loon means to put temptation in
the way of the weak; to cultivate
the drink habit which breaks up
families; to consume, without com-
pensation, the hard earnings of the
poor, and to bring women to want.
It means the fostering of crime and
peopling of jails, almshouses and
asylums. The man who is in fa-
vor of having this kind of work
done in a community has no busi-
ness in a church whose aim is dia-
metrically opposite to that of the
saloon. Let him choose which he
will serve, but he can't serve God
and Bacchus.—Ex.
THE FRENCH ASSIGNATS.
The most intelligent opposition
to the Alliance sub-treasury plan
is based on the assumntion that it
ia substantially the same as
that under which the Assignats
were issued by the French govern-
ment; that as these Assignats were
a failure, consequently the sub-
treasury plan would prove a fail-
ure.
That these critics do not explain
what these Assignats were, under
what plan they were issued, nor
why they proved a failure, is signif-
icant. They exhaust themselves
in evading this very important
item, so necessarv to a correct un-
derstanding of the difference be-
tween the two.
The French Assignats were is-
sued by the revolutionary govern-
ment of 1790, and were based not
on the credit or revenues of that
government, but upon the confis-
cated estates of the French nobles.
They were not made a legal tender,
in abort they were not money in
any sense, but were what Ameri-
cans would call land warrants, en-
titling: the holder to so much land
at a fixed price.
Up to 1792 about $240,000,000 of
these Assignats had been issued,
and at no time were they worth
less than ninety cents on the dollar
in gold.
The expenses of the new gov-
ernment were so great, and these
Assignats had met with such uni-
versal favor among the people, that
the government continued to issue
them till $9,000,000,000 were in
circulation, which was near $600
per capita. This was far in excess
of the needs of the people. Yet
so great was their confidence in
them, that with this immense issue
they never went below sixty cents
on the dollar in gold until the be-
ginning of 1795. About this time
large amounts of these Assignats
were counterfeited by the enemies
of the government, which, owing
to the clumsy manner in which
they were designed and executed,
and the ignorance of the people,
was hard to be distinguished from
the genuine. This coupled with
the fact that the leaders of the re-
bellion had begun to quarrel among
themselves, shook the confidence
of the people in the Assignats.
Under these circumstances these
Assignats rapidly declined till they
went down to $18 to $1 and finally
went out of use in the latter part
of 1795. This is the plain unvar-
nished history of the French As-
signats. Their history was very
similar to the j^money issued by
jrl
.< áf& ít¿ i. •i-iteVr : ■ .
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Park, Milton. The Southern Mercury. (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 11, No. 52, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 29, 1892, newspaper, December 29, 1892; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth185497/m1/1/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .