from the public annually, $671,444 above the interest on their specie, and in the twelve years $8,057,328. They collected this interest in advance, and made their dividends half-yearly to their stockholders; therefore it is proper to compound this interest half-yearly, which would swell their gains to nearly $12,000,000, that is to say, $1,000,000 interest annually. These were actual gains, as much realized by these banks as if they had produced and sold $700,167 worth of agricultural products in each year."-Kellogg's New Monetary System, p. 204.

It would be interesting to inquire what the people of Connecticut received in return for the million dollars they paid to the banks. The natural rights of the people demand a volume of money to meet all the requirements of industry and trade, to go into circulation in obedience to the demand for it in exchanging values, and a tribute levied upon it is sheer robbery, no less such because clothed in legal raiment. Thus banks are institutions established by law for the benefit of the few at the expense of the many, vested in corporations to legalize robbery!

The following, from the pen of T. A. Bland, M. D., is very appropriate here:

"Banks are foes to justice and equality always. They sent their coin to Europe or locked it in their vaults just at the time the government most needed it. They then suspended payment on their notes, which of course caused them to depreciate rapidly.

These depreciated promises to pay were offered to the government on a par basis, at six per cent interest in limited amount. Secretary Chase soon discovered that the banks were broken reeds. He asked Congress to anthorize the issue of Treasury notes. It was done. The bankers took the alarm. This policy if continued would render the government and the people independent of the banks. The first issue of greenbacks, $60,000,000, were a full legal tender. They were as good as coin. Then the bankers formed an association, and appointed a committee of seventy-two leading bankers, and sent them to Washington to advise Congress on the subject of finances. Under the influences of this committee, Congress committed what Thaddeus Stevens denounced as a crime against the American people. The greenback was demonetized. Of course it depreciated. The next move was to get Congress to pass a National Banking law, and to authorize the sale of government bonds to raise funds to carry on the war. The bankers bought the bonds with their own depreciated currency and with depreciated greenbacks, dollar for dollar. They then deposited these interest-bearing bonds with the government, and got their face value in currency printed and guaranteed by the government. The banking ring was now intrenched in the public treasury, with substantially absolute control of the finances of the country; hence, with the power to rob the government and the people at will. It still holds the fort, and so strong and rich has it grown, that it controls both the Republican and Democratic parties. It tramples freedom and justice under its feet. It is the most stupendous, the most arrogant, and the most oppressive monopoly ring that ever existed on this continent.

It

must be broken, and the power to issue and control the currency restored to the people, or the republic will perish and liberty die."

The national banks, from a capital of $483,104,213, are able to loan $1,238,286,325. This shows clearly the ability of the banks to do business on other people's money and furnish a circulating medium at the people's expense.

CHAPTER XII.

NATURAL RIGHTS considered (CONTINUED).—

TRANSPORTATION.

"All nature smiles in joy serene,
In freedom's holy light,

But man's unholy love of power
Brings on the gloom of night.
Insatiate greed inspires his soul,
Insatiate lust his heart;

Unmeasured wealth by his control
Unmeasured powers impart."

TRANSPORTATION and travel have become a necessity in the present stage of civilization, and the interests of society and the welfare of all industries and enterprises depend upon it. The best modes and cheapest rates, together with the ownership and control of operating all lines of travel and transportation, are rights inherent in the people. So extensive are these operations, involving such a vast amount of capital, that in the present selfish condition of society they cannot be intrusted to private enterprise with safety to the people. This we say in the light of facts and experience. He must be a very obtuse observer who does not see the ominous attitude of railroad corporations, who derive all their privi

leges and means primarily from the people, and seek to override them and prey upon them. To the reflective observer, who sees this hostile attitude and the inevitable conflict that is impending, the subject must be of intense interest. Through the agency and manipulations of law, corporations arise, increase in power, and multiply in numbers, until the capital associated and consolidated becomes an irresistible power; lesser capital, operated by single individuals, yields to its mighty sway, and in all the great enterprises of manufacture, transportation, trade, and commerce, they rule with an iron hand and imperious will. The most alarming feature of this despotic domination is the manner in which it is done. Unlike the bandit chiefs and piratic crews who seek immunity by evading the law, they seize upon the citadel of the law itself, organize their forces, and carry on their depredations under the form and in the name of the law and the sanction of the government. This is despotism. In the palmiest days of Italian brigandage, the people were not robbed so flagrantly; the difference being their open hostility to the law; but in our case, under the mask and with the sanction of the law. "Of all the triumphs of invention, none are more wonderful than those by which the hard-earned gains of