130 THE AGRARIAN CRUSADE 



and operation of the means of communication and 

 transportation. 



The real contribution which this meeting made 

 to the agrarian movement was contained in the re- 

 port of the committee on the monetary system, of 

 which C. W. Macune was chairman. This was the 

 famous sub-treasury scheme, soon to become the 

 paramount issue with the Alliance and the Popu- 

 lists in the South and in some parts of the West. 

 The committee proposed "that the system of using 

 certain banks as United States depositories be abol- 

 ished, and in place of said system, establish in every 

 Bounty in each of the States that offers for sale dur- 

 ing the one year $500,000 worth of farm products 

 including wheat, corn, oats, barley, rye, rice, 

 tobacco, cotton, wool, and sugar, all together - 

 a sub-treasury office." In connection with this 

 office there were to be warehouses or elevators in 

 which the farmers might deposit their crops, receiv- 

 ing a certificate of the deposit showing the amount 

 and quality, and a loan of United States legal tender 

 paper equal to eighty per cent of the local current 

 value of the products deposited. The interest on 

 this loan was to be at the rate of one per cent per 

 annum; and the farmer, or the person to whom he 

 might sell his certificate, was to be allowed one year 



