176 HISTORY OF THE WHEEL AND ALLIANCE. 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE MONETARY 

 SYSTEM. 



"The financial policy of the general Government 

 seems to-day to be peculiarly adapted to further the inter- 

 ests of the speculating class, at the expense and to the mani- 

 fest detriment of the productive class, and, while there are 

 many forms of relief offered, there has up to the present 

 time been no true remedy presented which has secured a 

 support universal enough to render its adoption probable. 

 Neither of the political parties offer a remedy adequate 

 to our necessities, and the two parties that have been in 

 power since the war have pursued practically the same 

 financial policy. The situation is this: The most desir- 

 able and necssary reform is one that will adjust the financial 

 system of the general Government so that its provisions 

 cannot be utilized by a class which thereby becomes 

 privileged and is in consequence contrary to the genius of 

 our Government, and which is to-day the principal cause of 

 the depressed condition of agriculture. Regardless of all 

 this the political parties utterly ignore these great evils and 

 refuse to remove their cause, and the importunities of the 

 privileged class have no doubt often led the executive and 

 legislative branches of the Government to believe that the 

 masses were passive and reconciled to the existence of this 

 system whereby a privileged class can, by means of the 

 power of money to oppress, exact from labor all that it pro- 

 duces except a bare subsistence. Since, then, it is the 

 most necessary of all reformes, and receives no attention 

 from any of the prominent political parties, it is highly 

 appropriate and important that our efforts be concentrated 

 to secure the needed reform in this direction, provided all 

 can agree upon such measures. Such action will in no 

 wise connect this movement to any partisan effort, as it can 

 be applied to the party to which each member belongs. 



