552 THE IMPENDING REVOLUTION 



terms of the contract. He may have his pound of flesh, 

 but not another drop of American blood! 



We do not seek to compel the bondholder to receive 

 the greenbacks in payment of his bond. The people once 

 had the right to pay, but that right was ruthlessly and 

 wickedly taken away by a change of contract in 1869, 

 which took from the toiling tax-payers more than $600,- 

 000,000; more than half of which went to enrich foreign 

 princes and usurers. These resolutions do not pretend to 

 interfere with the contract, notwithstanding it was con- 

 ceived in sin and fraud and brought forth in iniquity. It 

 proposes to pay in standard silver dollars. Ah, it is not 

 greenbacks, it is not silver, that you hate. It is the pay- 

 ment of the debt that so enrages you. But the gentleman 

 charges, vehemently, that the resolutions tend to centrali- 

 zation and Csesarism. It is well that the gentleman has 

 announced to the House and to the country that the 

 Republican party prefers to trust the national bankers, and 

 the banking corporations, to control and issue the volume 

 of the currency, rather than a Congress of the sworn rep- 

 resentatives of the people. That he prefers the bankers 

 of the country, not elected by the people, and not respon- 

 sible to them, should have the power to control the volume 

 of the currency according to their own will, rather than 

 the representatives of the people, who are directly respon- 

 sible to their constituents. L,et that issue be sharply and 

 squarely drawn. [Applause.] It is the great practical 

 issue to-day in the American Republic. Who shall issue 

 the currency and control its volume? Shall the bankers 

 control it for their own selfish ends, or shall its issue and 

 volume be controlled by the whole people for the benefit 

 of all? 



That, I say, is the colossal issue, and in it is involved 

 the very existence of this government and the freedom of 

 the people. ' 'Centralization !' ' The Congress of the United 





