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one of the judges changed his mind, and we cannot be

expected to know when a judge will change his mind. The

income tax is just. It simply intends to put the burdens of

government justly upon the backs of the people. I am in

favor of an income tax. When I find a man who is not will-

ing to bear his share of the burdens of the government

which protects him, I find a man who is unworthy to

enjoy the blessings of a government like ours.

Against a National Bank Currency.

They say that we are opposing national bank currency; it is

true. If you will read what Thomas Benton said, you will

find he said that, in searching history, he could find but

one parallel to Andrew Jackson; that was Cicero who

destroyed the conspiracy of Cataline and saved Rome.

Benton said that Cicero only did for Rome what Jackson

did for us when he destroyed the bank conspiracy and

saved America. We say in our platform that we believe that

the right to coin and issue money is a function of govern-

ment. We believe it. We believe that it is a part of

sovereignty, and can no more with safety be delegated to

private individuals than we could afford to delegate to pri-

vate individuals the power to make penal statutes or levy

taxes. Mr. Jefferson, who was once regarded as good

democratic authority, seems to have differed in opinion

from the gentleman who has addressed us on the part of

the minority. Those who are opposed to this proposition

tell us that the issue of paper money is function of the

bank, and that the government ought to go out of the

banking business. I stand with Jefferson rather than with

them, and tell them, as he did, that the issue of money is a

function of government, and that the banks ought to go out

of the governing business.

They complain about the plank which declares against

life tenure in office. They have tried to strain it to mean

that which it does not mean. What we oppose by that plank

is the life tenure which is being built up in Washington,

and which excludes from participation in official benefits

the humbler members of society.

The Minority Amendments.

Let me call your attention to two or three important

things. The gentleman from New York says that he will

propose an amendment to the platform providing that the

proposed change in our monetary system shall not affect

contracts already made. Let me remind you that there is

not intention of affecting those contracts which according

to present laws are made payable in gold, but if he means

to say that we cannot change our monetary system without

protecting those who have loaned money before the

change was made, I desire to ask him where, in law or

morals, he can find justification for not protecting the

debtors when the act of 1873 was passed, if he now insists

that we must protect the creditors.

He says he will also propose an amendment which will

provide for the suspension of free coinage if we fail to

maintain the parity within a year. We reply that when we

advocate a policy which we believe will be successful, we

are not compelled to raise a doubt as to our own sincerity

by suggesting what we shall do if we fail. I ask him, if he

would apply his logic to us, why he does not apply it to

himself. He says he wants this country to try to secure an

international agreement. Why does he not tell us what he

is going to do if he fails to secure an international agree-

ment? There is more reason for him to do that than there

is for us to provide against the failure to maintain the par-

ity. Our opponents have tried for twenty years to secure an

international agreement, and those are waiting for it most

patiently who do not want it at all.

The Paramount Issue.

And now, my friends, let me come to the paramount issue.

If they ask us why it is that we say more on the money

question than we say upon the tariff question, I reply that,

if protection has slain its thousands, the gold standard has

slain its tens of thousands. If they ask us why we do not

embody in our platform all the things that we believe in,

we reply that when we have restored the money of the

constitution all other necessary reforms will be possible;

but that until this is done there is no other reform that can

be accomplished.

Why is it that within three months such a change has

come over the country? Three months ago, when it was

confidently asserted that those who believe in the gold stan-

dard would frame our platform and nominate our candi-

dates, even the advocates of the gold standard did not think

that we could elect a president. And they had good reason

for their doubt, because there is scarcely a state here to-day

asking for the gold standard which is not in the absolute

control of the republican party. But note the change Mr.

McKinley was nominated at St. Louis upon a platform

which declared for the maintenance of the gold standard

until it can be changed into bimetallism by international

agreement. Mr. McKinley was the most popular man

among the republicans, and three months ago everybody in

the republican party prophesied his election. How is to-

day? Why, the man who was once pleased to think that he

looked like Napoleon—than man shudders to-day when he

remembers that he was nominated on the anniversary of

the battle of Waterloo. Not only that, but, as the listens, he

can hear with ever-increasing distinctness the sound of the

waves as they beat upon the lonely shores of St. Helena.

Why this change? Ah, my friends, is not the reason

for the change evident to any one who will look at

1122 ERA 6: The Development of the Industrial United States

Politics, Economy, and Society 1123

the matter? No private character, however pure, no per-

sonal popularity, however great, can protect from the

avenging wrath of an indignant people a man who will

declare that he is in favor of fastening the gold standard

upon this country or who is willing to surrender the

right of self government and place the legislative control

of our affairs in the hands of foreign potentates and

powers.

Confident of Success.

We go forth confident that we shall win. Why? Because

upon the paramount issue of this campaign there is not a

spot of ground upon which the enemy will dare to chal-

lenge battle. If they tell us that the gold standard is a good

thing, we shall point to their platform and tell them that

their platform pledges the party to get rid of the gold stan-

dard and substitute bimetallism. If the gold standard is a

good thing, why try to get rid of it? I call your attention to

the fact that some of the very people who are in this con-

vention to-day and who tell us that we ought to declare in

favor of international bimetallism—thereby declaring that

the gold standard is wrong and that the principle of bimet-

allism is better—these very people four months ago were

open and avowed advocates of the gold standard, and were

then telling us that we could not legislate two metals

together, even with the aid of all the world. If the gold

standard is a good thing, we ought to declare in favor of its

retention and not in favor of abandoning it; and if the gold

standard is a bad thing why should we wait until other

nations are willing to help us to let go? Here is the line of

battle, and we care not upon which issue they force the

fight; we are prepared to meet them on either issue or on

both. If they tell us that the gold standard is the standard

of civilization, we reply to them that this, the most enlight-

ened of all the nations of the earth, has never declared for

a gold standard and that both the great parties this year are

declaring against it. If the gold standard is the standard of

civilization why, my friends, should we not have it? If they

come to meet us on that issue we can present the history

of our nation. More than that; we can tell them that they

will search the pages of history in vain to find a single

instance where the common people of any land have ever

declared themselves in favor of the gold standard. They

can find where the holders of fixed investments have

declared for a gold standard, but not where the masses

have.

Carlisle Defines the Issue.

Mr. Carlisle said in 1878 that this was a struggle between

“the idle holders of idle capital” and “the struggling

masses, who produce the wealth and pay the taxes of

the country,” and, my friends, the question we are to

decide is: Upon which side will the Democratic party

fight: upon the side of the “idle holders of idle capital” or

upon the side of “the struggling masses”? That is the

question which the party must answer first, and then it

must be answered by each individual hereafter. The sym-

pathies of the Democratic party, as shown by the plat-

form, are on the side of the struggling masses who have

ever been the foundation of the Democratic party. There

are two ideas of government. There are those who

believe that, if you will only legislate to make the well- to-

do prosperous, their prosperity will leak through on those

below. The Democratic idea, however, has been that if

you legislate to make the masses prosperous, their pros-

perity will find its way up through every class which rests

upon them.

You come to us and tell us that the great cities are in

favor of the gold standard; we reply that the great cities

rest upon our broad and fertile prairies. Burn down your

cities and leave our farms and your cities will spring up

again as if by magic; but destroy our farms and the grass

will grow in the streets of every city in the country.

A New Declaration of Independence.

My friends, we declare that this nation is able to legislate

for its own people on every question, without waiting for

the aid or consent of any other nation on earth; and upon

that issue we expect to carry every state in the Union. I

shall not slander the inhabitants of the fair state of Mass-

achusetts nor the inhabitants of the state of New York by

saying that, when they are confronted with the proposi-

tion, they will declare that this nation is not able to attend

to its own business. It is the issue of 1776 over again. Our

ancestors, when but three millions in number, had the

courage to declare their political independence of every

other nation; shall we, their descendants, when we have

grown to seventy millions, declare that we are less inde-

pendent than our forefathers? No, my friends, that will

never be the verdict of our people. Therefore, we care not

upon what lines the battle is fought. If they say bimetallism

is good, but that we cannot have it until other nations help

us, we reply that, instead of having a gold standard because

England has, we will restore bimetallism, and then let

England have bimetallism because the United States has

it. If they dare to come out in the open field and defend

the gold standard as a good thing, we will fight them to the

uttermost. Having behind us the producing masses of this

nation and the world, supported by the commercial inter-

ests, the laboring interests, and the toilers everywhere, we

will answer their demand for a gold standard by saying to

them: “You shall not press down upon the brow of labor

this crown of thorns; you shall not crucify mankind upon a

cross of gold.”

Source:

Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Bryan Papers, Con-

tainer 49.

William Allen White,

“What’s the Matter with Kansas?”, 1896

Scathing editorial attack on the Populist Party written by edi-

tor and publisher William Allen White, appearing first in

his

Emporia Gazette

on August 3, 1896. Using sarcasm and

picturesque language, White argued that Populists were

driving people and money out of Kansas. Deriding one of the

party’s candidates as “an old jay,” another as a “shabby,wild-

eyed, rattle-brained fanatic,” he mocked their competence

and excoriated the Populist proposals as financially inane. The

editorial was widely reprinted and was distributed by the

opposing Republican Party, making White famous nationwide.

________________________

_______________________

Today the Kansas Department of Agriculture sent out a

statement which indicates that Kansas has gained less than

two thousand people in the past year. There are about two

hundred and twenty-five thousand families in this state,

and there were ten thousand babies born in Kansas, and

yet so many people have left the state that the natural

increase is cut down to less than two thousand net.

This has been going on for eight years.

If there had been a high brick wall around the state

eight years ago, and not a soul had been admitted or per-

mitted to leave, Kansas would be a half million souls bet-

ter off than she is today. And yet the nation has increased

in population. In five years ten million people have been

added to the national population, yet instead of gaining a

share of this—say, half a million—Kansas has apparently

been a plague spot and, in the very garden of the world,

has lost population by ten thousands every year.

Not only has she lost population, but she has lost

money. Every moneyed man in the state who could get out

without loss has gone. Every month in every community

sees someone who has a little money pack up and leave the

state. This has been going on for eight years. Money has

been drained out all the time. In towns where ten years

ago there were three or four or half a dozen money-lend-

ing concerns, stimulating industry by furnishing capital,

there is now none, or one or two that are looking after the

interests and principal already outstanding.

No one brings any money into Kansas any more. What

community knows over one or two men who have moved

in with more than $5,000 in the past three years? And what

community cannot count half a score of men in that time

who have left, taking all the money they could scrape

together?

Yet the nation has grown rich; other states have

increased in population and wealth—other neighboring

states. Missouri has gained over two million, while Kansas

has been losing half a million. Nebraska has gained in

wealth and population while Kansas has gone downhill.

Colorado has gained every way, while Kansas has lost every

way since 1888.

What’s the matter with Kansas?

There is no substantial city in the state. Every big town

save one has lost in population. Yet Kansas City, Omaha,

Lincoln, St. Louis, Denver, Colorado Springs, Sedalia, the

cities of the Dakotas, St. Paul and Minneapolis and Des

Moines—all cities and towns in the West—have steadily

grown.

Take up the government blue book and you will see

that Kansas is virtually off the map. Two or three little

scrubby consular places in yellow-fever-stricken communi-

ties that do not aggregate ten thousand dollars a year is all

the recognition that Kansas has. Nebraska draws about one

hundred thousand dollars; little old North Dakota draws

about fifty thousand dollars; Oklahoma doubles Kansas;

Missouri leaves her a thousand miles behind; Colorado is

almost seven times greater than Kansas—the whole west is

ahead of Kansas.

Take it by any standard you please, Kansas is not in it.

Go east and you hear them laugh at Kansas; go west

and they sneer at her; go south and they “cuss” her; go

north and they have forgotten her. Go into any crowd of

intelligent people gathered anywhere on the globe, and

you will find the Kansas man on the defensive. The news-

paper columns and magazines once devoted to praise of

her, to boastful facts and startling figures concerning her

resources, are now filled with cartoons, jibes and Pefferian

speeches. Kansas just naturally isn’t in it. She has traded

places with Arkansas and Timbuctoo.

What’s the matter with Kansas?

We all know; yet here we are at it again. We have an

old mossback Jacksonian who snorts and howls because

there is a bathtub in the State House; we are running that

old jay for Governor. We have another shabby, wild-eyed,

rattle-brained fanatic who has said openly in a dozen

speeches that “the rights of the user are paramount to the

rights of the owner”; we are running him for Chief Jus-

tice, so that capital will come tumbling over itself to get

into the state. We have raked the old ash heap of failure

in the state and found an old human hoop skirt who has

failed as a businessman, who has failed as an editor, who

has failed as a preacher, and we are going to run him for

Congressman-at-Large. He will help the looks of the

Kansas delegation at Washington. Then we have discov-

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Politics, Economy, and Society 1125

ered a kid without a law practice and have decided to run

him for Attorney General. Then, for fear some hint that

the state had become respectable might percolate

through the civilized portions of the nation, we have

decided to send three or four harpies out lecturing,

telling the people that Kansas is raising hell and letting

the corn go to weed.

Oh, this is a state to be proud of! We are a people who

can hold up our heads! What we need is not more money,

but less capital, fewer white shirts and brains, fewer men

with business judgment, and more of those fellows who

boast that they are “just ordinary clodhoppers, but they

know more in a minute about finance than John Sherman”;

we need more men who are “posted,” who can bellow

about the crime of ‘73, who hate prosperity, and who think,

because a man believes in national honor, he is a tool of

Wall Street. We have had a few of them—some hundred

fifty thousand—but we need more.

We need several thousand gibbering idiots to scream

about the “Great Red Dragon” of Lombard Street. We

don’t need population, we don’t need wealth, we don’t

need well-dressed men on the streets, we don’t need cities

on the fertile prairies; you bet we don’t! What we are after

is the money power. Because we have become poorer and

ornerier and meaner than a spavined, distempered mule,

we, the people of Kansas, propose to kick; we don’t care to

build up, we wish to tear down.

“There are two ideas of government,” said our noble

Bryan at Chicago. “There are those who believe that if you

legislate to make the well-to-do prosperous, this prosperity

will leak through on those below. The Democratic idea has

been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous

their prosperity will find its way up and through every class

and rest upon them.”

That’s the stuff! Give the prosperous man the dickens!

Legislate the thriftless man into ease, whack the stuffing

out of the creditors and tell the debtors who borrowed the

money five years ago when money “per capita” was greater

than it is now, that the contraction of currency gives him a

right to repudiate.

Whoop it up for the ragged trousers; put the lazy,

greasy fizzle, who can’t pay his debts, on the altar, and bow

down and worship him. Let the state ideal be high. What

we need is not the respect of our fellow men, but the

chance to get something for nothing.

Oh, yes, Kansas is a great state. Here are people flee-

ing from it by the score every day, capital going out of the

state by the hundreds of dollars; and every industry but

farming paralyzed, and that crippled, because its products

have to go across the ocean before they can find a laboring

man at work who can afford to buy them. Let’s don’t stop

this year. Let’s drive all the decent, self- respecting men

out of the state. Let’s keep the old clodhoppers who know

it all. Let’s encourage the man who is “posted.” He can

talk, and what we need is not mill hands to eat our meat,

nor factory hands to eat our wheat, nor cities to oppress

the farmer by consuming his butter and eggs and chickens

and produce. What Kansas needs is men who can talk, who

have large leisure to argue the currency question while

their wives wait at home for that nickel’s worth of bluing.

What’s the matter with Kansas?

Nothing under the shining sun. She is losing her

wealth, population and standing. She has got her states-

men, and the money power is afraid of her. Kansas is all

right. She has started in to raise hell, as Mrs. Lease

advised, and she seems to have an over-production. But

that doesn’t matter. Kansas never did believe in diversified

crops. Kansas is all right. There is absolutely nothing

wrong with Kansas. “Every prospect pleases and only man

is vile.”

I remember even cross these years that I slammed

the editorial above on the copy spike with a passionate sat-

isfaction that I had answered those farmer hooligans. I

was happy and turned to something else for the afternoon.

Before I left I had read the proof on it, which meant that

I probably revised it two or three or four times, as I always

do even now when I have for the paper an editorial that I

am proud of. And so, late that afternoon I gathered up my

proofs, a book or two that had come, the magazines of the

week, and took the train for Colorado to lay my treasures

before the feet of my lady love, fancying myself a roman-

tic figure. And so there at the little red-stone depot at

Manitou, where she came running down the platform to

meet me, and I hurried with all my treasures for her, the

book of our pride, the papers and magazines which would

bring us together so happily, a journey ended in lover’s

meeting.

Source:

The Autobiography of William Allen White. New York: Macmil-

lan, 1946.

Gold Standard Act, 1900

Federal legislation enacted March 14, 1900, that placed the

United States on the gold standard, after years of controversy

over bimetallism and the coinage of silver. The act declared

that the dollar, consisting of 25.8 grains of gold, 0.9 fine,

would be the standard unit of value, and that all forms of

money issued or coined by the United States should be main-

tained at a parity of value with this standard. The act estab-

lished a gold reserve of $150 million for the redemption of

legal tender notes.

________________________

_______________________

An Act

To define and fix the standard of value, to maintain the

parity of all forms of money issued or coined by the United

States, to refund the public debt, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-

tive of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

That the dollar consisting of twenty-five and eight-tenths

grains of gold nine-tenths fine, as established by section

thirty-five hundred and eleven of the Revised Statutes of

the United States, shall be the standard unit of value, and

all forms of money issued or coined by the United States

shall be maintained at a parity of value with this standard,

and it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to

maintain such parity.

Sec. 2. That United States notes, and Treasury notes

issued under the Act of July fourteenth, eighteen hundred

and ninety, when presented to the Treasury for redemp-

tion, shall be redeemed in gold coin of the standard fixed

in the first section of this Act, and in order to secure the

prompt and certain redemption of such notes as herein

provided it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Trea-

sury to set apart in the Treasury a reserve fund of one hun-

dred and fifty million dollars in gold coin and bullion,

which fund shall be used for such redemption purposes

only, and whenever and as often as any of said notes shall

be redeemed from said fund it shall be the duty of the Sec-

retary of the Treasury to use said notes so redeemed to

restore and maintain such reserve fund in the manner fol-

lowing, to wit: First, by exchanging the notes so redeemed

for any gold coin in the general fund of the Treasury; sec-

ond, by accepting deposits of gold coin at the Treasury or

at any subtreasury in exchange for the United States notes

so redeemed; third, by procuring gold coin by the use of

said notes, in accordance with the provisions of section

thirty-seven hundred of the Revised Statutes of the United

States. If the Secretary of the Treasury is unable to restore

and maintain the gold coin in the reserve fund by the fore-

going methods, and the amount of such gold coin and bul-

lion in said fund shall at any time fall below one hundred

million dollars, then it shall be his duty to restore the same

to the maximum sum of one hundred and fifty million dol-

lars by borrowing money on the credit of the United

States, and for the debt thus incurred to issue and sell

coupon or registered bonds of the United States, in such

form as he may prescribe, in denominations of fifty dollars

or any multiple thereof, bearing interest at the rate of not

exceeding three per centum per annum, payable quarterly,

such bonds to be payable at the pleasure of the United

States after one year from the date of their issue, and to be

payable, principal and interest, in gold coin of the present

standard value, and to be exempt from the payment of all

taxes or duties of the United States, as well as from taxa-

tion in any form by or under State, municipal, or local

authority; and the gold coin received from the sale of said

bonds shall first be covered into the general fund of the

Treasury and then exchanged, in the manner hereinbefore

provided, for an equal amount of the notes redeemed and

held for exchange, and the Secretary of the Treasury may,

in his discretion, use said notes in exchange for gold, or to

purchase or redeem any bonds of the United States, or for

any other lawful purpose the public interests may require,

except that they shall not be used to meet deficiencies in

the current revenues. That United States notes when

redeemed in accordance with the provisions of this section

shall be reissued, but shall be held in the reserve fund until

exchanged for gold, as herein provided; and the gold coin

and bullion in the reserve fund, together with the

redeemed notes held for use as provided in this section,

shall at no time exceed the maximum sum of one hundred

and fifty million dollars.

Sec. 3. That nothing contained in this Act shall be con-

strued to affect the legal-tender quality as now provided by

law of the silver dollar, or of any other money coined or

issued by the United States.

Sec. 4. That there be established in the Treasury

Department, as a part of the office of the Treasurer of the

United States, divisions to be designated and known as the

division of issue and the division of redemption, to which

shall be assigned, respectively, under such regulations as

the Secretary of the Treasury may approve, all records and

accounts relating to the issue and redemption of United

States notes, gold certificates, silver certificates, and cur-

rency certificates. There shall be transferred from the

accounts of the general fund of the Treasury of the United

States, and taken up on the books of said divisions, respec-

tively, accounts relating to the reserve fund for the

redemption of United States notes and Treasury notes, the

gold coin held against outstanding gold certificates, the

United States notes held against outstanding currency cer-

tificates, and the silver dollars held against outstanding sil-

ver certificates, and each of the funds represented by these

accounts shall be used for the redemption of the notes and

certificates for which they are respectively pledged, and

shall be used for no other purpose, the same being held as

trust funds.

Sec. 5. That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the

Treasury, as fast as standard silver dollars are coined under

the provisions of the Acts of July fourteenth, eighteen hun-

dred and ninety, and June thirteenth, eighteen hundred

and ninety-eight, from bullion purchased under the Act of

July fourteenth, eighteen hundred and ninety, to retire and

cancel an equal amount of Treasury notes whenever

1126 ERA 6: The Development of the Industrial United States

Politics, Economy, and Society 1127

received into the Treasury, either by exchange in accor-

dance with the provisions of this Act or in the ordinary

course of business, and upon the cancellation of Treasury

notes silver certificates shall be issued against the silver

dollars so coined.

Sec. 6. That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby

authorized and directed to receive deposits of gold coin

with the Treasurer or any assistant treasurer of the United

States in sums of not less than twenty dollars, and to issue

gold certificates therefor in denominations of not less than

twenty dollars, and the coin so deposited shall be retained

in the Treasury and held for the payment of such certifi-

cates on demand, and used for no other purpose. Such cer-

tificates shall be receivable for customs, taxes, and all

public dues, and when so received may be reissued, and

when held by any national banking association may be

counted as a part of its lawful reserve: Provided, That

whenever and so long as the gold coin held in the reserve

fund in the Treasury for the redemption of United States

notes and Treasury notes shall fall and remain below one

hundred million dollars the authority to issue certificates

as herein provided shall be suspended: And provided fur-

ther, That whenever and so long as the aggregate amount

of United States notes and silver certificates in the general

fund of the Treasury shall exceed sixty million dollars the

Secretary of the Treasury may, in his discretion, suspend

the issue of the certificates herein provided for: And pro-

vided further, That of the amount of such outstanding cer-

tificates one-fourth at least shall be in denominations of

fifty dollars or less: And provided further, That the Secre-

tary of the Treasury may, in his discretion, issue such cer-

tificates in denominations of ten thousand dollars, payable

to order. And section fifty-one hundred and ninety-three

of the Revised Statutes of the United States is hereby

repealed.

Sec. 7. That hereafter silver certificates shall be issued

only of denominations of ten dollars and under, except that

not exceeding in the aggregate ten per centum of the total

volume of said certificates, in the discretion of the Secre-

tary of the Treasury, may be issued in denominations of

twenty dollars, fifty dollars, and one hundred dollars; and

silver certificates of higher denominations than ten dollars,

except as herein provided, shall, whenever received at the

Treasury or redeemed, be retired and canceled, and cer-

tificates of denominations of ten dollars or less shall be

substituted therefor, and after such substitution, in whole

or in part, a like volume of United States notes of less

denomination than ten dollars shall from time to time be

retired and canceled, and notes of denominations of ten

dollars and upward shall be reissued in substitution there-

for, with like qualities and restrictions as those retired and

canceled.

Sec. 8. That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby

authorized to use, at his discretion, any silver bullion in the

Treasury of the United States purchased under the Act of

July fourteenth, eighteen hundred and ninety, for coinage

into such denominations of subsidiary silver coin as may be

necessary to meet the public requirements for such coin:

Provided , That the amount of subsidiary silver coin out-

standing shall not at any time exceed in the aggregate one

hundred millions of dollars. Whenever any silver bullion

purchased under the Act of July fourteenth, eighteen hun-

dred and ninety, shall be used in the coinage of subsidiary

silver coin, an amount of Treasury notes issued under said

Act equal to the cost of the bullion contained in such coin

shall be canceled and not reissued.

Sec. 9. That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby

authorized and directed to cause all worn and uncurrent

subsidiary silver coin of the United States now in the Trea-

sury, and hereafter received, to be recoined, and to reim-

burse the Treasury of the United States for the difference

between the nominal or face value of such coin and the

amount the same will produce in new coin from any mon-

eys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.

Sec. 10. That section fifty-one hundred and thirty-

eight of the Revised Statutes is hereby amended so as to

read as follows:

“Section 5138. No association shall be organized with

a less capital than one hundred thousand dollars, except

that banks with a capital of not less than fifty thousand dol-

lars may, with the approval of the Secretary of the Trea-

sury, be organized in any place the population of which

does not exceed six thousand inhabitants, and except that

banks with a capital of not less than twenty-five thousand

dollars may, with the sanction of the Secretary of the Trea-

sury, be organized in any place the population of which

does not exceed three thousand inhabitants. No associa-

tion shall be organized in a city the population of which

exceeds fifty thousand persons with a capital of less than

two hundred thousand dollars.”

Sec. 11. That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby

authorized to receive at the Treasury any of the outstand-

ing bonds of the United States bearing interest at five per

centum per annum, payable February first, nineteen hun-

dred and four, and any bonds of the United States bearing

interest at four per centum per annum, payable July first,

nineteen hundred and seven, and any bonds of the United

States bearing interest at three per centum per annum,

payable August first, nineteen hundred and eight, and to

issue in exchange therefor an equal amount of coupon or

registered bonds of the United States in such form as he

may prescribe, in denominations of fifty dollars or any

multiple thereof, bearing interest at the rate of two per

centum per annum, payable quarterly, such bonds to be

payable at the pleasure of the United States after thirty

years from the date of their issue, and said bonds to be

payable, principal and interest, in gold coin of the present

standard value, and to be exempt from the payment of all

taxes or duties of the United States, as well as from taxa-

tion in any form by or under State, municipal, or local

authority: Provided, That such outstanding bonds may be

received in exchange at a valuation not greater than their

present worth to yield an income of two and one-quarter

per centum per annum; and in consideration of the reduc-

tion of interest effected, the Secretary of the Treasury is

authorized to pay to the holders of the outstanding bonds

surrendered for exchange, out of any money in the Trea-

sury not otherwise appropriated, a sum not greater than

the difference between their present worth, computed as

aforesaid, and their par value, and the payments to be

made hereunder shall be held to be payments on account

of the sinking fund created by section thirty-six hundred

and ninety-four of the Revised Statutes: And provided fur-

ther, That the two per centum bonds to be issued under

the provisions of this Act shall be issued at not less than

par, and they shall be numbered consecutively in the order

of their issue, and when payment is made the last numbers

issued shall be first paid, and this order shall be followed

until all the bonds are paid, and whenever any of the out-

standing bonds are called for payment interest thereon

shall cease three months after such call; and there is

hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not

otherwise appropriated, to effect the exchanges of bonds

provided for in this Act, a sum not exceeding one-fifteenth

of one per centum of the face value of said bonds, to pay

the expense of preparing and issuing the same and other

expenses incident thereto.

Sec. 12. That upon the deposit with the Treasurer of

the United States, by any national banking association, of

any bonds of the United States in the manner provided by

existing law, such association shall be entitled to receive

from the Comptroller of the Currency circulating notes in

blank, registered and countersigned as provided by law,

equal in amount to the par value of the bonds so deposited;

and any national banking association now having bonds on

deposit for the security of circulating notes, and upon

which an amount of circulating notes has been issued less

than the par value of the bonds, shall be entitled, upon due

application to the Comptroller of the Currency, to receive

additional circulating notes in blank to an amount which

will increase the circulating notes held by such association

to the par value of the bonds deposited, such additional

notes to be held and treated in the same way as circulating

notes of national banking associations heretofore issued,

and subject to all the provisions of law affecting such notes:

Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be con-

strued to modify or repeal the provisions of section fifty-

one hundred and sixty-seven of the Revised Statutes of the

United States, authorizing the Comptroller of the Cur-

rency to require additional deposits of bonds or of lawful

money in case the market value of the bonds held to secure

the circulating notes shall fall below the par value of the

circulating notes outstanding for which such bonds may be

deposited as security: And provided further, That the cir-

culating notes furnished to national banking associations

under the provisions of this Act shall be of the denomina-

tions prescribed by law, except that no national banking

association shall, after the passage of this Act, be entitled

to receive from the Comptroller of the Currency, or to

issue or reissue or place in circulation, more than one-third

in amount of its circulating notes of the denomination of

five dollars: And provided further, That the total amount of

such notes issued to any such association may equal at any

time but shall not exceed the amount of such time of its

capital stock actually paid in: And provided further, That

under regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of the

Treasury any national banking association may substitute

the two per centum bonds issued under the provisions of

this Act for any of the bonds deposited with the Treasurer

to secure circulation or to secure deposits of public money;

and so much of an Act entitled “An Act to enable national

banking associations to extend their corporate existence,

and for other purposes,” approved July twelfth, eighteen

hundred and eighty-two, as prohibits any national bank

which makes any deposit of lawful money in order to with-

draw its circulating notes from receiving any increase of its

circulation for the period of six months from the time it

made such deposit of lawful money for the purpose afore-

said, is hereby repealed, and all other Acts or parts of Acts

inconsistent with the provisions of this section are hereby

repealed.

Sec. 13. That every national banking association hav-

ing on deposit, as provided by law, bonds of the United

States bearing interest at the rate of two per centum

annum, issued under the provisions of this Act, to secure

its circulating notes, shall pay to the Treasurer of the

United States, in the months of January and July, a tax of

one-fourth of one per centum each half year upon the

average amount of such of its notes in circulation as are

based upon the deposit of said two per centum bonds; and

such taxes shall be in lieu of existing taxes on its notes in

circulation imposed by section fifty-two hundred and four-

teen of the Revised Statutes.

Sec. 14. That the provisions of this Act are not in-

tended to preclude the accomplishment of international

bimetallism whenever conditions shall make it expedient

and practicable to secure the same by concurrent action of

the leading commercial nations of the world and at a ratio

1128 ERA 6: The Development of the Industrial United States

The Development of an Expansionist Foreign Policy 1129

which shall insure permanence of relative value between

gold and silver.

Source:

Statutes at Large, Vol. 31, pp. 45–50.

The Development of an Expansionist Foreign Policy

Alaska Purchase Treaty, 1867

Treaty concluded on March 30, 1867, by which the United

States purchased Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million. The

treaty was negotiated by Baron Edouard de Stoeckl, Russian

minister to the United States, and U.S. secretary of state

William Seward. The Russians considered Alaska a financial

liability, which they were reluctant to administer and defend.

Seward, an expansionist, was the prime promoter of the pur-

chase, which was for many years considered foolish, hence

the names “Seward’s Folly” and “Seward’s Icebox” for the ter-

ritory. There were rumors that Senate ratification (April 9) was

accomplished through Russian bribery of key senators.

On February 29, 1892, the United States and Great

Britain signed the Bering Sea Treaty to resolve a dispute over

pelagic (deep sea) sealing rights. With the purchase of Alaska

in 1867, the United States had acquired the Pribilof Islands,

the site of seal breeding grounds. To prevent other nations,

especially Canada, from overhunting the herds at sea, the

United States in 1890 declared dominion over the Bering

Sea, calling it a

mare clausum

(closed sea). The Anglo-

American arbitration treaty of 1892 referred the matter to an

international tribunal, which ruled in 1893 against the U.S.

claim to exclusive rights in the Bering Sea but did prohibit

pelagic sealing around the Pribilof Islands at specified times

each year.

________________________

_______________________

The United States of America and His Majesty the

Emperor of all the Russias, being desirous of strengthen-

ing, if possible, the good understanding which exists

between them, have, for that purpose, appointed as their

Plenipotentiaries: the President of the United States,

William H. Seward, Secretary of State; and His Majesty

the Emperor of all the Russias, the Privy Counsellor

Edward de Stoeckl, his Envoy Extraordinary and Minister

Plenipotentiary to the United States.

And the said Plenipotentiaries, having exchanged their

full powers, which were found to be in due form, have

agreed upon and signed the following articles:

Article I

His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias agrees to cede

to the United States, by this convention, immediately upon

the exchange of the ratifications thereof, all the territory and

dominion now possessed by his said Majesty on the conti-

nent of America and in the adjacent islands, the same being

contained within the geographical limits herein set forth, to

wit: The eastern limit is the line of demarcation between the

Russian and the British possessions in North America, as

established by the convention between Russia and Great

Britain, of February 28–16, 1825, and described in Articles

III and IV of said convention, in the following terms:

“Commencing from the southernmost point of the

island called Prince of Wales Island, which point lies in the

parallel of 54 degrees 40 minutes north latitude, and

between the 131st and the 133d degree of west longitude,

(meridian of Greenwich,) the said line shall ascend to the

north along the channel called Portland channel, as far as

the point of the continent where it strikes the 56th degree

of north latitude; from this last mentioned point, the line

of demarcation shall follow the summit of the mountains

situated parallel to the coast as far as the point of intersec-

tion of the 141st degree of west longitude, (of the same

meridian;) and finally, from the said point of intersection,

the said meridian line of the 141st degree, in its prolonga-

tion as far as the Frozen ocean.

“IV. With reference to the line of demarcation laid

down in the preceding article, it is understood—

“1st. That the island called Prince of Wales Island shall

belong wholly to Russia” (now, by this cession, to the

United States).

“2d. That whenever the summit of the mountains

which extend in a direction parallel to the coast from the

56th degree of north latitude to the point of intersection of

the 141st degree of west longitude shall prove to be at the

distance of more than ten marine leagues from the ocean,

the limit between the British possessions and the line of

coast which is to belong to Russia as above mentioned (that

is to say, the limit to the possessions ceded by this conven-

tion) shall be formed by a line parallel to the winding of the

coast, and which shall never exceed the distance of ten

marine leagues therefrom.”

The western limit within which the territories and

dominion conveyed, are contained, passes through a point

in Behring’s straits on the parallel of sixty-five degrees

thirty minutes north latitude, at its intersection by the

meridian which passes midway between the islands of

Krusenstern, or Ignalook, and the island of Ratmanoff, or

Noonarbook, and proceeds due north, without limitation,

into the same Frozen ocean. The same western limit,

beginning at the same initial point, proceeds thence in a

course nearly southwest, through Behring’s straits and

Behring’s sea, so as to pass midway between the northwest

point of the island of St. Lawrence and the southeast point

of Cape Choukotski, to the meridian of one hundred and

seventy-two west longitude; thence, from the intersection

of that meridian, in a southwesterly direction, so as to pass

midway between the island of Attou and the Copper island

of the Kormandorski couplet or group in the North Pacific

ocean, to the meridian of one hundred and ninety-three

degrees west longitude, so as to include in the territory

conveyed the whole of the Aleutian islands east of that

meridian.

Article II

In the cession of territory and dominion made by the pre-

ceding article, are included the right of property in all pub-

lic lots and squares, vacant lands, and all public buildings,

fortifications, barracks, and other edifices which are not

private individual property. It is, however, understood and

agreed, that the churches which have been built in the

ceded territory by the Russian government, shall remain

the property of such members of the Greek Oriental

Church resident in the territory, as may choose to worship

therein. Any government archives, papers, and documents

relative to the territory and dominion aforesaid, which may

be now existing there, will be left in the possession of the

agent of the United States; but an authenticated copy of

such of them as may be required, will be, at all times, given

by the United States to the Russian government, or to such

Russian officers or subjects, as they may apply for.

Article III

The inhabitants of the ceded territory, according to their

choice, reserving their natural allegiance, may return to

Russia within three years; but if they should prefer to

remain in the ceded territory, they, with the exception of

uncivilized native tribes, shall be admitted to the enjoy-

ment of all the rights, advantages and immunities of citi-

zens of the United States, and shall be maintained and

protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property

and religion. The uncivilized tribes will be subject to such

laws and regulations as the United States may, from time

to time, adopt in regard to aboriginal tribes of that country.

Article IV

His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias shall appoint,

with convenient despatch, an agent or agents for the pur-

pose of formally delivering to a similar agent or agents

appointed on behalf of the United States, the territory,

dominion, property, dependencies and appurtenances

which are ceded as above, and for doing any other act

which may be necessary in regard thereto. But the cession,

with the right of immediate possession, is nevertheless to

be deemed complete and absolute on the exchange of rat-

ifications, without waiting for such formal delivery.

Article V

Immediately after the exchange of the ratifications of this

convention, any fortifications or military posts which may

be in the ceded territory, shall be delivered to the agent of

the United States, and any Russian troops which may be in

the territory shall be withdrawn as soon as may be reason-

ably and conveniently practicable.

Article VI

In consideration of the cession aforesaid, the United States

agree to pay at the treasury in Washington, within ten

months after the exchange of the ratifications of this con-

vention, to the diplomatic representative or other agent of

his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, duly authorized

to receive the same, seven million two hundred thousand

dollars in gold. The cession of territory and dominion

herein made is hereby declared to be free and unencum-

bered by any reservations, privileges, franchises, grants, or

possessions, by any associated companies, whether corpo-

rate or incorporate, Russian or any other, or by any parties,

except merely private individual property holders; and the

cession hereby made, conveys all the rights, franchises,

and privileges now belonging to Russia in the said territory

or dominion, and appurtenances thereto.

Article VII

When this Convention shall have been duly ratified by the

President of the United States, by and with the advice and

consent of the Senate, on the one part, and on the other by

his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, the ratifications

shall be exchanged at Washington within three months

from the date hereof, or sooner, if possible.

1130 ERA 6: The Development of the Industrial United States

The Development of an Expansionist Foreign Policy 1131

In faith whereof, the respective plenipotentiaries have

signed this convention, and thereto affixed the seals of

their arms.

Done at Washington, the thirtieth day of March in the

year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-

seven.

Source:

Charles I. Bevans, Treaties and Other Agreements of the United

States of America, 1776–1949. Washington, D.C.: Govern-

ment Printing Office, 1968–76.

Burlingame Treaty, 1868

Treaty between the United States and China, negotiated by

“envoy extraordinary” of the emperor of China, Anson

Burlingame, and signed July 28, 1868; recognized China’s

basic sovereign rights in international law. The treaty, a sup-

plement to the U.S.-Chinese Treaty of 1858, acknowledged

Chinese territorial jurisdiction within China; guaranteed that

the U.S. would not intervene in China’s domestic affairs;

confirmed the Chinese government’s discretion in granting

trade privileges in China; and provided for free Chinese

immigration to the United States. It gave citizens of the two

countries mutual most-favored-nation privileges within each

other’s borders. These privileges entitle the country holding

them to the same economic advantages as “the most favored

nation.” Anti-Chinese agitation led to revision of the treaty in

1880, allowing the United States to limit entry of Chinese

laborers.

________________________

_______________________

ADDITIONAL ARTICLES TO THE TREATY BE-

TWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND

THE TA-TSING EMPIRE OF THE 18TH OF JUNE,

1858

Whereas since the conclusion of the treaty between

the United of America and the Ta-Tsing Empire (China) of

the 18th of June, 1858, circumstances have arisen showing

the necessity of additional articles thereto, the President of

the United States and the august sovereign of the Ta-Tsing

Empire have named for their plenipotentiaries, to wit: the

President of the United States of America, William H.

Seward, Secretary of State, and his Majesty the Emperor

of China, Anson Burlingame, accredited as his Envoy

Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, and Chih-

Kang and Sun Chia-Ku, of the second Chinese rank, asso-

ciated high envoys and ministers of his said Majesty, and

the said plenipotentiaries, after having exchanged their full

powers, found to be in due and proper form, have agreed

upon the following articles:

Article I

His Majesty the Emperor of China, being of the opinion

that, in making concessions to the citizens or subjects of

foreign Powers of the privilege of residing on certain tracts

of land, or resorting to certain waters of that empire pur-

poses of trade, he has by no means relinquished his right

of eminent domain or dominion over the said land and

waters, hereby agrees that no such concession or grant

shall be construed to give to any Power or party which may

be at war with or hostile to the United States the right to

attack the citizens of the United States or their property

within the said lands or waters; and the United States, for

themselves, hereby agree to abstain from offensively

attacking the citizens or subjects of any Power or party or

their property with which they may be at war on any such

tract of land or waters of the said empire; but nothing in

this article shall be construed to prevent the United States

from resisting an attack by any hostile Power or party upon

their citizens or their property. It is further agreed that if

any right or interest in any tract of land in China has been

or shall hereafter be granted by the Government of China

to the United States or their citizens for purposes of trade

or commerce, that grant shall in no event be construed to

divest the Chinese authorities of their right of jurisdiction

over persons and property within said tract of land, except

so far as that right may have been expressly relinquished

by treaty.

Article II

The United States of America and his Majesty the

Emperor of China, believing that the safety and prosperity

of commerce will thereby best be promoted, agree that

any privilege or immunity in respect to trade or navigation

within the Chinese dominions which may not have been

stipulated for by treaty, shall be subject to the discretion of

the Chinese Government and may be regulated by it

accordingly, but not in a manner or spirit incompatible

with the treaty stipulations of the parties.

Article III

The Emperor of China shall have the right to appoint con-

suls at ports of the United States, who shall enjoy the same

privileges and immunities as those which are enjoyed by

public law and treaty in the United States by the consuls of

Great Britain and Russia, or either of them.

Article IV

The twenty-ninth article of the treaty of the 18th of June,

1858, having stipulated for the exemption of Christian cit-

izens of the United States and Chinese converts from per-

secution in China on account of their faith, it is further

agreed that citizens of the United States in China of every

religious persuasion and Chinese subjects in the United