NOVEMBER 5 1818- BIRTH OF BENJAMIN BUTLER, UNION ARMY CIVIL WAR GENERAL AND MEMBER OF THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE

1818- BIRTH OF BENJAMIN BUTLER, UNION ARMY CIVIL WAR GENERAL AND MEMBER OF THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE
“I stand here, therefore, for inconvertible paper money, the greenback, which has fought our battles and saved our country, which has been held by us as a just equivalent for the blood of our soldiers, the lives of our sons, the widowhood of our daughters, and the orphanage of their children. I stand here for a currency by which the business transactions of forty million people are safely and successfully done, which, founded on the faith, the wealth, and property of the nation, is at once the exemplar and engine of its industries and power—that money which saved the country in war and has given it prosperity and happiness in peace. To it four million men owe their emancipation from slavery; to it labor is indebted for elevation from that thrall of degradation in which it has been enveloped for ages. I stand for that money, therefore, which is by far the better agent and instrument of exchanged of an enlightened and free people than gold and silver the money alike of the barbarian and the despot.” [Speech on House floor, January 12, 1869 on national currency]

NOVEMBER 2 1832- RE-ELECTION OF ANDREW JACKSON, 7TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

1832- RE-ELECTION OF ANDREW JACKSON, 7TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
"The bold effort the present (central) bank had made to control the government ... are but premonitions of the fate that await the American people should they be deluded into a perpetuation of this institution or the establishment of another like it." "If Congress has the right under the Constitution to issue paper money, it was given to be used by themselves, not to be delegated to individuals or corporations." "I have no hesitation to say if they can re-charter the bank, with this hydra of corruption, they will rule the nation and its charter will be perpetual and its corrupting influence destroy the liberty of our country."

NOVEMBER 1 1873 – PASSAGE OF THE COINAGE ACT BY CONGRESS

1873 – PASSAGE OF THE COINAGE ACT BY CONGRESS
The fourth coinage act passed by Congress, the 1873 bill “demonetized” silver – meaning silver was no longer accepted as currency or used as a metal to back paper money. Only gold was now accepted as currency and used to back paper money. With the money supply now contracted, the US went into an economic depression. The demonitization of silver was also not apparent in the bill at the time of passage. When this became public, there was national outrage. Congressional passage became known as “the Crime of ’73.”

OCTOBER 31 1874 – PUBLICATION OF OCTOBER ISSUE OF INDUSTRIAL AGE MAGAZINE

1874 – PUBLICATION OF OCTOBER ISSUE OF INDUSTRIAL AGE MAGAZINE
“The religious press has almost without exception been the allies of the bondholders and bankers in their endless schemes to fleece the public, and the mouthpiece of the monopolists and the defender of the soulless corporations that fill their pockets by robbing the toiling people.”

OCTOBER 30 1885 – BIRTH OF EZRA POUND, US POET AND CRITIC

1885 – BIRTH OF EZRA POUND, US POET AND CRITIC
Some of his poetry deals with the destructive moral and social effects of usury, or usura, such as his Canto XLV:
“…Usura rusteth the chisel
It rusteth the craft and the craftsman
It gnaweth the thread in the loom
None learneth to weave gold in her pattern;…”

OCTOBER 30 1840 – BIRTH OF WILLIAM GRAHAM SUMNER, PROFESSOR, YALE UNIVERSITY AND MONETARY THEORIST

1840 – BIRTH OF WILLIAM GRAHAM SUMNER, PROFESSOR, YALE UNIVERSITY AND MONETARY THEORIST
“For as the currency question is of first importance and we cannot solve it or escape it by ignoring it.  We have got to face it and the best way to begin is not by wrangling about speculative opinions as to untried schemes but to go back to history and try to get hold of some firmly established principles.”

OCTOBER 30 1735 – BIRTH OF JOHN ADAMS, 2ND PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

1735 – BIRTH OF JOHN ADAMS, 2ND PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
"There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation.  One is by the sword, the other is by debt."
"All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America aeise, not from the defects of the Constitution or confederation, not from the want of honour or virtues, so much as from the downright ignorance of the nation, of coin, credit and cirrculation."