1874 Brindle Prostration American Industries Money Currency Greenback Pamphlet For Sale

Scarce 1874 American monetary and political pamphlet by Gen. William Brindle of Muncy, Pennsylvania, arguing for federal government issued money over bank controlled currency in the immediate aftermath of the Panic of 1873.Published under the striking title Prostration of American Industries, the Cause and the Remedy: Federal Government Money vs. Bank Currency, the pamphlet preserves a synopsis of Brindle’s November 2, 1874 address to the citizens of Gloucester City, New Jersey, followed by his reflections after the November election on the responsibility of the Democratic Party.Brindle writes from the center of one of the defining economic arguments of the 1870s. The Panic of 1873 had been followed by a prolonged industrial depression, widespread business failures, unemployment, and bitter political conflict over contraction of the money supply, bank currency, government bonds, specie payments, tariffs, and the proper role of federal paper money.His argument is unabashedly anti bank. Brindle attacks the political and economic influence of bankers and bondholders, invokes Jeffersonian and Jacksonian hostility to financial privilege, and urges a return to government issued money rather than reliance upon bank currency. He presents monetary policy not as an abstract financial question but as a struggle over American labor, manufacturing, political power, and the economic independence of ordinary citizens.The pamphlet is particularly evocative of the monetary debates that soon fueled the Greenback movement. Brindle calls for an expanded circulating medium and criticizes contractionist policies at precisely the moment when questions surrounding greenbacks, specie resumption, and banking power were becoming major national political issues.Brindle was himself an interesting political figure. During the Bleeding Kansas era he served as receiver of the federal land office at Lecompton, Kansas, placing him within the political turmoil surrounding the Kansas territorial government before the Civil War. By 1874 he was again participating directly in national political debate, this time through the developing struggle over American money and banking.The pamphlet remains in its original blue printed wrappers and is complete through page 18. An institutional copy is held in the Rare Books collection of The Huntington Library. No original copy of this exact 18 page title was located in current commerce during research.Edition Details
Author: William Brindle
Title: Prostration of American Industries, the Cause and the Remedy: Federal Government Money vs. Bank Currency
Place: Philadelphia
Publisher: Samuel P. Town, 402 Library Street
Date: 1874
Edition/Issue: Synopsis of an address delivered November 2, 1874, with additional reflections following the November election
Format: Printed pamphlet in original blue wrappers
Pagination: 18 pages
Subject: Panic of 1873, greenbacks, bank currency, federal money, specie payments, monetary policy, banking reform, Democratic Party, American industryConditionOriginal blue printed wrappers with age toning, handling wear, small edge chips and losses, and minor corner wear. The spine fold and adjoining wrapper edges are delicate, with areas of splitting and beginning separation, and the pamphlet should be handled carefully. Interior leaves show expected age toning and occasional minor edge wear. Complete through page 18, with text remaining clear and readily legible.Please see photographs for the best description of condition.