/pol/ - International /Pol/itics & /Bant/er

'The English Octopus - it feeds on nothing but gold' - American map (ca. 1894) showing an octopus labelled 'The Great English Devilish' reaching out across the world. The halo behind reads 'Rothschilds'.

The poster seems to be a reprint of a cartoon originally published in 'Coin's Financial School', a tract by writer lawyer and politician William Hope Harvey attacking the gold standard, abused by 'the awful power of the Rothschilds-Bank of England Octopus'.

Full small text on this map reads:

'The bonded debts of the world in round numbers amount to twenty-eight thousand million dollars ($28,000,000,000,00). Of this amount, England owns what is shown on the map above and it is all payable in gold, both principal and interest. We also show on the map the bonded indebtedness of railroads held in England-payable in gold.

'We do not show the aggregate indebtedness of states, counties and municipalities, neither do we show the "watered stock" indebtedness of the world, but we do hope what we have shown is sufficient to convince any man that England is now the Banker of the World and that between the the Rothschilds and the Bank of England all of the $3,700,000,000 of gold in the World is owned by that combination and therefore it is to their interest and nobody's else that an absolute "gold basis" be maintained in order to enable them to so manipulate prices through currency contraction as to overcome the laws of supply and demand and make the debts of the world forever beyond the reach of the people to pay. When free trade is mentioned, the awful form of the English Cobden Club is brought forth and used to scare voters. When free silver is mentioned, the tables are reversed and it becomes necessary to call an International Monetary Conference that English gold interests may not be made to suffer. In other words, we must toady to England, "lest she crush us off the face of the map".

'Let the United States take the initiative step and declare for silver and every octopus-ridden nation on earth will join with us. Don't be cowards! Strike one blow for home and humanity.

'Give us the Free and Unlimited Coinage of Silver and thus annihilate the awful power of the Rothschilds-Bank of England Octopus.

'Remember that all settlements between this Nation and foreign countries are made on a bullion basis only and not in coin. What, then, is the necessity of calling an International Conference to establish a ratio. The International Conference scheme is a delusion and a snare and was concocted for the purpose of making silver the subject of an International treaty through gold bugs that would kill the issue for all time on the representation that an International treaty could not be broken without incurring war. - Herb George.'