The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1867-05-16


=, cA313kLAND LABOR
- dschf llr. KuykendAll Of Illi-
nois, In Congrsss on the 18th Of Janua-
~, contains mapy ideas and statements
which will b new, II not positively
startling 10 1ost Of our readeu. Itwas
made In support Of his bill introduced
during the lats session, entitled "An act
to provide a tssc national currency, and
soprovtds far ~ collection and disburse-
pc,at Qf ne ssUeWse. and the liquidation
Of the ,sotjossal debt and for other pur-
poses," and assumes that the present
system a. cur monetary laws is
radically wrong. Upon . subject of
such vital moment, to the welfare of the
nation, ,transcsnding In importance ordi-
nary plans Of philanthropy and reform
we believe any new light or suggestions
will b perused with lively interest. A
true system oflawswhich should prevent
financial criaisss, give the working man
his due, and provide for the easy reno
val Of the national debt, would be indeed
q desideratum, which IL attainable,
might well command the attention and
energies of all lovers of their country,
irrespective of party. The length Of the
speech precludes more than few of tho
more striking passages to which we
invite especial attention.
Among the chief objects for which
Governments are instituted, is that of
protecting the rights of property and Sc
curing its equitable distribution, accor-
ding to the labor performed in its pro-
duction. And no Government, whether
republican or not, that fails to effect
these important ends, can permanently
secure the happiness and prosperity of
the people. 1t cannot be successfully
denied that physical and intellectual
labor employed in production, and in
the distribution of the products of labor,
is the true and only source of national
wealth, and that laborers as whole are
poor. Look where you will upon soci-
ETY., you will see those who build
palatial residences, living iu novels;
those who manufacture the finest appar-
rel, clothed in the coarsest fabrics; and
those who produce In abundance the
most wholesome and delicate food,
subsisting upon the poorest diet; all de-
prived of the time and means necessary
for social and intellectual culture, and
to great degree destitute of the ordina-
ry comforts and conveniences of life;
condemned to lives of unremunerated
toll; while another class, few in number,
not physically, intellectually, or morally
better than the average of society, ac-
quire the larger portion of the products
oflabor, live In comparative idleness, sur
rounded with all the CO mforts, conven-
icncee, and luxnrics Of lfc. Besides
this evil of centralizing wealth in the
possession Of the few, every few years
our country is visited with monetary
crisis, prostrating all branches of pro-
ductive industry and legitimate enter
prise, deranging commercial operations,
retarding the development of our natu-
al resources, preventing us from becom-
ing self-sustaining and Independent as
u nation. This disparity in the condi-
tions of society, these monetary crisises
and disasters, are at one time attributed
to over production; again they are as
signed to short production; again they
are assigned to the want Of sufficient
tariff on imports or duties on foreign
manufactures. We have greatly in
creased production by the invention of
labor-saving machines, have raised and
lowered tariffs without producing any
permanent beneficial effects, unless it be
the building up of a cotton mill aristoc-
racy. The wealth continues to central
ize In fewer hands; the number of indus
trious poor who own no real estate and
little personal property, continues to in
crease. None of the causes assigned
have ever satisfactorily accounted for
any of these wrongs or pointed to rem
edy, because they do not reach the true
source of the evil, which will he found
in the unfair distribution of the produc cts
of labor between non-producing capital
and producing labor caused by the insti-
tuition of money on the wrong principle,
and with too great power over labor and
property. Money is the medium of dis
tfibution between non-producing capt.
tai and labor, the rate Of interest detsrm-
lining what proportion of the products of
labor shall be awarded to capital for Its
use, and what 10 labor for it's use, and
what to labor for its productions, and
the law instituting 1t is the most impor-
tant fundamental law in the nation, if
established uporf a wrong basis it can
not be rightly governed by subsequent
laws.
As money exercises wonderful pow
er in every department of business and
industrial occupation, and it's nature
and regulation appears to have baffled
the wisdom Of political economists. and
led them to the conclusion that its al
ternate abundance and scarcity, and the
fiuctating rates of interest are irremedial
evils, full and clear knowledge of its
nature and properties, the functions It
performs In honest transactions. is an