The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-06-05
WHAT Is MONEY l--No. X.
BY WN II. SYLTIS.

high rate Of interest is the milestone
about the neck Of labor it cripples the en-
ergy OF the whole people and retards pro-
ducti0n; because Of it thousands and tens
OF thousands of workingmen are out of en-
pioy .nent, and want, and misery are abroad
in he land. Reduce the rate Of interest TO
three per cent. and give US national cur
rency made Of paper, and new enterprises
will be started-machnery now idle will be
put ia motion-there will be work for all,
and peace and plenty will bless the land.
This, the World thinks, would be a disaster.
Perhaps it would to the World and its
hackers, bat not to honest people.
Why is the rate Of interest so high Re
cause it is but limited quantity in the
country, and that is controlled by few men
who control the rate Of interest. Tbs Dor
rowers are many and the lenders few. ii
one thousand barrels Of -four come to mar
ket, aud there il no more to come, and
everyt ~ wants -four, few men vii! buy
it all Lp and charge whatever their con-
science viii allow.
All monopohes are wrong, and especially
monopoleS Of the necsssaries OF life, but the
most infamous Of chem all is monopoly Of
money, and government that will permit It
is not a government Of the people.
Expansion ard contraction are terms very
much used, and it would DE well If working
men understood their full meaning.
Imitation, in the sense in which it Il used,
does not mean a plentiful supply Of money.
II means too much money-myney laying
around lose-a quantity OF money above the
wants or demands Of the people. Iuf .tion,
as used by the World and It's masters,
means too ma clt. There cannot be too much
money until everybody has enough There
can be no such thing as an initiation Of -four
until everybody has as much as they can
eat There is just as much sense IN saying
there is TOO much -four IN the country, wnen
hall the people were hungry Tor bread and
could not ge' 1t, as to say there is TOO much
monry IA the couutTy, y uen hall the people
have none aud no Wv Of getting H. TINS
word Initiation IS he'd up before the people
as a hideous mon Ter and is one OF the scare
or VS. used to .righten the ignorant and un-
suspecung We also bear great deal Of
talk shout an lrredeemsble currency. We
are old that purely paper currency would
b. an Hredeemable currency, therefore, good
for nothing. Why workingmen, there is no
such thing as irredeemable money. When
ever il ceases to be redeemable, it ceases to
to be money, because it has lost ali the
long as it circulates, and whenever it ceases
to circuate-that IL, whenever people refuse
to take it, it ceases to be currency. Money
is len upon every dollars worth Of prop
erty in the nation money will buy anything
there j. for sale-even congTessmen-noney
is. being redeemed continually; it is redeem
ed whenever it IS paid out for value re-
ceived.
The same $40 bill may be redeemed a
dozen. or fifty times in day. One man
pays it out fol- -four, another for rent, a
third for coal, fourth for cloths and so on,
and it is redeemed every time it is paid out
But, say these Croakers, paper money must
be redeemable in gold, that is, it must be
exchsngable for "gold money" A man
must be able to swop dollars, but money
was not made to buy money, and | fail to
see the sense in trading one dollar for an
other. But paper money is redeemable in
gold. Greenbacks will buy gold watches,
or any other articles made Of gold, or gold
ID the lump or bar. Thus are they redeema-
bic in gold, as in -four.
II workingmen will just stop and think a
little, they will see that all the greenbacks
they can get are redeemed for rent, clothing
provisions, just about as fast as they can
get them.
Expansion and contraction. The one
means a low rate of interest-plenty Of
money-labor fully employed-high wages
no credit-cash for everything the
general prosperity Of the people.
The other means high rate Of interest
no money-low wages-store pay-idleness.
poverty and want. Wall street and the
World 60 for contraction, honest people 60
for expansion.
SEEAroR SPRAGUR reeenty addressed the
workingmen Of Menphs, in speech replete
with reason and common sense. We win