Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1869-06-15
POLITICAL ISSUES OF THE DAY.
LETTER FROM
John A. Thomson, Esq, of jefferson Co..
w. Va, to U, S. Senator Wade.
sGMM1r POINT, Jefferson Co., Va. }

might be no mistake about your opinions and
sentiments as expressed on that occasion.
As had not the honor of an answer to that
letter, l waited until your canvass for Gov
ernor of Ohio vas over, lest it might be sup
posed L meant it for your detrngnt, while
intenied it in good faith and then gave it
through the columns of the New York DGy-
Book to the public.
Although, iu many respects, am very far
from agreeing with you in your politics, l ac
corded to you the honest desire to advance
the interests Of the masses of your fellow.
citizens and Of mankind in general and there
fore, submitted to you whether your plan of
giving to therii, by legislation, "Inore rccrea>
lion and enjoyment" mine of enabling
them to accumulate and acquire property, by
giving them 81 ust weight and just meal
sure was best calculated to attain that truly
desirable result.
In as much as you did not answer that let
ter, take it for granted that you did not
agree with me, Wien affirmed that the whole
difficulty between cnpitaI and labor ,rus that
labor was not paid in its equivalent, to-wit,
gold and silver, but in paper money-equiv-
alent only to rlgs-and that the effect was,
that labor paid in such Il medium could never
acquire property, but mist be necessarily sub
jccted to "wiite slavery" for, surely that
ditiun is one of slavery, when our ''recrea~
tous and enjoyments" are not dependent on
our own wills and potcntialitcs, but upon the
humanities, free grace and gfatuitics Of others.
God, in his mercy, deliver me from any such
liberty this
''For oh mankind weak,
And little to be trusted;
II srif the wavcring balance shake5
IT'S rarely right adjusted"
Oh no /! Mr.. Wade, do not, bcsccch you,
put the ''recrcatons and cnjoyments" Of man
kind upon any such spiders thread" as this
Twill break at every breeze" | assure you.
In 1860 the government ex xpcndturcs amount
cd to SI00 QQ0 900, the contest for that sum
resulted in the premature death of ksif mil~
lion of the best, and bravcst of the young and
beautiful Of all our people and now, VIXEN
$500 900, 900 arc at stake to be struggled for
under the lead of our pure aud dtSii,tercSted
Office seekers, tell me, if you please, how
many more will not be sacrificed in hecatombs
of millions? As | make no great c;lcua
tions, then, on the Justice and generosity OF
mankind, and think it would be far better aud
more certain that people should have their
'.recrcations ard e:i'.yments" in their own
hands than in the hands Of others, ! now
propose (under the prestige Of your name as
Il special friend of the rcOple) to submit to
the people themselves, "hethcr your plan Of
Icyisiafimy them into ''recrcatiOns and enj 0y
mcuts," or mine of enabling them to acquire
yroperty by holding all property at LJhOr'S
prices by cxtirpating usury and paper money,
is the best aud surcst for them to attain what
each OF us, hope, desires.
1t will be necessary in order to renew the
connection with my first letter, and the theory
therein propounded, to restae that theory and
the propositions npon which 1t Is bascd.-
When have doi1e so, will then eudeavour
to show, in the various operations OF agricul-
ture, manufactures, und commerce, how utter
" impossible it will be for the masses of man
kind to reach the millennium Of your hopes and
wishes, when all the forms Of n1c"i0k labor
will be ended. and when men will either be
j,rincipi;Es or partners and not servants aud
employees in all they do, unless the great evils
of usury and paper money are first removed
but of their way: For | take it for granted
that when you advance the opinion that the
man who works the land should be the owner
of it" and not the hireling of another, you
nre also prepared to extend the same principle
to all who work in factories, and even to the
sailors who impcril their lives on the waves,
and in the language of the bible ego down to
the great deep in ships" [ confess. if your
philanthropy goes this far, that AN with you,
and with all those labor associations for bull
ding and buying in joint stock companies, that
are now in practice endeavourng to realize
the idea in which VIC agree, however far we
NAV differ as to the means Of clothing it with
vitality and substance. while you seem to
thiuk the idea may be realized by legslating
indulgences, the eight hour rule" perhaps,
aud similar regulations, regard every thing
of that kind as, in fact, amounting to an
acknow dgemcnt of the necessary existence
of fsluvery-,chite Siaccry-and concedicg that
all we can do is to alleviate its Tretchcdncss
and soften its severities To this idea [ do
not assent for a moment. and hence my plan
is to 90 to the root of the evil ITSELF and to
extirpate ,chitc slacery, by bauishng all 5iS;t'y
and Incorporated credit, and leaving the
contest for property, befsecn man and man,
to labor both of hands and head, and fairly
paid and rewarded by the equivalent of labor,
towit gold and silver! This is, in truth, to
make Lubor the exchanging medium, and III
which all can compete, because all can labor,
instead of making Incorporated credit the
exchanging medium, i'll which all cannot com-
pete, because all do not possess it, and which
is, indeed, enjoyed by very few in number
Hard money-labor money-hoIds all proper
ty and all occupations to the labor-standard
and all who labor can, in the just proportion
of their labor, come into the riug-intO the
circle of all human employments, transactions,
and dealingsi With such mcdium-hard
money-theye eau be no land monopoly, be-
cause land will be at the labor price No
labor. monopoly, because labor will be at its
o,cn price and self-able to employ itself; !; and
DoT work for itself; instead of being compelled
by uswy w and incorporated credit into the
service Of another; and, in fact, forced to be
a menial, a bireling, and a slave! For, to
i,se the words of another, 80 slavery, disguise
thyself as thou wilt, still thou art slavery"
The factory girls Of New England, who, by
fhe reports of their own legislative committees,
die half of them at Is from hard-work, while
The other half transmit their own broken and
diseased constitutions to their Prosterlty' are