The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-01-23

nwe-tWenty bonds are payable m legRl-ten-
der notes, and to ask payment 10 gold 10 70
treat the law az a nullity, and set nm ex-
ample or bad faith and lawIessness, which
an outraged people will not be slow to fol-
low IL we take the estimates OF the ex-
penscs OF the different departments on the
Government for the ensuing year, including
interest 0r the public debt, pensions. &c,
and compare these with the probable amount
to be realized from tariff and internal rev
eDue laws, the result will not be very en-
ccufaging to the advocates Of resumption Of
specie payments and gold bonds
IL greenbacks sustained our armies 10 the
held, enabled the Government n crush out
gigantic rebellion and overthrow African
slavery, may dot the lessons we have learned
enable us 20 inaugurate q monetary system
which will emaneipate labor from she cruel
c4Actl0ns and tyrnnny 0f capital, and make
'-hite 40 well as black men free. BY the
aoc1 1tiOn Of this system we shall be an IN
dependent people, and stand unshaken and
undisturbed by the political and financial
convulsi0ns Of Europe We will 70 stimu-
late production and open up new aud pro
ftable fields OF c.tsrprise that, With or with
out tariff laws we will soon cali upon other
countries 70 settis their balances vita us
Now 10 the auspicious time TO establish
an American monetary system Oppressed
with an enormous debt; our resources taxed
70 the utmost limit 20 defrAy the ordinary
expenses Of Government and accruing To-
terest cur coin largely exported; no State
or local banks 10 supply an inferior cur
rencY; with a net-work of national banks
which are, happily, liable to destruction by
the very Jaw creating them; With q nigh Ap-
probation Of TIE value Of greeebacks a.
legal-tender-all these things contribute to
make this tie favorable opportunity to wipe
out the m0narchiRl th eories Of gold and sill
yer, originate a system that will deetroy
money monOpolies, having a circulating me
dium made by the people, and for the peo-
ple-and limited only BY the necessities Of
the people.
Neither the Bank Of England, nor the
moneyed m0nopOlies Of our ewn country,
nor the States, nor any other power at bone
OF abroad wall be permitted longer 70 "reg-
ulatc the value of money" duty imposed
upon Congress by the constitution. Let us
have done with British theories Of political
economy, the mOnarchical standard OF mon
ey, and the srist0cratic definitions and no.
tions Of wealth Let us ria ourselves OF
paper circulation on the miscalled specie
basis, for the history Of such = currency 10
history Of instability, uncertainty, demOr-
alizatioD, fraud, bankruptcy, disgrace, and
ruin. Give .he people az ample currency
stamped by national authority a. money,
based upon national wealth, convertible into
three per cent. bonds, and they are self-reli.
ant and independent, and the scepter which
the money power relentlessiy wields over
labor is broken, and the commercial vs'ua
Of free white man will rise to that AZ leaEt
Of black slave before the war
The average earnings of our wOrkingmen,
beyond subsistence 10 not 800 per annum.
The owner Of United States bond Of
81 900 owns the service Of "white slave"
and this il about one half the value OF an
ablebodied negro eight years ago The
laboring masses North and South, black and
white, must remain in a state of practical
serfdom, with enormous taxation eating out
their substance and crushing out their man
hood, and bOndholders, bankers, aud Shy
locks extorting their last cent unless the
principles have advocated be emb bodied in
our financial policy. Frcm the promptness
and unanimity with which Congress passed
the funding bill at the close of the last ses-
sion, by which il was proposed TO convert
all our currency bonds into others payable
in gold at distant day, exempt from all
r" $ Of the increase of wealth BY produc-
tion, conclude that this plan viii meet
with little fegor here. Thanks to the pres
ident Of the United States, be withheld his
signature, and that bill OF denominations
has not yet become law. | think 10 can
be shown that the productive industries on
tne country never can pay the interest and
principal 0f such funded debt in the man
ner proposed.
As | have already said, the national
wealth has increased through q long period
OF years at an average Of three and one
third per cent. Per annum compounded.
estimate our entire national wealth at 500.
463,5Sl 900, or about one fourth Of that Of
both England and France This snm com
pounded at three and one third per cent.
per annum, for fifty year will amount 20
eS4, ,9SS, 1853 900, or a fraction more than
the present estimated wealth OF England and
France This estimate Of our wealth en-
braces property Of every kind, taxed and
untaxed, including bonds. Funding our
debt Of 1850, 100000 in bonds at four
per cent. exempt from taxation for ifry
years, (Which il equivalent TO seven per
cent. bonds subject TO taxation as other
property,l and the interest on the public
100000, or within a small fraction Of our
then national wealth. Thus the bondhold-
ers would absorb the entire earnings Of pro-
ductive industry and own the entire prop
erty Of the nation Ia half century. Fund
the debt at three per cent. per annum FOR
the same time, and it would bear the same
proportion TO the then wealth that il now
does to our present wealth
The cumulative power Of l.onsy BY inter.
est is now sufficiently congid sred. Interest
At SIX per cent. aceamulates lust four times
ne fast as at three per cent, while at ten
per cent. il increases more than eleven
times as fast as at three. For example. tbs
interest on @l 900 at three per cent ~ the
first year thirty dollars the interest on the
accumulation the second year 10 ninety
cents. The interest on the sEme sum at ak
per cent. is sixty dollars, and the interest
on the accumulation ia 95 so; che interest
st ten per cent 10 800, aud the interest on
the accumulation the second year ten dol
lars. These examples illustI ate how labor
is robbed 10 paying exhorbitant rates Of in-
terest 20 capital, and also show the utter
impracticability OF paying the national
debt in the manner proposed BY the fund.
ing bill. There are distinguished states-
men who de- lare that the general paralysis Of
the industri- y OF the country now prevail
ing, will be relieved by rssuming specie
payments and by getting rid Of the legal
tender notes In circulation, the only means
we have Of paying taxes or anything else.
From the clamors Of capitalists, stock and
bond and gold BROKERS, and Petsr-Fank
agents Of the Treasury, who re urging tho
conversion OK currency bonds Into gold
bonds, we may expect any Ian for the re-
liaf az tie nannla 70 ha .dinnled and a.