The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-01-23
CHICAGO q PHILADELPHIA
aAgunsAY, yAnu6sx aa tsea.


from cur nked and determined purposes % be-
heard and Needed In our demand for Justice.
We fought the battles Of the war, and are
toiling on the farm and In the Workshop TO
pay the interest on the debt incurred. We
are new, - then, LOCAL TO the Government,
and seenoW, a. then, ready 70 maintain ia
integrity and honor. Without. complaint
We will pay out Of our daily. weekly, or
monthly earnings our just proportion Of the
public debt, bnR we will prefsf repudiation
30 starvation. caution Sondho holders, gold
advocates, and their allies here and else
whore not TO press there uDreasonablegand
unjust demands. We know fun well that
the reduction Of the currency and a return
90 specie payments will enhance the value
Of the bonds by diminishing the wages OF
tabor and BY rendering the productive
industries Of the cOLntry less able 60 pay
the taxes. We understand shat the bond
holder can hire two men and buy two bar
rels Of -four instead Of one with bis interest
IL gold standard ID attained. We are
fully LWare that all who owe anything on
the tools of their trade; or on their houses
or farms in skJrt all who are in deb: to
the amount Of one-third Of their property
will be made bankrupt. To assume that the
taxpayers will acQuiesce in the b0Ddholeers'
policy is TO presume either that they do
not know their rights or that they have not
the manhood and courage TO maintain them.
One Of our astute fnanciers and able
statesmen thinks that the workingmen of
the nation are interested in our getting back
to . gold basis as soon as possible. He
says;
Bring Us at once to a hard-money basis and
there wiz be q tumble in prices and more ease
for the lAboring classes in securing the necessa-
ries of life. The poor man can bur nearly twice
a. much with gold as he can with paper dol
lar"
The honorable gentleman fails to tell us
where the poor man is to get the gold dollar.
de fails TO STATE that the taxes levied upon
the articles he consumes remain the same as
before; that the interest on his debt is as
great as ever, While his resources foT its pay
ment are reduced oHe-half that the tax up
On his tobacco is &c cents per pound whether
be earns two dollars per day or only one.
There is nothing more aggravating and in
Sulting 10 poor man than TO show him cheap
provisions and no money TO buy them and
no employment. IL cannot be denied thet
when our circulation Was the largest labor
ers were better paid, procured the neeessa.
ries Of life more easily, paid their rent more
promptly than at any time since the process
Of contraction commenced. The poor are
always best of when money is abundant ana
cheap. The harvest for bankers, brokers
and usureTs is when money is scarce and
high. Those who are clamoTing for reSump-
tim Of specie payment and contraction of
the currency may receive the Endorsement OF
capitalists and bOndholders, but they are sa-
crifeing the interests of the productive
classes
Ii will be said that | require government
creditors tOTeeeive . money not known when
the debts were contracted To this | re-
ply that government creditors are no better
than other creditors, and the question has
been already settled by solemn decision of
courts, that creditors must receive green
backs IN payment Of debts con 1rscted when
gold and silver were the only money known
10 the law. The proposed treasury certif-
Gates being legahzed as money for all pur-
poses, and convertible into iuterest-b airing
bonds, must be better than greenbacks. and
the bondbOlders purchased their securities
in these when greatly deprecated. upper
feet paper money saved our nation from be-
Jog disintegrated by civil war, as it saved
England during her war with France. Let
Il be remembered that from 1897 to 1919,
when England had no money but irredeema-
bic bank paper, she was, financially, more
prosperous than at any other period in her
history. During that long period gold and
silver money was obsolete, the Bank OF Eng
land furnishing the only currency of the em-
pirs. Yet labor was better paid, there was
less Of poverty and distress, and all the in
tertsts Of productive industry were better Sc
seured than at any other time before or since.
There was not, during that twenty-five
years Of suspension Of specie payments, a
monetary crisis, q financial panic, want Of
employ ment or of proper remuneration
When the gold tyrant was again enthroned
every body was sufferer except the moneyed
Aristocracy.
Sir Richard Allison says of the act Of re-
sumption Of 1919:
NO single measure ever produced 80 disss-
trOus an effect as that has done Ii has added
al least q third to the national debt, and aug
mented 10 a similar proportion all private bur
dens in the country, while it has taken as much
from the remuneration of labor and means of
paying i enjoyed by the community"
This lesson Of history should not be for
gotten. Shall we repeat this folly in our
own experience? That this representation |
OF the state Of affairs in England viii be /
true to the letter in this country, if the re-
sumption policy prevails will not admit Of
a doubt. Those who shall bring such
calamity upon the people will learn that
''the ballot box is stronger than an army"
The greenbsck was the almighty arm Of
our dsiiversnce in war, and an absolute pa /
per money, as q great wealth distributing 4
instrument, a symbol and representative Of |
value, will be found equally valuable in
peace. With a legal-tender money, endow- /
ed By Congress with the functions Of meas
uTing, representing, exchanging and accu-
mulatiDg value BY interest, sufficient in |
5olume to answer the requirements Of bust
ness, determinable By the rate Of interest
which it commands, convertible into three
per cent. bonds, and the laboring millions, !
black and white, North and South, will be I
free. Let us be wise in time to prevent re-
padiAtionl
It has been estimated that four hours
labor, BY those engaged in productive in
dustEy Ia sufficient for the mere support Of
our whole population, and that all their
prodaetion in their remaining hours of toll
10 surrlIs. Who shall have this surplus ?
IL should be equitably distributed between
labor and capital. This division can be ef-
fected only BY a circulating medium at
just rate Of interest. Now the fruits Of six
ont Of the ten hours Of labor are swallowed
UP Ia the payment Of taxes and in interest
paid to capital, leaving nothing 20 those
who earn all. If the working classes can
have time for mental and moral improve
mont and true social enjoyment they will
invent new methods and improve old ones
for multiplying the comforts and blessings
Of life. BY new discoveries and inventions
they will subdue all the elements Of nature
ana make them lay their trophies at the
door Of every cabin and palace of earth.
Then viii the sublime but hitherto releeted
truth be acknowledged:
''The laboring man, what e'er his taak
To tih the soil "a raise The hod