The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-04-03
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WHAT II MONEY r..


# avn. :. ...r.. =
"AOney creates no ~ealth; 1t only gath
ers up and appropriAtes 10 its owner things
already produced"
Money is not wealth; it only gives to its
owner power over the projections q labor
Wealth Is accumulated labor. Money ere
ates nothing, and has no value whatsoever
70 its owner, except As be exchanges 1t for
what labor produces. A man may have .
million Of dollars and be very poor; II he
keeps il in his possession, he viii starve-
De viii be destitute Of food, clothing and
shelter. Money has no value, only as we
part With it for something we need. This
Is, Of course, plain to every mind.
A Capitalization Of wealth is q centraliza-
ton Of power. When the few possess
themselves Of everything, and the many are
reduced to thar condition Of dependence
When it is compulsory 70 work or starve,
then ii is that the power Of wealth and the
rule Of the few 10 absolute. -
The most pernicious effect Of wealth Is
that it hardens the heart, bluat the sensi-
bilities, deadens the conscience, deforms
the moral nature and makes q tyrant Of its
pOssessor.
For money, men sacrifice domestic com.
fort, health, character. and even hazard life
itself for it, they are guilty Of fraud, de-
cepton and robbery. For money, they
sacrifice friendship, gratitude, natural affec-
ton, and every no ly and divine feeling. For
money, man becomes a creeping, crawling,
miserable thing, instead OF walking upright,
as God intended he should. Mammon and
Rsnhood are incompatible.
When wealth sccumulates IN the hands or
the few, the spirit Of vindictiveness-a de-
sire to rule, to get more, to reduce labor to
a condition Of vassalage, and to ma Ike PHI
ant tools and helpless, obedient slaves of all
who toll at physical labor developes itself
more and more, and wiGens the breach be-
tween tbe rich and the poor. As the one
goes up, the other must 60 down. The one
feels secure in its power-the other grows
restless under fraud and persecution.
Here is the fountain from which how al
the social eruptions that blacken the body
polite. Here IS the cause Of al strikes and
all revolutions. So tight has the bold OF
these money changers upon the industry Of
the country become, that ge will find 1t
hard lob to shake them Of We must not
waste our time in parey, in trying to cox
them 70 let 60, or thinking we can brighten
then away. Ali this bas been tried. There
Is but one way left. We must take them BY
the neck With grasp like q vice aud squeeze
the life out Of thsn.
There are but two ways by which thu can
be done. The FIRST is BY our power at the
ence, if We wall II We fail to do this, they
will continue to suck at our yitals, until, ID
tit Of desperation, We cut their heads of
With the sword.
II out " the vast wealth that we produce,
We are 10 receive but a miserable sabsist-
anee, and no prospect before Us but eternal
age; il the balles-box 10 not sufficient
remedy fer these evils; If a few men will APP
prOpriate all to themselves while labor tolls
and stsrves, then the time will come when
an outraged aud enslayed people will rise
in their physical power, and force q more
equitable division Of the products Of their
labor, BY 9th er means than lower rate Of
interest.
What We want and what we propose to
have, is general lsveling up. | do not
mean by this that VIC desire to pull any body
down, not even If they are up witt a rope
around their necks-as a considerable num-
Der Of them ought to be; but We do desire
and intend 70 get up.
The work OF accumulation on the one
hand, and degradation on the other, must
stop. The millions Of little streams of
wealth put into motion BY Oor hands, must
find their way into other and larger num-
Der OF pockets. We have no desire TO dis
turb any man in the possession Of what be
now has; We are willing the thieves shall
escape with their plumber, but We say the
work Of plumber must stop. This is what
We mean BY leveiing up, and this leveling
up must be effected BY lower rate Of intsr-
est, and an entire change in our monetary
system. This change We win have by one
means or another. The bleedingkoperation
has been going on long enough, the patien
is tired Of it, and demands that it be aban-
doned. We are for a peaeeable solution Of
this problem but il there must be blood
letting, 1t shall be on the other side.
COn6scation, or organism is no part Of
our plan, but it does not require a very
great stretch of the Imagination to picture
the lamp posts in Wall street, ornamented
with the bloated csrcasses Of the money
sbavers, gold gamblers and land sharks who
are rObbing the government and the people.
Labor IL forced into an unnatural and de
grading position. 1t is a. the bottom Of
the bail instead Of at the top. The products
Of labor are sifted like corn through lad
der labor gets what sticks to the rings
Out Of this unnatural position We desire to
get-throagh the ballot-box-and BY peaca-
bic means If possible; but we mean to get
out, even il TO do so involves the cutting of
Of few heads Ii this 10 q aggression from
the subject, ask the readers pardon.
MORE TESTIMONY. ~
We scarce pick up paper OF any tenable
preten sions to position as first class, with