The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-01-30

than ever. The years Of 1928 win ever
be memorable 10 TIE history OF the country
for the W.T. slesale destruction Of fortunes and
commercial values. The bank chartered ex-
vi red In 1886 BY lie own limitation. and the
government again divorced itself fro all
connection with the finances Of the country,.
to leave a supposed convertible paper TO do
its own work, uncontrolled, save BY its own
laws, but the financial distrosses ant convul-
sioss Of 1887 caused all previous ones, for
the time, TO be forgotten.
In the endeavor to find some relief BY le
gislation politicsi parties were broken up,
and the election of 1870 turned upon the dis
tresses in business Of the country alone, but
chan-s of administration brought no relief.
The government established its own affairs
firmly on a specie basis in 1910, holding
aloof from any interference with the finances
OF the country, hoping to give them stability
by the regularity and steadiness of ITS re-
ceipts ard payments in coin, although some
times issuing notes like exchequer bills, Or
buying in its own bonds In order to deplete
it's repositories Of gold as a measure OF re-
lief tc commerce and business. Still the
periodical yisItati0ns of commercial disas-
ter ana ruin continued, and the distress and
revulsions Of lS47 aud 1857 quite paralleled
those of 1927 and 1887, AS periods of 6nan-
cial disaster.
1t Will not be useful further to trace the
commercial history of the country, but with
the experience OF seventy years Of such huc-
tuatluns OF value, Of commercial ruin ana
distress, from which the country cannot be
shielded either by the sagacits Of its imam
eiers and merchants, the wisdom OF its legs
lators, or the Iniustry aud enterprise OF It's
cltizens, let me pause here and ask, the
country beng nov, partially at least, eman-
cipated from a financial system producing
such results, Is Il desirable voluntarily to re-
turn 10 itY Specially, ought We to force
rum and distress upon the majority of the
people 10 order so 10 dor
IL Is needless Tor me TO add that amid all
these commissions AMI revulsions of the bus
mess Of the country aud Its currency AID
the destruction 81 its values, the losses fell
a; last. Is they ever must fall, upon the la
borrg masses. Bread riots were not unfre-
o .ent; productive industry was paraly ned !;
1 he work shops aud mills were closed, esv-
ing labor unemployed and unpaid its value
thus lost Is nevrr regaIned by rise H. prices
or a return to prosperity; for it is the pecu-
liarlty OF labor, says an eminent economist,
I" that It is the only comm rdity that perishes
at the instant Of production, anu If not then
Put 10 use is lost forever"
Such are the results experience, during
the lifetime 0. the Government, shows have
always followed the attempt to con:uet the
business OF the country upon spscle pay
ments, or, in other words, With circulating
medium supposed to be always convertible,
but which never can be converted into gold
and silver.
Let us now examine and see if we may
4 know why, with our currency upon a sup
posed basis Of conveTtiblity, experience has
shown that it is apparently beyond human
power to regulate or control, or Sustain he
business or finances OF the country. Is IL
not because IN adopting the specie measure
Of value and instrument Of exchange we have
bound our business aud finances hand and
foot to the m0narchs aud bankers OF Europe
We have adopted their standard of value,
which they control at their will, for their
purposes and for their prosperity and not
for ours. Whenever from caprice or mahg
hity or panic or war, or attempt 70 unsettle,
or restore the balance Of power among the
governments Of Europe they have seen 6t TO
lower cr raise their price for gold, then our
currency based thereon, but expanded as
four TO one, feels the shock IN quadruple
\ proportion. Nay, more, having silver and
gold both as standards Of vaile whenever
the caprice OF some Indian prince or Chinese
merchant chooses to call for silver in pay
ment Of the commodities We Or any other
nation import from the East and thereby
raises Il to a pIemnn IN COMPARISON Tttn
goii, then our gold and silver go out, not at
the Vslue fixed by US as coin, but at the
value at which they are taken, simply as
bullion.
Gold is still further depressed in value in
comparison with silver, which is the sole
standard Of the principal commercial coun-
tries Of Europe, save England; it is mus
drawa very rapidly to Europe to fill tEesz
CUM caused by tie enormous ezP0rtSs
Of silver TO China, Japan aid india. tbs
exient Of this dra n upon the silver OF EgIaps
and the necessary rise IN price as compared
with gold, and the consequent necessary
flow of gold from those countries where II
uas fKsd value as compared with silver,
ike ERSland and this country, where gold
IS the standard of value, may be seen from
data derived from the books Of the Oriental
Steam Navigation Company, through who's
agency alone the SUN of SEQ, 594 925 was
transported to Asia from England solery in
1856 aud increased in the following year to
$S3 ,976 100; to this add the sum OF SIG,
1894 from the rest Of Europe, we ave
500, 729 Cos as a startling fiji tx in snyer
only, from Europe to the East IN single
year. or more than double the annual yield
Of all the silver mines that supply Europe
and America.
To 10 ii % If
that amount in gold, say $40, 600, 900. II will
be observed that half of this amount OF sill
yer must BE- taken each year from the circu-
latIon Of Europe, say $4,000, 900, and its
place supplied with gold; and both these
exports Of specie TO the East are Independent:
o. that shipped directly from America, ami
are greater than the entire auerage product
Of the mines Of California. The most care
less consideration Of this fact will conclu-
sivey snow the reason why the Bank Of
gland in the years 1867 was unable to
RESTRAIN the eff TX Of gold from that king
dom, although she altered her rate OF DIS
count eight times during the year 1856, an d
niOe times IN 1851. quadrupliDg iJ in amount
AID ending in final Bankruptcy and suspen-
sion in November OF that year.
/ have taken this period for comparison as
il was before our war Of rebellion and the
cotton deaIth, winch so much affected the
finances Of England. TINS great dram still
goes On IL Il wise, therefore, BY legislative
enactment to force return to sICurrency by
which all our values are to b. measured, our
productions exchanged ana transported, our
wealth to be distributed, and our indu stries
TO be governed, the very basis Of which Is
which is controlled and auctuated not only
by the interests and commerce Of the Chris
tan and civilized world, bit by the trade and
needs Of the half civilized aad barbarous ma
tons OF the East
Instead Of this money, the inst. lment Of
tErAnts. which has Wrought all these eVIis