The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-02-13
WHAT u MONEY g-No- "


1t wac my intention ID the beginning, to
bave 6uisted the suit jet in three articles,
but / HAYS found il impossible to DO so to
my Own satisfaction, must, therefore, ask
the indulgence of tie reader, if grow tedi-
Gus, and ~ these articles are extended Re
youd what may seem necessary, it must be
attributed 10 an earnest desire to make the
whole matter plain TO the understanding Of
every reader.
"Ihe power Of money to accumulate value
by INTEREST," is 4 vast power; so great, in
deed, that it is hard TO bring it into such
proportions Is 10 be easily understood BY
ordinary minds When We ! gin to talk Of
thousands of millions, aud billions, &C.. the
mind Of the ~oIkihgmaD, who bat seldom
has more thIn a weeks wages to count over,
becomes bewilderej, ard be don't care to
listen. 1 have already said that interest
acts like lhe TAX collector, il gathers 10 the
products w !a6or taking them from the la
borers and giving them to the capitalists.
Money loaned at ten per cent viii double il
seven years, three months and FIVE days az
nine PEI cent. IN eight years and fifteen days !;
at eight yer cent. in nine years and two
days at seven per cent. IN ten years, Two
months and twenty-s six days; s:x per cent
in eleven years, ten months and tWenty-one
days. at FIVE per cent. 10 fourteen years, " 3
months and thirteen days al four per Gems.
IN seventeen years aud eight months al
three per cent. in twenty-three years, FIVE
months and ten days; and at two per cent.
ID about thirty -ive years. The average rate
Of interest for seventy years has been about
eight per cent. per annum. At be begin
nipg property was more equally distributed
than it is now. We viii suppose one eighth
Of the poT ulation to have owned one-fourth
Of the value Of the property, ano to have
loaned il On interest, or rented their proper
~ at this rate, collecting and reloaning the
interest annually for the seventy years, the
amount would be $54 639, 1910, 532 or over
three times The amount Of The yalu. Of the
whole property Of The nation ID 1860.
Now, cannot the simplest mind see some
thing wrong in this2 The rate of interest
amounting, in seventy years, to more han
hree tiDiss the entire value Of all the pro-
perty II .he nation. All that labor produced
went 20 capitalists few men-all non
producers, and this balance Of interest over
production, l. hen upon lahOr-produo-
tive labOr-phy ,ieal labor, vast load Of
debt beaPed VI On the backs of the toilng
mi lions-a mortgage upon the bone and
NJ sele Of the nation-the very hearts blood
of the Nottingham is mortgagod from the
cradle to the grave.
Had the rate u interest been three per
ceHt instead Of eight per cent. il would have
amounted, IN seventy years, to $l,9S0,000,-
600, or les than one -tweuty-seyenth part of
the smount at eight per cent. Thus it will
be seen, that az three per cent, labor would
have retained over SeDen-eiyhts Of all it pro
duced, while at eight per cent. capital got
over three times more than the value of all
che property in the nation, besides ALL that
labor produced. This seven Fights, which
would have been labor's share, would have
been divided among the producers in the
shape Of wages, and very workingman
in the nation could be iD possession of a
comfortable home, and q circumstances en-
tirely independent. We would have nc
Vsaderbilts, Drews, Astors, Stewards, Bel
raonts and Cocks, worth their hundreds OF
millions, and exercising an influence and
power over the government and people, such
as was never before known since creation
while the dismal cries Of poverty-stricker
labor, shivering with cold and hunger, comes
up from every part Of the land. just thinl
Of it, fellow workjngmen, there are ten msr
in the city Of New York, whose combines
wealth is over three hundred millions cf dOt