, 1869-05-19

house Of the Indiana Legislature. II thai
vote is not in accordance with the Consti
tuition Of Indiana, then the vote in either
house of Congress, whereby the Fifteenth
Amendment Inns been submitted to the
Legislatures Of the various States, il not in
accordance with the National Constitution,
But II the vote in Congress submitting il
be lawful, the vote in Intliana ratifying it i
inst as lawful
TIE LABOR UNIONS AND THE CUR,
| REECY.
Slr. TTevellick, who is STYLED the
champion Of the National Labor Union, -
in bis lecture in this city on Saturday last,
uttered number Of truisns, Of some OF
which he made sensible, Of others, very
incorrect, applications. Thus he said that
"I the workingmen did not attend to
"thelr own interests, some other person or
"persons would do it for them, and leave
"them out in the cold every time" He
then, IN answering the question, Who gave
man the power to sell the earth while the
toiling millions were asking for bread
said that it was by legislation at Wishing
ton and State Legislation, and the reason
Why there had been such legislation was that
the w'o1kingmen, instead Of attending to
their own interest, had left it to others.
THE worHngmen," he said, "had brought
"it upon thenselyes-they had not takcn
"them (the leeislatoss) hy the throat
"and demanded their rights Referring
to England, Ireland and Scotland, where he
said the soil was not owned by the people,
| he remarked that he ttbeliered the broad
ssacres Of England and Scotland would re-
''vert to the people, if not by legislation,
shy cutting throats." Considering the
fnct that for half century the actual
settler has been ut liberty to
sd'tain pre-emptive title to any
public land in the United States, and that
for the last ten or fifteen years any actual
settler could select, free Of cost, home
stead Of lI0 acres, and that this law is now
in force, the complaint that any person Is
excluded from the pnhllc lands, who wants
ogo there. is rather far fetched. There
never can be any monopoly Of land in tho
United States; the whole real estate OF this
country under our social system is re,lis-
tributed Mt least once during each genera
ton, which We suggest, with al due defer-
ence to the " champion, is a better process
tlan legislation or q cutting throats"
Eut the cruwring point in this lecture to
working1ncn, was tho in:precation upon
s'l,l. and the laudatioa Of printed paper as
h.oney- The report Of the lecture reads:
"tn!ess tho financial rlan laid down by the Ma.
states, rot unc pa1ticle:of q dcmocra,tc 1euuSilc
would cx!st on this continent twenty years from
w 1'.s III iano5 s;l a caplta together only ,once
people eat and drink, uni capital, l,y Legislative
authority, charged Tor its USE from seven to four
what would he the result: The producer woali
60 down and the non.proIucer come up. Tue
shacklcs had been knocEet from the hands Of the
negro. The next thing to be done Has to strike
them from the hands OF the white man aud free
nm from his master, the boad.holAina ill.,
ns, tt5est and l., ,msaesed power Of the nation
nas the sovereign power Of the Federal tsovern-
nscnt. Let it Issue money for the people, and Let
t:iat which Is nov going into tankiug institutions
forbid that ever dollar OF gold should circulate
in America again. It was the monster which had
rao controlled the currency, the tolllng millions
were made tributary to the holders. Money
should h iss1ea ~ the government fort the people,
and gold sold, rs copper, iron and wheat, ior
What 1t was wtrth. lie wnuted Grcenbacks,
STAMPED hS the government, an! Known as Amcri-
cln money!
l; il the encouragemcntjwhic working
men give to absur.iities like this, which en-
niles crafty spectators to lcgislntc thetc-
selves rich nj the expense Of those who work
f,'r wages. The idea that flooding the coun-
try with deprecated paper will cmancipate
the workingmen from any hardship they
may suffer, is a repetition Of suggestion
which has been tried over and over during
tie last four hundred years, and always with
tie most crushing disaster to that very class.
There can be no law which will give to a
l3iece Of paper value which it does not
POSSESS In tho time Of Henry VII. Of
England, there WAS n scarcity Of money,
aud, Mt the suggestion Of Il champion
fnancier, the coinage Of shilling4 With only
one-half the ordinary amount Of silver
was authorized. The effect wns that in a
few weeks it took two now shillings to
purchase What one formerly did. Though
tie number of shillings in tho conn
Try IVES vastly Increased, yet the pur-
chasing power ard value of tho money
remained precisely what it WIS he
fore. Yet at regular intervals from that
day to this, in tho form Of brass, or
copper OF paper, the same delusion
hfs been maintained by b1atherskites.
The present value Of grecnbacks con-
s;sts solely in the national promise to re-
deem them in guild. As the prospect Of !!
that redemption appso1imatcs or reccles,
SO does the value of the greenback. If
they were redeenlable mex. Monday, and
tie government had the gold for TINT pur-
l''sr, they would be worth 100 cents on the |
c'lsr. AS it il, they nrc worth ~ cents. j
Two weeks ago, gold stood at 100; green
lacks At II. In that titce, the green1'acks,
which ne in the hands OF Tho people, have
depreciatsd seven cents in tho dollar, or, in |
other wores, tho six hundred and fifty |
'ndlions Of currency now in circulation Is !
worth less by Ss4',o00,o than it was two
weeks ago. Ufon whom does this luss fall? |
Not upon the capitalist, because his
money IL not n unproductivc green. |
facks: but upon the men who have
Received the money for their labor during
these two weeks. The "chalupion~ pro-
poses to nl'olish gold, which he STYLES the
robbcr OF the poor Of an nations, aud place
IN the hands If the poor more i1rctlcema.
hle paper, haying no asce1tained value, md |
winch, hy series Of fluctuations, would
soon 1npoverisa the people, and eventually
beeene utterly worthless.
The proper remedy for workingmen Of |
every degree and station is to labor for a re- |
duction of the cost Of living; and this is
only nttainahle by reduction Of the present
excessive taxation on all articles Of primo
necessity, and by a return to specie pay
ments. The worhngnan who shall sue
ccssfully point ont 10 his craftsmen that the
tax which is levied unler the pretencs Of
protecting them from foreign competition
is 10 protection, but IS really consuming
half Of their earnings, and that an ire
dcenablc and fauctuating currency is cheat |
ing them out Of the other half, will, indeed,
he Ii leader worthy 10 lie styled NOT only the
champion Of labor, Int the champion of |
truth nnd sound policy.
Ihc solitary Copre~l,cad paper ron,rininp |
IN this city deSotcs column Of its editorial
space to proving that Fitch and Bright were
improperly and unlawfully elected United
States Senators by the Democratic Iecisla-
ture Of Indiana in 1857; and that ss their
election Wis clearly done in violation OF the
State Constit11finnr It nlso sound1y hn