The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1870-07-23

paper money, and the rejection of coins as
a tender, can have no more effect on the in
trinsic value Of the precious metals, or upon
the desire to possess them on account Of this
value, than the enactment Of law that
wheat shall be transported only on horse
back will alter the nutritious properties Of
the wheat, and the desire to use ID ior food.
One would suppose that those who 90 highly
prize gold and silver coins for their intrinsic
value, would be strong advocates of paper
money the coins being released from their
use as money, the gold and silver would
easily and naturally fall into their hands
1t may be objected that if money be
made go plenty, the people will rum into ex.
travagant speculations but little thought
will make il evident that the system will
prevent great 'stuations in the price Of
property, and of course remove the induce
ments for speculations.
1t may be objected that SO great an alter.
ton in the medium of exchange and meas
ure Of value, will derange and unsettle The
value of property, introduce confusion into
the various branches of business, and break
down all existing relations between money
and property. But in substituting better
for worse. the means to effect the change
must be improvements; and every stage,
from the commencement to the entire exclu.
sion Of the present currency, will be sue
cession Of benefits to the mass Of the people.
The change will only lessen the power Of
capital over the future productions Of labor.
1t will deprive no man Of the use Of his
property or money; both will be at his dis
Posal as much as under the present none
tary system.
Another objection will be the risk incurred
BY unfaithfulness in the officers appointed
to manage the Institution. Every insti-
tuition must have officers, and a certain
amount Of power must necessarily be con6d-
ed to them ; consequently risk Of unfaith-
fulness must be incurred. But other cir
cumstances being equal, the risk il greater
or less in proportion to the action Of self
interest and according to the plan Of the
Safety Fund, no officer will be allowed to
borrow money from the Fund, nor to be
interested in any Of its loans Bonds will
also be required for the faithful discharge d
duty. But granting there be risk. yet It
will be almost nothing compared with thai
now incurred under the banking system
where the officers have their own interests
to serve in various ways, and especially by
increasing the rates of interest and using the
funds of the bank for their private advan
tage.
1t may also be objected to the Safety
Fund, that it will lessen the incomes Of
widows and orphans but there are very
few of this class who have incomes Objec-
tors on this ground will therefore do well to
extend their sympathy 50 as to embrace the
nine-tenths whose only means of support is
the scanty compensation for their daily and
excessive toll, and whose condition, and the
reward of whose labor, as well as the earn
greatly improved by the reduction Of the
interest on capital. Their sympathies will
then lead them to advocate the Safety Fund,
unless they are actuated by some other
motive than commiseration for the needy.
The greatest difficulty, however, to be ap
pretended in the introduction of the new
currency, will be found in the attachment
Of the people to ancient laws and customs,
sanctioned by the greatest statesmen of the
past, and ages Of experience; but this feel
ing operates with the same force in other
things, and has been found to yield in favor
Of improvements introduced by the progress
of discoveries in the arts and sciences.
There needs only undoubted proof that
an evil exists, and that a remedy can be
applied for its removal, in order to secure
the reformation. We have already shown
that great evils have arisen from the unjust
monetary laws of the past, anu to our mind,
conclusive proof has been offered to sustain
this point. 1t is now incumbent on objectors
to show, for instsnce, that the inhabitants Of
cities produce more for the people Of the
country than the latter produce for the
former; that a man by standing on the
corner Of street few hours in day to
lend the legal representative of value to the
necessitous at exhorbitant rates Of interest,
produces more Of the necessaries Of life than
hundred Industrious farmers and mechan.
les that the yearly use Of the present
bank-notes in the State of New York is
really worth as much to the people as the
"a, ,4S5, 1888 worth Of products which they
are compelled to sell annually. to pay the
interest or that one and one-tenth per
cent. interest would secure to producers a
greater proportion of the products of their
labor than they are entitled to receive. If
they can prove that the productiveuess Of
land and labor is in proportion to the rate Of
interest, or that the public good requires
that the wealth should be concentrated in a
few hands, they will then have shown the
superiority of our present monetary system.
These are things of which farmers and
mechanics and other producers can judge as
well as any statesman or lawyer in the
country. If scarcity Of money and high
rates Of interest DO not effect the market
value Of labor and products, let it be clearly
shown to the producing classes. If such
questions be evaded, it is but fair to infer
that the advocates Of existing monetary laws
are willing or desirous that the oppression
Of the producers should be Continued, and
the people be kept ignorant Of the Causes Of
their poverty, instead Of having the reward
Of their labor and their business transactions
regulated by standard which they will
perceive to be just, and of which they can
understand the operation.
1t may be admitted .lat the theory of the
Safety Fund is good, but impracticable at
present it is calculated for some future
generation, when men shall have become
more intelligent and virtuous Ifthe same
faith shall be held by the generations which
are TO follow us, it will be difficult to point
out at ,ohG period this desirable reformation
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