The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1870-08-06
A New Monetary System,
BY EDWARD KELLOGG.
CHAPTER Y

ADVANTAGES OF THE SAFETY FUND.
Let the Safety Fund be established, and
interest reduced to one and one-tenth per
cent, and after a year or two let inquiry
be made Of the same farmer about bis vel
fare. He would probably say, Il am
doing very well | am much better off than
L was two or three years ago. | send my
children to school, and have good living. F"
Should be be told that bis prosperity was
owing to sound currency and low rate Of
interest, he might say Il do not borrow
any money from the Safety Fund, and |
have no money to lend upon interest. /
raise corn and potatoes as formerly, and sell
them to the same merchants. / do not see
how the reduction Of the interest on money
that other people borrow is any benefit to
me-" Although be does not perceive the
causes of his past privations or Of his present
comforts, be will be as sensible as any one
of the improvements in bis condition. If
a man suffering intense pain we're informed
that it was caused by the disorder Of a
nerve, he might not understand this, nor
think SO small a cause could occasion such
acute suffering. Apply the proper remedy,
let the nerve recover its tone, and the pain
cease, and he would be conscious Of health,
although he might not understand how the
pain was removed. Whether a man under.
stand the laws relating to his physical
system or not, be will suffer if any organ
do not perform its duty and whether
lan nj ba of
ey or not, they must suffer all the con
sequences of its imperfect or deranged or
ganization.
There will doubtless be class Of objec-
tors to the Safety Fund who will contend
that it is by the use Of greater talents, and
not by the unjust power Of money, that a
few gain the majority Of the wealth in a
nation. But it is evident that if the greater
talents Of the few are not dependent upon
the unjust power of money and the love Of
gain by its exorbitant rate per cent. interest,
that diminishing the power Of money and
greatly lowering the ate per cent. interest,
cannot in the least infringe upon the full
and freest use Of their greater talents, either
for the production or the acquisition o
wealth, or for any other Just and Lawful
purpose.
When the natural reward of labor i.
secured to the labOrer, poverty cannot exist
in any famil y whose members are able anC
willing to work. And those who can &
easily provide for their own wants, vii
cheerfully contribute to the support Of tht
sick and needy. They will be able to sup
ply themselves amply with the comforts 0
life, and have an abundance Of time for in
tellectual and moral culture. The incen
tives to vice will be comparatively few
Avarice first arises from the fear of want
to remove want will therefore in grea
measure remove this vice, and the unnum
bered evils which are its attendants. 1t i
frequently said that The people must reform
and that not until then may we hope 70
good laws. Not SO we might as well ex
pect families to grow up virtuous where th,
parents are cruel, profigate, and vicious, a
to expect nations to be virtuous under op
pressive laws. Make the laws a STANDARD
of right, and their benefits must secure al
improvement in the morals Of the people.
1t is often said that men are naturally
lazy, and will not labor unless compelled b.
an urgent necessity and it may be object
ed to the Safety Fund that if laborers arr
supplied with all the necessaries and com
forts of life with far less labor than at pre-