The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1870-10-15
A SUGGESTION.
HOW TO SECURE q LASTING PEACE,

zoe u The planks in the National Labo
Iaion Platform, We transfer it entire:
Y An inquiry or investigation into tn
saSteHaRre, 50 to speak Of war, Of th
Daodas oPerandi by which it is carried on
ma yfurnish such views as to lead all mind,
to one and the same conclusion.
The first and most obvious query is th,
relative contribution Of labor and capital
The law conscripts labor to the rank:
rOleRS CoLeRS. An artisan, for instance
has to leave his employment in which b,
earns, say, five dollars day, and enterin.
the ranks. leaves his family suddenly de
prived Of The income from his work II
the ranks be receives some twelve dollar,
per month, having all bis own expenses t.
pay, except his rations.
lfhe should be killed outright, bis family
forever deprived Of the Eve dollars per day
may receive one-fifteenh part Of that sun
after delay, labor and expense in getting
enrolled on the pension list. If be ould
be wounded desperately and unified for
labor, be will be an additional burden
upon the above amount or pittance Of pen
sion, and when be dies, ceases. Bnt, as
suming that be should be among the very
fortunate ones who escape death and disease
and return home uninjlred, what is his
condition lie has lost sOme fifteen hundred
year for three or five years, and be finds
that, besides the loss, all the money and all
the supplies he received While subjecting his
life to the dangers Of battle land the
greater danger from hardship, exposure and
sickness) were mere advances to be re- paid
by him, principal with interest, in gold,
though advanced him in paper averaging
only fifty per cent in gold, so that he was to
pay one hundred per cent in principal more
than he received, and one hundred per cent
more in interest.
He finds this is the fact, that government
has thus mortgaged his industry, by the
issue Of government bonds bearing interest,
which are to be paid by taxes on the industry
Of the country. He finds that he must pay
not only double principal and double interest
for all that he received, but that he must
pay also for all the munit;ns of war for all
transportation, for all material wasted OF
destroyed, for all damages for all ships
built hurriedly and good fr little after the
war lie must pay all tho pensi, rs Of sol
diers and officers dead or wounded be
must pay for all the frauds and defalcations,
all the expenses for collecting these vast and
varied amounts.
III tact, and in a worl, he finds HIS
PROPORTION OF TAXES, for life, to pay back
to the capitalist this money advanced him,
with interest, fully equal to one fourth of all
bis earnings for all the remaining years of
bis f. How stands the debtor and credi
tor account
An inexorable law, at the point of the
bayonet, forced him to f0regO bis s. per
day, and at bis own cost and expense to
fight for the capitalist and then come baak
and pay the capitalist double principal and
interest, to gain what Why, less clear wa
ges than be got before The war The war
brings to him only unalloyed wrong, How
with capital Does the Provost Marshal
90 round with The bayonet to conscript CAPT
tai to carry on the war? Does not govern
ment rather go round, cap in hand, sOiici-
ting io1ns, offering better terms than any
one else? Do not capitalists loan govern
ment, because they drive a more profitable
bargain then elsewhere, and obtain exem-
ptions Is not the war made profitable to
capitalists, 10 protect whose property the la
borer is fighting at bis own cost and expense,
having no property of his own to defend,
and no possibility of lettering his condition
BY the war, even should be escape that in
evitable fate which awaits two out Of every
five labOring men in the army Tue CAPT
talist who advances materials to govern
ment, gets mua,fccnhy paid War is a
mich COW for them; but the eonscripted
soldier, who furnishes his hard labor and
bis life, has to pay his own expenses and to
pay these capitalists, too, profits and all
At the end Of the war the workingman
comes out impoverished to join his family,
who, deprived Of his earnings, has lived in
penury and struggle and anxiety during the
whole time be was exposed to hardship and
to death.
The laboring man wants to know why, il
he is bound to furnish bis body, bis labor,
his valor, bis life-wHY CAPITAL cannot be
conscripted to pay the money part of the
war, SO that at the end the laboring man
will have lost his life, or limb, or labor and
time, and capital its contribution Of capital
The laboring man cannot understand, mol
can justice or patriotism understand, why
capital shall rot be conscripted, and con
tribute to the war its share, as does the la.
boring man his share.
These views would seem to tend inevita-
bly, to the conclusion, that Justice require:
capital to furnish the means Of war, wher
the laborer furnishes the soldier; TINS the
sCGr woud end Uithom debt, and the sol
der not be burdened all bis life to enrich
men who have borne none of the hardship;
Of the war. This lesson also is laugh, that
whenever capital shall be made to contrib
ute the expenses of war against the servic,
of soldiers, from that moment peace will
rest on every land. and standing armies be
converted into producers
The monstrous iniquity Of the present
system is as mortal sin against Christianity
and justice as the Imagination can conceive
/ 1t is the offspring Of despotism, and tina
! it should exist in arbitrary governments i
conceivable, but that should it continue Il
exist in any government where the people
have control is marvel, and proclaims th,
extraordinary patience, long suffering, anc
patriotism of the laboring classes.
Let the doctrine universally prevail, tia
capital shall not find in war rich harvest
but that it shall be compelled to bear it
full share OF the burdens, instead of reap
ing all the profits of the war, and we shall
witness an era of everlasting peace inaugu
rated, with minimum standing armies, an,
no accommodating debt.
Rothschild. who lately died in Paris
Zone Of five brothers, partners, was re
ported to have left an estate Of f400, 900,
900, at which rate, for the five brothers
uvo,,H o00ra~ata tho ann, of 90 0fl0 mn