The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1871-05-13
WHAT Is M0NRYi-No. III.
BY WIN. H. sYLvIs.

BY WIN. H. sYLyIs.
A false monetary system, and the I'M
wise financial policy pursued by the
Government from the beginning Of the
war to the present time, has built up a
mOneyed oligarchy such as the world
never saw; and the whole nation is
completely under its control Congress
has SO legislated as to fix a standard of
value, or a rate of interest that is abso-
lutely ruinous six per cent. in gold is
about per cent in greenbacks and
the bonds being exempt from taxation,
and considering all other things to
their advantage, we find that the rate
Of interest is fully l3 per cent Ifthis
was really the fired standard it would
not be so bad, but it is only the rate
beLosc which it cannot go but il goes
far above that, nearly all over the conn.
try.
Money was instituted by the Gov
eminent for no other purpose than to
be a measure Of value, and a medium
of exchange. We see that the law in
nearly every State recognizes this prin-
ciple by fixing some legal rate of IN
terest; and the Government has recog-
nized it by fixing per cent. in gold as
the legal standard. These legal rates
are not uniform; and if they were it
would make no difference, because the
whole matter ofinterest, and everything
connected with money, is in the hands
of few persons, whose only study is
how best to bring to themselves the
wealth produced by the labor of the
nation. They rob alike the Government
and the people.
The constitution of the United States
declares the Congress shall have power
TO coin money and regulate The pOsOer
thereof and Of foreign coin, and to
fix the standard Of weights and meas
ures.
Congress has definitely fixed the
length of the yard, the size Of the BUSH
Eel, and the weight of the pound but it
has not fixed the value of money. Un-
der our present monetary system, the
value of money is no more tfxed by
congressional action, than is the price
of coal, iron or any other article OF
commerce.
Money is the legal standard of value.
The rate of interest fixes the value oil
money. It's value is no more 6xed by
the quantity or quality Of its material,
than the size of the bushel is fixed by
the quantity or quality of its wood. II
would be thought unwise or unjust il
Congress should provide that the yard
stick should be made Of q rare and
costly material, and to authorize q few
merchants to regulate its length, and
vet it would not be half 40 injurious to
the public good, as to empower few
bankers and usurers to regulate the
value of money. In the former case
the merchant would be brought face TO
face with the purch aser, and the fraud
would be seen, and the buyer would
have the means Ofselfprotection, while
in the latter case, the power operates
silently and unseen, and the oppression
is seldom brought in contact with the
injured party.
The rapid centralization of the prop
ert, of the nation. into our large cities,
and into the pockets of the strictly non
producers, is plain to every mind. The
wealth-producing classes have sought
to avert this evil and better their con-
dition, by almost every means but the
true one. Labor saving machines have
been invented TO increase production,
and every possible means Of improving
the quality Of the various productions
of the soil and labor, have been intro
duced, and new avenues Of transit have
been multiplied to cheaper trsnsPorta-
tons, but all to little or no avail. These
classes are still compelled to toll on in
comparative poverty. the increase in
production, the improvement in quail
ty, with the increased means OF trans
pOrtatiOn, have but tended to augment
the wealth Of the few, and impovsrish
the many.
With the present accumulative pow
or of interest, there ID no more chance
for the laboring classes to gain their
rights by combining their labor to in
crease production, than there would be
hope OF success In combining their labor
to reverse the course of the rivers, and
make them run to the tops Of the noun
tains, snd pile up their waters on the
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