The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1871-05-20

poor. Labor erects . house and then
paws from 10 to 100 per cent. for the
privilege Of lising in il. Labor produ-
ces bread md then pays from 10 to 900
Der cent. for The privilege Of eating il;
every dollar labor can raise goes for in
terest: labor remains poor and the Shy
locks become rich. Interest produces
nothing. All it does Is to transfer the
products of labor to the pockets OF the
money lenders, bondholders, DE.
While this question Of interest is me
most important of oil the questions
connected with the political and social
relations of the people. yet it is less un-
derstood, perhaps, than any other.
The poor man, while he tolls from year
TO year, but little dreams that it Is in
terest that il robbing him Of oil he pro-
duces.
This matter of interest is the source
of al our financial panics and business
prostrations. The man who spends
aore than his income will 60 to the
wall sooner or later, and a nation that
spends more than it produces must
break down. No nation on the globe
ever did or ever can carry rate of in-
terest above the natural increase ofthe
national wealth without coming 10 D..
nancial ruin. The manufacturer. the
farmer, the mechanic, and the common,
laborer, each run in debt, each depeEid.
ing upon future labor to make up pres
ent deficiencies. A vast SUSTAIN Of
credits is built up throughout the land.
The money lenders. and the whole
horde of bankers. spectators and gam-.
blers, are day by day accumulating adj
ditional liens upon the productive pow
ers of the nation. This condition of
things lasts for about ten years, when
labor breaks down under the enormous
load. It's resources are exhausted, the
rate of interest can no longer be paid,
the creditors begin to crowd the debt
ors, a ''money panic" ensues. and fnan-
cial ruin sweeps over the country, pros
trating everything before it; hundreds
of millions worth of property change
hands at great sacri6ces-aebts are set
tied at q small per centage on the doh
lar-bankrupt laws are enacted-we
become q nation of individual repudia-
tors, and there is general balancing Of
accounts. which simply means transfer
ing all there is from labor to the pock-
cts of the money lenders and financial
gamblers. The bottom is reached, q
lull takes place, labor renews its ener-
gies for q new start, only TO have the
same operation repeated over again.
And this same operation has been re-
peated about every ten years, ever since
we have been a nation, and will continue
to be repeated 80 long as we are cursed
by our present monetary system.
1 The manufacturer, the farmer, the
business man of anyI kind, needing
money, must pay from 10 to 80 per cent
for the use of it. In many cases the
profits of his business are less than the
rate of interest demanded. To borrow
would be ruinous, therefore, his busi-
ness must languish, or what is very
frequently the case, a reduction Of
wages is made. This reduction does
not always, as is supposed, 60 into the
pocket of the employer. but into that Of
the money lender. Thus do employer
and employee suffer from this system
of legal robbery, called interest on
money.
l have already said that Congress
has, by violatio n of the constitution,
delegated the power to fix the value Of
money to few bankers, brokers and
usurers. 1t is true that Congress has
fixed a rate of interest on its bonds-
six per cent. in gold or about nine per
cent in greenbacks-considering that
they are exempt from taxation, and
have certain other special advantages,
the rate is very nearly thirteen per cent.
This may look to many, as if Congress
had fixed the rate Of interest-which
determines the value of money, and il
may be said that the fact that this does
not controle the rate of interest is q
sufficient answer to my argument
That this does not control the rate Of
interest is evident from the fact that
the usual or average rate is far above
thirteen per cent Would it be other
wise if tie rate Of interest on the bonds
was but three per cent? While the
average rate e interest would be less
than now, the system would remain the
same, for the reason that while Con-
gress says that one hundred cents shall
make q dollar, it has allowed few men
60 mcnopolize the lending Of money,
and to tx their own measure Of value.
To these all borrowers must 60. because
there is no where else they can 60.
BY reason of speculation in gold,
and the high rate Of interest maintain
cd. very large proportion Of the
whole currency of the nation il central
lied in the great commercial senters Of
the east, leaving the west and south