The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1871-09-23
FROM CALIFORNIA.

tIcIan should thus boldly proclaim views
80 essential to the emancipation Of IA.
Dor, and so opposed to the bullionistic
programme Of party, is one Of the most
propitious events which has graced the
present industrial crisis. A National
Currency is the only fulcrum and lever
which can uplift and shield the laborInR
millions. We may murmur against mo-
nopoly against overgrown corporations,
against the concentration Of capital
these are but the results, the absolute
creations of a limited, restricted, and
repressed Currency. The monopoly Of
money is the parent Of every other mo-
nopoly. To limit by statute law the
issuance Of legal tender, is TO abridge
the employment both Of labor and pro-
ductive capital, to arrest the multiplica-
ton of wealth-nay to suspend the very
conditions of social progress and life to
the millions. Bread is only procurable
through the agency Of labor-and labor
is only employed through the agency Of
money. When he LAW denies free and
ample Currency, subsistence is denied,
and social degradation is inevitable.
Thesa are incontrovertibIe principles,
but on abandoning a system founded
upon a violation Of the most evident
laws of economical and monetary sci
cnce, let us be careful that we do not
not introduce a theoretical scheme
equally crude, though more specious in
its pretensions. A national currency is
a national and industrial necessity. Il
does not depend on the coincidence Of
national Indebtedness, occasipned by
war, that such currency should be es-
tsblished. Industry and commerce are
daily multiplying the trading obliga-
tons between citizen and citizen, be-
tween state and state, and as the in
crease, and power 10 increase wealth
augments SO the obligations Of exchange
must enlarge. Money is the only legal
instrument to cancel these ever accu-
initiating liabilities. If there is not
sufficient legal tender, the few more
wealthy than Others, monopolise its use,
and employ it, not To circulate the
products Of labor, but az an instrument
TO exercise a monopoly of credit. The
power of concentration is thus inde6.
nitely augmented in their hands. Thus
the small merchant and trades men be.
come the slaves of the stronger capital.
lst, and the great producing mass. be
hold the countless millions Of wealth
flowing from the fountains of their in
dustry transferred without equivalent
by the power OF a limited cm rency and
irresponsible arfstOcracy of unscrupu
lous or fortunate advenIureTs. A mt
dir a Of circulation which will emanci
pate labor and productive capital mus
be founded on principles IN which mon
etary reaction and financial crisis car
no more create confusion in the opera.
ton of a well constructed piece Of ma
chinery. A currency convertible into
bonds will moi reiiiZe this security
Neither the legal tender note, nor the
federal bond il a standard Of value.
The issue OF a thousand millions of legal
tender would carry down the value OF
The ddaier-motv 90 a point " hioh ns ore
could esttshate and baiing asssredst an
the entire Institution Of national cur.
rency. Public opinion. relying more Oh
The couasel Of it's prOpounders than
from an absolute knowledge Of the sub
Jet, would on che first reaction denounce
its advantages while the pseudo con
Omists would call for the return OF a
system which has crushed labor to the
earth. "A medium OF circulation with
out a standard OF real and defined value
can have neither permanency nor uni
tormity. Under proper statute regn-
latiOns the standard of value would
place no repressive action on the neces-
sary enlargement Of national currency
We might expand the volume of circu-
lstlon to thousand or TWO millions or
more without depreciation or confusion
A somewhat ,quable market value for
gold has been maintained for series or
years, though the collateral volume OF
currency ia nearly FIVE times greater
than previous to the war Tie surrep-
utIous operations of Mr. Boutwell, on
the market value Of god las however
entalled immeasurable wrong on all
classes of producers, and il full of peril
to the security of trade. Instead of
regulating the standard by an equitable
statute, an arbitrary and cspricious
ministerial authority raises and depress-
es the price of bullion at pleasure.
When the greenbark was raised from
seventy fpe cents TO ninety by the secre-
tary of the treasury-he debqsed the
rate Of wages, and the price Of every
product Of labor in the same ratio
throughout the nation, and threw at
least million of operators out Of EN-
ployment. The depreciation of manu-
facturers by this coup de main, con6s-
Gated hundreds of millions of the prop
erty passing through the hands cf the
mercantile and manufacturing classes
No sovereign, however despotic, could
exercise such pewer, in violation Of
every principle Of justice with impu
nifty. Mr.. Chase issued legal tender
without a standard, ard carried down
The value OF the currency to a point
which but for the fortunate termination
Of the rebellion, would have produced
the most disastrous confusion.
Our sNafiou.l Tah.r TTnionD muSt
studiously avoid the initiation Of cur
rency Influenced by such precedents.
The crisis is approaching when the
voice Of labor will sway The COUNCILS
Of the nation. II we are prepared with
well-digested measures the enslave-
ment Of industry by the despoli~m OF
monetary restriction will cease Should
our lamps be trimmed, the republic will
enter a new era, in which science and
capital will be subordinaIed tothe eleva-
ton Of labor-an epoch in which en-