The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1872-06-18

at profit of six, eight and ten per cent,
which labor has got to pay back before one
cent. in the way of profit can go into their
hands or the hands Of their employers.
This money, under our present system,
has cost the owner of it nothing-not
days labor of single human life
but the men who make it are paid bonus
by the government, or an annual six per
cent. profit, on every dollar of it they issue.
This six per cent. bonus has to come out of
the labor of the people, before the first
penny's profit can go into their own
Golfers or the Golfers of their employers.
These two profits-the six per cent. bonus
paid by the government, and the six, eight,
and ten per cent. paid by the merchant and
manufacturer, making in all from twelve to
sixteen per cent. proft-constitute the
first and only dividend to be declared, if
the profits of labor do not exceed the
twelve and sixteen per cent. named. And
it is safe to say, that no one branch Of
industry in hundred will pay profit
enough in excess of this enormous per
cent. to allow either employer or employed
to make the two ends of the year meet in
his business. Especially is this true where
the expenses of large family fall upon
either of the classes named. @ A
The evil, then, does not lie in the excest
tsiye imposition of labor-in the two hours
which is sought to be deducted-nor will
any relief come from their deduction. On
the contrary, the evil will only be aggravat-
ed by the attempt to deduct them !;
for their deduction involves the ruin
of whatever business the burdened
capital and labor may be engaged
in prosecuting. The present banking
system of the country, in league as it is
1 with its lending system, is as if two land
lords were to plant thems elves in every
hhouse, shop and store, and upon every acre
Eof land, to demand double rental from
A the laboring tenants. And this is legitimate
ly the effect Of our currency system, in the
hands of those who manipulate and control
its credit system, upon every branch of in
dustry in the country and it is just this,
and this only, which brushes labor down to
the verge of prostration and ruin. 1t must
be apparent, then, that the remedy does
. not lie in the deduction of labor, but IN The
| deduction Of the ercessice rates 81 money.
TThese rates are fully four times what they
Ijshould be to secure healthy condition of
trade, commerce, manufactures and labol
in the country; and while the toiling mil
lions are blind to the true cause Of the evils
that afllct them, and are only seeking by
1ptheir strikes to aggravate them, they vii
accomplish no good by their multiplied or.
CARNATIONS. sama'aa ur
, The fact is, that this exorbitant Interest
on the currency of the country, which thu
people pay in the shape of thirty million
bonus to the national banks in the first in
stance, and then in their eight and ten pc
: cent. for its use, is what strikes a fatal blov
at every industrial interest of the country
1t is what utterly prostrates and ruins az
Q riculture in this State, which is the basis
every other prosperity-which sustain
manufactures and builds up commerce
all It's diversified ramifcations, as well a
its multiplied blessings. +a'9@ t5a ee-.
Let the laboring men see the fundamentf
g absurdity involved in their present strikes
land organize themselves anew, TO strike !
HE right direction. The interest upon GU
:, Erency should in no case be greater tina
. 4 what the government itself pays. 1t
:. now funding at four and a half per cent
: and let the laboring millions, all over tn
- country, strike by the totes for four an
- one-half per cent. interest upon govern
y ment Ecurrency. Then the agriculture
~ can put his plough into Virginia soil; the
" the manufacturer and master-laborer ca
- give his eight hours day; then labor ar
IS every industry alike can compete with cal
! ital in fair division of profits, and no OF
: interest be crushed at the expense of anot
' er. 1t is in their power to do tin tt
- power of the working and voting classes
:, and they should insist that law shall henc
- forth be the handmade of justice, and tn
=. the extortionate demands Of the usure
a. with the iniquitous system of gambling al
~ robbery which he encourages, shall ceas
and cease forever, in America.
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