Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1872-04-16
10. the spirit 81 J.asr.oIa, p
Communicated.

Ar. Editor The .smember of the Con.
vent'on who, in your last issues. advert,,, 4.
my letter To Col. Ben. Wilson. has .iieen
very satisfactory explanation of the it..,,, :,
the forty-first Section of the Gonst,nt;on a,d
| am perfectly satisfied with it. The only oh
ject of it. it seems, is to have uniform ,ss,;s.
a.ion on the subject of usury in all the conn
ties of the State This is right and pronsr
and as understand from the correspondent
that the amendment was proposed b, Mr.
Travers,,I take pleasure in saving i. wa. ,
proper amendment But, what I object to in
the letter Ia, that it places me in a falls. po.;.
ton, of denounciug the Convention or anv
member of the Convention. / knew there
were men in that convention, and out of IL
who hold the monstrous fallscy that MONEY
and other things are to be put on the sam.
footing; in word, that thing, in itself. of
no intrinsic value. but of conventional rol,.
only; and mere measure and representative
of value, is some how, and by miracle. trans
substansiated into veritable substance, AVID to
be considered, and treated as other things
and, it was to guard against any subtle machi
nations Of such men, and to put the copven-
ton and the public on its guard against them
that wrote that letter and gave it to the pnb-
lie. l had seen in the Constitution of our
dear old mother State Virginia, what woe. had
been brought on her by the miscreants, who
cheated her BY the IL per cent. clause, and
| was determined, as far as /. wa. in NV power.
that no chicanery or legerdemain should be
practiced on this most vital matter in our con.
vention. It may be said was suspicious T
admit; and. in this cancassiny, axe grinding
age, the man who does not keen both his ewes
wide open, and his ears too, and fear the mo.
tives, words, end acts of his public servants,
g.,
is the price of liberty !" 1 have then st.tsd
there was no cause for it; why, then. who is
denounced 2? No body!
One word upon the subject of Communist
ideas:' | would ask the letter writer where
he gets his views of 'tcommupi.m" from 2 Is
1t from their enemie. in Europe and in thi.
country, or from their avowed and published
principles! As understand them thew ar.
opposed to monarchy and monopoly. and be.
v"nd this. the charges are false and untrue
that are brough. against them If this he all
am communist, and l suppose YOUR cor
respondent i. also.
10 concluding this answer, I must cav to
your correspondent, that with all his hatred
OF special legislation" it i. a matter Of sur
prise 70 me that he doe. not see the evil Of IL
IN its most pernicious and destructive form.
mean in regard to money. If the money
was of Gold, why gold is only one of the pro
duets of labor; and why give to it by Especial
LEGISLATION" the Ieg"1 po,cer-a power it does
not possess by na'ure-of being the only
thing tender for debts and taxes, To do
this, and then to leave it without. restriction.
is to put all labor and property in its power,
and to make what was intended to be the
servant of labor and prope,ty-in word of
cap'tal-its master! I conclude BY assuring
your correspondent that I shall give his con
st'tution an imnartial and scrutinzing exami
nation and if like it will vote for it.
Yours very respectfully
JSO A. Thomson