The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1873-11-01
THE FINANCIAL OUTLOOK.


THE FINANCIAL OUTLOOK.
The financial condition Of the country
Is far trom being satisfactory, AID We pro
pose 20 offer a few suggestions upon the
subject. FIR the benefit of the working
classes These classes, if not tinanciers,
very we'll understand that currency and
business based on 1t. is ~ all things I'M
certain the most an, artain and unsatisfac
tory. Another fact they also understand
Is, that currency Is not money, and that
none has been. aud. VS. may add, none
will be-, invented under bankers and tinan-
clers manipulations. which will not, every
eight or ten years. produce a financial
crisis, the evil fruits of which, m the end,
must come out ot the industrial classes
They are always the victims. for they do
useful service, or produce all the values,
but seldom hold cut-throat securities
These are all III the hands Of bankers OF
brokers. ar IN other words. IN the hands
If the hveuas Of the financial class. When,
therefore. a crash comes, As come It must,
labor ana business must he cont mt u fur
nish productions and useful services for
the financial and law protected Shaking
class at half price, and pay three Or four
prices for the fnanciers' deprecated and
property -depreciating currency. Why
Because Law and customs, through which
las comes 80 ordaius; not only this, but
they must wait patiently the SHINING pro
cess of the fnanciers III their victims, and
81 the more or less victimized people.
When, however the National Banking
ACT was inaugurated, as It had ever been
before il the institutlng Of its predecessor,
the State "Wild Cat" it was ushered in
on the credit Of the greenbacks as ma
tiOidi money, and 1t was said, Of course, II
would be free from the depreciation Of the
"Wild Cat currency, and tie country
saved from financial disaster, which peri
odically afflicted il under tn. disastrous
reign Of that currency. Natl nal Banks,
It was also said, would furnish a { rrrency
Of uniform value III all the Sta ;, and
they could not break, consequently crash
would be a thing almost, if not quite, i'm
possible.
But alas National Bankers do tail, and
a financial crush is as sure to follow in their
wake a. under the State wild Cat" sys-
TEN. Both are simply a currency, not
money Both are based on the false sys
TEN that specie alone is, and can lie, money,
and that a currency must not, and cannot,
be made reliable or not subject to depre-
citation when based on the commodities it
exchanges, and regulated solely in amount
by the quantity which can be lesitimately
used, or is required for that purpose, by
the amount OF commodities to be exchanged;
instead Of this, that its value must consist
not in the functions it performs, but In
the ability If the banker to pay gold for
K, which he never had nor will have, when
demanded
The National Banking Act, therefore, in
substance, was, and is, simply new edl-
ton Of the State "Wild Cat" under ma
tional authority. The grand distinction
between the two is, that the former was an
ill-conceived cheat, fraud; the latter,
compact, well-digested robbery Of the peo-
pie, covered up in astute terms, and in the
extent and variety of powers conferred by
the act. The State system did not secure
the bill-holder; he and the depositor stood
an equal chance Of being skinned alive.
The National Banking Act, therefore. to
make the new act acceptable to the public
and pave the way for the circulation Of the
new currency, made provision which Sc
cures the bill-holder, but leaves the depos-
itor out in the cold But as a compensa-
ton for this burden placed upon the bank
er. it gave him a double interest, almost
entirely exempt from taxation, and made
him the special agent of the Government.
Thus was ushered in the most oppressive
and grinding monopoly ever instituted by
legislative enactment. Some 600 bank
ers have the entire control Of the circula-
ting medium Of this great nation. But
with all these advantages the bubble has
burst, and another must be substituted.
We are in the midst Of a financial crash,
the causes of which are 50 intimately
blended with the action of the General
Government, and consequently 50 deep
and widespread that no man can at pres
ent predict either its duration or the ex-
tent of the evils it will infict upon the
country.
The crash Of 1857 was the most severe
of any which occurred under the State
''Wild Cat" reign.
1t hasbeen estimated by those well quail
flied to judge, that the crash Of 81 cost
the business. and industrial classes at least
q billion Of dollars-dead loss Taking.
then, the extravaganza and outrages COM
mitted by the banking and corporate mo-