The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1873-10-29

~ N.Ou Ol llc uCI SO1o'So -, :
census report shows that he produced
| Ave! what has become Of it sur,
enough? 1t did not go into the pock
cts of the honest laborcr. 1t went tc
swell the Golfers of the capitalist who
hired him! Three hundred and scv
!enty.scvcn dollars and sixty cents tt
the hard handed, supplemented chi!c
of poverty, who won it fairly will
many q sturdy stroke, through many
IL weary hour Of painful toll, ane
s470.CG TO the capitalist, who sat ii
his couuting-room hy his burglar
proof safe and museu on-agrarian
ism !
Whether it was through inadvcr
tcncc or by design l wi not under
take to say, Mt the tables of agricul
tural statistics are left so extremely
Imperfect that it is utterly impossibl,
to arrive at anything like Il corrcc
estimate Of even the net produce O
that variety Of industry, and conse
quently the per cent. realized upo'
the capital Invested can not Jc de
duced from anything in the report
but your own experience will Justify
me in saying that it cannot DC mucl
over tcu, if even that.
The Statistics Of manufactures
however. arc far more explicit ant
satisfactory; q great deal more 81
perhaps than some would like TO hav,
them. They show that while the tota
amount of capital invested in tina
branch OF industry was :2.1lS,2OS,
79G. US | have already said, s775,5S1,
.3i3 we're paid in wages to those wh'
actually performed the labor, s2,4ss,
427 ,242 were expended in the matcria
used, and the gross products were
81 ,233, 2333 1926, ,442; so that you will only
have to deduct the aggregate amount
Of the wages paid and the value 0
the materials used from the amount O
gross product thus exhibited TO tint
that there was an aggregate net profit
of s9GS,313.S51; or clear average
profit to the capitalist of 45 per cent
on his money invested"
Forty-fve per cent. is thus Sc
cured to the manufacturer as the
average of profits to the manufact
urer, whilst the tables of particular
manufactures show that the pgofts
run up even to ninety-two per cent
The national currency comes in
for an equal share of the speakers
denunciation. lie says:
4 might 80 on much farther than
I have in pointing out tho just causes
of complaint which arc to be found in
the disturbed relations of money and
labor in oar country. | might show
all the pernicious effects Of our fat
uous system Of finance upon the in:
terests of d very large majority oil
our people, and especially upon the
prosperity Of those who arc compelled
to work with their hands for their
living. I might explain the process
by which it has so utterly depleted
our country of its coin. [ mi ght show
how it has driven from our midst the
only true medium OF exchange, and
substituted in its stead a currency
that would no more pass for money
in foreign countries than the salt OF
AbysSinia, or the cowries Of the Nal,
live lslands-a currency Of "black,
back" resting upon a currency of
''grcenback," which tinal!y y rests upon
the peoples backs, and which they
may Or may not throw off as they see
proper. l might show you how the
specious appearance of prosperity, in
duced by the undue initiation of this
fallacious currency, has, like an tg"is
f'tu~s, lurcd its multitude upon the
quicksands Of speculation, to be left
in confusion, disney and absolute
ruin by its sudden contraction l
might show you how it invites and ia
ciIitatcs, through its hosts Of privi-
legged monopolics. the concentration
Of large proportions Of even the fimsy
medium of exchange VIC have upon
particular poinls at times when the
cxigencics of the agricultnrist espe-
cially demand its presence elsewhere.
might show you, from the last re-
port of the Controller of the Currcn-
cy. that while the whole circulation
of the country amounted to $50, 900 :
O0G, the deposits in the savings banks
Of New England and New York
alone, to say nothing Of those in the
Of nationai banks which in
fest those States. amounted TO $780,.
239, ,245. And ! might show from that
one fact alone that the giving away Of
a single nail, or the starting of u sim
gle plank, is liable at any time to pre-
cipitate the whole rotten system into
Il ruin that would convulse the bust
ness interests Of the whole country,
from Manhattan Island to the Puget
Sound, and from the BuIize of the far
famed city of Dublin. But all this is
unnecessary. The events of the past
few days have spoken to you with u
cogcncy that no logic Of the human
mind, no eloquence of the human
voice, can equal. You have seen the
downfall of single house unsettle
the hrrmony Of commercial transac-
lions from one end Of the land to the
other. When the house Of Jay Cooke
& Co. fell, the price of every hog and
mule, and of every pound Of tobacco,
and Of every other conceivable thing
to be bought and sold throughout the
length and breadth Of the country,
was affected in some manner by the
crash. And if these things do not con
a. i