The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1874-04-11
FROM CALIFORNIA.
san FRANcIsco, March 81. 1877.

San Francisco March 81, 1874.
40 the Editor q the woRKiSeAAx's ADVOCATE.
am not disposed to take things in this
world as ] find them and make the most of
them. To do this | do not esteem it to BE- 9
virtue, but most damnable vice had
bequeathed to me what | supposed to be
liberty and equality in the pursuit Of hap
piness. am now rapidly approaching that
period when mankind usually step out, and
have had experience enough in the sew
eral conditions Of life, to find that our
boasted liberty and equality is a humbug
that satisfies nobody. The rich command
comforts, but they plunder them from the
poor laborer, and Gods curse goes with
them and they never perceive what com
forts should be the means Of obtaining
happiness ] find that ] am not alone in
my opinion thousands take the came view
Of this question, and it only remains for
those most interested in solving this labor
problem to comprehend how they are swim
died, for the work to be done, which is
now only begun.
When the Almighty created mankind,
he must have intended that every able-bod-
led man and woman should earn their own
living; and if anybody can show reasona-
ble pretence to the contrary, / shall be viii
ling to listen to those who claim the right
To collect interest for the use Of money.
| do not deny the right Of any man to
accumulate; to store up the products Of
his INDUSTRY and provide for vicissitudes,
for sickness and old age but ] do deny
the right Of any man OF woman's earnings
to eat up the earnings Of another man or
woman, Or even u consume the smallest
portion " them, and thereby prevent all
Or part Of mankind from enjoying the
comforts their labor provides
Nobody will deny that this is now done
and how is it done BY compelling those
who labor to use what others have accumu-
lated, when there is no sense, reason, or
justice in it.
The people must have money to exchange
the products Of their labor and if notes
issued by authority are money, and the
sovereignty lies with the people, why should
they be made the victims of ShylOcks n
these money lenders have accumulated gold
and silver sufficient TO perform the pur-
poses Of money Ur currency, what right
nave they To compel the people ID use their
MID nd al TQaW H.,
even a third part Of what is now deemed
necessary for currency, how preposterous
the demand they make that because they
own all the gold and slver, the notes issued
for money by authority Of the people, must
be redeemed II that commodity which they
own and control m any pretension be
more ridiculous than this for, first we
have the ins lrmountable objection that il
cannot be done.
What good reason can be given why the
owners or miners of the precious metals
should insist that the currency Of the cOun-
try must be redeemed With Y hat they pro
duce. There is not so much reason To be
astonished at this demand Ot tile owners
Of gold and sIiv,r, for il not used for this
purpose it is worthless for anything else.
Have not the farmers an equal right to in
sist that the currency of the country shall
be redeemed exclusively with what they
prod ice The truth II. the currency
should be redeemed exclusively with useful
products, and none others. Our Rspubh-
can Legislators say that because the mon
archlal governments have made their cur
rency redeemable in gold and silver, we
must follow this European precedent; more
than likely they would be glad to follow
the example Of these European nations in
their mode OF government Ii is certain
that while Europe IS making rapid strides
towards repubhcanism, we are advancing
even more rapidly IN am opposite direction,
towards the despOtlsm Of a mOneyd OlIgar-
oily.
The brazen etfrontery Of these money
sharks and their minions in Congress eX-
ceeds all bounds but their ignorance upon
the money question Is even more wonder
ful than the1r impudence telling us that
our currency, -redeemable In all the prod
ucts Of the natIon-is worthless, irredeem-
able trash because not made redeemable by
law IN commodity which they admit W
be utterly insufficient for the purpose, and
which is useless for all other purposes but
to enable them to rob the people, ii they
can yet such a Law passed, and to presume
upon the ignorance OF the people in this
arrogantfashion, plainly foretells what they
would DO If they had the power
As specimen Of the profound study,
with desire to arrive at the truth-made
by our wise Legislators on this subject Of
currency, let me call attention to the speech
Of Carl Schurz, i'll the Senate, On the oath
Of February. He SAYS that it has been as
serted III the senate, that the precious
metals could uevermore be the standard Of
value, because they were not equal u the
products Of industry and he replies to
this by saying ''As Veil say the yard-stick
could ueyermore be the standard OF meas
urement because X was not as long as a
roll pf carpet these two sentences taken
IN connection, are meaningless nonsense
and the last ls positive proof that the SEN
ator dld not comprehend the absurdlties WI
the first. School boys know that the stand
ard yard was for many years, and / pre-
sumo Is nov lodged in the Tower of Lon
don. What relation can the quantity ~
gold IN this country, ar its capacity as a
standard Of value bear to this standard ~
measure, this relct II barbarlsm which
the proud English nation 80 carefully cher
ish as evidence that they are not the scien
tIhc compeers of their neignbOrs, tn
French.
Ii the precious metals are the standard
Of value, We would like u know what Mr.
Schurz understands by a standard Of value
1t Is not enough for him 10 say, "what
everybody calls standard Of value" The
gentleman should know that this is a scien
tlhc age, and that the why and wherefore
has become essential, and that upon dis
puted points we are not to be satisfied. a.
least with anything less than logical dem
onstration. Ii Mr.. Schurz knows that the
precious metals are a standard of value
and that these are adequate for that pur
pose, will he not condescend to show IT,
now they are. and enllghten The world on