The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1874-09-19
EX-SECRETARY MCCULLOUGH ON
CURRENCY AND TAXATION.
English Gold vs.. American Prosperity
What he Did Not, but Should Have
Said--His Present Purpose in Ameri-

BIr. Mccullough has recently addressed
an open letter to the county which should
have been published He is already toe
well known, and his past record is too
closely connected with the great calamitiei
under which the country and the people
are now grOaning, to welcome any advice
he can give The sad condition Of the in
dustries; the thousands Of millions lost
forever the Generalization everywhere
seen, is due the unnatural, not to say
criminal teaching Of such as Hugh Nc.
Cnllough. This has already become his
tory which will long be evoked to consign
such as he to disgrace, if not to infamy.
Had Mr.. Mccullough, whom we may
suppose is to-day more than ever the
mouth-piece Of foreign capitalists, seen fit
to emerge from the obscIrlty where he has
long been consigned by intelligent, honest
men Of cOmmon-sense, to Indicate deyo-
tion to the country Of MS birth, in honest
advice and discussion Of the cause Of our
extensive bankruptcy and national decay,
the honest, independent press Of the coun-
| try would have floated him through in
something like the following style
| 'HUGH MCCULLOCGH. real frleHd Ot
-1Btertcd, has recently ,rrittea letter re-
terTieg to the great cdtdmtttes ,ri,tch eceH yet
rest upon the nation, ~ trhich he has rerieir-
ed some Ct he errors Of past Judgment, aud
Hotr seeks to make the best dmemis he cdH =
In his letter from which extracts are made,
Mr.. Mccullough now declares that the
great want of the United States is a circu-
lating medium accessible to our producing
and distributing classes, and which can be
brought within the reach Of all who have
substantial real values to pledge for its
use, at as low rate Of interest as 1t is pos
slble to obtain the same, by similar classes
III Europe. Mr.. Mccullough has evident
ly profted by intercourse with eminent
bankers and political economists in Eng
laud, and now seeks to spread before his
own country the best hight he could gather
Mr.. Mccullough sees that England, with
a debt nearly double that of the United
States, has permanently fixed the rate Of
interest upon the whole amount at three
per cent, and as otherwise idle capital in
that country can only obtain that reason
able rate, from the security aud resources
of the whole people, it is always seeking
investments, not only at home but abroad,
III enterprises more or less hazardous in
hope of larger returns.
Mr.. Mccullough says it must be taught
to his couptrymen that no permanent pros
perlty-no commercial supremacy-no
peace or compact union of our vast cOun-
try, can be secured until system shall be
established, for the United States which
fixes the rate Of interest paid oy the Gov
ernment at not much above the average
annual increase of the Nations wealth.
about three per cent, and this will at the
same time bring to our Industries, and the
developing classes equal advantages with
those engaged by the oldest and richest ma
tions in Europe, and in turn give to the
producers Of America an equal chance in
the markets Of the world, calling into ac-
tive exercise all the ingenuity and latent
talent of our own thrifty and Industrious
toilers and enterprising merchants.
Mr.. Mccullough also insists that no ma
tion can bear permanent large debt and
continue to pay rate of interest double
that Of it's competitors without sinking, and
especially when its system of currency is
such AS to compel the almost universal
practice of giving and receiving of time or
credit in ordinary business transactions
The great banker, Rothschild, who died
three years ago In Paris, declared to q. K
Garrison, in presence of A. T. Stewart, of
New York, only a few years before his
death, that " the United States paid too
high rates If interest, that no nation can
afford to pay SO much, and none ever clear
ed as much as four per cent"
In respect to taxation, Mr.. Mccullough
deplored the present most defective sys-
TENS in vogue in the United States
Viewed in any light, they we're unworthy
the intelligence Of any country making
pretensions to advanced civilization. That
While the first and most indispensable leg
islation should address itself to give 10
American industry equally as low interest
as its competitors in Europe, the adjust
ment of the who4e system of taxation and
tariff required the exercise Of statesman
ship; and as to what proportion of the
burden should rest upon accumulated
wealth, and what, if any, upon the poor
laborer, he was not prepared to say
though he intimates that wnen the finan-
cial question has become settled, 50 that
both capital and labor have equal chances,
ne CauuOJ SEE why ldDOE SnOulu Scck u
avoid its full share of the burden for the
support of the Government and payment
of its debts.
Mr.. Mccullough insists that 6 all ordi
nary business transactions should be done
by ready pay, and that there is no neces
slty Of having real value in the mere medi-
um of exchange, so that there is ample
substance and bottom in the authority
which stamps the mOney-indeed, he de-
clares that 50 far from gold and silver
being q necessity in commercial transac
tions that those nations which have the
most Of it perform, ninety-nine hun
dredths of their aggregate exchanges il
paper tokens, which in themselves are ol
nominal value-and this fact, he says
stands out to negate the assumption o.
bullionists everywhere.
Mr.. Mccullough says that under ths
operations of the system of low rates of In
terest, England, France and Germany
with climate, soil and mineral wealth In
ferior to our own, have become the money
lenders to all the rest of the world-anc
both government and banker have Ions
since discovered and acted upon the prin
ciple that low rate of interest upon th'
money-the medium of exchanging rea
values, was the first and most important 0
all considerations in matters of Natlona
! policy.