The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1874-01-31
THE CURRENCY QUESTION

relating to the nature and functions of
money" The value Of the article consists
not in any addition it makes to the usual
arguments constantly repeated, in spite of
unanswerable refutation in support of the
specie basis fallacy, but as furnishing evi-
dence that the struggle which the bankers
will make to retain their monopoly IN fur
nishing the currency Of the country will
De long and bitter, and that the people
will win victory against all the appliances
and influences which have heretofore COLI
trolled legislation, if they ever. succeed in
placing their property, their labor and
their prosperity beyond the control of the
men who, behind bank counters, say to
them, your farms shall be sacrificed, your
grain shall be cheap, your labor shall be
without d emand and unremunerative, be-
cause It pleases us to make money scarce.
1t is not long since the Tribune endeavor ed,
with equal success, to prove the privileges
of the national bankers were not worth
contending for, and that they would sur
render them without struggle
These privileges are worth twenty millions
annually. This is the amount Of the bonus
which the government gives the national
bankers. What for Why, for the pre-
cious privilege of loaning the money at
exhorbltaut rates Of interest to the people,
which the government gives them, in con
sideration Of keeping their bonds safe from
burglary, lire and accident, and the prompt
payment, semi-annually, of interest there
on. But valuable as this bonus is it is in
tniteslmally small when compared to that
Of being able to fix and regulate the
amount Of the money the people shall have
TO do business with.
This privilege is valuable beyond estima-
ton, and will never be surrendered so long
as by fraud or force it can be retained, or
50 long as the Tribu,,es of the country can
scare the people with the cry of initiation,
Irredeemable currency, protested promises
to pay, etc, etc. The TribuAcS have had
notice the scare is no longer effective,
and that the one hundred bank directors
1 who, as Congressman, watch over the in
\ tercsts OF the national banks, even now
\ appeal for help against the demands of an
awakened and outraged public opinion. Ii
the article to which we refer is the best
help which the Tribune can give to its
] ~, oil iu+,rs C,p.rraSS oartafnIx, III
only intensity the demand Of the people, by
showing how weak its defenses are.
The following are the three propositions
whose fallacy it endeavors to prove LIST
J That money need have no intrinsic value
%. That an inconvertIble paper money
can fulfill the functions Of healthy cur
rency Sd. That government co, regulate
such currency in such manner as not to
\ injure the commercial interests Of the
country
That the history and experience Of
J the last ten years have proven, attirma
lively, every one Of the above propositions
\ there is now no room To doubt The sutfi-
cheney, convenience and superiority, both
in times of prosperity and in panic, !"
\ times Of a money which has no intrinsic
value, that is nterconvertible, not on "a
gold base, and which has been regulated
! by government, is admitted by the great
majority of business men. And even the
pretense that gold has been at premium
/ during this period and is, therefore, an evl-
dence that the greenback is a deprecated
currency wCuldhave been swept away, had
| Congress made the greenback MONEY a
full legal tender for all debts, public and
private. The corrupt and swindling legis-
lation under the pretense Of strengthening
the public credit by which the principal
on the larger part of the national debt due,
and payable, in law and equity in cur
rency, was declared to be payable in gold,
| in violation If the rights Of the taxpayer,
/ has been used as a reason for collecting
\ the customs, revenues in gold, thereby
object Of gambling on Wall street. The
attempt to show. as the Tribune has often
done, that the premium on gold is evidence
Of deprecated currency is too absurd for
REPUTATION. II it is evidence Of anything
but gambling, it is the want of wisdom in
the government in not receiving its green
backs i'll payment Of all public dues. Let
that once be done and the premium would
disappear. 1t is true that the national
bankers have, by fraudulent legislation,
created a special demand for gold, by
forcing the government into ali obligation
to pay it, where honor, moral aud legal
obligation to the Taxpayer alike forbade
it. But notwithstanding the tolls into
which the congressional guardians Of the
public veal entrapped the country, the gov
eminent should at once make the greenback
receivable in payment Of all public dues
/ The crucial test Of the superiority Of cur
rency backed bygovernment WAS had during
the late panic, when the only effect Of falling
values, Frustrated business and bankrupt
bankers was to enhance the popular esti-
mate Of the worth Of greenbacks, and their
gold approximation. The money without
intrinsic value, incoEyertible, and regu-
lated by the government" when all bank
promises to pay would, as in every other
like panic in the history Of the country,
have been valueless, infiicting enormous
losses upon the bill holder, appreciated in
public confidence, and really saved the
business of the nation from such prostra-