New-York tribune., 1874-04-11
FINANCIAL DISCUSSION.

PAYMENTS LAST PAII-THRIR BLINDNESS IN RE
FUsING TO ACCEPT LOWER WAGES WHEN fiOh'
WERE ALREADY LowEREp-CRYING FOR PAPER
DOLLARS.
TO the Editor Of The TrioHne.
SIR: While we cannot exonerate Congress
from blame in the recent currency hna'lon II Is put
in.tce IN note that they are solely responsible They
have hut represented majority of the voters and 1t is
perhans asking too much TO demand that body so
directly dependent the will Of the people should be
so far in advance Of them 10 forfeit their favor In or
der to serve them. Only the patriot and statesman Will
risk the loss power TO the State from an injury
and the millennium is too off to expect majority OF
this class any Congress- The responsibility OF TINS
new disaster rests primarily with that class OF voters
who mOnOpolize the name OF " workingmen' 1heS
have become so thoroughly imbued with the idea that
money capital that IL seems Impossible 10 usdouso
their minds Of the fallacy. They obsnaiey reuse 10
take cognzaDce Of the that is simply the repre-
sentative OF capital that labor is the standard OF
and that the worth OF q dollar depends entirely ohiho"
much honest LABOR IT will purchase BEFORE the "ai ~
or two dollars would buy days work Inc Naiue .,
the work did not change but that OF the dollar ud un
1t required two or four dollars to purchase he
work and the laborer, reality. got no more than on
tho old nan for when the shoemaker, out OF his TWO or
three or four dollars per day. paid "the butcher, the
b,ker and candestck maker each their two three or
four dollars per day. he had more comfort no more
meat no more bread, better candlesick thantwhen
le had received his dollar anu pdlu IncHs'
Nay he did not much for ms greater number OF
dollars bad called into existence class OF workers VINO
added nothing TO the common capital, e. the dollar
makers There were the and mills TO make special
kind OF paper, the engravers, printers ana most OF
Others all engaged in manufacturing a kind of goods
that no could eat, wear that was worthless
a. shelter fuel or furnture yet the labor of thousands
OF skilled workmen was diverted from productive indus
tries and turned into manufacturing this stuff These
unproductye w0rkmen had TO be fed and clothed,
warmed and sheltered by the labor OF others. Their
work was dclcae that they demanded tmuch better
food clothing shelter, and surroundings than that ac-
corded 10 productive laborers. Then it danger
ous that had be surrounded with mostieXpensive
safeguards and, after expending millions TO prevent
counterieung and fraud the productive industry Of the
country capital has paid tax OF tens OF millions IN
the frauds committed. side the burden OF supporting
who make these dollars, and those who counter
them capital has had TO bear that Of those who deal
in and discount them, army Of Treasury officials
bank officers. clerks and hangers-on. Our manufac'
tured dollars create a whole horde of mddlemen, who
contribute nothing the capital of the country. Wei.
they were assumed TO be "a necessary evil during the
war and the wOrkincman amused by getting more
dollars Tor his days work bat when the exlgency
passed instead Of quietly dispensing with all this e1pen-
sve dollar manufacturing machinery, and returning to
Old standards the wOrkingmen, the capitalists, have
continued demand their dollars. They cry for them
as children do for pictures They cannot get over the
they Weather and Of more importance IN
the world with five dollars in their pockets than with
one even though the might procure them twice as
much comfort luxury the five They like the idea
OF giving basketul OF money in exchange for peck
OF potatoes taste better than II they got
them penny. The people OF the COnfederacy used
tOfee thelrmpOrtance moneyed men, probably, when
they gave thousand dollars for oyster stew II ap-
pears natural TO do so, and doubt Mark Twain and
companions enoyed that famous supper abroad half
mn aft ne
translated into a very modest
The average American citizen is predispOsed TO vaue
everything by the cost and TO make dollar the stand
ard OF value ANY article is less desirable
cordng the number o: dollars given demanded for
IT. and there an undreamedof lteralness in all that
Is SAID about worship OF the almighty dollar da-
lOnd brighter when it $500 than if we said $780,
even though we Immediately add 800 in gold. The gold
takes an additional value for being worth so many dol
lars. This false estimate has become constitutional, ana
greatly be feared that there is cure for the
evil but to permit to culmnate in crisis which Will
leave the poorest his woodhed full Of dollars, and
no bread This childish love OF paper dollars was fully
demonstrated last Winter. In the early part of 1t we
reached specie payments House rents aud dry goods
came down with crash. and II only required the intel
Igent cooperation OF wOrkinsmen to keep them down
and bring everything else down with them; but tins
cooperation was obsnatey withheld Labor, the true
capital OF the country unreentngy locked up In the
safes OF unions frttered IN strikes and de-
preoated by deuess and attendant vices while those
who were thus playing mOnOpOst with the real wealth
OF the nation their time in getting up pompous
protests against their shadows the who with
held from the representative money The time
had come when dollar worth as much, or more
than two had been: could buy for 10 cents
ward of muslin. which during the cost IS cents or
oven more: when a yard OF flannel sold for 20 cents
which had commanded 81 but the men 10 whom cheap
dry goods represent so much sOhd comfort positively
refused 10 take smaller number of ,dOllars for days
work than they had demanded and received when these
articles of prime necessity sold for six times
the amount they were then doing. Tens Of thousands
pers or public enemies rather than work for smaller
number of dollars than they had received when Gov
ernmen was making them by the carload out of care
fully selected The capital thus withheld from cir
culaton locked up the vaults of ideness or diverted
into the channels Of vice, has greatly diminished The
supply OF the necessarie comforts and luxures OF life,
and As matter of course what there are become more
valuable They represent labor, more money. As
the laborer believes that dollars are money and must
have his pound OF hesh Congress has given to him.
,u5ike he has cried for his pretty green pictures,
u,u motber.ike Government has given them TO him.
1qis concession must have been made with full
knowledge that they will lnjure him. but the weak pa
rent finds IL easier 10 yield than govern.
Chtcago Ill.,, April 4, 1874 JANE GREY SwIssHElA
SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVING THE CUR
RENCY.
APLAN POR BRINGING GOLD AND SILVER INTO CIR
crIAToN-INCREAsING THE CURRENCY WITH