The Grange advance., 1874-04-29

higher degree Of prosperity in this direc
| tion than that between 1860 and 1870
viewing it from whatever stand-poi you
choose. People seem to have left thei,
farms and sought the cities to engage il
the semi-gambling business Of mapufactur.
Ing. made 80 by IN inconvertib ,pape,
money. Il
There were nearly six miR'iiops Il people
engaged in agriculture in 1870; a-zalue
Of their farms, with Implements, machin.
cry, and live stock, was $l1. 1.000, ,000, 600
This enormous sum represents the capital
then invested in agricultural pursuits in
the United States. And what was the pro-
duct of, or the return for, this vast invest.
ment? About So, 400, ,000, ,000
We have thus seen two millions of people
engaged in manufacturing, with = capital
Of So, 100. .000, 900, food the country with a
product valued at 50, 200, ,000, 600; now de.
duct the cost of raw material used in this
greatproduction, which was So, 40O, ,OOO, 600,
and you have 81 800, ,O0O, 900 left to rep
resent the interest on the So, 100, ,00O, 900
Of capital and Of the earnings of two mil
lion Of people employed. In other words
two million people, with capital Of
So, 100, ,O00, 600, earned over 81 800, ,000, 900
in the year 1870, while six millions people,
with capital Of over $1l ,000, 600, 900,
earned but So, 4OO, ,OOO, 900 in agricultural
pursuits during the same period. Three
times the number of laborers, employing
more than FIVE times the amount of capital,
received but 80 per cent. more as the gross
amount of their product. This is $500 to
each person engaged in the manufactures
against S400 to each engaged in agricul-
ture.
And yet honorable Senators inform US
here that we want more paper money, 50
that the imitation in prices Of personal prop
erty and of stocks, and Of the business that
draws our population to the cities, shall
be indefinitely increased, that speculation
shall be aggravated, and that the farmer
shall receive less and less from year to
year, while the gambler and the stock
jobber shall get more and more. They
want money for what? I have seen no
body anywhere who wants to hire out, but
everybody wants to hire somebody else.
We want labor encouraged by better
money. We want the laborer who re-
ceives his pay for days work to know
that it will sink in value on his way to the
store where he buys the necessaries Of life.
We want no more banks of circulation with
out redemption, for though I admit that
they are great institutions for, the accu-
mutation Of wealth, they do yery lutte TO-
ward its production. They absorb ntarly
all the surplus property in their immediate
vicinity. They adorn with palatial resi-
dences the avenues where gamblers and
stock obbers dwell, while they cover the
farms with blisters in the shape of mort
cages.
These questions efecting the political
economy Of the country deserve studious
attention. Perhaps it will be discovered
that we have been running in debt too
recklessly for the past ten years, and thai
we will now be forced to check up 70,
awhile and, like q prudent merchant, take
an account Of stock and find out how We
stand compared with other parts of the
world. The two least prosperous nations
of Europe, Italy and Austria, have the
largest paper circulation with the greatest
disparity in value between currency and
gold.
An historical problem might pro6tably
occupy the mind Of the coming statesman
Has any nation ever secured to itself per
manent prosperity and solid progress with
debased currency as circulating medi
um