The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1875-03-20

stink and W whipped dogs.
With md ANIMATE wisdom to fore
stall criticil rthy master Adams said
in the MAJ Grange Last year, at st.
Louis: " VI noble order there il 10
colnmunisn no aggrarAnisun, ia swift
forgstfulhessR the fact that communism
q. practiced by Christ and the early church,
had relieved the distresses Of his State by
liberal contributions from the National
Grange exchequer, and that the purely
agrdridn measures Of the " homestead ex-
emption act, A" and freedom If the public
lands t. actual settlers" have been the
heaviest blows yet given to middlemen.
II we wipe out communism we must
let the grasshopper people starve.
Ii We repudiate agrariAnism, We must
repeal the acts above referred 70, and
place air and water, (the only things
not yet monopolized) in charge Of rings Of
lniddl-m-n to he constructed To peddle
out the same.
But our opponents are not such cursed
fools as to believe what they say for in
stance After a long pcrs nal talk with
a prominent editor, | furnished a state
ment II the financial plank Of the Indus
trial Congress, and concluded my article
thus
ANY debtor nation, which bases lbs cur
rency, and consequently its production
and commerce, upon specie, exists imam
cialiy, productivity aud commercially on
the suffrance Of it's foreign creditors, and
ours il a debtor nation.
To which he responded, that if the pros
perity Of the nation we're 81 divided in ten
years. the same. irregularities would re
appear
You refer to the Legislature governed by
the old French Republic.
Let me call your readers attention to the
enc act safeguarding primogeniture and
entail, and providing a very large range Of
heirs at Law. and prohibiting distribution
by will Of real estate.
This has wonderfully multiplied the
number of land owners. ia striking con-
trast with the history II England, whereby
the action Of primogenituro and entail. the
smaller proprietors have rapidly been
driven out, and the number of land owners
is very much less than 1t MAS century
ago. notwithstanding the increase Of the
population.
This ohgarchlc tendency, combined with
g resumption Of specie pay ments," has
within fifty years reduced the number Of
landlords, rs professor Kirk tells US, from
100, 600 to 10000 or 80 now, where a
half century ago there we're 1876.
l make these demonstrations with great
er satisfaction, as the Hon. David A. Wells
assures US that
! SPECIE RESUMPTION INVOLVES No COMPILE
CArFo LEGISLATION.
IN February, 1897, gffr Sunday morn
ing, the king, personally in council, pro-
nouncsd decree which WAS subsequently
approved by Parliament, that specie pay
ments should b. suspe nded
This was supplemented by ample issues
Of paper money, ii very inferior -descrip-
\ ton, being like her eonsoIs, utterly ire
deemables sNf bad as it WAS, it soon ex-
hlhHed wonderful superiority over the
okd specie based currency, which was never
tranquil, but always sympathizing with
any and every movement of war, specula-
tion or other deviltry in the civilized por-
tons Of the planet in consequence Of its
being the international regulator Of values.
The cause of this procedure was exactly
that which after the universal failure If
our banks IN December, 1861, drove us to
the issue Of the greenbacks, to wit rec
ignition Of the utter inadequscy VI the
ancient superstitiOus reverence for gold to
carry us through the heavy business Of
big war.
The results with them were the same a.
with us-facilitation Of military operations
and development Of production to an un-
paralleled extent. After twenty four
years suspension they resumed, which We
propose to do in 1879, after q suspension
OF seventeen years. As the financial and
industrial history Of the two nations has
been exactly identical to the present point
Of development, and as We propose in the
future to follow exactly her example, is it
not fair to assume that we shall secure
approximately the same results.
Before the screws were turned for the
contraction necessary to resumption in
Great Britain, say the eight years previous
to 1921, they paid of e64O, 600, 900 Of the
public debt, or go, 600 900 per year. In
the ten years next following they paid but
S245, 0O0, 900, or $24, 500, 600 year. In
the next ten years they increased the debt
more than $50, 600, 600, and now nobody
expects it will ever be paid.
Which il in most wonderful con6rma-
tion Of the teaching Of William Goblet,
that specie resumption would make the
debt eternal--a polite way Of branding the
specie men of those days N repudiatora.
| WyKRSe no late Official treasury report
nj hand 70 show the exact parallel even
thus far continued, but our readers have
not forgotten the monthly, and even week
" reports Cor yearsDof the magnificent re-
suits We wsse accomplishing in paying off
to Wall street, took the life-blood-the
currency-from the producers, and bled
almost to Death the good old goose who
! was producing for M such most admirable
results.
We, like ErklADd, have squelched out
any further po9i bility Of payment Of the
principal, shOuldresumption obtain, and
this brings us to INV, from which we can
not draw . parallel in history but if we
are not fools, we VII note the next step
takenby England, ant Be very sure, that
as in the past we have adopted her theo-
ries in finance, and thus . far repeated her
history; if We continue 4 follow the same
leadership, We shall haze to wallow
through the same terrible experience
which reduced