The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1875-09-04

being sacrificed during this calamitous
period We have been thrown back upon
a condition Of society IN which all industry
and enterprise have been rendered pernic-
ious or ruInous. and where no property is
safe unless boarded in the shape of money
or lent 70 Others IN a double security
The result was that the theorists and
usurers OF Great Britain were compelled,
year before their act Of resumption was
to 20 INTO effect, to amend one ot Its most
distressing features providing for the ex-
Junction III the small notes provision
copied into our resumption law-by ex-
tending the time Of their retirement TO
1888
Fellow citizens If there be value to us
IN the experience Of other Nations, does
not this page Of British history warn
as against attempting resumption by con-
tracing the currency after the plan OF her
usurers and theorists She attempted 1t
when gold was but three per cent. prem
um, and her circulation but two hundred
and thirty-two millions. Ricardo, the
oracle of the bullionlsts, said 1t would do
no great injury to any one-as 1t merely
involved the raising OF the value OF paper
three per cent-while the event proved
that it involved a contraction OF forty-hve
per cent OF the whole currency, and the
consequent reduction Of credits, bringing
in its train the ruin Of manufacturers,
tradesmen, merchants, farmers, and the
degradation Of the laboring masses to pau
perlsm.
Nj. Leon Say, the French Minister OF
Finance, cites the disasters to the IN
dustrIes Of Great Britain, resulting from
the act of resumption, as warning to
France not to fix at present time for
specie payment, though her currency is at
par with gold, and her people hold more
of the precious metals than any other ma
ton. Our theorists ana usurers are lead
ing us by the same path to even greater
misfortune than befell Great Britain as
our currency Is over three times that of
hers when her resumption act was passed
the premium on gold i've times greater
and the reduction al the currency, instead
OF being ninety millions, will be over five
hundred millions. The holders Of the
puilic funds forced resumption there as
here The second Peel, whom the Irish
Catholics called Orange Peel, was the
mouth piece OF The bulllonists, who advo-
Gated the bill in the name of ''the public
honor" His patriot father said to him
when 1t was passed. Robert, you have
made the fortunes IF your family, but
ruined your country.
Shall this resumption act be executed
Will The people suffer the money-lords
here, by the same false cry Of pubhc hon
W., To make the fortunes Of their taml-
lies and ruin their country Never
Let Ohio, standing III the centre, cry out
Repeal Pennsylvania and Virginia viii
answer back, Repeal And from every
State where the Mississippi gathers ITS
waters viii come the cry, Repeal Re
peal Repeal
The Ohio Democracy demand that this
whole plan Of resumption be abandoned ;
that the contraction Of the currency cease;
that the National Bank notes be Cancelled,
and greenDacks issued in their place,
thus saving the people eighteen millions
annually; that legal tend RS he gwen in
creased value, by making them receivable
for half the customs; that volume Of the cur
reucy be, by some prudent and intelligent
me. hod, adjusted to and kept equal with
the growing demands Of trade, and tina,
the restoration Of legal tenders t. par with
gold be brought about by promoting the
industries of the people, and not by des-
troyIn- them.
FALSE CRY OF REPUTATION.
The usurers and theorists declare that
this means reputation. Does 1t, and
why Because they say the customs are
pledged for the interest on the public
debt, and must therefore be wholly paya-
ble III gold. But, a. udge Thurman has
shown, the customs amount regularly 70
full twice the interest 81 the debt (Which
IRE do not propose T. lucrease), and, there
fore, half the customs viii yield gold
enough To pay the interest. They say II
would be a violation If contract to take
the circulation from the National Banks.
But the last section Of the law under
which they we're organized reserves to
Congress tie right to amend or re-
peal 1t at pleasure. They say the Gov
eminent Is bound To redeem and pay the
greeubacks in gold, AS 1t was taken on
the faith OF that promise. answer 1t
was never taken as a public debt, but only
as a legal te,,der. 1t goes from hand to hand
is mine to-day and yours to morrow.
| doubt If there be man i'll America
who ever took greenback on the promise
of payment III com. Ecery one takes It
s,leiy becatS, Il j. receicdbie for all debts, and
ecchdnqeUbic tor all rdiaeS.
But If the holder IF the greenback be
regarded as an investor IN public funds
which he Is not-still to redeem this money
III gold to the detrlment of the business
Of the country, we're a monstrous wrong.
The greenback was issued because the
Government could not pay its current
debts in com. The formal promise on
the face of the bills likes no day of re-
demptIon; and all takers and holders
know they are to be redeemed only when
the interest of the public shall permit.
The peoples interest must be consulted
and doubtless so because they chiefly hold
the greenbaCks from day to day, and also
chiefly owe the debts, own the property,
and do the business to be affected lnjur-
lously by forced resumption. There Is a
faith due to the people as well as to the
holders of public securities. In the lang
uage of Edmund Burke: 1T is to the
property Of the citizen, and not to the de-
mands Of the creditor of the State, that
the original faith of society is pledged
The claim Of the citizen is prior in time,
paramount III title, super q IN equity.
WHO SHOULD DErERMIS= 80 MOUNT ~
CIRCULATION
But who shall determine what quantity
Of currency the business Of the country re-
n. 8 IL