Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-08-26
CURRENCY.

OF all public questions, the currencl
most deeply affects the employment
and compensation of labor, the marke
value Of property, the contentment o.
the people, and the stability of our sys
tenn Of government. Currency monop
olies may find out, when it is too late
that they have committed a great mis-
take; that the suffering and ruin which
theyhave brought onothers from selfish
mercenary motives, will not spare them
in the general crash, perhaps lawness.
ness that must follow great public
wrong. Every monopoly is a wrong
against the community, which calls for
abatement and often provokes chastise.
ment. A nation that has a world
Of farming, planting and grassing
lands to utilize for the benefit of man
kind, minerals to be developed,
and raw materials to be manufac-
tured, needs sound and
abundant circulating medium as a nee
essary tool with which to work. Any
circulating medium is human inven-
ton; a mere tool to aid exchange, and
foster productive industry. Good tools
always necessary, should never become
scarce at one time, and abundant at
another, merely to favor ire avarice of
capital at the expense of human labor
and suffering. A currency based on
Government bonds in the hands of a
few men, gives them a money power
which enables them to live in palaces,
while the masses live in cabins; which
enables the favored few to control
the price Of products and of labor.
The golden rule which leads to peace
and prosperity forbids all monopolies.
Currency so essential In every walk of
life and in every department of indus
try, least of all should be con.
trolled by favored few.
The way in which government bonds
were sold to spectators was a great
outrage; and the public wrong has been
continued and steadily augmented by
double interest, down to this hour. Our
national currency should be redeemed
from this corrupt association. Good
tools are made Of sound timber, iron
and steel, not from the drippings Of
unclean legislation. The reform is
likely to begin by discarding the mo-
nopoly in the manufacture of salt, by
which 80 much meat is spoilt; and the
in supplying bank notes, by
which the value of every mans farm is
reduced one-haf. Forty millions PEG.
pie will soon demand currency as ibe-
raj as their enterprise and as extensive
as their industry. Tools to work with
they must have, with no shaving
mills between labor, production
and consumption. a Repub-
-ican Congress decreed that no poor
man in the United States shall have |
IN ounce of salt to salt his bread with
,ut paying tribute to a favorite Of the |
Government. So the currency comes
lot from the people for thsir benefit |
)ut from a few bankers and bond
folders, who may lend circulating notes
i withdraw them from circulation as
'est serves the purposes Of private
peculatiOn. The country is cursed by
he active rule of a thousand corpora
ions, working in harmony under legis-
alive protection, each for some selfish
nd at the public expense. The laws
f a great nation should show no par
iality, 10 favOritism to any class.
Class legislation produces heartburn
ngs, strikes for higher wages, pro-
racted idleness, standing armies,
rimes, oppressive taxes, and excessive
During the French war
rom 1877 to 1915, Great Britain had
n abundant currency which was ex-
lusively paper. Agriculture and
very other branch of British indus.
~ hourished, for the circulating me-
ium was equal to the wants Of labor
nd enterprise.