The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1876-03-11
FROM CALIFORNIA.
SAN FRAScrsco, Feb. %, 1876.

r, the Editor of the woKNlNaaAS's ADVOCATE.
Last Tuesday was Washingtons birth
day, and the sports Of San Francisco seized
upon the occasion to have a horse race.
This carries our thoughts back to the day
when horse racing was not SO prevalent as
nov. am not disposed to be captlous.
lam only thinking how times have changed.
/" Ten to one" the Chronicle said in an
editorial article the race Is put up
Job" Where shall we turn and expect to
md any thing or any place where Job has
not been put up to win (steal) somebody
money without working for it
This is the grand game going on every
where, aud it grows apAce. Is not time
Tor the American people TO inquire II It
viii ever cease. We are no longer con
,oientious in our dealing. We steal when
the opportunity offers. and We do not deny
III. We only plead that We are compelled 70
stea. because everybody else does, and We
do our neighburs the justice % believe
hey. too, would steal If they could The
working clas~rs who are the victims ~ an
Organized system of robbery, are too apt
Y, SAY that they, too would steal if they
could gtt the opportunity. We need not
ask where this vii lead TO- We have the
example. of history before Us. Greece
vas Invnclb.e while the people we're hon
est. and the Roman Empire would have
survived o. the present day but for the
yicr aui corruption II the Roman people
10 We NEED gold AND SILVER FOR AoNEY
oU a BASIS FOR CURRENCY
Nj. often hear it SAID that the Legal
Tender Dill vas war measure, resorted TO
ia thr bour 0f the nations peril u save
The country fro:n rum and destruction.
TINS measure virtually demouetized gold
and silver This Is not the first time the
SAM thing has taken place il our country.
D. Was dome in 1887 and 1857, when the
banks were authorized by the Legislatures
.H suspend specie payments; and when
this BOX place, @e were tod 1t was neces-
sary, tl save the country. This IS what
she bankers told Us. and their obi cations
vrrr circulating fJr currency In fact.
they told us We dill not need specie; that
WY aere better of with, 1T it, But the
people insisted upon 1t, or they could NOT
,.e any other security for them. But now
the -avgrnmlut issues the money, and the
people say: L" The currency Is secure, and
We don't SAINT specie. But the bankers
cry out, You must have it; the country
would De dlshOuUred without it, /" Il There
IS niger m the fence, you may be sure
i0r these bankers = wheel about and turn
about and jump just ike Jim Crow" Ia
1887. we were better of without a specie
deemng currency IN gold Silver viii not
d. ulw, you see, fur il Is getting plenty,
AMI 4 would be difficult and expensive for
d -n I, contract ID. VIII the people never
.ge through this transparent scheme to
deMouetIze silver, and understand what it
Is done done for. 1t Is done TO enable the
capitalist, by holding the key (gold) to
enable them 10 contract the currency Of
the world. Demonetlze this metal, and
there would be no more money panics; it
would be impossible to make them, and
there never has been one in this OF any
other country where gold and silver were
cemonetized, until there was threatened a
r. turn to specie payments.
The suspension Of specie payments de-
L ouetlzes gold and silver, besides having
a. several instances in Ourown country been
ut essary to The salvation Of the nation,
has oone the same good turn to other
Countries as we'll in periods Of great peril
II this is true and can be proved, it must
lie plainly evident that We have no need Of
gold and silver, either for money Or as a
ssls tor paper currency.
Ia England, gold and silver was demon
etized by act Of Parliament, in 1877. From
that time until twenty years after, when
au act was passed to resume specie pay
neuts, there vas no panic in England.
But tie act Of resumption soon brought
IL about, and such distress among the toll
Ing masses as never was known before.
Those III this country who are old enough
To remember it. will never forget the wall
jhat came across the Atlantic. The dis
tress IN our own country has been hardly
les terrible. While specie payments we're
suspended in England, and the country
was blessed with an abundance Of curren-
cy, notwithstanding England was subsidiz-
my the armies Ut Continental Europe.
opposed 70 Napoleon. the wealth OF that
nation augmented more rapidly than ever
before, and the same thing took place in
our country, under precisely similar cir
cumstances. Bat when, il obedience to
the demand Of the Shylocks of the world,
the money circulation Of the country was
curtailed, and day named for resumption,
so here, as in England, under the same
circumstances, the deluge Of misery, ruin
and bankruptcy set in, and wall like that
which went forth from England is heard
coming from our own hitherto prosperous
land
Who can believe thai retributive Justice
Nil not sooner or later overtake those who
have brought these woes upon our beloved
country. See our ricn plains and fertile
valleys, lylng idle and uncultivated. The
inheritance Of our people have been seized
upon, BY the aid of vicious laws, by greedy
coTmorants, who grow rich by robbing the
honest toiler Of that which God and nature
has given them to provide subsistence for
himself and family.