The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1876-08-12
AN OPEN LETTER.
NEw YoRk. July 18th. 1876.

NEW 1ORh, July ZJth, 1870.
Hon r. b. Hoyes aud Hon. Samuel j.
TldeA:
GENTLEMEN
find myself impelied by an irresistible
anxiety for my country by the palpable
facts Of distrt IS and suffering that surround
me, and which | am compelled To know
pervade the families Of the great mass Of
our people by the earnest calls that have
been made to me from all parts Of this
great country and especially, by the
solemn and deliberate act Of an earnest and
intelligent body of my fellow w-citizens, in
convention assembled, who, setting forth
clearly their convictions as to the real cause
of this widespread distress among the
masses Of our country-men, have called
upon me to represent those convictions,
and nominated me as their chief executive
to carry them out;-by all these consider
tions feel called upon to address a few
words to you, who now hold the nOmina-
tions of the two great organized political
parties in this country for the highest po-
sitioEs of responsibility as 70 the future
happiness and prosperity Of this great
people.
Far be it from me to attribute any want
of patriotism or any unworthy motive to
your honorable selves, or to the leaders Of
those Conventions which have nominated
you both, respectively, to the high Office
Of the President of the United States
But the eminent question of the day, that
which touches the cause of the present
financial ruin and suffering Of so many, is
one of such palpable facts and simple de-
ductiOns therefrom, that | must think
there is some mistake in the radical prin-
ciple by which these facts are viewed by
you and the great parties which you repre-
sent. / find in the platforms of the con
ventions of the two great parties, no ade-
quate expression, either Of the facts, the
causes, or the principles that underlie the
present great distress of our nation, when
thousands of honest, industrious people
are filled with anxiety for the bread Of
their families, or are suffering already from
an Inadequate supply. This seems to me
the great ond paramount question Of the
day, To which our chief thought and most
efficient action should be directed, and be-
fore which all other questions should sink
into insignihcance.
What is the cause of this widespread
ruin and present distress and what is the
immediate remedy
The panic Tor Paper Money famine Of
| 1873 and all the consequent distress of the
industrial classes of our country, and its
baffied enterprise, is distinctly due to the
contraction Of the currency to an enormous
extent during the eight years preceding
1873. 1t stopped credit, production and
consumption, and made much of what cur
| rency was left, rush, in a panic, to the
head money-centers-as the blood in an
| apoplectic fit rushes to the head-where
| this money is now vainly seeking invest
ment, ''in first class security, at two per
cent while the country at large is palsied
in its enterprises and Industries for want
Of this very currency. And what was sll
this done for To change the debt of the
country without reducing its real amount,
! from shape beneficial to the people, and
incorporated as an integral part Of the very
| life blood Of all their rising Industries and
their growing trade-this paper currency
was turned, almost with the suddenness Of
a conjuration. and by the forms Of an ar
bitrary construction OF Law, into another
shape, twice in amount as measured by the
same paper, and taxing the people interest
on it in gold, to the amount Of $94, ,684,26e
per year, see statement Of the public debt,
June, 1876.
4 Most Of this interest is now paid to
foreign bondholders, alien to our institu
tions and uninterested in our prosperity