The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1876-02-12
THE MONEY PROBLEM
Hon. Britton a Hill In Defence of Pa
per Money.

from an Article b, Mr.. I'm .n ware' vaiie' Month
~
We are cold that It IS dangerous to place
in Congress such vast power as that Of
lrsuIng paper money. II 81, do not well
see how We can help It, unless We change
our whole Federal Constitution and dIvest
ourselves Of our entire National sovereign
ty There Is not "a nation IN the world
which does not exercise II when needed
Our Congress has unlimited power t. Is
sus bonds aud to pledge the faith OF the
whole nation for their value. Now, IN
what does bond differ from paper
Ureenback Only id this, that ii Expresses
the people Who issue il by the addition Of
= tax called interest The bond itself IS
not more secured than the greenback. 1t
is trle that our bonds promise to pay the
holder their amount in specie at some flu
ture time. but that Is non essential ele-
ment Of she bond, as is shown by the
English consols, which are not promise
to pay at all, and never become due ex
cent for interest An English consol is
never payable III specie. Indeed, by strlk-
inc off the interest feature from the Eng
hsh consol bonds. We have Just my ideal
of an irredeemable National currency; aud
We all know that the English consols pass
as money pretty well the world over We
ali know that most Of our bonds were
made PAYABLE in gold simply by an act Of
fraud on the part of the Republican Con
gress Cf 1869
This objection 10 an absolute National
money scheme. falls. therefore, entirely
TO the ground, and the only plausible ar
gument remaining against it and that can
be raised against the substitution q an alb
soute legal tender paper money in lieu Of
the metallic money u, that II seems i'm
possible to have commercial dealings with
foreign countries unless we have common
world money. But this article is wholly
without foundation. For We do not III
any way whatever clear our trade balances
with other countries by means Of gold and
silver coin. We do not export our gold
dollars. our half eagles, eagles and double
eagles; at least To any amount worth
speaking OF, and every banker knows that
foreign coin Is not 81 imported To our
country. When gentleiSen, like SchurZ
or CAN'T, ask therefore, with an air Of tri-
umph. What would YOU do with an Ameri-
can greeuback in a Russian village | re-
Div. what would Russian peasant do With
MS metallic ruuble III an American village
In a large city the rouble might ice sold to
a broker. it is true; but J can also sell my
greenback to a foreign broker At least |
can do 50 nov, aud an Engllshman can
sell his paper Bank Of England money in
any commercial city. Indeed, have no
doubt that a Chlnaman can sell his Chi
nese paper money to any rne who owes a
debt to merchant IN Pekm, Canton OF
Hong Kong. So this whole fear of the
shipwreck Of foreign exchange by our gold
worshipers is only specter, goblin to
brighten people with and rob them through
ITS ghustly terror Of their hard earnings
ana their w. : deserved prosperity. How
do We max our foreign exchange BY
our eXpurtatg Jns of cotton, pork, wheat,
petroleum, tobacco, and also, to be sure,
by our gold and silver III the form
OF coin, however, but in the torn of bars,
etc, as simply commodities of trade
With what do We buy these articles of
trade, this cotton, pork and gold Why,
with grcenbacks, chec6s, drafts, and bills
u exchange And what does Europe pay
us in return for the purchase Of those ar
ticles Certainly not gold or silver coin,
but Other articles, and other drafts, checks
hands and exchanges. Sometimes Europe
also sends us gold for whatever our de-
tractors Of American institutions and
American money may say, Europe does
not care much about gold. England gets
rid Of her gold and silver by expectations
lust as fast as she can, treating it alto
yether like piece Of merchandise which
has value only for the profit to be made
ON 1T IN the course of trade. So do we,
and 80 does every commercial nation which
the first principles Of bust
ness.
The Authorization that our hard money
yorshiping pagans suffer from is the result
Of a Goldfish education in false system Of
political economy. They do not recognize
the fact that the progress of modern science
has set in motion millions of engines, null
tiplving the producing power Of man a
tho usand fold. Professors, Shylocks and
bondhold ers must awake t. the fact that
scienoe demands obedience to its laws
hat human progress Is driving out dis
honest uperstitIon, and making homes OF
comfort where dens of misery have been.
The products VI labor to-day, assisted by
her handmaid Science, are nlillion-fold
Larger than those Of the coin or dark ages
The Gillette idolstory Of the gold god, the
wooden god, the stone god, and ali the
yods invented By man to glorIfy his own
e0utism and selhshness, must sink away
into the darkness from which they sprung,
and disappear before the rising sun OF
acience. In the universal emancipation of
mankind FROM the coin superstition and all
other superstitions, the new republic Of
Law will arise from the ashes Of old sys-
temA and a new civilization will dawn upon
man.
r. Il not already demonstrated by the
experience Of the last fifty years, 10y the
,lsantic growth II Commerce, trade aud
10y the expansion Of Ell
changes. bankers checks and paper money
10 SIS. OOO, OOU, 900 year, Cancelled IA tue
clearing houses u Europe and America.
that the time has come when II Is no longer
,.,.nihIe 70 carry ON the trade, business
aud manufactures Of our modern world If
science With our coin money! Necessity
co,upels US to invent a new money system,
,or the new trade and Business Of tins new
.orld. now beginning 70 show the generous
fruits Of science, after 10 long battle with
lgnorance, superstition, prIestcrAft aud cor
ruption. There Is not gold and silver
enough in the world tocarry On the business
NJ London. Aud hoN when every rejecting |
nsr.on sees and knows that IT is impractic- |
.hIe 10 carry On the business of the world |
- commerce and trade without the use Of
vast AMOUNTS Of paper money, ten thousand |
t;,uaa more than all the coin IN the world,
80 Il become gentlemen who profess q |
,.e-srd for scientific truth to insist that the |
,.'orle Of the United States shall be SaerI-
49, 4, a base idolatory TOR Gonld; tie