The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1876-01-29


such doctrine; it il Disgrace 10 civiliza-
tion. Ii any class Is entitled to special
consideration. il Is the ~orking class, and
not the ney-lehders.
But let US 70 another step forward. We
mud that the working men, the farmers,
the manufacturers, ana the producers of
wealth generally, favor the greenback cur
rency. But, say these bulllonists. ''these
people know nothing about finance; they
put at defiance all laws Of political econo-
my; they know nothing about this intricate
problem; they are little mere than pack
VI fools" Suppose ali this were true. 1t
Is not; but for the sake Of argument we
will concede it for the time being. All
board Of trade gamblers, spectators,
bankers and transporter, organizations Of
i business men," who live by taking all
from the wealth which labor has created as
II passes through their hands-men who
live upon the uncertainty of q market, as
others do upon the hazard of die-men
whose interest it is to retain any system Of
nnance which promotes speculation-these
men are Oh record, almost without an ex-
cePtlon, III favor Of specie payments.
Nov, either these men are 50 ignorant Of
finance and political economy that they
do not know what their self-lnterests are,
Or the bullIoLists are wrong when they
prodlct what the effect of gold redemption
will be. There are a great many reasons
for believing that the board Of trade gamb-
lsrs understand full well that gold is en-
phAtlc2lly the SPECTATORS money, and
that IS the only reason why they want it,
for 1t gives them much better opportuni
tyto rob the community without the people
hndlng out who hunt them, or how their
pockets we're picked We call Prof. Sum
ner's attention to these pertinent fActs,
and suggest that he master them. But let
US turn TO his discourse again. 1t says:
This brought the speaker to the statement
that Is 50 frequently made, that recent hnau-
clAl endorsements are the dir & result Of our
people insist on eating roast beef when they
can only afford salt goldfish" This is false in
the man. aud only true in particulars. 1t
may be true Of Ger ain families, but not of
any large number OF the people o. this coun-
try, that they recklsssly squander their
money, and knowingly exceed their incomes.
. e hundred years ago, the people Of the
New In land States lived on Goldfish, mOlss-
s=s and New England rum Thew have
changed their hAbI now; and whyl Be-
Cause, being active, energetic and
progressive people, they have become more
anu more comfortable IN means, and are ever
adj AncIug, and II should be q subject of con-
graduation that such Is the case.
We have shown pretty concluslvely, we
think, that the ruinous effects Of contrac-
ton Is an sll-sufhclent reason for the hard
times. We have also shown in recent ar
Ilcles that the cry OF extravaganza is only
the superficial view Of people who have
not penetration enough to get down to the
truth. We are sorry to say that the Yale
Professor seems TO be one of these super
hciAl thinkers. But, further On, be says
What is true in this cry of eAtravAgAnse
IS that holding 10 our hands delusive value,
supposed Income much larger than it
really Is. At frat, money was 80 plenty that
II a man got into debt to obtain it, he became
rich. Thus 1t was that premium was paid
on debt, and millions were lured into it and
wore Doomed to destruction. Luxury was
not cause. but a consequence.
Again, some charge our troubles TO over
protection. How il that Over production
aIuu1.nca II nua .~oluoo.
largely Of colt u, another Vi corn another OF
sugar, AID another OF wool, they can change
their commodities aud all nave a vast amount
~ everything, and that is what we are
AL alter. The trouble Is that We sometimes
produce too much OF one thing; for instance,
We may build more railroads than there are
people 10 the country 70 ride on them. In
10 other sense Is 1t possibly equivalent TO the
idea that We nave got to restrain ourselves so
not " make toO much. An inflated credit
Wa Al lnducement to attempt new and ven
turesome en- terprlseS
Here ne lays down 6 proposition in
direct conflict with the facts. when
money VAS plenty" men paid Tor what
they got. Old debts we're paid of, and
comparatively few new debts contracted.
The record Of failures in business became
few indeed. Everything went ON swim
mingly until the con6scstion policy was
inaugurated. Then the trouble commenced,
and not until then. This explanation of
the popular cry Of overproduction is
equally delusIve. So long as the means Of
payment-Inoney-- left in the hands
Of the people, there was no complaint of
Over-production. But when the legal
means Of payment was withdrawn, wages
we're lowered; workmen could not pay;
their credit was soon exhausted. Then
came the glut, not from over-production,
but from under-eonsumption. Repeal the
Legal Tender act and pass the 365 Con-
vertible Bond act, and in thirty days there
will be such q complete change in the
market that bulionists will be ashamed to
say word about overproduction; but they
will begin to whine that all Of this pros
perity is delbsive, for 1--WE must come
down to a specie basis" Why must We
come down to a specie basis In order
that the robbers may thrive upon our in
dustry. No man living can give different
answer that will bear the test of analysis.
This finishes our comment upon the
Yale Professor financial views. HIS
position on the tariff question are quite As
open to attack as his financial policy. Free
trade and hard money are twin decisions
that will not bear investigation