The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1876-05-20
RULLIONISM.

bulliOnists can never get beyond the
one idea that gold has a fixed value
If there is any one statement that is con-
tradicted ten thousand times day by facts
it is this same statement in regard to gold.
We have refuted it SO often and in SO
many different ways, and have driven so
many bullionists into q corner and com
PEELED them to admit the truth, that we are
almost ashamed to hammer away upon the
Aame subject; yet ~ nine men out Of ten,
still believe this bullion statement, the
only way to make an impression is to keep
hammering. When the resumption con
scation act was passed, gold was about
SllO; in short time it went up to OIL IL.
1t has now dropped back to about $ll2.
According to the bullion theory when gold
fell prices ought to have gone up; but
have they. Not at all Every man knows
that he is working for lsss wages than he
earned when the resumption law passed.
He can buy cheaper. He must sell cheaper.
Even the money lenders have lost money
on the swindling resumption fraud, for
they have locked their money up to wait
until general bankruptcy comes, and the
general closing out sheriff sale commences
Then they expect TO buy property for a
song, and make up for the interest they
have lost, while waiting for the crash.
Money is locked up now for no other
reason than the one Just given, but there
is not single resumption robber that dare
tell the truth about the matter. Specie
resumption and robbery are two phrases
that have exactly the same meaning.
The people should distinctly understand
that gold simply represents the labor cost
of its possession, and greenbacks repre-
sent exactly the same thing, namely, the
labor cost of their possession. When we
understand that gold is representative to
exactly the same extent as greenbacks all
of the bullion twaddle at once evaporates.
Gold is wanted only because it can be
easily cornered manipulated, controlled
by gamblers and bankers. Gov. Wood
ford, in his joint discussion with Gen.
Ewing, last fall, says We can not gamble in
anything that has fixed value" This is
true. But then he went one step further
and declared that we never heard Of men
gambling in gold when We had specie pay
ments before the war Gen. Ewing accepted
the statement as true, but it was false
Men have always gambled in gold They
gamble in gold more in England now than
they do in this country, because gold
changes in alue there as well as here. In
1873, the value of gold money changed
from two to ten per cent in less than sixty
days, as measured by the rate of discounts
Cinterest) at the Bank of England, and
there were 900 gold gamblers in the En-
gIish market at that time for every single
gold gambler in the American market.
Bagehot, the editor Of the London Ecoao-
mist, admits that manufacturing enter
prise in England in modern times, must
necessarily be a gambling venture"
Why Because of the frequent corners
in the gold market. The use Of gold does
not give steady prices. 1t has never given
England steady prices it never will give
England steady prices. Gold never has,
and ienever can give stability to values,
simply because the market is liable to be
eornered any day, and no man can tell
what day gold will be higher or lower The
entire mystery of the financial problem
hinges upon the attempts to reconcile
facts with the fine conceived notion that
gold has fixed or nearly fixed
value. Throw away this delusion, and all
The rest becomes plain, simple, and is
easily understood. Cling 10 this delusion,
and finances are a muddle and absurdity q
fraud. Broaden the base 80 az 10 allow
debts to be paid in both gold and silver,
or either gold and silver, and a. it is much
more difficult to corner both gold and sill
yer at the same time, we are comparatively
safe, Give US a reenback and inter
changable currency that cannot, under any
circumstances be cornered and we are safe
The people will prosper, industry will
thrive; all will lind employment, the ma
ton and individuals will then grow wealthy
without robbing each other, and for the
first time, mankind will fully understand
what the Declaration Of Independence
meant when it included the clause in re-
gard to the pursuit of happiness. We
are not an independent nation until we
adopt an independent monetary system of
our own, entirely cut of from gold, and
thereby beyond the intermeddling inHu-
ence Of foreign nations