The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1876-01-15
THE LABOR WORLD.
Congress Called ON TO Leok at the State
Of Lahar Demanding . Currency
tAat the Nation Shall be Rsspo sible
4Sr, and that Shall be Convertible int
Imt@Ra~A-haaramw RnmMa
From the Ne~ York sun. Dan. loy


protest agaInst the action Of the Aldermen
in regard to petition of the brickIsyers
aaking for work, and also to discuss other
questi' ms. Nearly three thousand per
sons were in the hall, Mr.. William A. A.
Carsey, Of the Executive Committee Of
the Trades Unions, called the meeting 10
order, and nominated Mr. Peter Cooper
as chairman.
The venerable Peter Cooper, having
been received with warm applause, said
the nations debt cannot be paid BY enforc-
ing idleness upon a large MAS Of the peo-
pie, and that the Government ought to un-
derstand that it is impossible for us as a
nation to buy anything cheap from foreign
countries that must be bought at the ex
pense Of leaving our own good raw mater
iaI unused, and our own labor unemploy-
ed He added
Our Government should remember that
it Is never safe to legislate in accordance
with the advice Of men or nations that
celve US. There are millions Of the Amer
lean people who nov honestly believe that
our Government Sas misled by the fore IN
and home influences Of men who were
more earnest to establish q credit in for
eign countries, than to provide the means
of support for the hundreds Of thousands
OF those who had fought and bled to save
the life Of the notion.
The strange anxiety to establish credit
abroad, in order TO purchase things for
which there was no special need, has been
made the basis Of excuse for the adoption
of policy adverse to the employment and
prosperity of the lsbOring classes of the
country, a policy which has dried up the
sources of employment and prosperity of
the laboring classes Of the country, a pol
icy which has dried up their sources 81
employment, and has 50 TAR reduced their
consuming power as to have carried the
very mechanical products Of which our
people are the producers and the chief
consumers out of the reach of the masses,
and piled them up in the factories as
though they were over productions.
The uncertainty Of the future financial
policy Of the government has paralyzed
corporate and private credits, am has thus
brought on a stoppage in buying and sell
ing property, and depressed values until
they are about one-half what they were
three years ago, throwing hundreds of
thousands Of industrious people out of the
employments which active capital, support
ed BY credit, can alone sustain.
believe that this paralyzlng and ruin
Gus policy has already shrunk the value of
the whole property Of the nation t. the
amount Of thousands of Eilli Jns Of dol
lars in vain effort to bring three hun
dred millions Of legal tenders to a par with
gold.
This rulnOus contraction policy has
broken up the various industries Uf the
country, on which millions % working
men and women are depending for sup
port.
ash for no untried experiment. ask
in the firm belief that policy somewhat
| similar to that which now makes France
he richest, aud financially the most pros
porous nation in Europe, would, II adopt
ed by our government - inspire the nov
dropping spirits 81 the American people "a
to cause them to adopt a wise and well dI-
rected system Of American labor as the
only true source OF national wealth and
individual prosperity.
| believe that Justice cannot be estab-
lished, and the general welfare ~ the ma
ton cannot he effectnally promoted, with
out resembling the resumption act Of 1875,
and substituting a currency bill similar u
the one the House Of Representative.
passed in 1862. which made treasury note,
legal tender for all duties and debts, and
made them convertible into the interest
bearing bonds Of the government.
/ am convinced that when a true Amer
lean system Of finance 10 adopted which
shall put all that circulates As money en-
tirely and erci'tsiceiy under the control Of
the government, making II receivable foI
duties and debts, employment for all the
working classes and prosperity for the
whole country will be the natural and per.
manent result.
Mr. Wallace r. Groom said that the
whole power Of making money should b
put in the hands Of the general govern.
ment, and that the currency should be
convertible into its own interest bearing
bonds.
Mr.. G. W. MADDOX, the secretary Of ths
meeting, read an address to Congress
| The address Iecites the workingmens ser.
vices during the war for the Union and the
changes in prices that followed the var
and hen says:
But when the government began to con
tract this credit, Systematically, and in q
large measure from year to year, to pay q
debt that was not yet due, all other cred
its, private and corporate, began to con.
tract also. and brought on "panlc" in
the financial affairs OF this country, d
which We now feel the most deplorable
effects.
This systematic contraction
has thrown more than two millions Of peo-
pie out Of work, or put them ON short al
lowance Of work at reduced wages, while
the price Of living has not fallen by cor
responding reduction. These causes have
worked in a subtle and concealed Nay. like
the malaria which produces disease, and
brought on the inability, on the part OF
employers, to pay the accustomed wages,
which the wOrkmen have misunderstood
to be the tyranny of their employers.
Hence the "Strikes" so disastrous to both
capital and labor.
This has discouraged and demoralized
Thousands Of industrious people, whose
whole moral safety hung upon their regu-
lar employment, aud sent them as ''trsmps"
about the country, and reduced many To
the ranks of pauperism and crime. They
could neither bear the supposed tyranny
Of their employers, nor the tears and cries
OF their starving wives and children.
We believe that the policy Of the gov
eminent, however patriotic and well de-
signed, has been a mistake in reference to
the financial interests of this country.
We believe that the remedy for these
evils can only come from the power that
has unconsciously caused them.
We therefore pray your honorable body
to use your best wisdom, in the light Of
these facts, to relieve the great pressure
and distress brought upon the working
classes of this country, and those who pur-
chased property and made contracts upon