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

4
lieve there is too much Of it now for the
dullest period of the year"
| Notwithstanding these Recommendation
of the President, Congress has continued
to taA the people and contract the national
currency, in q vain effort to arrive at specie
payments.
Our government should have left that
amount of currency in the hands of the
people which the necessities of war had
compelled it to put in circulation as the
only means of the national salvation.
Every dollar of currency paid out,
whether gold, silver, or paper, was given
out for "value received, and thus be-
came, by the act Of the government,
valid claim for a dollars worth OF he
whole property Of the country. Hence,
not dollar Of it should ever have been
withdrawn.
1t is now almost universally believed
that had the Treasury notes continued, as
at first issued, to be received for ali forms
Of taxes, duties and debts, they would
have circulated to this day, as they did
then, as so much gold, precisely as the
government paper did in France when put
upon the same footing
This would have saved our country more
/ JLldu OIlc-IlAlI OI Ln0 amount OF the WnOIo
expenses of the war in the present shrink
age of values and the interruption to hon
est industry. 1t would have saved us also
from the perpetual drainage Of gold to pay
interest on our foreign Indebtedness.
Gentlemen of the Convention, have
heretofore enlarged upon what seemed to
me the true financial policy OF this country
in pamphlets and writings that have had
the honor to lay before the country, SO
that it would be a vain repetition to 60
much into the subject now.
The paper currency, commonly called
legal tenders" or greenbacks, was &C.
tually paid out for value received as so
much gold when gold could could not BE-
obtained.
I This being an incontrovertible fact, it
follows that every Treasury note, demand
note, or legal tender, given out as money,
in payment for any form of labor and
property received by the government,
became, in the possession Of its owners,
real dollars that could not be taken consti-
tutionally from the people, except by uni
form taxes, as on other property.
But whether our currency will be always
on par with gold or not, | have shown
! from history-and mcontrovertible facts
prove it-that the commercial and indus
/ trial prosperity of a country do not depend
upon the amount of gold and silver there
Is in circulation. Our prosperity must
continually depend upon the industry, the
enterprise, and the busy internal trade and
true independence Uf foreign nations,
which paper circulation well based Oh
sound credit, has always been found to
/ promote.
| But | believe prosperity can neVer again
bless our glorious country until justice is
established, by giving back to the people
the exact amount of currency found i'll
circulation at the close Of the war. That
was the price OF the nations life 1t ought
to be restored and made the uhhuctuating
measure Of all values, through all coming
time-never to be increased or diminished,
only as per capita with the increase Of the
inhabitants of our country.
This currency must be made receivable
for all forms Of taxes, duties and debts,
and convertible into interest-bearirg
bonds, at some equitable rate of interest,
and recoverable into currency at the will
of the holder. This, we believe, will Sc
cure uniformity of value to degree that
gold has never attained. President Steele,
Of Lawrence University, has well said on
this subject
''In fixing a standard, it is essential to
select something that is as nearly as pos
sible invariable The conven .ional unit
of lineal measure must not be line which
averages a foot, though it may be fourteen
inches to-day and nine inches tomorrow.
The bushel measure should not contain
two or three quarts more or less at one
time than at an Jther. For the same rea-
son it is desirable that the unit Of value
should have the same purchasing power
next week that it he's now"
"Amasa Walker, in his work on the
Science of Wealth, Up. 48S) gives the
comparative prices of list of seventeen
articles for the four successive years 1862
to 1866, inclusive, in the Boston market
for the month of October. These arti-
cles, as he says, are OF domestic produce,
not directly affected by custom or excise
charges Taking these as representatives
of general values, we learn that the ad-
vance IN the whole four years amounted to
141 per cent, while the premium ON gold
/ i'll the same time advanced only lis per
cent. Reducing everything to a gold
standard, we find that the value Of gold
had fallen nearly 90 per cent. in four years.
In other words, whatever you might have
purchased for gold dollar in 1862, you
would have been Obliged to pay 81 Is for
the same article in 1865. By the same
table we learn that. from October, 1864,
to October, 1876, while the premium on
gold fell 80 per cent, general prices rose
lot per cent. Reducing all the values to
gold standard, find that gold fluctuated
in a single year nearly 5S per cent, while
the fluctuations in the value Of greenbacks
tested by the same standard Of general
prices was only 81 per cent, or less than
one-sixth of that of gold r
In conclusion, gentlemen, think we
have reason to congratulate ourselves on
the great awakening Of the public mind in
regard to this question Of finance. The
people are beginning to recognize their
rights and their duties in this matter
think the time has come to exhort every
one to go the ballot box and select good
and true men, who will legislate in accord
ance with justice, the Constitution, and
the true interests Of the people, and give
us what will always stand as a monument
Of political dom, true national cur
rency.
With devout wishes for the success OF
all measures tending to this object, re-
main yours, in the common interests Of
our beloved country.
At the conclusion Of the reading Of the
letter vote Of thanks was rendered the
temporary chairman, and another one to
Mr.. Cooper for his valuable letter.
After a long and desultory discussion
as to whether the delegates present should
cast the full votes of their respective
States, and upon being informed that the
committee on platform was not prepared
to present their report, the Convention
adjourned till 7:3O P. NJ, without taking
action on the motion.