The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1876-05-06
FROM OHIO.

! TO the Editor of the woRKINaxANs ApyocArK
The old proverb Of give some men an
inch and they will take span, is well
illustrated IN the action uf those especi-
ally interested in having silver coin sub
stItuted for our paper currency. First
they worked upon the fractional currency
500, ,OO0, 900, and by the act recently
/ passed, winch - now being carried ou'.
We are 70 be taxed upon a gold interest
bearing bond that Is being issued to pur-
chase the silver bullion with which to
make dimes, double dimes and twenty five
cent pieces with. The amount of this
taxation to the people, it is estimated,
will be about ~, 1000 annually.
In addition to what we are now paying,
this is a nice little item, and for what
To have a currency Of metal domone-
tized in Germany; debased, because de-
preciated in England and France; repudi-
ated by Austria, and now the question is
being agitated Of having its legal tender
quality taken from II ID India IN fact,
this seems to he its inevitable fate in this
latter country, and not it alone, but all
others, because the extent os it's produc-
tiOn is fast reducing its value by the side
of gold. Tile London Times, discussing
the sui j+ct recently, sand " Silver, az a
standard Of value, has had its day in Eu-
rope, and il will be found as impossible to
sustain II As a legal tender in this country
as It would be to have us substitute the
old stage wagon for the locomotive and
railway carriages" This il the kind ot
currency we are to have. greenback
dollar to-day can purchase in open market
more silver than is required to manufac-
ture two hall dollar gold pieces by about
/ rs per cent, and yet the Secretary of the
\ Treasury will have to sell gold bonds to
/ purchase the silver with to make those
coins. This, however, Is but tie first act
| in the drama, the entering wedge BY which
\ the whole circulation " tO be virtually
made silver one The curtain has lust
risea, and the second act is begun in the
form Of a supplement 70 the Silver Cur
rency bill reported favorably week ago
Tuesday to the Senate by Senator Sher-
man, to amend the law relating to the
legal tender # silver coin. The measure
provides for the coinage Of a silver dollar,
to be "a legal tender to the amount of
twenty dollars in one payment, but ham
pered with the same exceptions as the
greenback, by excepting 1t III the payment
Of custom dues and interest on the public
debt. The legal tender quality Of the
grecnback dollar the bin proposes to abol-
lsh entirely, and greenbachs received for
this silver coin are % be cancelled and never
again reissued. Thus We see the whole
game az through glass. Silver, simply
as bullion, being below par with the United
States dollar, as fixed Ny its legal tender
quality a. circulating medium, il, by
legal enactment, to be proped up and ex-
change plans with il. and all done in the
interest Of few men in Congress and the
Senate who are connected with the silver
mining interests Of the West. Thus, the
|
BY the New Haven Union while this
legislation is profitable To such men as
Sharon, Jones, and their associates, 10
the people 1t is the displacement Of a
cheap and convenient currency for one
that is costly and inconvenient The
paper currency costs merely the paper and
its printing, which, II done with due
economy, should be mere trihe. The
silver costs the people per cent. on the
: bonds issued for its purchase. and az least
per cent. more through converting into
a mere tool of exchange that which would
have been exchanged for so much repro
ductive capital At this rate the country
loses Si 800, 900 year On $40, 400, 900
| represented by bonds issued tu purchase
silver for taking up the fractional notes.
and would lose $1,000, 900 per annum
more through the issue ~ bonds fur tile
I proposed retiring Of the one dollar legal
tenders Now, when it comes to a matter
Of taxing the people, directly and indi-
rectly, -, 900, 600 year (minus the cost of
/ keeping up about so, 900 900 Of paper
circulation), the bOnanzists ask Of the
country altogether a little too much. I"
9 Thus, additional taxation Of the people
seems to be their fate, in spite of the con
= tracted and still contracting power of pro
duction. The Democratic members are
I, making commendable eff lrts in the lower
y House TO lessen the burdens of the
masses by cutting down extravagant sal
Il aries and abohshlDg superhous officers
with what motive ! will not say-and
here at the other end the Republican
i Senate is, by their slight Of hand currency
!, interference. adding new ones. That there
IS are but few men at the bottom " tho
b. scheme. there is no question, though they
Df have mighty long purse, 1t seems that
4 has some Seight to IT, The country has
u come TO poor pass when such rascalIties
Il are possible. Viii the masses take this
y question up, and give themselye pure gov
y ~ ernment ! trust indianapolis will be
made the ra'lyi-g point.
w Yours, trniJ. JoHN JAMES.