The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1876-01-29
A YALE PROFESSOR ANSWERED
NCNBEK IHkEE.

!
TO the present, greenbacks have been The
! only measure Il value IN the United
/ States, 80 far as it Is possible to have a
measure Of value 1t all, that gold, instead
Of measuring values, has simply been the
creature OF gambling operations, It's pur-
chasing power relatively Nlth SreenbAcAs
having been determined entirely by these
daily bets OF gold gamblers, based entirely
upon the temporary supply and demand
for gold to pay custom duties, and wholly
regard IS Of the supposed intrinsic value
Of the gold itself, or Of the labor repre-
sented by the greenback in possession OF
the people. Instead Of a law Of nature
/ governing this gold value, then, there has
been no element whatever which has ex
erted an influence except the gambling
element, and a gambling element is the
fartherest removed from = Law Of nature
Of anything which can be conceived by AL
intelligent person. We are well a~sre
that Insurance. men have a great deal to
say about the law Of average. This 50
called law will not bear the test VI exami-
nation, although the expression, Law OF
chances, would be more applicable 10 the
facts. These chances, however, are 30 uu-
certain as to be beyond the pale Of la~
| They will allow of no reliable classification.
and the most intelligent underS rIters are
! beginning t. sdmit that this sv-called Law
Vi average (ch4nc-s) Is = delUslou. aud
that the insurance business Is practically
a gambling business, based upon the sound
! judgment Ot the uniern ritter alone As
| gold gambling hSs always been even more
uncertain than the operations u mr. IN
sursnce, the pretended ias Of nature i.
eysn more IF burlesque upon reasos
than the so-cAiled scientific principles Of
underwriting and its SINKS 70 It's proper
/ level u being more uncertein than ven
lures At faro, and no nsn has ever Yet hal
the audaclty TO tell Us that farO gambler.
were operating IN accordance ~ith the law
/ Of nature.
| But let Us t4ks another view ot ths
question. Ii specie payments were -
! desirable az Prof. Sumner would have rs
believe hey were, then they v ould give as
stability u prices. We have spent great
deai q time comparing the market quota
tons Of London, Montreal, Toronto,
New York, Chicago aud Mlwaukee. We
have found that both III Canada and Grea,
Britain, market prices change more often,
more suddenly, and more widely than they
have iii the United States since the close
Of the war. This proves that gresnbAcks
have given US a more steady market than
gold has given TO Great Britain or Canada;
and to our mind this single fact outweighs
every objection which Prof. Sumner, or
any other bulhonist, has ever raised agains,
our greenback currency. The burden Of
proof, therefore, lies with them 10 show
that our observation Of the market reports
have been defective and unreliable. The
facts which We have advanced correspond
with the true theory. Gold is merchsn-
disc; Its amount makes i. possible for
gamblers to corner the market, not perma.
nently perhaps, but temporarily Now, a
temporary corner has all the evil effects
upon prices that q permanent corner can
have hence it is that these temporary
corners have resulted in making prices
more uncertain in England and Canada
than they have been in the United States.
But for further illustration of this prin-
clple, We need not go outside of the United
States. On the Pacific slope, the people
have chung to gold. Have prices been
more steady there in consequence Of specie
payments No part Of the United States
has been so cursed with corners. rings,
u onopolies, and all manner Of underhand
trickery in trade, az the Pacific slope; and
the comparative ease Of cornering the
money market Is the means whereby all of
these legal robberies are perpetrated.
Perhaps tn, Yale Professor can explain all
Of these facts away; but we do not believe
he can.
There is another feature to this part of
the question Anybody can do business
on specie basis if they chose, even nov.
There are two concerns Ia the United
States that have always chung to 1t. These
two concerns are the Wade Printing Ink
Company and Brewster, the coAchmaker
The method OF business is very simple.
Wade quotes his ink At 81, e., g, or more.
per pound, gold. The bill is made out.
and the GOLD premium, whatever it may
re, Is added. Brewster does the same.
Now, the builionsts virtually say, in
effect, that all business men, cast Of the
Rocky Mountains, except these two con-
Germs, are pack Of fools, when they talk
Of the great advantages to b derived by
return to specie payment. Their language
can bear no other meaning in the light Of
facts; because, il the advantages are what
the bullionists claim them to be, then
every business man who il not fool would
at once resort to specie payments, in order
TO reap the rich reward. II Brewster and
Wade have reaped any undue advantage
by their means of dong business, other
people would have followed their example.
The fac. they are still left alone in thsir glo-
: is proof ooaclusive that the advantages Of
specie payments are q myth, 30 far as they
relate 90 any occupation outside Of money