The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1876-01-08


ute and humble obedience 10 them. We
certainly have made an economic mistake,
and therefore are our laborers idle, with
the wealth IL continent within their
grasp.
If We ask what Is the matter, the ma
JorIty NIll naturally revert Z" the late war.
Fifteen yeard ago We had lamenJable
task 70 perform. The nation was arrayed
I'LL t~o portions. both of which abandoned
production. and sent their best men t.
the field t. destroy life and property. 1t
was their business 50 t. do. The subject
is not mentioned IN relation to its Polti
cal aspec,s, OF g. inquire whether 1t was
necessary or paid. hut as an economic
problem II vas a great destruction OF
wealth Let US believe that II paid; and
vet the enormous destruction had 10 be
paid for IA solid substance, and not III
leaves Of paper. IL was not necessary for
US as d nation, 10 exercise self-deulal and
economics ID order that We might strike
ont the debt II should not be necrs-
sary for us, as a nation, t. exercise
self denial and economist IN order that
We might strike out the debt. 1t should
not be necessary o. ARGUE So con On-sense
a proposition. we should be ashamed to
speak of III What did W. doi Why, We
took a large value Of debt and inscribed It
on pieces Of paper with promises 70 pay,
and gave there to the parties from whom
whom the GOV eminent had bought mater
Iais At first hands They in turn needing
money or commodities, pledged these
promises t. others, and they To others
still, and 50 they passed from hand to
hand throughout TIM nation. and the debt
was not paid These notes have rot ia be
made good or the last holder has got u
lose the amount Of the debt which they
represent
In the first place, let us see about the
economic problem ia light Of few facts
David A. Wells Is far from being a reliable
writer but he Is the only man who has
estimated the cost ~ the var, and he puts
it at S901, OO0, 900 Let rs see how much
McCulluch's contis,atiuu policy, coupled
record, called the public credit act, has
cost the people ui the I nlted States. At
the time that steal Nss peIp-trated, there
was nearly IS. 900, 600 900 81 United States
interest bearing bonds pu. standing these
bonds were increased IN value thirty per
cent. ur 5000 900 coo The resumption
act ain increase the value VI 81. 600, 600. y
900 Of individual and corpora c m
debtednrss at a los estimate ten per cent.
This would be 81 POO, 0O, 900. The value
Oi property in the United States, real and
personal. is at least 500, 600, 600, 900.
This mas already been reduced IN value
20 per cent. or $50, OOO, OOO, 900, which
gives total shrlnkage az value Of proper
". and Increased value OF bonds TO the
enormous total ii So lOO, UOO. 600. Or more
than twenty times the cost Of the war.
The Tale professor IS eutlrly snorant OF
the great distraction which Ihcn potency
In government administration has cost
the people Or rather, he claims that
there has been no loss Of property, nor
any gam tn the bundholders. We shall
nave "a consider tins point somewhat at
length Let as then be particular to un-
derstand the issue Prot Sumner and ali
buiiIuntsts assume, that goid mas fixed
value that greenDacks tiuctuate daily,
aud thai instead IF quoting gold at pre-
MUM, the market reports should quote
grveubscks at discount; that the value
u everything j. ID realty nea nred IN
gold because gold is the World measure
of value We ASK. show Do you know
that this is the case We are answered,
coutemptuously, because We do AGAIN
we ash, what is the value Of gold n The
reply is, "A dollar IN gold is worth a dol
lar IN gold. Yes, But how much does it
cost 60 produce a dollar II GOLD HI Nv hat
the gold IS worth, everybody knows that
Again We ask stIll more earnestly than be-
fore, How much does it cost to produce
gold = How do you estimate its value T.
Here the Dullionist attempts to remember
how much gold there is III a coin Of given
denomination, gets angry, and at once
concludes that We are All IDIOT Let us
see about this. We have frequently shown
that the dollar coin was compromise upon
The basis u the Spanish dollar, and the
different colonial shilling monies at &C
count. 1t is also true that the English
pound sterling Was once pound Of silver,
and an English shilling was the twentieth
part Of pound weight of silver. Such
facts are an unsealed book t. the bullion
list: he cannot explain them by his theory;
the result Is he answers us by calling us a
fool. The facts exist, and an honest
searcher for the truth would find some
way OF explaining such facts ia accordance
with common sense. That the bullionist
gets mad when they are pressed home upon
him, is conclusive evidence that with all
OF his boasts Of superior or even exclusive
knowledge, that he cannot solve this sim
pie financial problem, but he can make a
determined effort to make others believe
that our questions are meaningless. and
that We are still more ignorant than him
self
We will continue our review of Mr.
Sumner in our next issue
The Knights of St Crispin. in Lynn,
Mass, recently dedicated their new head