The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1877-10-13
The Handworksrs Of tfs aiSsisslppl Ssiisy
..-fhsif Power and RsspsRsibility.

-~-- - Ca a.
! An Address Delivered Before the I'LL
nois Farmers a ssocia tion. I'm the SEN
ate Chamber at Springfield, III, Jan
Is, 1S7T.
You have found that the governing ma
chinery Of your country and its financia
machinery is continually out Of order
that it does not perform its work that i
is continually either breaking down ol
rattling and jingling, indicating derange
ment. You have been told that thess
great machines are too complicated for you
to understand or handle. Yon say if IL i,
not more complicated than my thrAshinl
machine, or my mower or harvester, l car
understand it ; you examine IL, especially
the English financial machine you study
its construction and its history, and its
work you hnd II Is a machine or system
that promises to pay gold when it has nc
gold to pay, and can not get It it is a
system under which, while the nation has
become nominally rich, the people have
become correspondingly poor and deformed
in body and mind, that more and more of
the children of each overworked genera
x,
in the midst Of fierce competition, and
drop OF into the poor house or the prison;
you find under that system that trading
and professional csllings are deemed more
honorable than the labor Of production
that producers are degraded, because Of
the small share they receive Of what they
produce that undue competition between
the members Of an overcrowded CONNER
cial class have caused Cuisines" to be-
come a system of war or game Of chance
you find that the best merchants and the
candid students and writers of England
declare their financial system failure, and
the Bank of England AN overloaded, over
worked and inefficient machine. That the
continued raising and lowering Of the rates
of interest. in order to keep coin in Eng
land, is continually changing the market
value Of all commodities, 50 that he who
carries on a legitimate business is subject
ed to all the uncertainties and risks Of
gambling. That Of those who engage in
trade and commerce, large majority die
after career of labor and anxiety, leaving
" "a u slpresas,9ls for their families, and that
has not failed at some time. As you inves-
tigate you wonder that the mercantile
classes have not discovered that the prime
cause of these evils Is in their financial
system You become doubtful Of the cor
rectness of your own conclusions, as to the
cause Of these difficulties, social derapge-
ments and sutferings you inquire Of mvr-
chants whether they have examined the
matter; most Of them say no, that IL is
too complicated, that he cannot understand
it you accompany a merchant through
his great establishment you admire, un-
derstand and are interested in the steam
engine which is used to elevate or lift his
goods you are quite likely to find that lie
does not understand the workings Of the
parts Of his own steam engine; he tells
you, perhaps, that It is too complicated,
that ne cannot understand il that he
leaves that to his engineer as he leaves the
subject Of finance to the kothchilds.
A lie fact Is that merchants and business
men are very acute, and very quick, and
are intelligent IN certain ways, but they
make pack horses Of their brains in their
every day work, 50 at night when they put
the tired pack horse in It's stable, they do
not care to study the steam engine or any
other machinery.
Professional men in cities are so engross-
ed with their special lines Of thought and
effort, that few give much attention to the
grand machinery Of society they do not
realize, ike Emerson, that "Our state OF
society is one IN which the members have
suffered amputatloD fIOm the trunk, and
strut about so many walking monsters
good hnger, neck, a astomach, All elbow,
but never man. The priest becomes a
form, the attorney statute book, the me-
chanic a machine, the sailor the rope of a
ship"
You examine and find that there was a
system Of hnance practiced in the Middle
Ages-the Dark Ages, under which
government debt supplied the ciIcula-
ting medium that the government debt
evidences were for centuries worth a
premium over coin; that for centuries
there was nothing in Venice corresponding
to a suspension Of specie payment, imam
clal crises, and the troubles and viclssi.
tudes which are experienced now In busI
ness life; you discover that what IA
familiarly called the greenback, Is a gov.
ernment bond that its delivery transfer:
shares in the national debt, which, by law
is made a legal payment you tind that
the government itself now dlscredIts these
notes and makes them worth less thai
COIN, because 1t refuses To receive them fol
custom dues, for which it demands gold
Instead and you find, further, that the
government has rendered these notes IRE
deemable by repeating the provision o.
law under which they were issued, which
provided that they should be receivable by
the government at par for interest bearing
obligations of the government
You demand
lst. That greenbacks shall be received
for customs and all other dues 70 govern
ment the same AS gold.
I'd. That the silver dollar shall be re
stored to its old rank in the list of coins
and that the products of our America
silver mines shall be coined, as well as til,
products Of the British gold mines.
Sd. You demand that if any person ha
gteenbacks-UnitedS States notes not bear
ing interest-snd desires to exchange then
for government notes bearing interest, tha
the interchange should be made at tn
sub treasures, and that the holder Of n
interest bearing obligations may re ex
change it for greenbacks at par and interes
at pleasure.
You demand that without suddenly dis
turDing existing conditions, the policy {
this government shall be to supply, in I'll
form of evidences of its own debt, th
paper currency Of the country. instead I
farming out the privilege to corporation
to supply the paper currency to consist
evidences Of their debts.
While managing your ploughs, your drill
your harvesters and your threshing m
chimes, farmers Of the Mississippi VALLEY
you have time and opportunity to thu.