Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1877-08-22

farmer, for your goods if you are merchant, for
your labor il you are mechanic.
| Now, for example, as sm simply quiet law
YER who always believe in calling my
| WITNESSES TO THE STAND,
we will call the greenback to the stand. First
it reads, 1.-The United States will pay the bearer
| five dollars" II does not say, This is five dol
lars" Now, there is IS gold piece; take a
good look at it, for yon probsbably have not seen
one for 8 long time. [Laughter Now that Is
what that bill promises to pay. No banker in the
that gold piece. Now, will it buy as much IL
won't buy as much. | can take that gold piece
to any broker IN the city of Cincinnati, and can
sell at premium of just sixteen cents on the uoi
| lar. Five times sixteen are eighty. bank VIII
give me another bill just like that and eighty
cents in fractional currency for that 80 gold piece
Then, that is worth eighty cents more than thss'
WHAT MAKES PROMISE GOOD.
| Now, have You ever stopped to ask yourself just
what that difference is The paper Is the promise
to pay the gold, and the promise Is not as GOOD as
the gold itself. Why There are tive things mar
| enter into every promise--one is ability aud the
other is inclination. For example. you may give
me your note for 500, and you may be Just a.
honest as sunlight, and If you are not able to Pay
that note 1t is worth nothing to me. On the
! and if YOU are not inclined to do it, your note is
| not good. If Won are one Of those men, so plen-
| tiful in New York-and peTchance there may De
| some here-who try always, II they owe debt,
| to see if they wiggle out of it in some way,
| when that note falls due you must pay 1t, and
have got to employ a lawyer. and pay him sl0, to
recover it for me; then II Is worth only S'O to
me.
Your note is not worth one hundred dollars,
because you have not the inclination to pay it
man must be able and inclined TO pay his debt
before his note is absolutely good. When these
two meet together a note is absolutely good, and
il lust as good the money 1t promises 10 pay.
For example, you may have 500 Ia your pocket.
There are men in Cincinnati to whom you would
rather lend that 500, and get note bearing IN
terest, because your money would then earn in
terest and you would know that when the note
came due you would get every cent They are
able to pay and they are willing to pay
Now, there is the note of your government and
mine, that promises 10 pay that 81. Why Is not
that note Just as good as that s.. You don't
question the ability Of the government to pay is
debt; the resources Of the country are boundless,
and we are able TO pay our debt whenever we are
willing The question is not one of ability, but OF
inclination. fAppause. Why Is not that note,
which is q promise to pay, Just as good the gold
| itsefi Partly because We have not the gold 10
hand partly because you donr see that both
political parties are taking efficient steps to secure
the gold. But mainly for this reason
THE MISCHIEF OF UNCERTAINTY.
There are men 10 this nation, men who control
the democratic party in the state OF ONO, men
who control the democratic party in the State of
Pennsylvania, who, instead of putting their hands
to the pillow and trying to do their best to keep the
faith of the nation, are endeavorlng to prejudice
and break down our faith. Loud applause. And
10 serious soberness | arraign the democratic
party of the great State of Ohio, alike the men
who engineered the PLATFORM and those who,with
more cowardice. are standing idly by while the
credit of the nation is being stoned to DEATH and,
like Saul, when Stephen was killed, are thus con-
senting thereto. | arragn them for breaking
down the credit of your government and mine, so
that the promssoty note of this nation Is 10 day
al l6 per cent discount from its face value. Loud
applause That discount at l6 per cent. Is the
| measure 10 hard coin OF the doubt the people en-
terrain whether that note is ever TO be paid. Do
YOU believe me We have two kinds of govern
ment notes in irculstion-one we call greenoacks
| the other we call bonds. The bond is the promise
of the government to pay gold many years iIom
now with gold interest in the meanwhile. II Ger.
tainly would not be as good as the gold ITSELF and
yet could only get l6 cents premium on that
gold while the bond, which is the promise to pay
gold twenty years from now, with per cent. in
terest Is worth more than gold itself--it is worth
| 100 cents on the dollar.
THE DIFFERENT RESULT OF CERTAINTY.
| Why Because the government has resolutey
| said we will pay that gold. 1t has kept that
| promise, and you know that the government will
pay its bonded debt 10 gold. and so this promise Is
|
1 Whenever the people of this land, without
regard to party, will treat that greenback which
is the money of the people, fairly as they treat
the bond, the greenback will be worth the gold.
lApplsuse.]
LABOR AND CAPITAL NOT ANTAGoWsTIC.
Now, frankly, with what judgment | judge
| others, am willing to be judged. ! am here to
| fight the imitation heresy, because believe that it
is undermining the credit of your government
| and mine; because believe that it is parsyzing
our industry; because believe that it prevents
our fortunes from being improved; it prevents
| capital from seeking investment, and it is to-day
cursng the laboring man by raising barrier that
does not exist between the capitalist on the one
hand and the lsborer on the other. Applause.
There is and there should be no just antag onism
between capital and labor. What is capital 1t
is the surplus earnings of labor. If man earns
one dollar and spends ninety five cents, and keeps
five cents, to that extent he belongs TO the CAPT
tast class. Capital is nothing nut the money that
has been saved out Of labor IN the years that are
gone. Now what is the effort to array class against
class
HOW TO GET MORE MONEY.
l am glad to see in this audience to- night many
men who evidently are working men. l ask you,
do you want more money Every one of you
says yes. If | were to talk to an audience in New
York, consisting of Horace B. Clafin, Alexander
L. Stewart, Cornelius Vanderbilt, William H.
Vanderbilt and William b. Astor, and say to them
DO you want more money every mOtnel son
of them would say yes to that Laughter
Now, the question is how to get more money
That i. the practical question now, aud it can be
answered in few words
If can make something that you want, ma < c
it, sell it, and you buy it, and then | have got
more money. Or. if 1 can do something better
than you, and you hire me and pay me wages,
do the work, you pay the wages, and have got
more money. Or, # my credit is good, 90 to
you and borrow; you take my note, and then
get the money, and then | have got more, only
some day have got to pay it, you know. Laugh
| ter. Or, if have been unfortunate, and am in
want, and the good Lord has put a generous
heart in you, and | ask you to give me, and you
do so, then have more money. | can SELL can
work, can borrow, | can beg. Is Their. any other
| way-la voice "steal'-great laughter.1 My
| friend In the audience says steal it. / did not
want him to say that very loud, for some nfla-
| zionist might hear him, and think he was hitting
off the democratic platform in one sentence
Applause, and voice, GIVE him another cheer
on that"
WHAT COULD We DO WITH MORE GRERNBACKs /?
| Now, my friends, left us drift right back to the
practical question, how are we TO get more money :
Surprising, that our democratic friends get into
power supposing that il was constitutional to print
greenbacks in time of peace, which II is not sup
pose they could get law passed next winter to print
| them, which they cannot; but supposing that they
have done it, and they have printed the green.
backs, and they pile them up here on this table
| enough to pay OFF the bonds, and there
/ IN hWtsrH