The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1877-07-26
rHFi ABORERS AND THE SWlNOLER 5

able.
THE LABoRERS AND THE SWINOLERS
eDo YOU see that stout man with
the heavy black moustache, eye-glass-
es. and massive gold chain. walking
past Trinity Church!' said a Wall
street broker to an acquaintance the
other day.
II do" answered the person inter-
rogated.
"Well," continued the broker, she
is one of the best operators on the
Street"
'sIndeed!'
Eyes, sir; he is; he has Melted over
half a million dollars within the past
few weeks.
is it possible in these hard times!
Eyes, sir; it is q fact. These are
the best of times for HIM.
whats his business!
He is a banker and stock jobber;
he has an immese income from bonds
and mortgages, but he has made most
of his money by discounting for mer-
chants and manufacturers.
Now. let us see what this discount
inc Of paper means. 1t means this:
that the money which manufacturers
should receive with which to pay their
employees is pocketed as discount or
interest by Wall street money lenders
and note Shavers. For instance, a
manufacturer employing 5OO hands
| has $50. 900 worth OF manufactured ar
ticles ready for the market. The goods
are much needed, but the demand for
them is fiat. owing to the inability OF
the people to purchase. lie sells them
or. six months credit and receives a
note, this note being a species OF what
is known in Wall streetas ''mercantlle
paper" Payday is coming, and both
labor and material have to be PAID Tor
by the employer. He can't pay any
thing with the note, for mercantile
paper is not money. What, then, Is
he to do! There are but two courses
open to him. He must either become
bankrupt or get his note cashed by a
money lender at ruinOus discount.
He goes to the money lender, who, OF
course. knows the employer S diem
ma, and discounts the note at pei
cent a month-that is, he gives the
employer $44. 900 for the $4,000 note;
and hence the employer loses by the
transaction alone $4,000, a sum equa
to a per cent per annum. In Other
words. the money lender by these
transactions robs the 500 hands EN-
ployed by the manufacturer, of a pei
cent, or nearly one-forth of their wa
ges. This one method of obtaining
the products of labor without giving
an equivalent therefor, is in Wal
street called s'shaving note The
manufacturer is swindled in this wa.
at every sale. and the consequence i
that, no matter how honest or humane
man he may be, he is bound elthe
to reduce wages or close the works
AS a result of this swindling, it is es
timated that no less than ninety-tiv'
out of every hundred employer in tn
United States are indebted to the mon
ely power.
But the manufacturer is lucky II h
gets off with losing only two per cen
per month. Mercantile paper, repre-
+ senting in the aggregate hundreds
5 thouands of dollars is discounted a
> ruinous rates in Wall street every day
: and the greater the need the holder
l of such paper have for money. tn
S higher the discount. Edward kellogg
: in his New Monetary System. mel
/. tions instances where as high as one
/ half of one per cent, and even all c
+ one per cent per day has been charge
s for discounting notes, and that too
when there existed no doubt whate'
q er of said notes being promptly pal
f at maturity. And all this is don
9 according to law, and workingme
t who toll for pittance vote politician
J. into power to sustain the infamou
r system of finance under which sue
}. shameless usury is practiced.
h Who, then. receive the profits ,
9 labor! Certainly not the under-pai
e ill-fed, and poorly housed producer
e No; but the n-producers: the bro
% ers. the gold gamblers, the none
!. lenders. the note shavers. and IL
Ie stock jobbers- like the slice
II shrewd banker walking past Trini'
l. Church. who can make half millit
re- dollars in few weeks These a
70 the men who are raking in the pro
ut ucts of labor.
10 Half million dollars represents tt
IN labor of 5000 artisans at s. dollars
ID day for four months: yet one mon,
I'd lender may clear that amount in fe
st days. Does the money lender con
a by this half million honestlyl Lab
in alone can create the wealth viii
ne this money represents. yet the labt