The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1877-10-13
ARE POPULAR EDUCATION AND
r THE BALLOT A PAILURE7

The present suspense If business, the
Of labor, the commercial
depression, which, beginning four years
ago, continues deepening and extending in
its effects, have the one good result
among all their consequent mlseries, suffer
lngs and calamIties, viz that they force
thoughtful men a. search out their causes,
and t. make the defects Of our boosted
civilization apparent.
We boast of our common schools. and
the general diffusion Of knowledge which
results from them, and which is supposed
q qualify the people to ascertain What
their interests are. And we boast that af-
ter thus qualifying the people % know what
their rights are, we have put the ballot in
10 the han ds Of every man, without regard
to race, previous condition or place Of
birth and yet, our people, thus educated
and thus endowed with absolute control
over their government, more favorably
situated than any other have ever been.
with lands as fertile as any under the sun,
10 be had for their occupancy and improve
ment, have become greatly impoverished
within the last four years, and the process
continues With frightful rapidity. Mer-
chants, manufacturers, railroad companies
are all swept into bankruptcy savings
banks close their doors, and the deposits
therein are lost to the men thrown out of
enRoyment, intenslfying their sutferings,
and x dependency brOOds over the whole
people, as demoralizlng morally as CONNER
cIally. Now, If the causes of these dis
asters were not apparent, the failure to re-
move them and correct their results, would
be excuseable 1t would only prove
that the popular education OF which We
boast, is failure. But when these causes
are well known, and when the people, in
the possession If this knowledge. will use
the ballot to support the policies which op-
press them, and will allow themselves to
he ruined rather than not vote for the po-
htlcal party with which they have acted
auu voted in previous years, and whose
aims and principles they are fully convinced
are destructive Of their property, Of the
value OF their labor, and their happiness,
AZ are mate PAINFULLY aware that the bal
int IS useless agent IN the hands IF the
people u right their wrongs. This is a
hunulatlne confession to be forced To
make. Philanthropy has, III all past
time, made generous effort to improve the
condition IF the people. II has endeavured
to Modify the rigor uf despotlsn, and in
rs heart chershing all the While the hope
that in some future Tins the people would
be able t. wreot the government from the
hands or tyrauts, and 10 be governed by
rules II their own choosing. la the pro-
.ress If the ages these hopes and dreams
+ philanthropy have been realized The
people have taken the throne in the place
uf crushed despots, and lave come in our
own country, at least, ~ govern them
selves. They have made generous provi-
sion for popular education, and if they
have secured the right Of suffrage, unfet-
tered by any limitations, let US ask to what
avail to their happiness is this general
education, " how % they use the power
Of governing and choosing their own rulers
for their onn happiness The prest ut
sSHagSs 2 q ms f9 mtS RE We AiaaFsa. Si
suffering attest that general education
and the ballot are not sufficient to remedy
the evils Of bad government. The people
are not ignorant that a forcible return t.
what IS falsely called spt Gle payments sent
into bankruptcy three fourrhs II the bust
moss mer of England, and entailed un-
counted misery hen that country adopted
that policy after the Napoleomc wars.
They are not ignorant that III proportion
a. You reduce the amount Of What is legal
tender, III that proportion you increase
the burdens If debt, and reduce the price
Of labor. They cannot be ignorant that
their suffering must 20 on increasing under
the present scheme of what they call re-
turn to specie payments IN 1879, and that
il Is idle to expect a return of trade and
employment under such law They are
not ignorant that in first declaring the ma
tioual debts could only be paid in coin in
stead Of greenbacks and secondly, in de-
claring they can only be paid in gold in
stead of gold and silver, the Congress Of
the United States has Impoverished them,
and subordinated all their rights and in
terests for the benefit Of foreign and home
capitalists. These things the people gen
orally know and yet with this knowledge
they 90 to elections, and vote for the party
and the men who are pledged to the very
policies which destroy labor Surely We
have right to say that, in the minds Of
all this suffering, from want Of employ
ment, when government has been chosen
which will put such man as John Sher-
man at the head Of the Treasury Depart
ment TO carry out his hard money schemes,
such people have not been much bere-
fitted by common schools, aud surely show
themselves unworthy the deposit Of the
ballot.
Greenback Items.
PENNSYLNANIA STATE CONTENTION