The Portland daily press., 1878-08-07
An Identify of Interest,

ideas advanced by the itinerant Greenback
lecturers who are addressing Greenback
meetings in this State is that there is a class
OF rich men in this country seeking to oppress
labor, to discourage industry, and to rob the
producer of the fruits of his toll. The idea is
SO preposterous that one wonders how it
comes to be accepted on the authority of
these irresponsible lecturers. 1t has been &C.
cepsed however by many, who have really
grown to believe in the existence of Money
Power that is threatening their liberties and
destroying their material comfort. They
assert in all earnestness that monied men
have combined for the purpose of prolonging
the hard times and have shaped legislation to
that end.
Let US look at this statement. The vast
majority of men of wealth in this country
have made their money through commercial
and industrial ventures and undertakings.
In order for them to make money it is neces-
sary that trade shall be lively and manufac-
lures prosperous. The great manufacturer
who employs four or five hundred men de.
pends for his profits on their labor. From
the labor of each he of course realizes some.
thing more than the wages he pays-else he
would not hire men. He does not do busi-
ness simply for the purpose of giving men
employment. No one does that. The farm.
er does not hire "hands" simply because his
poor neighbors need to earn wages. He
hires laborers to plant the seed and cultivate
and harvest the crops that he takes to mar
ket, and he hopes to get more for the crops
than the cost of growing them. Otherwise
he would not put himself to the trouble of
sowing and reaping more than he needed for
his own immediate wants. He labors to ac-
cumulate little surplus. If he can make
a dollar on ton of hau-hA-~su make
twenty dollars twenty tons. and it is
lor his interest to cut the larger guam
tity. The case is the same with the man
ufacturer and the trader and the carrier.
II the manufacturer can make one cent
on yard of cloth he can make thousand
cents on a thousand yards. If the shoe man
can make twenty-five cents on pair of shoes
he can make twenty-five dollars on hundred
pairs. II the common carrier can make
twenty cents by carrying a hundred pounds
of any commodity he can make two dollars
by carrying thousand pounds. But in or
der to do the large business more labor must
be employed. 1t is for the direct interest of
these men to hire all the laborers they can,
for if they make ten cents on each days
labor it is for their advantage to employ many
days labor. So with the trader; if he makes
cents profit on a pound of tea or yard
of calico he will make thousand cents on a
Thousand yards. Nor is the case at all differ
ent with the banker and the money lender.
Brisk trade and increased manufactures mean
more demand for money and greater profit
for its use. The man who has thousand
dollars wants that sum to be earning as much
as possible. He either puts it into business
if business promises good returns, or lends it
to some other man who has no capital but
who has energy and ability and belief that
he can make borrowed money pay him some-
thing more than the interest given for the
use of it. 1t is absurd to say that these
classes desire a continuance of hard times or
the Encouragement of labor. Labor is
wealth. Upon labor they depend for their
subsistence and their accumulations. The
more labor employed the better off they are,
Yet we are asked to believe that these classes
for these are our wealthy classes-form
Money Power that is seeking to enact laws
for the oppression OF laborers. Why, there
are no classes more directly or vitally inter-
ested in a return Of good times. Nor is the
bondholder exempt. On account of the de-
preston of business and the great amount of
money seeking investment the government
is enabled to refund its bonds at two per
cent. interest. Thus the income of the bond
holder is reduced one-third, and he accepts
. the reduction because he can find no other
investment as safe. He too desires the re-
turn Of prosperous days, so that promising
investments at higher rates of interest will
offer themselves.
1t is clear that these men, the so called
monied classes, have deep interest in the
speediest possible return Of prosperity, an in
terest like that of the laborer who wants
work, of the farmer who wants a market for
his produce, of the joiner who wants more
AOASOo Uh0 5AOPo " tuO SdulnCb
maker who wants more buildings to furnish,
of the store-keeper who wants more en-
ployed men with money to spend. 1t is for
the benefit of all of us that good times shall
come again. 1t is certainly for the benefit OF
those who have the most at stake and the
greatest chance for profit. Is it probable, is
it possible, that the monied classes are seek
ing the continuance of an economic cond-
ton which deprives them of opportunity to
use their capital? To believe that is to be-
lieve an absurdlty. They are anxious for the
return of prosperity. But, being men OF ex-
perience who have given some study to finan-
clal and economic problems, they see that an
inflated and irredeemable paper currency is
responsible for the present depressed condi-
ton of business, and they seek return 10
sound basis Of value and a good currency,
knowing that industry and business will re-
vive when these things are brought about.
Fair Fighting.
A corresp ondent who is a good though
begerent Republican urges US to respond in