Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1878-09-11
WILL oUR PEOPLE be w,sE.
Wisdom for the Laborer.

II
staunch old and reliable paper. We
could not speak palmer, better words
than 1t dcss to the laboring men of
the country in the following t
a'"The laboring man who reads and
refects-and happily for this country
we have many of them-can never be
an advocate of an irredeemable paper
currency. The laborer who does not
read-and unfortunately they are not
few-is not only apt to be wrong In
his financial opinions, but il unhap-
PLY removed from that which would
most readily set him right. II is that
class of our voters who become q prey
to the demagogues that arc using the
money question for their own per-
sonal advancement. The press cannot
reach them; but ii can and should
urge upon their more enlightened
comrades the duty of exerting them
selves personally to secure the fullest
education of the people upon q aues-
tion of such vital Importance. To
this task, too, our stump speakers
should mainly address themselves.
The chief, and the great advantage Of
a "bIue-light' campaign, with its
pomp aud its pageant, and its army Of
orators, is that it brings within the
reach Of argument those who cannot
or will not avail themselves of the
cooler teaching of the press. There
are but two things which render pos
sible tho acceptance of "the wild
schemes of Reputation and financial
chaos now advocated by our oppo-
nents--demagoguery and ignorance.
There remains to US little more than
month in which TO combat the
latter, ~. t51 ~ 49,
There is no class Of the community
upon whom the diminution of the
purchasing power Of money falls
with such crushing force as the labor
or. Wages is the very last thing to
advance, and advances, even at the
end, least Of all. Take, for example,
our experience during the war. With
the issue of the first two hundred
millions Of greenbacks the cost of the
necessities OF life rose by some fifty
per cent, while wages had hardly
stirred from their old level. With
the issue of the second two hundred
millions there was, indeed, a material
advance in the pay Of laborers and
mechanics, but nothing commensurate
with the decrease in the value Of
money. The greenback dollar fell,
% compared with the gold dollar, to
about forty cents. In q very short
time II came about that the whole
four hundred millions of green backs
would buy even less, in the markets
OF the world, than would the first
two hundred millions before the SOC
ond. issue was made. The practical
result Of the imitation was that two
dollars in greenbacks would buy less
than one dollar greenback would
before. The workingman, despite
the nominal increase Of his wages,
found that their purchasing value had
decreased by forty per cent, 9'i
lis this situation which the DEM
Ocrats seek to bring about again.
They propose to repeal the resnmpa
tion law, and 70 double the amount Of
irI edesmable legal tenders. That
wonldswell their total to two hundred
and sixty millions more than the Gov
ernment ever had out, even in the
darkest days Of the war. The blow
to the laboring classes would be very
great. Values wonld be vastly dis
turbed, and the purchasing power Of
wages diminished by more than the
experience Of the war. We are told
by the men, whether deluded or dis
honest, who are pressing this scheme,
that the workingman would find his
compensation In the great increase Of
Industry which would result. Vain,
Indeed, ID such . fancy. Rockets that
60, UP must needs come down. The
brief and spAsmodic activity which
Gomez from currency imitation is inev.
itably followed by terrific crash,
and . long period Of prostration.
Such IL the history of the past. and
such will be the experience of the
future. For five years our laboring
classes have been suffering hard times
that came Of just such an iufisticu.
Another attempt would bring even
greater evils, and that with scarcely
the briefsst interval of the inflated
activity. aa $40 -
i We are close upon . return to
specie payments, by which tho only
solid prosperity can be achieved. The
laborer's wages could never buy moro
food, clothes, or fuel than now. and
with resumption will come the other
regulate to his happiness steady and
abundant employment. Buildings
are going up; foundries and rolling
mills are reopening +; its railway con-
structiop is being resumed. It il
within the power Of the lAborius
mau, by his mighty ballot, to help
this revival on TO full tide, or, by hid
support of the scheme Of imitation, "a
throw us back into another terrible