Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1878-08-22
From the New York Tribune
Labor and Credit.

"Oue-third OF days labor bought bond of
the niteu States for 81 therefore 1t is just that
lone thnd of days labor should pay bond OF
tine Gited States Tor 81. Money has been made
scarce, and 1t buys more labor than it did when
1.-The bonds were issued. But it is unjust to make
'lhe laboring people pay 800 days labor for
bond which Cost the holder only the equivalent
'of 100 days labor" OF all the arguments of the
greenbss men, not one is more specious than
this. But let Us see how much of reason there Is
IN It.
1t i. obviously based upon the presumption that
days labor, Of given kind, is really worth rs
much al one lime as at another. 1t does, indeed
require the same exsitIon of the same muscles
and skill, but is that ali - The worth of thing ia
determined not ouly by the effort whichIs required
to get It, but by the demand Tor 1t. A bit OF or
binary stone from the Top OF The. Rocky Mounta,ns
would cost many days labor to OBTAIN, but no.
oody would give anything Tor 1t; therefore it is
worth nothing. Inc labor spent in making al
old-tsshioned spinning wheel might be as great
to-day as 1t WAS u century ago, but now NOBODY
wants the article, aud labor spent in making It
would be worthless So of every other product
OF labor; the demand for It deeerm mes the value
of the labor expended in getting or making ii.
Iron costs as much labor, let US say, as 1t did IN
1872. but there is very much less demand for 1T
therefore the labor expended in making iron ia
worth less. Labor necessarily would huctuate in
value quite widely and frequently as the price.
of the articles which that labor would produce
but for the expenditure Of capital TO sustain labor
during period Of depression in prices, and thl
expenditure is prompted by the hope OF ultimate
profit upon the articles made. Hence there IS no
whatever for the claim that the labor which
Was worth bond Of the Ualted States years ago
should be worth that bond to-day; the labor may
now be in less demand, in fact ii is and there
fore deprecated in value.
But this argument also goes upon the presump.
ton that the credit Of the Cover nme ut il ayays
the same; that its promise to pay was worth A.
much when II was doubtful whether the Govern
mt ut could maiutaln ITS existence AS it is worth
now when all Ices have been vauqulshed. Every.
BODY knows that this Is not so. there was a time
when capitalists OF Europe. and very many OF
this country, would let their money lie idle rather
than lend II TO tue United States on any term,
Had that last deadly charge at Getty seurg ended
| 10 Confederate victory, who knows what Uni
| led States bonds would have become worth
| Those who took the risk, and lent TO the L mon
dI1 so because they were offered a high price for
the loan. aud 1t was then worth high prce, for
| the future was doubtful. If paid III 4 old, they
will get exactly the payment which led them to
take the REX. Ii paid less, they will be swindled
When a msn who Is about TO take great risks asks
money from a nelghbor for thst purpose, aud,
because all will be lost if he fails, tffer, half the
profit if he succeeds, what Is he but scouDdrei
II, after success. be refuses to pay the proms ed
profit But the scouudrelism is SUI greater When
patriotism as well as sober judgment has urge
| the loan. those who brought forward their little
savings to aid the Nation, and stsked their all up
! on its success, deserve not such treatment As
would be held scandalous and dshonoraole, il be.
tween two Deghbors in purely business venture.
| The holder OF bonds who has purchased sine.
the war is not less entltled TO bis profit. He took
the risk, which we now see was not small, that
ignorance aud dishonesty would combine to rob
him. He paid gher prices than were paid during
the war, because the risk was thought to be less
But he paid what all the would then considered
fan price for the bonds OF nation ruled BY uni.
veisal suff age. He took the risk of Democratic
| victories, and of the creation and final success. of
| a party Of reputation. If il would be dishupe,,
TO rob him of all the money loaned, il would he
not less dishonest TO rob him Of any part of that
| which his risk WAS then deemed wo tn.
! The ahorer who receives less money for
days work than he did when bonds were issued
OF sold ought TO remember that he can buy in iull
proportion more with his money. Prices have de-
cued, on the whole, even a little below the specie
standard. A II know that the wages of labor on
the other hand, have not yet fallen To the level of
1860. days work, according to the ayerag.
rae Of wages, will buy more OF food, shelter and
clothing now than il would buy in times of the
greatest iHhston. The only respect in which the
iaborer IS 10 pay any part Of the cost OF the war
and of the enormous loans male during the war
at great risk, is that his taxes on whlskey tobacco
and some imported articles have been a,ed. II he
ft, he reduce those taxes to a very SINAI,
figure indeed. But whether he sees bit or not he
has no right to rob those who lent to the Union Of
their just profits for the risk they took, nor to
make others pay his share of the inconvenience
resulting from that temporary depreciation OF
certain kinds Of skilled lsnor which now appears
all over the civil zed world.