The Labor enquirer., 1884-07-12

necessary consequence of 50 prodigious .
contraction Of the currency, without any
diminution in the members
or transactions Of mankind, debts and
taxes which were measured in the old
standard became so overwhelming that
the national industry was ruined. Agri-
culture disappeared and was succeeded
by pasturage in the fields From the
report Of the silver commission, forty
fourth congress page forty-nine, we
gather the following. BY the end off
the fifteenth century the currency had
shrunk to less than 200.0OO,0O0. During
this period q mostl extraordinary and
banefal change took place in the condi-
ton Of the world Population dwindledi
and commerce, art, wealth and freedom
disappeared. The people were reduced
by poverty and misery to the most de-
grading conditions of serfdom and
slavery. The disintegration of society
was almost complete. The conditions OF
life were SO hard that individual selfish
ness was the only thing consistent with
the instinct of self-preseryation, all
public spirit, all generous emotions, all
noble aspirations of man shriyeled and
disappeared, as the volume of money
shrunk and as prices fell. History re-
cords no such disastrous transition as
that from the Roman Empire to the
Dark Ages. Various explanations have
been given of the entire breaking down
of the framework of society, but it was
certainly coincident with ashrinkage in
the volume of money, which was! also
without historical parallel. The crumb-
ling of institutions kept even step and
pace with the shrinkage in the stock of
money and the falling of prices. All
other than these last attendant circuIn-
stances have occurred in other historical
periods unaecompanied and unfollowed
by any such mighty disasters I have
quoted these two to!show the power of a
financial policy upon people. L could
quote many more of thezsame kind. /.
4 Now the weston comes up, was it the
competitive wage system" that caused
all this ruin among the people, or was it
the Financial system" that made the
competitive wages possible-that system
that was hidden back Of the wage sys-
tenn? And if so, then whereas the
charge true that the greenbacker is only
a superficial reformer?" The green
hacker not only wants to shatter this
system to atoms, but along with it all its
"concomitant evils" as stated in my last.
Isnot the competitive system of wages
one of them If not, will some one tell
us where it has or can take its origin
from?: If anyone attempts to do so out
side of the financial theory, 1 for one
shall be most happy to:see the result of
their researches. And when they can
conclusively prove that the present, state
of society, withits many monstrosities,
takes it's rise outside of and independent
of the financial theory, thenI shall be
willing to admit the charge as true, but
not till them, ..-' en.f. j .-:'
1 said that 1 was with you-short of
Revolution; say so now and in this
connection let me ask you, was your
great French prototype of 1789-99 a
bloodless Revolution, or was it theoppo-
site? say your great French prototype
for this reason All of the most pro-
nounced Socialists make use of French
words, such as proletariat," bourgeois, u
etc. Now, if they make themselves bet
all right; don't object; understand it
perfectly. But how will some view the
following (without the explanation
ofered) The Revolution of the prole-
tariat is the only way from op-
preston to deliverance "-Most's speech.
The explanation-"The warof the poor
against,the rich" And if all your teach
ing cannot bring on Revolution, pray
how much\will the above retard it? 1t
is my turn now to become critic; you
know time about is fair play-and that,
too, without seeking any advantage.
"The education Of adults which then will
be possible, must not be neglected or
postponed. Truth and knowledge must
be taught in all churches, where no
priestly cant will be tolerated. .n-Most's
speech. Now, the question is, what is
truth and knowledge? Will we accept
as truth or knowledge. evolution as
taught by Darwin and Huxley,
or the wave theory of sound as taught by
Tyndall, Holmholty and Meyers? And,
as for priestly can't, your French proto-
types thought Sunday, as taught by the
priests of those days. "cant," and they
ushered in their Revolution without a
Sunday in it at all, and how long have
they kept away from this cant ? And,
further, if can understand anything,
may ask, under the new reign of Com
munism, how are affairs to be conducted,
unless by ballot, the instrument which
you are so anxious to throw aside at
present as of little or no use in correct
ing or redressing present evils ?. We
have always to remember that even after
the Commune becomes possible, there
will be no angels raised then no more
than now, and abuses will creep into the.
Snnihl hnI-- Nor- ha,u &, ~, tLa.t t1S ha