The Labor enquirer., 1888-03-03

recognizes his absolute master il
money. If then we can by any
process keep him in hand long
enough to teach him that he him.
self is the master of money. te get
him to understand that without
him there would be no money nor
any occasion for money. and also
that money should be his slavf.
think then that our tasks would
be more than one-half performed.
Now let US recur to the condi-
ton of those who invented money.
1t is not reasonable to think that a
community struggling for life
would waste much time or effort
in looking for measure of each
mans labor. The supreme idea
must have been: What shall we
adopt aud accept without ques-
tion1 Man against man as a
measure1
1t is the height or depth Of ab-
surdity to think or even imagine
that the measure should cost the
value Of the thing it measured or
was required to measure. and
therefore it is reasonable to think
that the cheapest substance, SUBJ
stance of some kind being re-
quired, would be and undoubtedly
was adopted. Now. whether the
government were patriarchal or
tribal, or both, there was a COM
mon agreement between or among
the people constituting those gov
ernments as to what should be the
accepted consideration, or mark
or measure, of a days labor of a
man.
1t is not difficult to see how we
have drifted from our bearings,
but our business is to get back to
them.
Accepting the proposition that
money is mans slave and not his
master. and admitting that a
measure should be of the cheapest
material as matter of economy
and common sense. then how do
we find ourselves the subjects of
certain metals called gold and
silver-and these accepted all over
the world as the base of what is
knowna as money-otherwise meas
ures of the value of labor1 This
question has been answered thou
sands of times, but l concentrate
the answer in few words. The
viciousness of conquerors; the ne
cessity of governments usurping
powers; the requirements of mas
tiers to maintain authority over
slaves-the first of old supersti-
tions, originating from the usurp-
ers for the purpose of better main
taining their stolen powers-to
laws and constitutions, based upon
these wrongs and errors; but
mainly to-day to the ignorance, to
the educated ignorance of the
masses of the people, is to be as
cribed our enslavemeatto the idea
that money must have a base
called the redeeming power, and
that this base must be gold or sill
yer. or both.
The government of England
controls the financial world and
consequently shapes the politics
of every government of so-called
civilization by maintaining her su-
premacy in the gold and silver
market. Yet the government of
England could not pay. if called
upon to pay in gold or silver FIVE
cents on the dollar of her indebt-
edness, nor could any other gov
ernment; nor could any bank in
existence; nor could any insurance
company; nor could any merchant
who, like the governments, banks.
etc, has capitalized his money or
other property.
A laborer whose days work
may be fixed at 81 takes in pay,
let US say, a coin marked zone
dollar" and also known to be by
law legal tender.
All the governments of the
world are combined to stamp each
ounce of silver that appears with
these words-"one dollar"
In any market in the world this
same ounce Of silver can be bought