The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-09-06
free Coinage Would Give Stimuli IS o
Labor in the West and Would Brig
Prosperity to Every PART of
the Country.

The following article, showing the
advantages of free silver coinage TO the
workingmen of the United States, was
written by T. V. Powderly, Grand Mas
fer Workman of the Knights of Labor,
and published in the North American
Review of December, 1891. 1t Is an
able exposition of the question from
the wage-earner' point of view
The mechanic and laborer are as
deeply interested in the free coinage OF
silver as the farmer can possibly be:
The latter. it is true, owns more OF
the earth's surface, but, after all, ne
can extract from it only a living; the
mechanic and the laborer are entitled
to as much, if they earn it and at the
death all will take leave of earth on an
!. EQUALITY. so far as being burdened with
the care of baggage or property en-
route to eternity is concerned. In earn
ING a livelihood and in paying as they
90. all are equally concerned IN the
5 medium of exchange, which enables
the agriculturist to purchase the ma
.chinerv and tools he requires and al
fords the laborer the means OF procur-
ing the products of the farm as an
{. exchange for. the labor expended on
the machinery and tools aforesaid. Inc
workman of the city or town, VINO mas
no capital save his labor, sets as much
store by that labor as does the farmer
nv his farm or the millionaire by his
millions; it is his adj, and should he
be deprived of the right or power to
exercise it, he would have lost his all.
No man could lose more, no matter
how wealthy he might be.
TO the laborer, then, the currency
question is as important as TO any man
in the land IF the currency is so cost
Iy. intrinsicany, that but few can af-
ford to possess a great deal of it, or II
: the material of which it is made is
subject to speculative traffic, the OPP
uoI.tunfties to secure steady employ
ment will vary in proportion to the
fluctuations in the price OF the COM
modify of which the money is made.
If it will yield a greater profit to sell
silver or gold as commodity than in
vest it, as money, in the building,
stock and machinery of factory, 1T
will be sold as commodity.
The farmer has been heard on the
silver question: and the city workman,
although he has not spoken out on the
subject. holds views identical with
those of his neighbor on the farm. so
Ear as the laborer is concerned, he
could get along very well if there were
mo gold or silver. He did exist and
: prosper during and after the Civil War,
seventeen years in all, without feast
ing his eyes on a piece of gold or sill
yer coin.
Then in Congress, at the behest OF
the owners of gold, silver was secretly
and stealthily demonetiZed. This the
.Ial,0rer did not see, nor the President
who signed the bill; and within the
last few months statesmen who were
Senators and congressman in 1873,
when the demonstration of silver was
accomplished, have admitted voting
for the bill without knowing that it
contained the demonstration clause.
One statesman has not denied knowl-
edge of that act of treachery 10 the
people-John Shernan-and he is to-
day the subject of adverse criticism by
nearly every living man who sat with
him in the Senate when that bill was
adopted without question, on his word
that it contained nothing that inter-
dollar. Gold is the legal standard to-
day because the bankers, brokers and
gold-owners of the world influenced
Congress to make it so; the people
never demanded it, never uttered a
sentiment that could be construed in
favor of monometallism, never petit
toned Congress or Congressman to
pass such law. Tt was done when
bill, with sixty-seven sections, as long
as the moral law, was under discussion
and was passed through Congress with
xout question. because that body had
faith in the honor of a committee of
three of which Mr.. Sherman was chair
man.
IT could not have been the American
needs of finance that urged Congress
TO demonetize silver, for neither gold
nor silver had been in circulation for
wears. The enactment of July II,
1861, and February IL, 1862, author
ized the issue. of 60,00O,000 treasury
notes that were full legal-tender,
without exception, for all debts, dues
and demands. Within a week after the
adoption of this last act the bankers of
New York, Boston and Philadelphia
held a convention in Washington, and
resolved to protest against the govern
ment issuing the currency directly to
the people. If full legal-tender paper
money should continue to issue to the
people, there would be no further de-
lnand for gold. and ShyloelS would be
cheated out of his pound Of flesh. The
result Of the deliberations of that con-
vention were made known to the coun-
try when Ger rte. on the 25fh Of
February. 1862, passed an act which
declared that the greenback should be
a ''legal-tender for all debts, public
ard pr'yate. EXCEPT dut IS on imports