THE 
 
 PEOPLE'S WOES. 
 
 WHAT ARE THE CAUSES? 
 
 WHAT ARE THE REMEDIES? 
 
 / BY 
 
 B. B. 'THOMAS 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 John P. Murphy, Pkinter, N. E. Corner Fifth & Walnut. 
 
 1874. 
 
THE 
 
 PEOPLE'S WOES. 
 
 WHAT ARE THE CAUSES? 
 
 WHAT ARE THE REMEDIES? 
 
 BY 
 
 B. B. THOMAS 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 JoHH P. MiRPRY, Printer, N. E. Cormkr Fifth & Walnut. 
 
 1874. 
 
c 
 
 C^n \ 
 
^ THE 
 
 ^PEOPLE'S WOES. 
 
 
 WHAT ARE THE CAUSES, WHAT THE 
 REMEDIES? 
 
 These are questions that are to-day being continually asked, and 
 to my mind so far as I have heard or read, unanswered to the satis- 
 faction of the questioner. 
 
 We are all, no doubt, aware of the fact, that the great industrial 
 interests of the Country are in a most deplorable condition, that 
 honest, sober, industrious laboring-men, by thousands, with and 
 without families to support, are to-day begging for w^ork, at any 
 compensation that may serve only to keep the wolf from their doors, 
 without the ability to obtain it, and that all mechanical, manu- 
 facturing, and other wealth-producing industries are to a greater or 
 less degree paralyzed. Is this as it should be? Are we to under- 
 stand that this is the legitimate penalty inflicted ui)on those who 
 suffer, for some sin, fault, or offense, intentionally, or unintention- 
 ally committed by them ? I think not. Or has the Great Author 
 of our being, notwithstanding the manifestations of his love in the 
 bountiful provisions of nature with which he has surrounded us, re- 
 versed the beneficent decree that man in the sweat of his face should 
 eat bread, but instead thereof doom him to eke out a miserable ex- 
 istence in the almshouse, become the recipient of private charity, 
 or to avert starvation expiate in a prison the penalty of violated 
 law, when he api)roi)riates to himself the crust or bone of his more 
 fortunate neighbor. This, I hope, will not be regarded as a fancy 
 sketch, but considered as a melancholy reality, and to my mind a 
 most terrible responsibility rests somewhere. 
 
A gentleman informed me, that upon a recent visit which he 
 made to the House of Correction, a young able-bodied man ap- 
 plied for admission, which was denied him on the ground that he 
 was able to work to support himself; he stated that he had made every 
 effort to obtain work without success, that his last penny was gone, 
 and that he had resolved rather than starve he would steal, and . 
 compel that or some similar institution to admit him. 
 
 I have been gravely told by some wiseacres when discussing the 
 cause of the troubles which now environ us, and their remedies, 
 that there has been too much work done in the past few years ; thajt 
 we have been getting along too fast ; that people (particularly those 
 outside of their own families I suppose they meant) and especially 
 the laboring portion had been living too fast ; that it was necessary 
 to check this prosperous and happy condition of things, and that 
 we must come down to hard pan, as these croakers delight to term 
 it, and in order to appreciate the period of prosperity through 
 which we have passed, it is necessary for the people to go hungry, 
 half clad and uncomfortably sheltered for a reasonable period. I 
 have yet to hear these gentry complain of an instance where too • 
 much work was accomplished by any laboring man in any one day. 
 If too much work has been accomplished, I should be glad to hear 
 those who complain suggest a remedy. It seems to be a stubborn 
 fact that whether people work or not, they must be supplied with 
 food, clothing and shelter, and the problem is now presented 
 whether it is better economy to supply these necessaries o"f life to a 
 large proportion of the people, in our almshouses, prisons, or by 
 private charities, or permit them to supply themselves by their own 
 industry. 
 
 But I am answered, although these people are willing and anxious 
 to work to obtain the means necessary to support themselves and 
 families, there is no work for them to do, and the only alternatives 
 presented are starvation, pauperism, or crime. If this is the normal 
 condition of any portion of humanity, then it seems to me that the 
 Great and all-wise Creator, otherwise so bountiful in his provisions 
 
for his creatures, has committed a great mistake in His apportion- 
 ment of work and workers, and the sooner another war is inaugu- 
 rated the better, in order that the world may be relieved of its 
 superabundant population. But I am not one of those who believe 
 that these are the causes of, nor tliat these are the remedies for the 
 troubles which now oppress us, nor do I believe that the great inter- 
 ests of forty millions of people, distributed over a continent teeming 
 with developed and undeveloped wealth to the extent of millions, 
 which figures fail to compute, have been so seriously disturbed by 
 so insignificant a circumstance as the failure of the house of Jay Cook 
 & Co., or the failure of all other houses that followed in their wake; 
 but I do believe that this terrible gloom, this wide-spread distress 
 which now oppresses every worthy interest of the Country is not the 
 effect of errors committed by the people in their domestic, business, 
 social or industrial relations, but is the legitimate and necessary 
 consequence of a most unwise, most corrupt, most rascally adminis- 
 tration of a system of government, the most perfect ever devised by 
 human wisdom, the true principals of which, if understood and 
 carried out by the servants of the people. Executive, Legislative 
 and Judicial, would redound to the Glory of God and the prosper- 
 ity and happiness of His creatures. 
 
 Whilst the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial departments of 
 our Government are honored by the presence of many wise, pure 
 and patriotic members, the people are oppressed by the mortifying 
 conviction, that a majority are incompetent, corrupt, professional 
 politicians — many of whom, doubtless, never earned an honest 
 dollar in their lives; and to such scoundrels through the influence of 
 party discipline, the most vital interests of the people are confided. 
 The recent political revolution can only be regarded as a rebuke 
 by the honest and discerning portion of our citizens of the faith- 
 lessness and corruptions of the ])arty in power, and not an endorse- 
 ment of principals advocated by the other party. Whether the 
 change will develop only a change of politicians, or whether the 
 prosperity of the people will be promoted thereby, we must wait for 
 
time to determine. For my own part, I fear we have very little to 
 hope tor from the Congress that has just assembled at Washington, 
 nor the one that will succeed it, for the reasons that the majority of 
 the members are not the fitting representatives of the great indus- 
 trial and wealth-producing interests of the Country. If their con- 
 stituencies were composed almost exclusively of professional politi- 
 cians, lawyers, bankers, agents of foreign manufacturers who call 
 themselves importers, they would be the right men in the right 
 places, and we would have in fact, as we have had for a long time, 
 only in name, a representative Government. 
 
 To the absence of honest, intelligent business-men, such as are 
 identified with the industrial, wealth-producing avocations in their 
 proper numerical proportions, in our Halls of Legislation, and 
 offices of trust, may we attribute the woes which now afflict the 
 worthy portion of the people, and not as is charged by the Shylocks 
 and other croakers, who seem to be permitted, possibly for some 
 wise purpose, to infest our Republic — that there has been too much 
 work done in the last few years, that the people (not themselves or 
 their families of course) have been too well fed, too well clothed 
 and too comfortably sheltered. I have yet to hear a farmer, a man- 
 ufacturer, a laboring-man, a merchant or any other worthy citizen 
 who sympathize with, or who feel that they are in any way identified 
 in interest with these worthy avocations, and possessing sufficient 
 intelligence to comprehend the situation, assign such cause for the 
 general depression which now prevails in all labor and other wealth- 
 producing interests. 
 
 But I am sickened by the cry for hard pan, lower wages for labor, 
 economy to the extent of scarcity of food, clothing and shelter, the 
 deprivation of all comforts (as the remedy) which comes up from 
 the moths of society to whom I have alluded, and their subsidized 
 oracles. The New York Press, I believe almost without an exception, 
 and I am sorry to say too many of the newspapers of our own city, 
 and other sections of the country, have given themselves to the ad- 
 vocacy of one of the greatest lies, one of the most consummate 
 
cheats, one of tlie most infernal frauds upon public credulity ever 
 practised by designing demagogues, or suggested by financial fossils, 
 I mean the myth called specie payments, as well as the advocacy 
 of that bane of families, communities, states and nations which 
 encourages dependence ui)on others for those elements of subsistence 
 and comfort, which with proper effort, energy and industry we 
 should produce for ourselves, from our own soil, from our own 
 mines, and other resources of our own, and thereby whether as 
 families, states or nations, augment our comforts, our wealth and 
 our influence. 
 
 To these propositions I challenge denial, and defy controversy, 
 and I give it as my deliberate and honest, though humble opinion, 
 that the great industrial interests of the Country, the bone and 
 sinew of the Republic, are suffering to-day to an extent unpre- 
 cedented, in consequence of the theories enunciated by such finan- 
 ciers as McCullough & Co, and such statesmen as Wells & Co., and 
 the apprehensions of the people that these theories will assume the 
 shape of laws through the agency of a Congress who understands 
 but little and cares less, in regard to the most vital interests of the 
 people. 
 
 But it may be asked cannot a Congress be chosen that will repre- 
 sent honestly and intelligently these great interests? I fear not, 
 under the ban of party discipline and dictation, nor until the people 
 are influenced more by the pledges of those asking their votes, in 
 regard to important principles and measures, and the honesty 
 and capacity of the aspirant, and less by their fancied obligations 
 to party. 
 
 But I am continually reminded that the pledges of politicians, 
 when asking for votes, cannot be relied upon. If the Republican 
 Party wishes to redeem itself during the short period of power which 
 remains to it during the present Session of Congress, let it pass a 
 few salutary acts which will inure to the perpetual prosperity and 
 safety of the people, and redound to its own glory, among which 
 
let it pass as early as possible the following, which I suggest as a 
 complete and perfect remedy for all our present woes. 
 
 First. An Act to protect the' people against the faithlessness of 
 their public servants. This act should state, that faithlessness on 
 the part of the peoples' representatives in any Legislative, Executive 
 or Judicial department, of a Republican Government, and any vio- 
 lation of pledges and promises made by said representatives to their 
 constituents, constitutes the highest crime known to a civilized 
 people. As I am opposed to hanging even for this offense, I would 
 suggest imprisonment in the Penitentiary at hard labor for a period 
 not less than twenty years, nor more than fifty years, and confiscation to 
 the Government of all the property of the culprit. I hope some 
 honest Congressman may introduce such a bill, and I am persuaded 
 no honest member of the Senate or House will vote against it. 
 Such a law, I think, would secure to the people what they have so 
 long lacked, and longed for, a representative government, and the 
 question would not be asked of the candidate whether he is a 
 member of this party or that, but whether he is in favor of and will 
 employ his best efforts to promote the adoption of this measure or 
 that. In the event of violation of pledges, sufficient evidence to 
 convict would be easily obtained by any constituent who might 
 prosecute. Should Congress during the present session pass such a 
 law as this, I have no doubt the Legislatures of the different States 
 will very soon follow suit, and the people may hope to enjoy the 
 blessing of a representative government and comparatively honest 
 legislation, federal, state and municipal. 
 
 Second. An Act, fixing and defining the Government status of 
 gold and silver, either in coin or bullion. This act should state, 
 that notwithstanding the advanced civilization and intelligence of 
 the people of the United States, they have hitherto, in common 
 with other civilized nations of the world, persisted in the worship 
 of graven images, in the use of gold and silver coins as a representa- 
 tive of wealth and basis of values, contrary to every principal of 
 true economy, sound policy and intelligent judgment. That gold 
 
9 
 
 and silver, unlike almost every other substance, such as iron, lime- 
 stone, clay, sand, (Sec, Szc, possesses comparatively no intrinsic 
 value, from the fact that they do not, like iron, limestone, &c. &c., 
 afford an equivalent in domestic economy for the cost of their pro- 
 duction, that they are valuable only to the extent of their use 
 therefor, in the arts, and for ornamentation, and that any value 
 beyond this accorded to them is arbitrary and fictitious, and should 
 not therefore, be made the representative of wealth, nor the basis 
 of values, and that this Government henceforth, ignores them as 
 such, regardless of the estimation in which they are held, or the 
 value attached to them by any other civilized or savage community 
 on the surface of the earth. 
 
 Third. An Act to repeal all acts by which the Government repu- 
 diates its own authorized circulation. Greenback and National Bank 
 notes, by providing one kind of money for the Government, and 
 another kind for the people. This act should provide for the pay- 
 ment of all debts' and dues to the Government (including duties on 
 imports) in Greenbacks, National Bank notes or coin. In less than 
 two weeks from the enactment of such a law. we would find gold at 
 par with currency or possibly below par, and the Government 
 under no apprehensions as to an ample supply for all requirements ; 
 nobody suffering thereby, except perhaps a few gold gamblers. - 
 
 Fourth. An Act to provide for an indiscriminate increase of all 
 duties on imports equivalent to the present premium on gold, say 
 12^ per cent., to maintain the present protection to American 
 labor and American enterprise, a principal which, when understood, 
 should be dear to every useful and patriotic citizen of the Country, 
 and distasteful to our European competitors, their allies, and the 
 liioths of society only. 
 
 Fifth. An Act to further reduce, or totally neutralize our present 
 disabilities, as competitors with foreign countries, resulting as well 
 from inequality of rates of interest, as from the inequality of wages 
 of labor. This Act should state, that in consequence of the absurd 
 idea heretofore entertained, that substances are valuable in propor- 
 
lO 
 
 tion to their scarcity or cost of production, gold and silver, when 
 coined, have been made to perform the offices of representatives of 
 value, and mediums of exchange, and that the wealth of nations 
 has been estimated in proportions thereof held by each, regardless 
 of their material resources, their inherent capabilities, their extent 
 of domain, the benificence of the Government, the intelligence, 
 prosperity and happiness of the people, their relative capacity to 
 feed, clothe and shelter the human family, (which is all of wealth,) 
 this nation has been made to assume an inferior position in the 
 family of nations, and the prosperity of the people has been seriously 
 affected by periodical panics and monitary difficulties, resulting not 
 from deficiency in material resources, and all the elements of wealth 
 in unequaled profusion, but from an imaginary insufficiency of gold 
 and silver, substances, which possess in themselves little or no in- 
 trinsic value. This act should provide for an increase of volume 
 of greenbacks to an extent that would make omx per capita circula- 
 tion equal to that of England, France, or any other nation, say not 
 less than twenty-five dollars to each human being within the borders 
 of the Republic, which would make the present volume about one 
 thousand millions of paper money, beside that of less value because 
 more inconvenient, and the volume of which less susceptible of 
 control — I mean the gold and silver coin, which would be forced 
 from their hiding places, and made to take their position in the 
 volume of circulation. Let the people understand that this pro- 
 portion of circulation will be continued, that the volume will be 
 periodically increased as the population increases, that we will 
 have what we have not had heretofore, a monitary syston that 
 shall not be tampered with at every Session of Congress by 
 politicians, to subserve the interest of a few Shylocks, to the 
 o-reat detriment of every worthy interest of the Country. I have 
 said that this thing called specie payments, the apprehensions of 
 which, are casting such a sickening and oppressive pall over the en- 
 ergies, industries and enterprises of the people, is and always has 
 
been a lie, a cheat and a fraiul on public credulity; such a thing 
 never has existed nor do I believe ever will exist in the true sense of 
 the term, when the banks would or could pay specie in redemption 
 of their notes, when the people in moderate sums, asked them to 
 do so. There never has been a day in the history of banks during 
 my recollection, that I would not have been willing to take the 
 contract for the small sum of twelve dollars and fifty cents, to cause 
 all the banks in the Union from the St, Lawrence to the Gulf of 
 Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, to suspend and 
 close their doors; which would be followed by the usual panic, 
 bankruptcy and distress among all worthy interests of the Country, 
 and the only parties benefited thereby would probably be the Shy- 
 locks, Sheriffs, Constables, Courts and Lawyers, the politicians 
 would also be benefited by the necessity for Legislation to authorize 
 suspension. 
 
 It is hardly necessary for me to state the process by which so 
 great a national achievement could be accomplished at so trifling 
 expense, but I will for the benefit of enterprising young men, who 
 may wish to invest in the event that the parties just enumerated 
 should succeed during the present, or any succeeding Session of 
 Congress, in persuading their servants, the President, and a majority 
 of their representatives to pass a law, compelling, what in the sim- 
 plicity of their souls, they call specie payments ; the process is sim- 
 ply this : Employ fifty men who have pretty good clothes to put on 
 for one hour — from 9 to 10 A.M. — at twenty-five cents each, to bring 
 themselves up in line in front of the best bank in the City, this number 
 would probably be very soon increased to one or two hundred. As 
 soon as lightning could communicate the fact, every bank in the 
 City, State and Nation would be in possession of the awful intelli- 
 gence that there is a run on the banks, and simultaneously, every 
 bank in the LTnion would display on its front door a card, on which 
 would be written the ominous words, " This Bank has Suspemied.** 
 
 Is it possible that a system such as this, after the sad experience 
 through which the countr}- has repeatedly passed, is again to be 
 
forced upon the people: a system, the mere apprehensions of which 
 are to-day, as they have been for months past, paralyzing every 
 worthy avocation, and reducing to beggary, starvation or crime, 
 many of the most worthy members of the community. If such nau- 
 seating nonsense as is contained in that part of the President's 
 Message, and the Report of the Secretary of the Treasury, as refers 
 to the question of finance, should not so thoroughly disgust, if ne- 
 cessary, two-thirds of both houses of Congress as to cause them to 
 rebuke with becoming emphasis, such absurd propositions, the people 
 may tremble for the consequences. These gentlemen seem to echo 
 the wishes of the moths of society, and seem totally unmindful of 
 the interests of the bees in the great human hive, which has been 
 too long confided partially to their keeping : they seem to be haunted 
 by innumerable ghastly spectres, clothed in filthy bank rags and 
 irredeemable promises to pay, while the more worthy, matter-of-fact 
 portions of the population, those engaged in honest toil, Agriculture, 
 Manufacture and Commerce, and all wealth-producing avocations, 
 have been felicitating themselves in the conviction that has been 
 forced upon them, by observation and a very gratifying experience, 
 that these bank rags, this denounced currency is the most con- 
 venient, most safe, most reliable ever vouchsafed to any people, 
 although it may have been like many other valuable inventions 
 and suggestions, the off"spring of necessity. 
 
 I take issue with the President and his secretary when they de- 
 clare that our greenbacks, as a circulating medium of exchange and 
 representative of wealth, is not desired, and was not intended by 
 the people, to be perpetual ; that they are unstable and fluctuating in 
 value, that they necessarily occasion undue speculation, over-trading 
 and extravagance ; that they are irredeemable' and that therefore the 
 Government is disregarding one of its most sacred pledges: and I 
 assert, and defy successful contradiction thereto, that ninety-nine 
 hundredths of the intelligent and useful population of the Country 
 desire their continuance, though in augmented volume, that theiy 
 have always been at par, that they have never fluctuated in value, 
 
13 
 
 that they have been stable to an extent that has marked the history 
 of no other currency in the world, that they have been continually 
 and all the time redeemable, and redeemed day by day as the holders 
 might desire, in every element that contributes to the subsistence, 
 the comforts and happiness of the people, and this through and by 
 virtue of the sovereign power and sovereign will of the people as 
 manifested through their Government, regarding the arrangement 
 as necessary for their social well-being, their prosperity and happi- 
 ness, for which purpose only governments should be instituted, and 
 it is only through and by virtue of this sovereign power and sovereign 
 will that gold and silver are made to answer the purposes of a circu- 
 lating medium of exchange, and made redeemable like our model 
 currency, in all the requirements of humanity, and not from any 
 intrinsic value it possesses ; the idea that it possesses intrinsic value 
 in consequence of the cost of its production, as claimed by the Pres- 
 ident, is an absurdity, and untenable by any system of logic. That 
 it may again assume its position as a currency co-ordinately with 
 our legal tenders and national bank notes I do not believe the 
 people will object, although it is more expensive, less convenient, 
 and in point of volume, less susceptible of control, and therefore less 
 stable ; and it will again assume its position as money, and enter 
 into circulation as soon as Congress abrogates the silly and mortify- 
 ing provision of law that makes coin alone receivable for duties on 
 imports and other debts due the Government. 
 
 Withdraw the demand for $200,000,000 annually in gold to pay 
 duties on imports, and limit the demand to the sum necessary to pay 
 the interests on bonds held abroad, and you will bring gold imme- 
 diately down to par or below par, and while the Government is 
 to-day redeeming, and has all the time practically redeemed its author- 
 ized circulation, the croakers would then be happy in the fact that the 
 people will possibly be willing to receive a dollar in gold in exchange 
 for a dollar in currency, and every intelligent manufacturer in 
 Europe who has learned something of our Great Republic, her im- 
 mense resources, her intelligent, (and under honest and wise admin- 
 istration of the Government,) happy and prosperous citizens, will 
 
14 
 
 be glad to receive our greenbacks in exchange for his merchandise, 
 because he will know that we will receive them again in exchange 
 for our wheat, our corn, our cotton, or any other of our products 
 which he may desire to purchase. 
 
 I say to the Congress now assembled, ignore all party affiliations 
 and party influences, and come honestly to the work of benefiting 
 the great body of their constituents, and their emancipation from 
 the terrible gloom which now oppresses them. Pass laws embodying 
 the provisions herein suggested, and you immediately reinstate con- 
 fidence, you give vitality to business, you give to the laborer imme- 
 diately the meansof subsistence for himself and family, through the 
 agency of honest toil, you arrest the tendency now prevalent to 
 violations of law and respectability to crime, you relieve our alms- 
 houses, our prisons and houses of correction of their numerous vol- 
 untary occupants, made so by their own application, as a means of 
 subsistence, which, when denied them, their object is attained by a 
 resort to crime. You arrest the further and ruinous depreciation of 
 values of every description of property, real, personal and mixed, 
 whilst the present burdens of taxation continue, and under the policy 
 of the contractionists the rates of interest advance, you save debtors 
 from the rapacity of unrelenting creditors, you save from penury- 
 widows and orphans whose heritage consists in incumbered estates, 
 railroad stocks, bonds, &c., &c. Realize the fact that the Govern- 
 ment is at fault when an honest laboring-man is unable to obtain 
 work at remunerative wages, that under a system of just laws and an 
 honest administration thereof, no honest, industrious man will dil- 
 igently seek employment without the ability to obtain it, that labor 
 being the source and developer of wealth, too much cannot be 
 accomplished with a due regard to physical endurance, mental cul- 
 ture and personal comfort, that all worthy interests are prosperous 
 in proportion to the ability of the masses to consume. 
 
 In view of these truths, understand that the people cannot expect 
 too much from the Government within the pale of wisdom, devotion 
 and patriotism to accomplish. Act promptly on these suggestions. 
 
15 
 
 and save from the terrible consequences which I sincerely believe 
 are now impending, that class of people constituting a very small — 
 though very influential — minority, for whose benefit it is very gen- 
 erally believed the majority of Congress at their last session, under 
 the inspiration of the' Executive, specially acted. 
 
 I believe the foregoing are plain, practical, common-sense prop- 
 ositions, and I am so much impressed with their justice, propriety 
 and invulnerability, that I challenge the President, the Secretary of 
 the Treasury, or any of the parties for whom they seem to be 
 specially interested, to a discussion of their merits: and in the lan- 
 guage of the President, " I commend them to the careful consider- 
 ation of Congress," believing that a favorable solution is attainable, 
 and if reached by this Congress, that the present and future genera- 
 tions will ever gratefully remember it as a deliverer from a thraldom 
 of evil and disgrace. 
 
 B. B. THOMAS. 
 
 4J0 Walnut Street, 
 
 Philadclpliia . 
 
 Since Avriting the foregoing, the Memorial to Congress of 
 A. K. Owen, C. E., has been handed me, which I have carefully 
 read, and in which I generally concur and heartily unite, and which 
 I commend to the careful consideration of Congress, and sincerely 
 hope the prayers of the Petitioner may be promptly and fovorably 
 acted upon. Mr. Owen presents an able and exhaustive argument 
 in favor of internal improvements by the General Government, and 
 the payment for the same by the further issues of legal tender notes, 
 as a measure of immediate relief and sound policy, the advantages 
 of which, resulting from the development of the country, and its 
 rapid population will inure, not to the favored few with immense 
 corporate rights and privileges, but to all the People. 
 
 ^ * B. B. T. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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