{
  "schema": "tga.work.v1",
  "identifier": "dresden:vol-9:hard-times-and-the-way-out",
  "slug": "hard-times-and-the-way-out",
  "title": "Hard Times and the Way Out",
  "subtitle": "Boston, October 20, 1878.",
  "excerpt": "A Boston speech on the economic depression of the late 1870s — hard money, honest labor, and a warning against the \\\"fiat money\\\" fever of the day.",
  "year": 1878,
  "volume": 9,
  "category": "Political",
  "author": {
    "name": "Robert G. Ingersoll",
    "wikidata": "Q360326",
    "viaf": "44331023"
  },
  "isPartOf": {
    "title": "The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll",
    "edition": "Dresden Edition",
    "publisher": "C. P. Farrell",
    "year": 1900
  },
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/",
  "url": "https://thegreatagnostic.com/works/hard-times-and-the-way-out/",
  "wordCount": 7773,
  "body": "• Boston, October 20, 1878.\n\nLADIES and Gentlemen:—The lovers of the human race, the\nphilanthropists, the dreamers of grand dreams, all predicted and all\nbelieved that when man should have the right to govern himself, when\nevery human being should be equal before the law, pauperism, crime, and\nwant would exist only in the history of the past. They accounted\nfor misery in their time by the rapacity of kings and the cruelty of\npriests. Here, in the United States, man at last is free. Here, man\nmakes the laws, and all have an equal voice. The rich cannot oppress the\npoor, because the poor are in a majority. The laboring men, those who\nin some way work for their living, can elect every Congressman and every\njudge; they can make and interpret the laws, and if labor is oppressed\nin the United States by capital, labor has simply itself to blame.\nThe cry is now raised that capital in some mysterious way oppresses\nindustry; that the capitalist is the enemy of the man who labors. What\nis a capitalist? Every man who has good health; every man with good\nsense; every one who has had his dinner, and has enough left for supper,\nis, to that extent, a capitalist. Every man with a good character, who\nhas the credit to borrow a dollar or to buy a meal, is a capitalist; and\nnine out of ten of the great capitalists in the United States are simply\nsuccessful workingmen. There is no conflict, and can be no conflict, in\nthe United States between capital and labor; and the men who endeavor\nto excite the envy of the unfortunate and the malice of the poor are the\nenemies of law and order.\n\nAs a rule, wealth is the result of industry, economy, attention\nto business; and as a rule, poverty is the result of idleness,\nextravagance, and inattention to business, though to these rules there\nare thousands of exceptions. The man who has wasted his time, who has\nthrown away his opportunities, is apt to envy the man who has not. For\ninstance, there are six shoemakers working in one shop. One of them\nattends to his business. You can hear the music of his hammer late and\nearly. He is in love with some girl on the next street. He has made up\nhis mind to be a man; to succeed; to make somebody else happy; to have\na home; and while he is working, in his imagination he can see his own\nfireside, with the firelight falling upon the faces of wife and child.\nThe other five gentlemen work as little as they can, spend Sunday in\ndissipation, have the headache Monday, and, as a result, never advance.\nThe industrious one, the one in love, gains the confidence of his\nemployer, and in a little while he cuts out work for the others. The\nfirst thing you know he has a shop of his own, the next a store; because\nthe man of reputation, the man of character, the man of known integrity,\ncan buy all he wishes in the United States upon a credit. The next thing\nyou know he is married, and he has built him a house, and he is happy,\nand his dream has been realized. After awhile the same five shoemakers,\nhaving pursued the old course, stand on the corner some Sunday when he\nrides by. He has a carriage, his wife sits by his side, her face covered\nwith smiles, and they have two children, their eyes beaming with joy,\nand the blue ribbons are fluttering in the wind. And thereupon, these\nfive shoemakers adjourn to some neighboring saloon and pass a resolution\nthat there is an irrepressible conflict between capital and labor.\n\nThere is, in fact, no such conflict, and the laboring men of the United\nStates have the power to protect themselves. In the ballot-box the\nvote of Lazarus is on an equality with the vote of Dives; the vote of\na wandering pauper counts the same as that of a millionaire. In a land\nwhere the poor, where the laboring men have the right and have the power\nto make the laws, and do, in fact, make the laws, certainly there should\nbe no complaint. In our country the people hold the power, and if any\ncorporation in any State is devouring the substance of the people,\nevery State has retained the power of eminent domain, under which it\ncan confiscate the property and franchise of any corporation by\nsimply paying to that corporation what such property is worth. And yet\nthousands of people are talking as though the rich combined for the\nexpress purpose of destroying the poor, are talking as though there\nexisted a widespread conspiracy against industry, against honest toil;\nand thousands and thousands of speeches have been made and numberless\narticles have been written to fill the breasts of the unfortunate with\nhatred.\n\nWe have passed through a period of wonderful and unprecedented\ninflation. For years we enjoyed the luxury of going into debt, the\nfelicity of living upon credit. We have in the United States about\neighty thousand miles of railway, more than enough to make a treble\ntrack around the globe. Most of these miles were built in a period of\ntwenty-five years, and at a cost of at least five thousand millions\nof dollars. Think of the ore that had to be dug, of the iron that was\nmelted; think of the thousands employed in cutting bridge timber and\nties, and giving to the wintry air the music of the axe; think of the\nthousands and thousands employed in making cars, in making locomotives,\nthose horses of progress with nerves of steel and breath of flame; think\nof the thousands and thousands of workers in brass and steel and iron;\nthink of the numberless industries that thrived in the construction\nof eighty thousand miles of railway, of the streams bridged, of the\nmountains tunneled, of the plains crossed; and think of the towns and\ncities that sprang up, as if by magic, along these highways of iron.\n\nDuring the same time we had a war in which we expended thousands of\nmillions of dollars, not to create, not to construct, but to destroy.\nAll this money was spent in the work of demolition, and every shot and\nevery shell and every musket and every cannon was used to destroy. All\nthe time of every soldier was lost. An amount of property inconceivable\nwas destroyed, and some of the best and bravest were sacrificed. During\nthese years the productive power of the North was strained to the\nutmost; every wheel was in motion; there was employment for every kind\nand description of labor, and for every mechanic. There was a constantly\nrising market—speculation was rife, and it seemed almost impossible\nto lose. As a consequence, the men who had been toiling upon the farm\nbecame tired. It was too slow a way to get rich. They heard of their\nneighbor, of their brother, who had gone to the city and had suddenly\nbecome a millionaire. They became tired with the slow methods of\nagriculture. The young men of intelligence, of vim, of nerve became\ndisgusted with the farms. On every hand fortunes were being made. A\nwave of wealth swept over the United States; huts became houses; houses\nbecame palaces with carpeted floors and pictured walls; tatters became\ngarments; rags became robes; and for the first time in the history of\nthe world, the poor tasted of the luxuries of wealth. We wondered how\nour fathers could have endured their poor and barren lives.\n\nEvery business was pressed to the snow line. Old life insurance\nassociations had been successful; new ones sprang up on every hand.\nThe agents filled every town. These agents were given a portion of the\npremium. You could hardly go out of your house without being told of the\nuncertainty of life and the certainty of death. You were shown pictures\nof life insurance agents emptying vast bags of gold at the feet of a\ndisconsolate widow. You saw in imagination your own fatherless children\nwiping away the tears of grief and smiling with joy.\n\nThese agents insured everybody and everything. They would have insured a\nhospital or consumption in its last hemorrhage.\n\nFire insurance was managed in precisely the same way. The agents\nreceived a part of the premium, and they insured anything and\neverything, no matter what its danger might be. They would have insured\npowder in perdition, or icebergs under the torrid zone with the same\nalacrity. And then there were accident companies, and you could not\ngo to the station to buy your ticket without being shown a picture of\ndisaster. You would see there four horses running away with a stage, and\nold ladies and children being thrown out; you would see a steamer being\nblown up on the Mississippi, legs one way and arms the other, heads\none side and hats the other; locomotives going through bridges, good\nSamaritans carrying off the wounded on stretchers.\n\nThe merchants, too, were not satisfied to do business in the old way. It\nwas too slow; they could not wait for customers. They filled the country\nwith drummers, and these drummers convinced all the country merchants\nthat they needed about twice as many goods as they could possibly sell,\nand they took their notes on sixty and ninety days, and renewed them\nwhenever desired, provided the parties renewing the notes would take\nmore goods. And these country merchants pressed the goods upon their\ncustomers in the same manner. Everybody was selling, everybody was\nbuying, and nearly all was done upon a credit. No one believed the day\nof settlement ever would or ever could come. Towns must continue to\ngrow, and in the imagination of speculators there were hundreds of\ncities numbering their millions of inhabitants. Land, miles and miles\nfrom the city, was laid out in blocks and squares and parks; land that\nwill not be occupied for residences probably for hundreds of years to\ncome, and these lots were sold, not by the acre, not by the square\nmile, but by so much per foot. They were sold on credit, with a partial\npayment down and the balance secured by a mortgage.\n\nThese values, of course, existed simply in the imagination; and a deed\nof trust upon a cloud or a mortgage upon a last year's fog would have\nbeen just as valuable. Everybody advertised, and those who were not\nselling goods and real estate were in the medicine line, and every rock\nbeneath our flag was covered with advice to the unfortunate; and I have\noften thought that if some sincere Christian had made a pilgrimage\nto Sinai and climbed its venerable crags, and in a moment of devotion\ndropped upon his knees and raised his eyes toward heaven, the first\nthing that would have met his astonished gaze would in all probability\nhave been:\n    \"St. 1860 X Plantation Bitters.\"\n\nSuddenly there came a crash. Jay Cooke failed, and I have heard\nthousands of men account for the subsequent hard times from the fact\nthat Cooke did fail. As well might you account for the smallpox by\nsaying that the first pustule was the cause of the disease. The failure\nof Jay Cooke & Co. was simply a symptom of a disease universal.\n\nNo language can describe the agonies that have been endured since 1873.\nNo language can tell the sufferings of the men that have wandered over\nthe dreary and desolate desert of bankruptcy. Thousands and thousands\nsupposed that they had enough, enough for their declining years,\nenough for wife and children, and suddenly found themselves paupers and\nvagrants.\n\nDuring all these years the bankruptcy law was in force, and whoever\nfailed to keep his promise had simply to take the benefit of this law.\nAs a consequence, there could be no real, solid foundation for business.\nProperty commenced to decline; that is to say, it commenced to resume;\nthat is to say, it began to be rated at its real instead of at its\nspeculative value.\n\nLand is worth what it will produce, and no more. It may have speculative\nvalue, and, if the prophecy is fulfilled, the man who buys it may become\nrich, and if the prophecy is not fulfilled, then the land is simply\nworth what it will produce. Lots worth from five to ten thousand dollars\napiece suddenly vanished into farms worth twenty-five dollars per acre.\nThese lots resumed. The farms that before that time had been considered\nworth one hundred dollars per acre, and are now worth twenty or thirty,\nhave simply resumed. Magnificent residences supposed to be worth one\nhundred thousand dollars, that can now be purchased for twenty-five\nthousand, they have simply resumed. The property in the United States\nhas not fallen in value, but its real value has been ascertained. The\nland will produce as much as it ever would, and is as valuable to-day\nas it ever was; and every improvement, every invention that adds to the\nproductiveness of the soil or to the facilities for getting that product\nto market, adds to the wealth of the nation.\n\nAs a matter of fact, the property kept pace with what we were pleased to\ncall our money. As the money depreciated, property appreciated; as the\nmoney appreciated, property depreciated. The moment property began to\nfall speculation ceased. There is but little speculation upon a falling\nmarket. The stocks and bonds, based simply upon ideas, became worthless,\nthe collaterals became dust and ashes.\n\nAt the close of the war, when the Government ceased to be such a vast\npurchaser and consumer, many of the factories had to stop. When the\ncrash came the men stopped digging ore; they stopped felling the forest;\nthe fires died out in the furnaces; the men who had stood in the glare\nof the forge were in the gloom of want. There was no employment for\nthem. The employer could not sell his product; business stood still,\nand then came what we call the hard times. Our wealth was a delusion and\nillusion, and we simply came back to reality. Too many men were doing\nnothing, too many men were traders, brokers, speculators. There were not\nenough producers of the things needed; there were too many producers of\nthe things no one wished. There needed to be a re-distribution of men.\n\nMany remedies have been proposed, and chief among these is the remedy\nof fiat money. Probably no subject in the world is less generally\nunderstood than that of money. So many false definitions have been\ngiven, so many strange, conflicting theories have been advanced, that\nit is not at all surprising that men have come to imagine that money\nis something that can be created by law. The definitions given by the\nhard-money men themselves have been used as arguments by those who\nbelieve in the power of Congress to create wealth. We are told that gold\nis an instrumentality or a device to facilitate exchanges. We are told\nthat gold is a measure of value. Let us examine these definitions.\n\n\"Gold is an instrumentality or device to facilitate exchanges.\"\n\nThat sounds well, but I do not believe it. Gold and silver\nare commodities. They are the products of labor. They are not\ninstrumentalities; they are not devices to facilitate exchanges; they\nare the things exchanged for something else; and other things are\nexchanged for them. The only device about it to facilitate exchanges is\nthe coining of these metals. Whenever the Government or any government\ncertifies that in a certain piece of gold or silver there are a certain\nnumber of grains of a certain fineness, then he who gives it knows that\nhe is not giving too much, and he who receives, that he is receiving\nenough, so that I will change the definition to this:\n\nThe coining of the precious metals is a device to facilitate\nexchanges.\n\nThe precious metals themselves are property; they are merchandise; they\nare commodities, and whenever one commodity is exchanged for another it\nis barter, and gold is the last refinement of barter.\n\nThe second definition is:\n\n\"Gold is the measure of value.\"\n\nWe are told by those who believe in fiat money that gold is a measure of\nvalue just the same as a half bushel or a yardstick.\n\nI deny that gold is a measure of value. The yardstick is not a measure\nof value; it is simply a measure of quantity. It measures cloth worth\nfifty dollars a yard precisely as it does calico worth four cents. It\nis, therefore, not a measure of value, but of quantities. The same with\nthe half bushel. The half bushel measures wheat precisely the same,\nwhether that wheat is worth three dollars or one dollar. It simply\nmeasures quantity; not quality, or value. The yardstick, the half\nbushel, and the coining of money are all devices to facilitate\nexchanges. The yardstick assures the man who sells that he has not sold\ntoo much; it assures the man who buys that he has received enough; and\nin that way it facilitates exchanges. The coining of money facilitates\nexchange, for the reason that were it not coined, each man who did any\nbusiness would have to carry a pair of scales and be a chemist.\n\nIt matters not whether the yardstick or half bushel are of gold, silver,\nor wood, for the reason that the yardstick and half bushel are not the\nthings bought. We buy not them, but the things they measure.\n\nIf gold and silver are not the measure of value, what is? I\nanswer—intelligent labor. Gold gets its value from labor. Of course, I\ncannot account for the fact that mankind have a certain fancy for gold\nor for diamonds, neither can I account for the fact that we like certain\nthings better than others to eat. These are simply facts in nature, and\nthey are facts, whether they can be explained or not. The dollar in gold\nrepresents, on the average, the labor that it took to dig and mint it,\ntogether with all the time of the men who looked for it without finding\nit. That dollar in gold, on the average, will buy the product of the\nsame amount of labor in any other direction.\n\nNothing ever has been money, from the most barbarous to the most\ncivilized times, unless it was a product of nature, and a something to\nwhich the people among whom it passed as money attached a certain value,\na value not dependent upon law, not dependent upon \"fiat\" in any degree.\n\nNothing has ever been considered money that man could produce.\n\nA bank bill is not money, neither is a check nor a draft. These are all\ndevices simply to facilitate business, but in or of themselves they have\nno value.\n\nWe are told, however, that the Government can create money. This I deny.\nThe Government produces nothing; it raises no wheat, no corn; it digs no\ngold, no silver. It is not a producer, it is a consumer.\n\nThe Government cannot by law create wealth. And right here I wish to\nask one question, and I would like to have it answered some time. If\nthe Government can make money, if it can create money, if by putting\nits sovereignty upon a piece of paper it can create absolute money, why\nshould the Government collect taxes? We have in every district\nassessors and collectors; we have at every port customhouses, and we are\ncollecting taxes day and night for the support of this Government. Now,\nif the Government can make money itself, why should it collect taxes\nfrom the poor? Here is a man cultivating a farm—he is working among the\nstones and roots, and digging day and night; why should the Government\ngo to that man and make him pay twenty or thirty or forty dollars taxes\nwhen the Government, according to the theory of these gentlemen, could\nmake a thousand-dollar fiat bill quicker than that man could wink? Why\nimpose upon industry in that manner? Why should the sun borrow a candle?\n\nAnd if the Government can create money, how much should it create, and\nif it should create it who will get it? Money has a great liking for\nmoney. A single dollar in the pocket of a poor man is lonesome; it never\nis satisfied until it has found its companions. Money gravitates towards\nmoney, and issue as much as you may, as much as you will, the time will\ncome when that money will be in the hands of the industrious, in the\nhands of the economical, in the hands of the shrewd, in the hands of the\ncunning; in other words, in the hands of the successful.\n\nThe other day I had a conversation with one of the principal gentlemen\nupon that side, and I told him, \"Whenever you can successfully palm off\non a man a bill of fare for a dinner, I shall believe in your doctrine;\nand when I can satisfy the pangs of hunger by reading a cook-book, I\nshall join your party.\" Only that is money which stands for labor. Only\nthat is money which will buy, on the average, in all other directions\nthe result of the same labor expended in its production. As a matter\nof fact, there is money enough in the country to transact the business.\nNever before in the history of our Government was money so cheap; that\nis to say, was interest so low; never. There is plenty of money, and we\ncould borrow all we wished had we the collaterals. We could borrow\nall we wish if there was some business in which we could embark that\npromised a sure and reasonable return. If we should come to a man who\nkept a ferry, and find his boat on a sandbar and the river dry, what\nwould he think of us should we tell him he had not enough boat? He would\nprobably reply that he had plenty of boat, but not enough water. We have\nplenty of money, but not enough business. The reason we have not enough\nbusiness is, we have not enough confidence, and the reason we have not\nconfidence is because the market is slowly falling, and the reason it is\nslowly falling is that things have not yet quite resumed; that we have\nnot quite touched the absolute bedrock of valuation. Another reason is\nbecause those that left the cultivation of the soil have not yet all\nreturned, and they are living, some upon their wits, some upon their\nrelatives, some upon charity, and some upon crime.\n\nThe next question is: Suppose the Government should issue a thousand\nmillions of fiat money, how would it regulate the value thereof? Every\ncreditor could be forced to take it, but nobody else. If a man was in\ndebt one dollar for a bushel of wheat, he could compel the creditor to\ntake the fiat money; but if he wished to buy the wheat, then the owner\ncould say, \"I will take one dollar in gold or fifty dollars in fiat\nmoney, or I will not sell it for fiat money at any price.\" What will\nCongress do then? In order to make this fiat money good it will have to\nfix the price of every conceivable commodity; the price of painting\na picture, of trying a lawsuit, of chiseling a statue, the price of a\nday's work; in short, the price of every conceivable thing. This even\nwill not be sufficient. It will be necessary, then, to provide by\nlaw that the prices fixed shall be received, and that no man shall be\nallowed to give more for anything than the price fixed by Congress.\nNow, I do not believe that any Congress has sufficient wisdom to tell\nbeforehand what will be the relative value of all the products of labor.\n\nWhen the volume of currency is inflated it is at the expense of the\ncreditor class; when it is contracted it is contracted at the expense\nof the debtor class. In other words, inflation means going into debt;\ncontraction means the payment of the debt.\n\nA gold dollar is a dollar's worth of gold.\n\nA real paper dollar is a dollar's worth of paper.\n\nAnother remedy has been suggested by the same persons who advocate fiat\nmoney. With a consistency perfectly charming, they say it would have\nbeen much better had we allowed the Treasury notes to fade out. Why\nallow fiat money to fade out when a simple act of Congress can make it\nas good as gold? When greenbacks fade out the loss falls upon the chance\nholder, upon the poor, the industrious, and the unfortunate. The rich,\nthe cunning, the well-informed manage to get rid of what they happen to\nhold. When, however, the bills are redeemed, they are paid by the\nwealth and property of the whole country. To allow them to fade out\nis universal robbery; to pay them is universal justice. The greenback\nshould not be allowed to fade away in the pocket of the soldier or in\nthe hands of his widow and children. It is said that; the Continental\nmoney faded away. It was and is a disgrace to our forefathers. When the\ngreenback fades away there will fade with it honor from the American\nheart, brain from the American head, and our flag from the air of\nheaven.\n\nA great cry has been raised against the holders of bonds. They have been\ndenounced by every epithet that malignity can coin. During the war our\nbonds were offered for sale and they brought all that they then appeared\nto be worth. They had to be sold or the Rebellion would have been a\nsuccess. To the bond we are indebted as much as to the greenback. The\nfact is, however, we are indebted to neither; we are indebted to the\nsoldiers. But every man who took a greenback at less than gold committed\nthe same crime, and no other, as he who bought the bonds at less than\npar in gold. These bonds have changed hands thousands of times. They\nhave been paid for in gold again and again. They have been bought at\nprices far above par; they have been laid away by loving husbands\nfor wives, by toiling fathers for children; and the man who seeks to\nrepudiate them now, or to pay them in fiat rags, is unspeakably cruel\nand dishonest. If the Government has made a bad bargain it must live up\nto it. If it has made a foolish promise the only way is to fulfill it.\n\nA dishonest government can exist only among dishonest people.\n\nWhen our money is below par we feel below par.\n\nWe cannot bring prosperity by cheapening money; we cannot increase\nour wealth by adding to the volume of a depreciated currency. If the\nprosperity of a country depends upon the volume of its currency, and if\nanything is money that people can be made to think is money, then the\nsuccessful counterfeiter is a public benefactor. The counterfeiter\nincreases the volume of currency; he stimulates business, and the money\nissued by him will not be hoarded and taken from the channels of trade.\n\nDuring the war, during the inflation—that is to say, during the years\nthat we were going into debt—fortunes were made so easily that people\nleft the farms, crowded to the towns and cities. Thousands became\nspeculators, traders, and merchants; thousands embarked in every\npossible and conceivable scheme. They produced nothing; they simply\npreyed upon labor and dealt with imaginary values. These men must\ngo back; they must become producers, and every producer is a paying\nconsumer. Thousands and thousands of them are unable to go back. To a\nman who begs of you a breakfast you cannot say, \"Why don't you get\na farm?\" You might as well say, \"Why don't you start a line of\nsteamships?\" To him both are impossibilities. They must be helped.\n\nWe should all remember that society must support all of its members, all\nof its robbers, thieves, and paupers. Every vagabond and vagrant has\nto be fed and clothed, and society must support in some way all of its\nmembers. It can support them in jails, in asylums, in hospitals, in\npenitentiaries; but it is a very costly way. We have to employ judges\nto try them, juries to sit upon their cases, sheriffs, marshals, and\nconstables to arrest them, policemen to watch them, and it may be,\nat last, a standing army to put them down. It would be far cheaper,\nprobably, to support them all at some first-class hotel. We must either\nsupport them or help them support themselves. They let us go upon the\none hand simply to take us by the other, and we can take care of them as\npaupers and criminals, or, by wise statesmanship, help them to be honest\nand useful men. Of all the criminals transported by England to Australia\nand Tasmania, the records show that a very large per cent.—something\nover ninety—became useful and decent people. In Australia they found\nhomes; hope again spread its wings in their breasts. They had different\nambitions; they were removed from vile and vicious associations. They\nhad new surroundings; and, as a rule, man does not morally improve\nwithout a corresponding improvement in his physical condition.\nOne biscuit, with plenty of butter, is worth all the tracts ever\ndistributed.\n\nThousands must be taken from the crowded streets and stifling dens, away\nfrom the influences of filth and want, to the fields and forests of the\nWest and South. They must be helped to help themselves.\n\nWhile the Government cannot create gold and silver, while it cannot\nby its fiat make money, it can furnish facilities for the creation\nof wealth. It can aid in the distribution of products, and in the\ndistribution of men; it can aid in the opening of new territories;\nit can aid great and vast enterprises that cannot be accomplished by\nindividual effort. The Government should see to it that every facility\nis offered to honorable adventure, enterprise and industry. Our ships\nought to be upon every sea; our flag ought to be flying in every port.\nOur rivers and harbors ought to be improved. The usefulness of the\nMississippi should be increased, its banks strengthened, and its channel\ndeepened. At no distant day it will bear the commerce of a hundred\nmillions of people. That grand river is the great guaranty of\nterritorial integrity; it is the protest of nature against disunion, and\nfrom its source to the sea it will forever flow beneath one flag.\n\nThe Northern Pacific Railway should be pushed to completion. In this\nway labor would be immediately given to many thousands of men. Along\nthe line of that thoroughfare would spring up towns and cities; new\ncommunities with new surroundings; and where now is the wilderness there\nwould be thousands and thousands of happy homes.\n\nThe Texas Pacific should also be completed. A vast agricultural and\nmineral region would be opened to the enterprise and adventure of the\nAmerican people. Probably Arizona holds within the miserly clutches of\nher rocks greater wealth than any other State or territory of the world.\nThe construction of that road would put life and activity into a hundred\nindustries. It would give employment to many thousands of people, and\nhomes at last to many millions. It would cause the building of thousands\nof miles of branches to open, not only new territory, but to connect\nwith roads already built. It would double the products of gold and\nsilver, open new fields to trade, create new industries, and make it\npossible for us to supply eight millions of people in the Republic of\nMexico with our products. The construction of this great highway will\nenable the Government to dispense with from ten to fifteen regiments of\ninfantry and cavalry now stationed along the border. People enough will\nsettle along this line to protect themselves. It will permanently settle\nthe Indian question, saving the people millions each year. It will\neffectually destroy the present monopoly, and in this way greatly\nincrease production and consumption. It will double our trade with\nChina and Japan, and with the Pacific States as well. It will settle\nthe Southern question by filling the Southern States with immigrants,\ndiversifying the industries of that section, changing and rebuilding the\ncommercial and social fabric; it will do away with the conservatism of\nregret and the prejudice born of isolation. It will transmute to wealth\nthe unemployed muscle of the country. It will rescue California from\nthe control of a single corporation, from the government of an oligarchy\nunited, watchful, despotic, and vindictive. It will liberate the\nfarmers, the merchants, and even the politicians of the Pacific coast.\nBesides, it must not be forgotten so to frame the laws and charters that\nCongress shall forever have the control of fares and freights. In this\nway the public will be perfectly protected and the Government perfectly\nsecured.\n\nLook at the map, and you will see the immense advantages its\nconstruction will give to the entire country, not only to the South, but\nto the East and West as well. It is one hundred and fifty miles nearer\nfrom Chicago to San Diego than to San Francisco. You will see that the\nwhole of Texas, a State containing two hundred and ten thousand square\nmiles; a State four times as large as Illinois, five times as large\nas New York, capable of supporting a population of twenty millions of\npeople, is put in direct and immediate communication with the whole\ncountry. Territory to the extent of nearly a million square miles\nwill be given to agriculture, trade, commerce, and mining, by the\nconstruction of this line.\n\nLet this road be built, and we shall feel again the enthusiasm born\nof enterprise. In the vast stagnation there will be at last a current.\nSomething besides waiting is necessary to secure, or to even hasten, the\nreturn of prosperity. Secure the completion of this line and extend the\ntime for building the Northern Pacific, and confidence and employment\nwill return together.\n\nMore men must cultivate the soil. In the older States lands are too\nhigh. It requires too much capital to commence. There are so many\nfailures in business; so many merchants, traders, and manufacturers have\nbeen wrecked and stranded upon the barren shores of bankruptcy, that\nthe people are beginning to prefer the small but certain profits of\nagriculture to the false and splendid promises of speculation. We must\nopen new territories; we must give the mechanics now out of employment\nan opportunity to cultivate the soil—not as day-laborers but as owners;\nnot as tenants, but as farmers. Something must be done to develop the\nresources of this country. With the best lands of the world; with a\npopulation intellectual, energetic, and ingenious far beyond the average\nof mankind; with the richest mines of the globe; with plenty of capital;\nwith a surplus of labor; with thousands of arms folded in enforced\nidleness; with billions of gold asking to be dug; with millions of acres\nwaiting for the plow, thousands upon thousands are in absolute want.\n\nNew avenues must be opened. All our territory must be given to\nimmigration. Greater facilities must be offered. Obstacles that cannot\nbe overcome by individual enterprise must be conquered by the Government\nfor the good of all. Every man out of employment is impoverishing the\ncountry. Labor transmutes muscle into wealth. Idleness is a rust that\ndevours even gold. For five years we have been wasting the labor of\nmillions—wasting it for lack of something to do. Prosperity has been\nchanged to want and discontent. On every hand the poor are asking for\nwork. That is a wretched government where the honest and industrious\nbeg, unsuccessfully, for the right to toil; where those who are willing,\nanxious, and able to work, cannot get bread. If everything is to be left\nto the blind and heartless working of the laws of supply and demand, why\nhave governments? If the nation leaves the poor to starve, and the weak\nand unfortunate to perish, it is hard to see for what purpose the nation\nshould be preserved. If our statesmen are not wise enough to foster\ngreat enterprises, and to adopt a policy that will give us prosperity,\nit may be that the laboring classes, driven to frenzy by hunger, the\nbitterness of which will be increased by seeing others in the midst of\nplenty, will seek a remedy in destruction.\n\nThe transcontinental commerce of this country should not be in the\nclutch and grasp of one corporation. All sections of the Union should,\nas far as possible, be benefited. Cheap rates will come, and can be\nmaintained only by competition. We should cultivate commercial relations\nwith China and Japan. Six hundred millions of people are slowly awaking\nfrom a lethargy of six thousand years. In a little while they will have\nthe wants of civilized men, and America will furnish a large proportion\nof the articles demanded by these people. In a few years there will be\nas many ships upon the Pacific as upon the Atlantic. In a few years our\ntrade with China will be far greater than with Europe. In a few years\nwe will sustain the same relation to the far East that Europe once\nsustained to us. America for centuries to come will supply six hundred\nmillions of people with the luxuries of life. A country that expects to\ncontrol the trade of other countries must develop its own resources to\nthe utmost. We have pursued a small, a mean, and a penurious course.\nDemagogues have ridden into office and power upon the cry of economy,\nby opposing every measure looking to the improvement of the country, by\nendeavoring to see how cheaply nothing could be done. A government, like\nan individual, should live up to its privileges; it should husband its\nresources, simply that it may use them. A nation that expects to control\nthe commerce of half a world must have its money equal with gold and\nsilver. It must have the money of the world.\n\nWhenever the laboring men are out of employment they begin to hate the\nrich. They feel that the dwellers in palaces, the riders in carriages,\nthe wearers of broadcloth, silk, and velvet have in some way been\nrobbing them. As a matter of fact, the palace builders are the friends\nof labor. The best form of charity is extravagance. When you give a man\nmoney, when you toss him a dollar, although you get nothing, the man\nloses his manhood. To help others help themselves is the only real\ncharity. There is no use in boosting a man who is not climbing. Whenever\nI see a splendid home, a palace, a magnificent block, I think of the\nthousands who were fed—of the women and children clothed, of the\nfiresides made happy.\n\nA rich man living up to his privileges, having the best house, the\nbest furniture, the best horses, the finest grounds, the most beautiful\nflowers, the best clothes, the best food, the best pictures, and all the\nbooks that he can afford, is a perpetual blessing.\n\nThe prodigality of the rich is the providence of the poor.\n\nThe extravagance of wealth makes it possible for the poor to save.\n\nThe rich man who lives according to his means, who is extravagant in the\nbest and highest sense, is not the enemy of labor. The miser, who lives\nin a hovel, wears rags, and hoards his gold, is a perpetual curse. He is\nlike one who dams a river at its source.\n\nThe moment hard times come the cry of economy is raised. The press, the\nplatform, and the pulpit unite in recommending economy to the rich. In\nconsequence of this cry, the man of wealth discharges servants, sells\nhorses, allows his carriage to become a hen-roost, and after taking\nemployment and food from as many as he can, congratulates himself that\nhe has done his part toward restoring prosperity to the country.\n\nIn that country where the poor are extravagant and the rich economical\nwill be found pauperism and crime; but where the poor are economical and\nthe rich are extravagant, that country is filled with prosperity.\n\nThe man who wants others to work to such an extent that their lives are\nburdens, is utterly heartless. The toil of the world should continually\ndecrease. Of what use are your inventions if no burdens are lifted from\nindustry—if no additional comforts find their way to the home of labor;\nwhy should labor fill the world with wealth and live in want?\n\nEvery labor-saving machine should help the whole world. Every one should\ntend to shorten the hours of labor.\n\nReasonable labor is a source of joy. To work for wife and child, to toil\nfor those you love, is happiness; provided you can make them happy. But\nto work like a slave, to see your wife and children in rags, to sit at\na table where food is coarse and scarce, to rise at four in the morning,\nto work all day and throw your tired bones upon a miserable bed at\nnight, to live without leisure, without rest, without making those you\nlove comfortable and happy—this is not living—it is dying—a slow,\nlingering crucifixion.\n\nThe hours of labor should be shortened. With the vast and wonderful\nimprovements of the nineteenth century there should be not only the\nnecessaries of life for those who toil, but comforts and luxuries as\nwell.\n\nWhat is a reasonable price for labor? I answer: Such a price as will\nenable the man to live; to have the comforts of life; to lay by a little\nsomething for his declining years, so that he can have his own home, his\nown fireside; so that he can preserve the feelings of a man.\n\nEvery man ought to be willing to pay for what he gets. He ought to\ndesire to give full value received. The man who wants two dollars' worth\nof work for one is not an honest man.\n\nI sympathize with every honest effort made by the children of labor\nto improve their condition. That is a poorly governed country in which\nthose who do the most have the least. There is something wrong when men\nare obliged to beg for leave to toil. We are not yet a civilized people;\nwhen we are, pauperism and crime will vanish from our land.\n\nThere is one thing, however, of which I am glad and proud, and that is,\nthat society is not, in our country, petrified; that the poor are not\nalways poor.\n\nThe children of the poor of this generation may, and probably will, be\nthe rich of the next. The sons of the rich of this generation may be the\npoor of the next; so that after all, the rich fear and the poor hope.\n\nI sympathize with the wanderers, with the vagrants out of employment;\nwith the sad and weary men who are seeking for work. When I see one of\nthese men, poor and friendless—no matter how bad he is—I think that\nsomebody loved him once; that he was once held in the arms of a mother;\nthat he slept beneath her loving eyes, and wakened in the light of her\nsmile. I see him in the cradle, listening to lullabies sung soft and\nlow, and his little face is dimpled as though touched by the rosy\nfingers of Joy.\n\nAnd then I think of the strange and winding paths, the weary roads he\nhas traveled from that mother's arms to vagrancy and want.\n\nThere should be labor and food for all. We invent; we take advantage of\nthe forces of nature; we enslave the winds and waves; we put shackles\nupon the unseen powers and chain the energy that wheels the world. These\nslaves should release from bondage all the children of men.\n\nBy invention, by labor—that is to say, by working and thinking—we\nshall compel prosperity to dwell with us.\n\nDo not imagine that wealth can be created by law; do not for a moment\nbelieve that paper can be changed to gold by the fiat of Congress.\n\nDo not preach the heresy that you can keep a promise by making another\nin its place that is never to be kept. Do not teach the poor that the\nrich have conspired to trample them into the dust.\n\nTell the workingmen that they are in the majority; that they can make\nand execute the laws.\n\nTell them that since 1873 the employers have suffered about as much as\nthe employed.\n\nTell them that the people who have the power to make the laws should\nnever resort to violence. Tell them never to envy the successful. Tell\nthe rich to be extravagant and the poor to be economical.\n\nTell every man to use his best efforts to get him a home. Without a\nhome, without some one to love, life and country are meaningless words.\nUpon the face of the patriot must have fallen the firelight of home.\n\nTell the people that they must have honest money, so that when a man has\na little laid by for wife and child, it will comfort him even in death;\nso that he will feel that he leaves something for bread, something that,\nin some faint degree, will take his place; that he has left the coined\ntoil of his hands to work for the loved when he is dust.\n\nTell your representatives in Congress to improve our rivers and harbors;\nto release our transcontinental commerce from the grasp of monopoly;\nto open all our territories, and to build up our trade with the whole\nworld.\n\nTell them not to issue a dollar of fiat paper, but to redeem every\npromise the nation has made.\n\nIf fiat money is ever issued it will be worthless, for the folly that\nwould issue has not the honor to pay when the experiment fails.\n\nTell them to put their trust in work. Debts can be created by law, but\nthey must be paid by labor.\n\nTell them that \"fiat money\" is madness and repudiation is death.\n"
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