But will the monopolists of money give up their monopoly? Certainly not
voluntarily. They will do it only upon compulsion. They will hold on to
it as long as they own and control governments as they do now. And why
will they do so? Because to give up their monopoly would be to give up
their control of those great armies of servants--the wage laborers--from
whom all their wealth is derived, and whom they can now coerce by the
alternative of starvation, to labor for them at just such prices as they
(the monopolists of money) shall choose to pay.
Now these monopolists of money have no plans whatever for making their
"capital," as they call it--that is, their money capital--_their
privileged money capital_--profitable to themselves, _otherwise than by
using it to employ other men's labor_. And they can keep control of
other men's labor only by depriving the laborers themselves of all other
means of subsistence. And they can deprive them of all other means of
subsistence only by putting it out of their power to hire the money that
is necessary to enable them to do business for themselves. And they can
put it out of their power to hire money, only by forbidding all other
men to lend them their credit, in the shape of promissory notes, to be
circulated as money.
If the twenty-five or fifty thousand millions of loanable
capital--promissory notes--which, _in this country_, are now lying idle,
were permitted to be loaned, these wage laborers would hire it, and do
business for themselves, instead of laboring as servants for others; and
would of course retain in their own hands all the wealth they should
create, except what they should pay as interest for their capital.
And what is true of this country, is true of every other where
civilization exists; for wherever civilization exists, land has value,
and can be used as banking capital, and be made to furnish all the
money that is necessary to enable the producers of wealth to hire the
capital necessary for their industries, and thus relieve them from their
present servitude to the few holders of privileged money.
Thus it is that the monopoly of money is the one great obstacle to the
liberation of the laboring classes all over the world, and to their
indefinite progress in wealth.
But we are now to show, more definitely, what relation this monopoly of
money is made to bear to the freedom of international trade; and why it
is that the holders of this monopoly, _in this country_, demand heavy
tariffs on imports, on the lying pretence of protecting our home labor
against the competition of the so-called pauper labor of other
countries.
The explanation of the whole matter is as follows.
1. The holders of the monopoly of money, in each country,--more
especially in the manufacturing countries like England, the United
States, and some others,--assume that the present condition of poverty,
for the great mass of mankind, all over the world, is to be perpetuated
forever; or at least for an indefinite period. From this assumption they
infer that, if free trade between all countries is to be allowed, the
so-called pauper labor of each country is to be forever pitted against
the so-called pauper labor of every other country. Hence they infer that
it is the duty of each government--or certainly of our government--to
protect the so-called pauper labor of our own country--that is, the
class of laborers who are constantly on the verge of pauperism--against
the competition of the so-called pauper labor of all other countries, by
such duties on imports as will secure to our own laborers a monopoly of
our own home market.
This is, on the face of it, the most plausible argument--and almost, if
not really, the only argument--by which they now attempt to sustain
their restrictions upon international trade.
If this argument is a false one, their whole case falls to the ground.
That it is a false one, will be shown hereafter.
2. These monopolists of money assume that pauper labor, so-called, is
the cheapest labor in the world; and that therefore each nation, in
order to compete with the pauper labor of all other nations, must itself
have "cheap labor." In fact, "cheap labor" is, with them, the great
_sine qua non_ of all national industry. To compete with "cheap labor,"
say they, we must have "cheap labor." This is, with them, a self-evident
proposition. And this demand for "cheap labor" means, of course, that
the laboring classes, in this country, must be kept, as nearly as
possible, on a level with the so-called pauper labor of all other
countries.
Thus their whole scheme of national industry is made to depend upon
"cheap labor." And to secure "cheap labor," they hold it to be
indispensable that the laborers shall be kept constantly either in
actual pauperism, or on the verge of pauperism. And, in this country,
they know of no way of keeping the laborers on the verge of pauperism,
but by retaining in their (the monopolists') own hands such a monopoly
of money as will put it out of the power of the laborers to hire money,
and do business for themselves; and thus compel them, by the alternative
of starvation, to sell their labor to the monopolists of money at such
prices as will enable them (the monopolists) to manufacture goods in
competition with the so-called pauper laborers of all other countries.
Let it be repeated--as a vital proposition--that the whole industrial
programme of these monopolists rests upon, and implies, such a degree of
poverty, on the part of the laboring classes, as will put their labor in
direct competition with the so-called pauper labor of all other
countries. So long as they (the monopolists) can perpetuate this extreme
poverty of the laboring classes, in this country, they feel safe against
all foreign competition; for, in all other things than "cheap labor," we
have advantages equal to those of any other nation.
Furthermore, this extreme poverty, in which the laborers are to be kept,
necessarily implies that they are to receive no larger share of the
proceeds of their own labor, than is necessary to keep them in a
condition to labor. It implies that their industry--which is really the
national industry--is not to be carried on at all for their own benefit,
but only for the benefit of their employers, the monopolists of money.
It implies that the laborers are to be mere tools and machines in the
hands of their employers; that they are to be kept simply in running
order, like other machinery; but that, beyond this, they are to have no
more rights, and no more interests, in the products of their labor, than
have the wheels, spindles, and other machinery, with which the work is
done.
In short, this whole programme implies that the laborers--the real
producers of wealth--are not to be considered at all as human beings,
having rights and interests of their own; but only as tools and
machines, to be owned, used, and consumed in producing such wealth as
their employers--the monopolists of money--may desire for their own
subsistence and pleasure.
What, then, is the remedy? Plainly it is to abolish the monopoly of
money. Liberate all this loanable capital--promissory notes--that is now
lying idle, and we liberate all labor, and furnish to all laborers all
the capital they need for their industries. We shall then have no
longer, all over the earth, the competition of pauper labor with pauper
labor, but only the competition of free labor with free labor. And from
this competition of free labor with free labor, no people on earth have
anything to fear, but all peoples have everything to hope.
And why have all peoples everything to hope from the competition of free
labor with free labor? Because when every human being, who labors at
all, has, as nearly as possible, all the fruits of his labor, and all
the capital that is necessary to make his labor most effective, he has
all needed inducements to the best use of both his brains and his
muscles, his head and his hands. He applies both his head and his hands
to his work. He not only acquires, as far as possible, for his own use,
all the scientific discoveries and mechanical inventions, that are made
by others, but he himself makes scientific discoveries and mechanical
inventions. He thus multiplies indefinitely his powers of production.
And the more each one produces of his own particular commodity, the more
he can buy of every other man's products, and the more he can pay for
them.
With freedom in money, the scientific discoveries and mechanical
inventions, made in each country, will not only be used to the utmost in
that country, but will be carried into all other countries. And these
discoveries and inventions, given by each country to every other, and
received by each country from every other, will be of infinitely more
value than all the material commodities that will be exchanged between
these countries.
In this way each country contributes to the wealth of every other, and
the whole human race are enriched by the increased power and stimulus
given to each man's labor of body and mind.
But it is to be kept constantly in mind, that there can be no such thing
as free labor, unless there be freedom in money; that is, unless
everybody, who can furnish money, shall be at liberty to do so. Plainly
labor cannot be free, unless the laborers are free to hire all the money
capital that is necessary for their industries. And they cannot be free
to hire all this money capital, unless all who can lend it to them,
shall be at liberty to do so.
In short, labor cannot be free, unless each laborer is free to hire all
the capital--money capital, as well as all other capital--that he
honestly can hire; free to buy, wherever he can buy, all the raw
material he needs for his labor; and free to sell, wherever he can sell,
all the products of his labor. Therefore labor cannot be free, unless we
have freedom in money, and free trade with all mankind.
We can now understand the situation. In the most civilized nations--such
as Western Europe and the United States--labor is utterly crippled,
robbed, and enslaved by the monopoly of money; and also, in some of
these countries, by the monopoly of land. In nearly or quite all the
other countries of the world, labor is not only robbed and enslaved, but
to a great extent paralyzed, by the monopoly of land, and by what may
properly be called the utter absence of money. There is, consequently,
in these latter countries, almost literally, no diversity of industry,
no science, no skill, no invention, no machinery, no manufactures, no
production, and no wealth; but everywhere miserable poverty, ignorance,
servitude, and wretchedness.
In this country, and in Western Europe, where the uses of money are
known, there is no excuse to be offered for the monopoly of money. It is
maintained, in each of these countries, by a small knot of tyrants and
robbers, who have got control of the governments, and use their power
principally to maintain this monopoly; understanding, as they do, that
this one monopoly of money gives them a substantially absolute control
of all other men's property and labor.
But not satisfied with this substantially absolute control of all other
men's property and labor, the monopolists of money, _in this
country_,--feigning great pity for their laborers, but really seeking
only to make their monopoly more profitable to themselves,--cry out for
protection against the competition of the pauper labor of all other
countries; when they alone, _and such as they_, are the direct cause of
all the pauper labor in the world. But for them, and others like them,
there would be neither poverty, ignorance, nor servitude on the face of
the earth.
But to all that has now been said, the advocates of the monopoly of
money will say that, if all the material property of the country were
permitted to be represented by promissory notes, and these promissory
notes were permitted to be lent, bought, and sold as money, the laborers
would not be able to hire them, for the reason that they could not give
the necessary security for repayment.
But let those who would say this, tell us why it is that, in order to
prevent men from loaning their promissory notes, for circulation as
money, it has always been necessary for governments to prohibit it,
either by penal enactments, or prohibitory taxation. These penal
enactments and prohibitory taxation are acknowledgments that, but for
them, the notes would be loaned to any extent that would be profitable
to the lenders. What this extent would be, nothing but experience of
freedom can determine. But freedom would doubtless give us ten, twenty,
most likely fifty, times as much money as we have now, if so much could
be kept in circulation. And laborers would at least have ten, twenty, or
fifty times better chances for hiring capital, than they have now. And,
furthermore, all labor and property would have ten, twenty, or fifty
times better chances of bringing their full value in the market, than
they have now.
But in the space that is allowable in this letter, it is impossible to
say all, or nearly all, of what might be said, to show the justice, the
utility, or the necessity, for perfect freedom in the matters of money
and international trade. To pursue these topics further would exclude
other matters of great importance, as showing how the government acts
the part of robber and tyrant in all its legislation on contracts; and
that the whole purpose of all its acts is that the earnings of the many
may be put into the pockets of the few.