The Kalida venture. [volume] (Kalida, Ohio) 1841-1865, 1845-05-23
From the N. o. Jefferson Republican.
PAPER VS.. GOLD AND SILVER.

Of labor producing equal value: as money
is that commercial commodity which, for the
sake Of convenience and facilitating diyl-
sion Of labor, we employ as standard to
measure the value of all others, it is difficult
10 imagine how any can be brought to be-
lieye it alone does not require this quality
which labor alone imparts; but paper money
not being created by labor, can only be kept
up to its nominal value, by two circumstances:
first, It's amount must be limited; second, it
must be made legal tender, either directly
BY positive enactment, or virtually, by being
received in payment of dues to the State,
for taxes, &c. The first Of these conditions,
il is clear, can never be attained or secured
while the issue of paper money is in the
hands Of companies whose only object is to
make profit for stockholders. In such cir
cumstances, individuals having an interest
opposed to that of the commercial community
and the people at large, govern the amount
of the circulating medium, which will there
fore rise and fall, and fuctuate with the
views entertained by the managers of thel
banks of their own interest. This interest
of course will be TO have the greatest amount
possible of notes in circulation, for without
this there can be no profits, and the extent
TO which the issues are pushed will be limited
only by fear of insolvency, and not always
by this, as the last few years have shown.
Such control of the circulating medium
cannot but be hostile to commercial
regularity and prosperity, and we find that
when the amount of bank paper is smallest,
and so the profits of the system least,
the stability of business affairs is greatest.
AL paper money is essentially the same,
though in various societies, assuming various
forms; sometimes issued by States, some
times issued by corporations or companies;
but always equally destructive TO legitimate
commerce. The experience Of one hundred
and fifty years in America, and of centuries
in Europe and Asia, shows this TO be fact
Is il not time then TO reform? All, we be-
lieve, are now convinced that without paper
money we would have escaped those COM
mercial revulsons which have in the last few
years desolated society and almost produced
revolution.
We deem it necessary, before concluding,
10 notice one argument, the most prominen,
which is employed in support of paper mo-
ney, and one which is generally deemed
valid by those who have attentively consi-
dered the subject. 1t is, that there is not
specie enough to carry on the commercial
operations Of mart like New Orleans."
Let us compare facts and see whether
this assumption is true.
COMMERCE OF LOUISIANA.
Value of imports in ls4l, $l0,256,S50
exports 34,3S7,46
imports in lS42, s,033,590
exports {" 2S,404, ,l49
imp'is in ls43 70 mos.) s,170,015
exports 27,390, ,424
These returns are made in the standard of
mixed currency, being Of lower value
than that of one Of gold and silver.
COMMERCE OF CUBA.
Value of imports in ls4l, $25,Osl ,40s
exports +" 26,774,5l4
imports in ls42, M,637,527
exports {" 26,6Sl,70l
Imports in lS43, 2l,99S,O9
exports l." 25,042, 1876
These returns are made in currency of
gold and silver only. Here we have the
view of commerce far exceeding that of
our boosted emporium of the west, including
the whole of Louisiana besides, carried on
much more safely than ours, without any of
those enormous fluctuations and disastrous
revulsions to which paper money subjects
our own, and this too with specie currency.
Yet we are told that we cannot do that which
is accomplished within three days sail Of us.
If men could abandon their stubborn pre-
judces, and draw their ideas from principles
in nature, in relation 10 a currency,thcy would
readily discover, that art could not possibly
furnish a substitute, that combines all the
properties requisite, to SO great an extent, as
gold and silver. The simple voice of ma
ture and of reason declare, that no article
that art may substitute can combine the val
ue Of the precious metals. Gold, the dear
ness of which, admits of its being convent
emily transported with little expense, being
fitted for the larger transactions of business,
while silver will answer the smaller ransac-
tons of every day occurrence. The proper
ties which these articles combine cannot be
possessed by paper money. Coin can be ad-
iusted to the value of any article that we
may purchase; it can be kept for any length
of time, or answer for the wants of future
years with perfect safety, whilst paper mo-
ney may fail to the injury of the holder
The precious metals possess the same value
at all times and places, and this is property
that no article which art may substitute can
possibly possess. Various are the qualities
which are possessed by gold and silver
which should hold them in the highest es-
TEEN over all paper money; and how FORUM
ate would it have been for mankind had pa
per money never gained the ascendency-
We repeat, that no greater curse has everaf-
ficted the world than the issuance of paper