Arkansas true Democrat., 1857-11-03
A Paper Currency the Cause of our Fin
 ancial Troubles


 The following letter, written by General Washington more than seventy years ago, on the paper or bank currency question, will be read just now with more than ordinary inter- est It should be read, studied and reflected on by every boy and man in the Union:
 M. Eernon, Feb 27th l7s7. "DEAR SIR: Your favor of the 3Oth nit came duly to hand To give an opinion in cause of so much importance as that which has warmly agitated the two branches of vour Legislature, and which, from the appeal that IS hade' IS nkely to create great and, perhaps. dangerous dlvlslors, is rather delicate mat ter out as thls diversity of opinion is on subject which has believe occupied the minds o' most men, and as my sentiments thereon have been fully and decidedly expressed long before the Assembly of Maryland or this State was convened I do not scruple to declare that II hand a voice in your Legislature it wouli have behn given decidedly against paper emis sion, upon the general principle of its utility as representative and the necessity of it as medium. To assign reasons for this opinion would be as unnecessary as tedious; the ground mas been so often trod that place hardly re- mains untouched; Tn word, the necessity aris- Ing from want of specie is represented as greater than It really Is. l contend that it is oy the substance, not the shadow, of thing that we are to be benefited. The wisdom of man Tn my humble opinion, cannot at this tune, devise plan by which the credit of pa- per money would be long supported; conse- quentIy depreciation keeps pace with the quan- tty of emission, and articles for which if is exchanged rise in a greater ratio than the sink Ing value of the money. Wherein. then. is | the farmer, the planter, and the artisan bene fitted? The debtor may be because. as have observed, he gives the shadow in lieu of the substance, and ID proportion to his gain the cre ditor or body polite suffer Whether it he legal tender or not it will, as has been observ ca very truly, leave no alternative-t must be that or Eothing. An evil equally great is the door It immediately opens for speculation, by whlch the least designing and, perhaps, most Valuaole part of the community are preved npo" oy the most knowing and crafty specu- iators: But contrary to my intention and de- ciafaflon, am offering reasons in support of my opihlon-reasons, too, which of all others, are least pleasing to the advocates for paper money l shall, therefore, only observe gene rally, that so many people have suffered by former emissions, that, like burnt child who dreads the fire, no person will touch it who can possibly avoid it, the natural consequence ot which will be, that the specie which re- mains unexported will be instantly locked up
 With great esteem and regard, am. d gar sir, etc, GEO. WASHINGTON
 It Is pretty evident, says the Cincinnati En- qulrer, that the Father of his Country was. in ms day and generation, what would be called hard money man. He thought there was no necessity for paper currency, although there was but little specie ill the country compared With what there now is, since the immense yields Of the gold mines in Australia and Cali fornia. It has been demonstrated over and over again, by incontrovertib!e figures. that there Is gold enough to supply the place of our present bank note circulation, and that, by dis penslng with the latter, we can have it without any material dlminution of the circulating me- dum Why, then, should we not avail our selves ot It? The immense evils of a paper currency are now pertinent to every intelligent man.
 1t IS to this cause that all our troubles and disasters in the financial and commercial world are, at present. owing. The immense paper emission has inflated our currency to a point far above the hard money standard of prices in Europe; hence we have been deluged with lmportatlons that have drained us of our spa- Gle. Had we hard money currency. there would be no over-trading-no pressure upon the money market. But it is not our intcn- ton to descant upon the evil of the paper svs- tem-that IS sufficiently expressed in the letter of Gen. Washington that we have quoted above. How to get rid of it, is the question we Will endeavor to solve in another article.