Arkansas true Democrat., 1858-01-26
Sound Currency.

system.
 With our own mines producing 60 millions of gold in year, we could, by detalnlns in the country the supply for only three years and a half have gold dollar in circulation for every paper dollar we had at the commencement of 1857. One would think that this would con- vince this class of reasoners of the practlcabty at least, of gold currency; but it appears to have no effect upon them.
 The coinage of the United States mint and its branches. amounted, in eleven years, from lo47 to 1857, both inclusive, to SAYS, 9,779,721. The cross circulation of all the banks in the country amounted on the 1st of January, 1857 to SHAFTS, ,S22, or to much less than one half of our eleven years coinage. On the class of readers to whom we refer this has as little effect as has the fact that our own mines still continue to produce yearly SO millions of gold.
 In eleven years, from 1845 to 1857, our ex- ports Of gold and silver amounted to $342,637- O94 This was caused chiefly by the free use of bank notes Remove the cause and the effect will cease. Discontinue the use of bank notes' and gold will flow into the country, instead of flowing out of it.
 From the bes: calculation that can be made, the whole amount of gold and silver in the country, is hardly less than 300 million dollars. But, owing to the want of confidence which IS caused by the free use of paper money, 1t ap- pears that nearly two-thirds of this amount Is boarded The total of the current credits ot the banks, that is of their notes in circulation, of their bank book credits or "deposlts" |" as they are called, and of the sums due to other banks, was, at the commencement of the last year, $5O2 8O4, 597. Detain in the country the supply from the California mines, and bring out the treasure that is hoarded and we shall have. in few years, stock of gold and silver equal to the current credits of the banks.
 To him who will reason intelligently and candidly, nothing can be plainer than the prac- ticabilty of supplanting paper money by specie. Of it's expediency, it might be supposed none could doubt who would reflect on the evils paper money has caused from its introduction even unto the present day. But, place those evils in the strongest light you can, and contrast them in the most striking manner with the advan- tages arising from solid money, and all is in vain. You are answered with some loose Reclamation, "that commercial people must have paper medium, and that none but barbarous nations confne themselves to gold and silver"
 To say that commercial people must have paper medium, is not to meet the question fair ly. No hard money men objects to bills of ex- change, or notes of hand, or to bank checks or bank drafts. He objects to paper credits in such form only as makes them paper money. To bank notes he objects, because they to a great extent supplant gold and silver, and reduce such gold and silver as remain in circulation to a mere subordinate currency. It is chiefly by bank issues that prices are determined. The main objection the hard money man has to bank paper currency, is owing to its eternal huctuation, sinking prices to-day and raising them tomorrow, so that no man who engages in any enterprise can form any rational conclu- sion as to what its result will be. Through
 
 business are made as uncertain as lottery.
 To speak of gold and silver currency as fit only for barbarous nations, is to speak nonsense. The simple fact that a country has adopted gold or silver for its circulating medium, is proof that its inhabitants have made considerable advances in civilization. Savage tribes always regard gold and silver as mere ornaments, till through their connections with civilized nations, they learn their true value
 If we compare the different countries of Europe at the present day, we find that Russia, the least civilized, is the one which makes the most use of paper money. It is true that Gal latin thinks that even the inconvertible paper of Russia seeing that it has some show of fxidity, is hardly more objectionable than the ever fluc- tuating paper currency of the United States This only proves that we have the worst bank ing system in the world It does not prove that gold and silver are fit for none but barba- rous nations and that the strongest proof that can be given of civilization is the free use of paper money.
 In Austria inconvertible paper is in use: in Prussia, convertible. Is Austria more civilized than Prussia?
 In Sweden, bank notes are issued of as low a denomination as six cents. In England, none of a less denomination than A dollars, and in France, till lately, none of less denomination than 94 dollars. Are England and France less civilized than Sweden?
 The Italian Republics of the middle ages, and the Hanse towns of Northern Europe, attained their immense wealth without the use of paper money.
 In proportion to the nature and extent of their natural resources, no countries in Europe are richer than Switzerland and Holland But, what wealth they possess they owe to industry and economy; not to paper money.
 If we go back to more ancient times we find the Greeks and Romans, dispensing entirely with paper money, and yet attaining to wealth of which we can hardly form conception.- The wealth of the Grecian colonies in Asia Minor, is attested by the remains of marble colonades more than a mile in length.- When the Roman Empire was at its height it had an area as large as that of the United States at the present day, and its population amounted to hundreds of millions. The immense com. merce of these hundreds of millions was car- ned on without the use of paper money They had their paper media, their bills of ex change, as we have, but they had no paper mo- ney. They had their banks, but they were not paper money banks. The usage of the veal. thy Romans was to make their payments through the medium of orders drawn on their bank ers in the forum. It can hardly be said that the Greeks and Romans were uncivilized. They are still our models in literature and the fine arts.
 It may be thought that we are going back great way, in going to the Greeks and Romans in support of hard money doctrines. But it ShOul1 bn rocollao+oJ tbo. ,,