The daily press. (Cincinnati [Ohio) 1859-1859, 1859-07-02
Financial,

Why is it, that while both money and
currency are 80 abundant in the United
States, the government finds itself FORCED
into the use of paper, in violation of its
fixed policy to use only gold3 True, the
government does not receive and pay out
its paper in its ordinary transactions, yet
it does so indirectly by exchanging treas
ury notes with capitalists for gold, which
notes enter into the channels of trade as
money, and not as credit. We appre-
hend that the embarrassments of the gov
ernment in this particular arise from the
fact that there are two sorts of currency
in circulation, nominally of the Same
VALUE, but in reality antagonistic as good
and evil, truth and falsehood Coin is
money, bank notes are not; if you buy
barrel of -four and pay half eagle for it,
the debt is Cancelled; if you pay for it a
five dollar note, the debt is only trains
ferred, and every day the note is used,. it
creates the amomnt of debt anew.
The imitation of PRICES by the deprec la
tion of the standard of VALUE, that is by
issuing large amount Of paper, prevents
expectation of products to be valued
when received by finer, truer STANDARD
of value-gold; and so gold itself per-
forms a function, the purchase of com
modities we do not grow, instead of me re-
ly settling balances, as the iuctuation of
trade may throw them to the one side or
the other, in the exchange of products.
The volume of currency regulated by
State authority, determines PRICES, and
when an inflated PRICE is paid in VAL UE,
she latter must fail in quantity. Tins,
the United States are called upon to pay
more than it receives hence its embar-
rassment just now.
Mr.. Carroll, merchant of Boston,
read lately, paper before the Board of
Currency, of New York, to be found in
Hunts Merchants Magazine for June,
setting forth the causes of the unsteadi-
ness of PRICES in this country, and the
numerous and frequent bankruptcies, that
is worthy of consideration
CURRENCY comprises all the money and
the customary substitutes for money, Of
fered to be exchanged for property of any
sort, or to be used in the payment of debt,
and in transfers sanctioned or accepted
by custom as payment.
Money is value--a commodity-the
product of labor"
With money we buy property and pay
for it-exchanging one value for another
without the Intervention of debt, upon the
principle of barter Money in the Uni
ted States, consists of gold and silver 1t
pays debts and ends with VALUE, and
then remains, keeping the currency whole,
to maintain prices and discharge all obli-
cations created by its measure. There is
about two hundred millions of dollars of
this outside Of the boards, and employed
as currency in the whole country. The
boards are MONEY, but not currency.
With the debt currency (bank paper) we
buy property by transferring debt; we
pass an order on bank-the bank then
owes for the property instead of ourselves,
and promises to pay VALUE therefor.
OF this we have had over four hundred
millions of dollars in excess of the coin in
the banks, and in excess of all the money
in the country. We are likely to have
that amount again. As money or value,
this is all fction-as debt it is reality 1t
never pays debt without destroying it.
self-it merely makes transfers while it
exists, and when according to the con-
ventional term, we have PAID a debt by
passing note or check on bank, there
is just as much money needed to cancel
debt in the country as before,
/ owe johnson $1,000, and one thou
sand dollars in money will pay and end
the debt leaving the currency entire.
Not having the money, ] give him an or
der on bank; the bank now owes John
son what owed him before. The debt
is not paid If the bank discharges the
debt by an Offset with its creditor, it ami
hilates SO much of the currency. This
is simply the contraction of bank loans
is an absolute destruction of the means
of paying the obligations it had itseli
n,aatad In thh priee of thinRs-the price