Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1861-04-10

istha between tne Shareholder and the Bon
Shareholder, and that the latter really is theil
friend. In order 10 undscslFe them, I wish
yeu bad submitted your permanent Constitu-
ton to the people. However, am convinced,
ihis 1mutual misunderstanding" viii sooa be
settled When thEes generations have pass
ed away sAs Rorth wiz be with you. ] an
nc t-reeonsfruetionisl;' but do say, that there
vii arise along this Mississippi Valley, the
nightest empire that the esrth has ever yet
behsld; and ths South and the North viii be
parts Of that empire. "Nshomet will 90 to
the mountsin-n The wild howlings o. the
abolitionist against tsslsrergo snd for efree-
dous will Be ehsngsd; they are prompted BY
an honest. but misguided heart. His intslli-
gsnee win its,ch him that Instead Of sxercis-
ing his Ingenuity in trying to make q white
/ man out Of q negro, and a negro out Of a
white msn, 1t would be mere consistent with
I bis bsnevolence and charity, to attempt to
humanize al oraHg-outaRg, or tame wild
] African. England, Frsnee-the world viii
I eventually embrace your institution but ]
an preeladsd from saying more upon this
subject. I have said thus much IN order to
show you that appreciate yoar position, and
believe that with you Is deposited ''the ark
OF The covenaut.o You are the appropriate
! people 10 initiate an idea.
Before I set forth the idea an going 10 pre-
sent, / shall take occasion to invite a rigid
criticism OF it. So far a. know, it is a new
idea and though I regard It Of vast impor-
1 taBee, Jet | nay BE- greatly deceived. The
! idea is this. To Substitute 4 paper currency
for gold. In other words, Instead Of colning
this precious metal, you ought to coin" pa
per. Governments have been IN the habit OF
l"mAkingn money I wish you 70 ''createo it,
| as it were; to possess and to use " the phil0s-
/ opher's stone" Gold possesses two kinds Of
4 value an intriaslc and an extrlnsic or con-
ventional value. The intrinsic value of a
thing depends upon lie csFscity to subserVs a
/ certain purpose, and the importance OF that
( purpose. The intrinsic value Of cotton for the
! making Of cloth, is very great. The intrinsic
value Of brOom-BtTaW, for the making OF
] brooms, is equally a. great; bat tie impor-
tanee Of one purpose Is grsster than The other;
I thsrefors the intrinsic value Of one article IL
greater than the intrinsic value Of the other
article. The conventional value Of a thisg
+ depsn1s u1on its Intrinsic value to a certain
sxtent, and upon surrounding circumstances,
i the scarcity Of the article, etc. The Intrinsic
/ value Of sand for making mortar il very great,
I and the purpose Is IN Important one but sand
is 80 plentiful that, generally, its conventional
vslue is nothing-"it is as cheap az dirt .
The Intrinsic value Of gold, FOR a great nahy
very important purposes, is very great The
circumstances surrounding gold, its scarcity
and tie labor required 70 obtain IL, are such Is
TO make It's conventional value very great
| Heretofore, goVernmeRts have but stamped the
coin with The conventional value which the
world bad given to the metal; as Mr. Locke
says, they have but measured Of TIE metal
and certified to the qu1ntity; In other words,
they have ehdesvorsd to make the eonFen-
tiona value, which the world has given to the
metal, bssis or seeurity FOR the {stampsd)
value Of the coin. The intrinsic value OF
paper for the making of a currency is very
great-much greater than that OF gold-and
this is a most important purpose. The in
trinsie valne Of paPer, then, is very great; bat
TIE Circumstances surrounding It are such--it
is 90 very plentiful and ss easily obtained--ss
to make its conventional value very small.
Suppose paper were as scarce as gold, and as
difficult TO be procured, would not its coRVsn-
tiOnal value be as great a. that Of gold? This
is igst what propose, namely, that you make
Tho paper scarce aHd difficult to be obtained.
This you can de in a great many ways You
can stamp a very peculiar kind Of paper (hav-
ing regulated its scarcity }, or yea can stamp
pa per In a FeTT peculiar manner. CThe guam
tity Of paper stamped, Of course, wiil Be- rsgu-
lated BY Law; In no case will il be allowed 20
stamp too much Of il, and thus make It too
plentiful. Il is not intended that the Govern
meat shah haTe the power to stamp an indef-
mite amount Of money; but, as viii be shown
hereafter, only to stamp as much as there is
now in the country; and every year to stamp
only about as much as the increase Of TIE
bank circulation and the coin per annum
amounts to-. Permit me to Illustrate further.
The intrinsic value OF paint and CANVAS for
the painting Of pictures, is very great, and
this IS a most important purpose. Bat these
articles are 90 plentiful-s0 easily obtained
that their conventional value is very snail. A
Rtphtei psints upon the canvas the Birth
OF the SAVIOR" there is the same canvas and
TIE sans quantity Of paint; they wers once
c0nventlonaliy worth very little, row they are
worth twenty thousand dollars. The genius
% the painter has changed the cireumstances
surrounding these articles; instead Of being
plentiful and easily obtained, they are now
rare work of art; the conventional value Is alto.
gsther different. would have you t6ks little
piece Of worthless paper and some enEraE-
ing tools, and not By your genius, but hV your
sovereignty, vary the circumstances surround
iEsg the paper, and By that means change its
conventional value. Tie difference between
the gold currency and the paper currency would
be this: the people establish The couventional
value OF gold, and the Government iniorses IL;
the Government would establish the esRFeD-
tional value OF paper, and the people would
indorse It. The metals were neger Intended
for a permanent circulating mediun. Thav
are altogether too iDcOnvenient. They oueht
to be used in the srts-in oTnamsnting aud
adorning the persons and hsbitations OF men.
Practically, the civilized world has already
rePudisted them Tor The purpose Of circulation.
Paper monsy7 is even DOW the @curreRcy.'
It's convenience and utility have already been
demonstrated. purpose 20 put this idea into
operation 10 this way. TIE amount OF eold
and paper money now in the CoHfedsrate States
is about one hundred and twenty millions Of
dollars The bank circulation Is about CITY
millions. There is about seventy millions OF
gold. You must "c0inv one hundred and
" snty millions Of paper; and then buy cd the
gold aRd the bank notes 10 the hands o. the
hol isrB; and Of course stop the circulation OF
the banks. By this means the same amount
Of money Is put ia circulation. Every one
wiz have ss mach money az BE- had before.
Tue banks viii be greatly beneftsa, for YOU
viii have Hredeemed1 their noes for Il en-.
And you will be prOfiled By the operation. The
bank notes, which you buy up, Il is true,-vTil1
be E5rthiess; but you win have la your hands
seventy millions OF gold.
do not propose to establish bank FOR the
C0nfedsrste States BY any means. / desire
you to give to paper money the same and uni-
Versal value which gold possesses. We coin
gold now without sahk; 90 you can f'eoin''
paper without q bank. A government has the
right 70 make money out Of anything, and 70
stamp It with any value. There are in The
Confederate States about oas hundred banks;
propose to establish in your midst about as
many sub-treasuEies. OF course vou win
"coinn a certain amount Of paper money every
year. / think can show 70 you that YOU viii
be able 10 "eolnn Il use The word coin because
Il conveys The idea more eompletelF than apy
other have at eOmmand) snoisgh avery vesr
10 support the goYsrnment. This is the idea
desire to present. I shall now discuss, as
FAR as ! can, its advantages and Disadvantages.
I. The first advantage, which shall men
tion, Is, that very precious and useful metal
is eliminated from the number OF those which
constitute the eirculating medium, and an
pointed to the arts, whicA need il very mach.
We know, that Lyeurgus made money Of iron;
the Romans used copper TO a great extent
Charles II coined tin: and James ii rssortsd
TO gun metal and pewter. All these metals
(exeept coppsI) have been eliminated, partly,
because they were inconvenisnt, but chiesy,
because toe world needed them for other pur-
poses. think eventually none Of the metals
vii Be used as money, but to exclude all OF
them at once, would Sc progressing too fast
propose the exclusion Of one only. l have
mentioned gold, because the silver aud the COP
per are needed for "chsngs." By excluding
gold, your government becomes possessed as
have shown, Of seventy millions, which {. can
sell, (and sell il not as money, but az precious
metzl) for at least fifty millions Of dollars.
This sun, X necessary, viii bniid your capitol,
Presidents house, the buildings fer the different
departments, etc. BY the exclusion Of gold,
and the substitution Of paper for it, the sx-
p0rtation Of SILVER VIII not be increased a
particle. L viii have the sane vaIue, aud
there viii be the same demand for it then that
there Is how. l. Is true, the paper uoney can
be counterfeited (this viii soon become very
difficulty but coins themselves are coun er-
fsited Besides, we forget, that paper money
is even ROW the currency. Paper money will
soon wear cut. Il can Be renewed we renew
i now. / again declare, that the utility and
praeticabihty Of paper money, have been
already demonstrated
il. The second advantage is--a convenient,
uniform currency will Be established. For
fear Of being misunderstood, I shall expressly
state that this euTrreDcy viii not be 10 the
1atuEe Of 3 promissofy note-like a bank bill.
TIE government viii promise nothing II viii
simply stamp certain value upon the paper.
declaring that this is ffsy dollars, or hun
dred dollars as the case may be. Such a cur
rsDcy viii Of course exclude all tank bills
And ths worthless wid-casn money viii Be
ssezged" A dollar IN one STATE, will Be
follar in another. Thsre viii Be no trouble Of
exchanging--no EseessitY for paying Eve and
ten rer cent. ,diseo1nt. need pot mention the
conVeniences q q pniform currency sFery
one has felt the ineonvshienees Of the oppo-
site one.
ne Bank circulation will be stopped. Tbs