Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1862-02-11
aEMlRES nE M0H lG ANNA

gNNA A4N ANGAANNN lN..- DAAAg IN AMN 49NAN
Of Representatives, February 9Th, 1861.
The House having under consideration
tie Treasury Note Bill, Mr.. Riddle said;
Mr.. RIDDLE. Almost IS soon as men be-
gan 10 traffic they began to observe In Il GER
tain usages. These grew with the barter
and exchange Of commodities until they be-
came customs, enlarged themselves 70 rules
Of general observance and application, and
finally constituted what we call the laws Of
trade or commerce. This code, the pure OIL
spring Of commerce, owes little to municipal
law, though it often in a way dictates NUM-
cipal statutes. Although 1t is Of vast inter-
national obligation, ii in no WAY depends upon
treaties, yet in its universal dominion It has
compelled the negotiation IF more interaa-
tional compaets and arrang ements than all
other causes combined.
The laws of trade may be said to be uni
versal in their dominion, irrePealable in their
nature, and sovereign in their Jurisdiction.
At first the sovereign, caring only for his
own wants and nothing for those Of his sub
jects, levied his revenues In the simplest and
most direct way possible-he took what he
wanted. Experience ultimately demonstrat-
ed, even to kings, that the purposes Of rev
enue could best be subservad by some atten-
tion to the rules of commerce. And the
suggestion was cultivated and Improved un-
till the government fiscal machinery, adjust
cd by a thousand years of needed experience,
was placed by the great streams and chan
nels of commerce, and propelled by their
currents without serious detriment TO trade,
and with great advantage TO the soYereign's
revenues.
Itis obvious that the more perfect the har-
mony between the governm entail financial
machinery and these courses and currents Of
trade, the more prosperous and fouri5hing
must be the condition of given nation. 1t
shoult be the purpose Of the sovereign to
withdraw the smallest needed amount from
these streams, retsiT. 1t the shortest time, and
return it in an uni'mpaired condition. From
these briefly stated premises two or three con-
clusions inevis'oly arise:
The laws Of commerce were not enacted
by Congress-.
They cannot be repealedIor controlled by
our legislation, and any attempt to disregard
them must end in disaster.
A scheme of national finance, to be sue
cessful must be so adjusted that its workings
will hsrm0nize and not conflict with these
Laws.
A scheme that should exhaust the circu-
jating medium that fills the channels of trade
would fail.
So, too, if those streams are inadequate TO
the wants Of commerce and the Government,
means to augment them must be found; while
that plan, based upon principles at utter war
with the fundamental principles Of commerce,
must upon gigantic scale like ours, result
in the destruction Of both.
The primal uPdimental demand of COM
meroe, and without which II is impossible, is
an adequate supply Of money-actual moR-
ey; not that which some king or Congress
calls money, but that which is coined pur-
susnt to the usages Of trade, and that can
not be debased below its standard; money
and its equivalents made its equivalents by
its aotual personal presence. It was early dis
c1Vered that certain metals had the highest in
trinsicvslue, below which they would, under
no circumstances, ever fall. This ga We them a
still higher exchsngeable value. Nations, un-
der the demands of commerce, seized upon
these metals and stamped upon them the ma
tionsl estimate of their worth, made up of
their intrinsic and exchangeable value, and
thus coined moIey--as nature coins her works
I with the image of truth on the outside.
Il Is q singular fact that the various na-
tionsl standards thus made up, as applied to
given piece Of these metals of known weight
and fneness, are nearly identical. Bel0w
tbs standard real money never falls. It is
the sovereign quality of money in CONNER
cial estimation that the holders of personal
service and commodities will always readily
exchange them for money. Hence the hold
| ~ ~ unouary oaa aFuuou-1 aovnyoa,d Etaar, nd
his power to do 90 is limited only by the
quantity of his money. Ifhis money! is lin
itless, his power to command services and
commodities is lmitless. he might buy up
the physical and political dominion of the
globe, purchase Of kings their crowns, and
make virtue triumphant by paying preIni-
um for good deeds
Whoever throws into the channels of trade,
in the place of money, anything less valns-
bic than it and its equ ivslents, to that ex-
! tent, at least, disarrsD gts and demoralizas
the whole vast and complex national and in
dividual interests dependent upon their
healthy action
Can money be made of paper2 Clearly
not by calling it money, though all the peo-
pie and their rulers should conspire under
any forms OF solemnity to oall it so, nor yet
by attempting to make It perform the func-
tons of money. Paper has no appreciable
intrinsic Value; and its eXchangeable value
is of the lowest possible grade. The only
high degree of value il can ever attain is that
which may be impaired TO it by that which
is written orPGinted upon it, Stamp on it by
the national impress that it is money, and
try it by Commercial test. The holder of
it would NIT necessarily have the power to
command moments sergioe or the most
trihing commodity. Say that it has the
quality of dischRrging private liability, and
yet the holders of brain and bo ne and mus
Gle might not be induced to N AXE the least
exchange foE it. Butt is probable that they
would to a certain extent. Give the holder
Of this money limitless supply and send
him into the market, and we know there is a
limit beyond which be cannot get in his pur-
chasss, arising wholly from the quality of
the article with which he would l3Uy. In
the course of his transactions be would soon
find that he is obliged to exchange more pa
per for less commodities, and this would go
on until the extreme limit was reached, at
which all the paper thst he has parted with,
as well as all he still holds, Is worth less than
the paper ere it was made mouey.
Who now will arise s,dd say that money
can be made of psper2
Let tie national hand inject mass of this
miscalled stuff into the channels OF COM
merce, and what result but one can ensue2
As nation, we now quire and mustha7e
1imitless supply Of service and commodi-
ties. Our market can furnish them. The
holders are lot only friendly and favorable,
but anxious to make the exchange. Indeed,
the very purpose We wiBh to accomplish is
identical with their most cherished inter ests;
OF, rather, upon its accomplishment depend
all the values of all their interests, and our
need now is q supply Of commodity with