Washington telegraph., 1862-02-19
CHAxoE.-We object to shinplaster

! CHANaE.-We object to shinplaster
currency The notes Of any good institu
tioo known to have large capital, aud
under the direction of men of known pro-
bity, and business habits, are useful to any
community as circulating medium, AID
indeed indispensable to high tide Of busi
ness prosperity But shinplasters are a
different thing. They are the issue OF
Tom, Dick, aud Harry, who may have the
means of redeeming them, aud n,ay be
honest enough to do so. Then again they
may not. and the farmer may come in some
day with what he thinks pocket full of
money, to fud it bundle of rags, like
the bad girl in the Fairy tale. We learo
that Little Rock, and other places in Ar
kansas are full of them. The necessity
for change, compels their use among the
merchants. A !ady who goes shopping
gets sometimes as part of her change, the
| ticket of some saloon keeper "good for
five drinks" Our fair neighbors never
have them redeemed at the counter of
course, but invest them in dry goods, or
chickens and butter. But i; is whimsi-
cal currency, and the whole system is a
great evil under the sun. Still, change
We must have or stop our transactions =
Credit is played out completely. Men
cannot give specie change for war bonds,
&c., on every trifling purchase 1t would
break millionaire, these times, to do that
extensively. Specie change would cost
him at least 30 per cent, or q dollar and
a half on a five dollar bond. To sell a
quarters worth and make change would
cost him his goods and dollar and quar-
ter besides. No sensible man will do it,
save to accommodate friend
True, the treasury notes for one dollar
mitigate the evil partially. But they are
not suficie ntly abundant, and even if they
were they could not be used for sums un-
der dollar. .s..-
As a further partial relief; we have,
from the first, couuseled the use of due
coupons. The Treasurer, from various
reasons which have seemed to him SC fl
cent, declines redeeming them at present,
and their payment may be delayed. But
the faith of the State is pledged for them
as much as for the original, and unless
the Legislature should be prepared to re-
pudate, it will provide for relieving the
embarrassment of the Treasurer. Every
coupon in the hands of an innocent
holder will be eventually redeemed, or We
mistake the temper of our people. If the
Legislature should have heedIessly pass ed
an act, under which State collectors are
| justified in receiving bonds at par, lacking
the proper compli.nent of undue coupons,
the loss should fall on the State and not
upon the innocent holders OF her positive
Obligations. 1t is proper to say, we in
tend no censure of our Treasurer. His
course may be the best, under the present
STATE of the law. We differ from his view
but do not wish to be dogmatical or cen
serious. But the long and the short OF
1t is, due coupons ought to be taken and
paid in trade
With all this, much trouble wculd sill
De encountered In our money trausactl' MS
The want of any uniformity in the value
of coupons would make calculations di fiji
cult to uneducated men. Besides that
they are scarce in our particular region.
A project is in contemplation here
which We understand las been put ia op
Grafton In some quarters, and supplies the
requisite change for the community, with
out being liable to the objection which
lies to the ordiu ry shinplaster. We have
carefully considered it, and can see moth
ing to object to. 1t is proposed to gen
tleman (whose integrity and business ca
pacity entitle him to the most implicit
coDfdence) to receive on deposit all cur
rent bonds or notes which may be tender
ed him, and to issue to the depositor by
name his own change tickets for the
amount. The money deposited is kept as
fund to redeem the tickets as Il ey come
in, and forms the substantial basis of their
representative value. 1t is not banking,
nor is it the issue of shinplasters on inii-
vidual credit. 1t is simply saying in such
way as to create written legal obligation.
IA has in my safe twenty-five cents,
which the bearer of this can get on appli,
cation" Any one who believed the
signer to be an honest man would take
such ticket, although the person signing
might not be individually worth ceut.
If some proper man, willing to serve
the public, in matter which could only
slightly and by accident iuure to his own
benefit, we're to undertake this at each im-
portant trading point, it would be suffi-