Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1862-10-29
ooNPRDRRATR CURsENCY.

49, A1NN@I E 1EE1@8 ~ 49, E-~
anxiety to unTeheetiDg minds. This question is
whether Confederate money is likely to be
worth anything. There are numbers of persons
in our country who, from a vague and ignorant
distrust of the national currency, are unceas-
ingly trying to convert their Confederate notes
into other forms Of property many buying with
the exclusive object of getting rid Of their sur
plus money and putting it in investments, so as
to save the loss they auticipsts from depreciation
POT the currency. A passion for investment of
money ia all sorts of property seems to have
taken possession of the community simultane-
ously with the foolish alarm about the deprecis-
ton of treasury notes and hence much of that
mania Of speculation which is working a most
serious injury TO the country, and laying up fu-
ture misfonunes for its silly victims.
These victims, h~eweveT, of the idea Of the de-
probation Of the currency, are very wise in their
own conceit. Their prudential investments in
lands, houses cotton, tobacco, etc, are to save
them from Losses which they think must GER
tainIy ensue IN the depreciation Of treasury
notes. They conjecture that the depreciation Of
these notes must &c on, until they will become
as worthless as the old Continental money and
in the pride of this ignorant and illogical CON
%clusion, they think they are smart In effecting
early exchange of their money for what they
imagine viii be stores of future wealth.
There are, however, some persons in the COM
munity who take wise and longer views of this
matter. These carefully save the Confederate
money, converting the treasury notes into
bonds or boarding them ia the shape of cur
rency. They wisely look to the day when,
with the establishment Of our independence,
this currency, after whatever may have been
ita struggle with temporary causes, is to be the
most certain form Of wealth, and when the in
vestments ct spectators which are now pu5 in
opposition to this currency must fall wish ire
mendous loss upon their victims. The termina-
ton Of the war, unless it ends in s~uhiugation,
and in that case the universal poverty of our
people, is certain to ind the happy possessors
of Confederate money rich, and the msiority Of
those who have trusted to investments in prop
erty bitterly disappointed in their schemes Of
wealth. No matter if the war is pr0tractea for
some years yet to come, the Confederate cur
rency will be found at It's close one of the most
certain and valuable forms of wealth. Our
country, with its great staples of cotton and
tobacco, its resources revived by peace, and
doing hereafter its wi importing and export
ing, will be able TO pay, with ease, a national
debt many times greater than what it now is.
Its public stock will be the most valuable in
the world, from its extraordinary rate of in
tereBt, and its currency will be better
than gold, because it can be converted into
bonds bearing eight per cent. interest. For this
money, now the subject CT such ignorant preiu-
dice, persons who have preferred other invest
ments for their wealth, will be very GLAD to eI-
change theD, and no doubt, to sell out the houses
and lands and other property, for which such
eIOrbitant prices are now asked, ct One-third the
amount of their present demands. Indeed many
of these investments will be found on the termi-
nation Of the war to be almost as worthless as
trash; while none Of them, we believe, excspg
in rare aud accidental instances, will be made
good in the currency, as it will appreciate st the
close of the war and the establishment of our
national independence. The man is wise 81 the
present time WIZ carefully saves the C0uledef-
ate money in notes or bonds, knowing thst at
the close Of cur present struggle this money will
be the best in the world, and that the specials.
tive values Of to-day arc not suly likely TO de-
cline on Ehe return Of peace, but will then be
measured in Treasury notes as in gold.
That our national currency is sure from any
great danger Of depreciation IS g proposition 40
plain, and so consistent with what we learn
from history, that any alarm on this score must
be referred 10 a very blind and gross ignorance.
We are persuaded that much Of the vulgar dis
trust on this subject has been produced by the
operation Of certain fallaciss who had occasion
some time ago 10 refer. Thst WAS the false p0uu-
lar comparison made between the constitutional
currency, which was the money Of the country,
when the American colonies fought for seven
years against Great Britain, snd Whist is now the
currency of the Confederate States. What WAS
maint$ined By US then may be repeated now
that there is no anaiogy between the two that
they cannot be Justly compared in any respect,
and that the fact that the constitutional money
deprecated, until it become worthless, is not the
least argument in the world that we are to have
the same experience with Confederate money,
Smd tbat ratf,-c aanuot au~n1rf v-er ua5fE.u+ h..
coming bankrupt. The lesson Of history is to
the contrary for the one example of the fail
uTe Of our financial system, in the war of l776,
there are hundreds where nations, with less re-
sources than our own, have sustained thsir
credit, and ben successful in their finance, IL
even long and doubtful wars.
There were peculiar and extraordinary reasons
for the depreciation of The old Continental cur
rency. 1t was not fundable. II wss forged to
the most alarming extent by the British, who,
having possession Of almost the entire country,
were easily able to food it with counterfsits.
The amount of these forgeries is said TO have
been more than one hundred and fifty millions
Of dollars. Neither of the causes which made
the Continental money worthless, applies wish
any force to the currency Of the Southern Con
federacy. Il is easily converted into one Of
the most profitable public stocks in the world
Any attempt Of the enemy to undermine it, by
connterfeits, cannot be effected, unless in cir
eumstances where he has Unlimited possession
Of our territory, and the operation Of the courts
Of our country is suspended.
The resources of the South may yet be Sc
verely taxed by a p~rOlongation Of this war; but
we have every reason to believe that they will
be found equal to all the emergencies of the
future. In this matter there is much more that
is encouraging 90 US in history than what is cal
culsted to alarm us. At the beginning of this
century Great Britain was by no means the rich
and powerful empire she is now. England was
then a nation Of twelve millions Of souls, aud
her public debt amounted to the enormous sum
CT four thousand millions Of dollars, which, at
the present value Of money, since the eKtraordi-
nary gold discoveries in different parts Of the
world, would equal double this sRount Yet
under this debt England has been prosperous,
her credit has been sustained, her resources have
multiplied exceedingly indeed, the industry of
her people has been shsrpened and their patriot
ism heightened under the apparent misfortune of
a debt which was accumulated by war, and is, il
fact, not disproPOrtionate as the price Of her
present greatness and prosperity.
Either this war must end in destroying eli the
resources of our country, or in cslling them into
the most active aud extraordinary exercise.
With its close, in the establishment Of our inde-
pendence, all the resources Of our country and
all the energies Of our people will be awakened
TO the preat and multitUdiuous works Of peace
full industry. Much will have to be done in
building up our national power and prosperity
the labor that is now employed in the army viii
BE- thrown back uPon the country new enter
prises will be started new roads to wealth will
be struck cut, and the most extraordinary
rewards in manufactures, commerce, the arts,
and q HUNDRED yet untied branches Of industry
will be held cut to the capitalist. The man who
ia so fortunate at this time IS to have capital
will easily become Iich, as capital employed IN
any way. in such q season Of activity, must
Quick and extraordinary profits. 1t is in
this sense that he who has money at the close OF
war viii be fortunate and that those who