Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1862-04-28

Some days since We commented untaV0ra-
BY upon petition In circulation in Ashts-
bula county asking the, Government to
i'dispsnss With taxes, and, instead, issue
Treasury notes to the amount Of our indebt-
edness, and make them legal tender" A
correspondent writes Us from Malvern, Ohio,
at some length, upon the subject from which
We extract a paragraph, our space not per
nzisting Us to publish his letter entire. he
says:
SIN your comments upon the Ashtabuls
county new financial schome,' yon make the
siHsement that q Psper currency, in order to
pass current, must be convertible into coin
et she option Of the holder / cannot very
plainly see the force OF this conclusion; since
4 the Treasury notes were made legal
tender, they must pass current, and could
consequently indeed be made the basis Of
banking operations, coming upon the came
footing IS gold and silver coin, which are
bat metals and merely representatives OF
oartain amounts Of labor, that could equally
e. veil be represented By United States
Treasury paper, the labor having been per-
formed BY the Union soldiers, including the
labor expended in the construction Of war
Implements, &c"
The difference between metal and paper
currency is that gold and silver ara metals
possessing an intrinsic value, independent Of
coinage, being worth nearly as much in their
crude stats as sfter being made into coin,
whilst paper currency Is only valuable be-
cause Il represents its face In coin and can
be converted into coin ct win or a at given
time IF payable in coin at future period,
It must bear interest. Government has
accepted this fact in It's issue of Treasury
notes, the demand notes bearing no interest,
foE they are convertible at pleasure; those
not payable upon presentation, being CONVEX
tble, ct the option Of the holder, into United
States bonds, running twenty years, and
drawing per cent, interest Government
foFeseeing the injurious effects that would
result to commerce from an over-issue
Of currency, has provided for the
islus Of prescribed amount Of these notes, the
limit being fixed after much reflection and
conference with the most experienced hnan-
GisEs in the country. To provide for the
payment Of the interest and the redemption
q thsse notes, government resorts to taxa
ton, recognizing the sound maxim that to
borrow money WhereWith to pay interest on
borrowed capital can result only in bank
Fuptey. The scheme of our Ashtsbula
friends, however, proposes to issue an almost
unlimited amount of these notes, without
providing sny means for their redemption
o. The payment Of interest. If payable up
on demand, they would be early presented
for redemption If not redeemable upon
demand, nothing bat the payment of a
hif rate Of interest would keep them from
depreciation. Besides, such an immense ad-
diion to our currency, thrown suddenly into
circulation, would derange the entire busi-
no1 Of the country. All these evils are OBJ
Waited BY the plan adopted by government.
The petitioners, By dispensing with taxation,
would reject the only means by which Treas
my notes can be kept from depreciation.-
Their plan is almost identical with the sys.
ten adopted BY the French revolutionary
Government in 1872, inEthe issue of ssatss,
which we're forced into circulation without
azyof the precautions taken by the United
States Government in Issuing Treasury notes.
The French rsHts' depreciated until they be.
came utterly worthless, running thousands,
and producing financial crisis in France
from which It took years to recover.