Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1864-04-05
rHE Nv OURRRNCY-PRICRs

TUESDAY EVENING, APRIL 8, 1904
THE NEW OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES.
The first of April has come and gone, says the
Mobile Register, and the ConfedsrAcy enters
upon 8 new field of currency experiment. The
wissst financial heads would make but indifsr-
eut gussses as to the effect Of the late radical
legislation on the important subject Of prices.
What they will be on the credit Of the Govern
ment is more clear and certain. Some have
maintained that the Government has affixed to
its credit the stain of Tepu listion Of a part Of
its debt, and that confidence is permanently
shaken in its good faith for The future. It is al
least debatable whether the stringent legislation
against 500 notes and the enforced discount Of
one-third upon all treasury notes of tbs demon
ination Of Eve dollars and upwards, is to be
clssssd uaaer the head Of taxation or rspudia-
ticn. II paper money is a subject of taxation
as well as other species of property, there would
seem to be no good reason for giving that tax
the ugly mans of Reputation.
But what is certain Is, that the sets of Con-
gTess referred to, were 20 none 90 necessary and
viii to nons prove so beneficial as to the holders
of treasury notes. These acts were essential to
arrest ;hst downward and rapid career to worth
lsssness which would have surely resulted in
wholesale rspudiKtion. The end could not have
been distant, when, as in Richmond, = bushel Of
msal commanded $50, and a roast of beef So.
A breakdown was near, and Congress has done
the only thing that could be done to prevent it.
We think that the holders of treasury notes are
The last that ought 70 complain of The acts
They have been their salvation and they hsve
made : lucky escape from G complete blow up
of the paper bubble leaving not a wreck be-
hind and wholesale and hopeless repudis-
ton.
As it's, what they get is worth more than
what they had, with the cost paid for it super
sdded, and they have the additional security
that Mr.. MEEnnNGER's power to run his print
ing press is taken sway, the Government is NJ
longer 20 be supported upon its own paper is
sues, but BY borrowing On specie coupon bonds
and by ample taxation.
As TO the effect on prices, il has been remark
ed thGti is far easier to put up prices than to
pull them down. But so large q reduction of
the circulating medium must necessarily affect
prices. Thess have been stimulated by the
two facts Of redundant currency and scarcity
Of salAble commodities. The latter, or scarcity
IN the market has, we have always believed,
been as much due 10 the deprecated currency
as to reality. The certain tendency Of a cheap
and constantly ehespeaing currency is to cause
men to hold on to any property they possess,
and to invest their currency in almost anything
as better and safer than the money.
farmer has 4 hundred or q thousand bush
els Of wheat he keeps It out Of the market as
his disbursement, greatly prefenipg it to the
only money be can get for it, even at high war
prices. This consequence is bread is scarce and
enormously dear IN the market, while the barns
Of the country may be full Of it. This view is
proved by the fact that 1t is not only articles Of
food that are really scarce-such, for instance,
as those that are shut out by the blockade, like
coffee and tea, and those that are only raised
within the ensmy's Lines, as sugar and the like
that command these enOrmOus prices, but other
articles Of home production, and which are as
plentiful as they ever were, bear the same high
figures.
There is abundance Of corn in Mississippi
and Alabama, and We hsYe 70 give $40 & bush
el for meal It may be ssid that deficient trans.
Portsdon, and the iniudieious administration Of
the army eommiSssTiss accounts for this. Bat
how will yOU account for it that 3 head Of cab
bAge that used to bring fifty cents now sells at
five dollars, a head Of lettuce has gone up from
five cents to 4 dollar, and fish which have not
been forbidden to ~inerssss or TO swim by any
proclamation Of LISsOLE, bear the highest urf-
ces Of all These things all grow at our doors
just as sbuRdantly as they did before The vsr; |
and it is only more costly to raise and TO catch
them because the deprecated currency has
raised The apparent value Of everything else.
Restore confidence in the currency, and these
articles that have been boarded as an invest
ment viii emerge from their hiding places and
be thrown upon the market. The increased
supply, aiding the Improvement in the character
and the reduction Of the volume Of the purehas
ing medium, viii act together to lower prices.
That such will be the result, there is little doubt
Bat those who expect to see so great a change
miraculously wrought in 4 moment, will be
disappointed. 1t must be 3 gradual reform, for
It viii Tegnire time for old habits and ideas to be ]
broken up, and The new relation of money and
commodities TO adjust themselves. Meanwhile, I;
as It is the interest Of al, buyers and sellers, 10 I
put an end TO the era Of imitation as soon as
possible, SO let it be the study Of all to bring !
about the revolution as speedily as possible.