Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1864-10-21
The Rebel Currency Of no Service.


The Rebel Currency Of No Service.
IFrem the Charlottesville (ya.) OhrOniols.l
Perhaps Hour vision is limited as Mr.
Sam Weller remarked on familiar occa-
sion; but if anybody can see of what i'm
aginable service the Confederate currency
is to any human being, outside the extor-
TONERS, we are unable to follow him. We
understand currency to be q measure of
value If Mr. Davis Treasury notes are
the measure Of value, then may our tailors
get the dimensions Of their customers by
measuring their images in eoncave mir
ror, ami the tumblers that contain the
drams of our farmers should no longer be
plain, but formed of a series of convex
lenses. If we are called upon to dream
with uniformity, and let our whole world
environment be brought to one standard.
let us have q general carnival Of unreah-
ties. Is two thousand dollars the measure
of a horse Is twelve hundred dollars the
measure of suit of clothes2 Is two hun
dred dollars the measure of a pair of boots2
Is fifty dollars the measure Of q bushel OF
meali Is eight dollars the measure of q
pound OF bacon? Is eight hundred dol
lars the measure of q COW? Is nine hum
dre1 dollars the measure of the board and
tuition of child for nine months2 Is the
president of bank TO pay his whole salary
for hundred W light Of pork? This is all
very well for the boys, that is, the farmers
and niggers; but it is death to the frogs,
that is, the townspeople and the poor in
the country. 1t Is crushing out the life Of
the bodyof the people. 1t is burden too
heavy to be borne Patiently have the
people waited. a--f G.
III February last land tits low Setem-
ber) we wer6 told that nous aLLOaS toEst
cela; but the currency act Inns produced no
more impression than shot fred at ran
dom through the top of poplar to make
a squirrel show himself. For several long
months has the country staggered under
the manipulations of the Secretary of the
Treasury The winter approaches, and
the heavy expenditures Ofthe year are at
hand fuel, pork, foHr and clothing are to
be purchased. Where is the money to
come FROM The mystery is, the worth
less notes are ss rare as precious ones.
Difficult to procure; nefti3aciOus as the hy-
drogenersted compound with the color OF
whisky. Mr.. Trenholm has the wag-
gery to announce that the prospects of his
department were never better. This may
be so; they were never good. But as. the
fellow said, when he jumped out ofthe two
story window of his apartment to avoid
his landlord 1--WE can't wait There is a
peremptory and unsettled bill in the pub
lie stomach, and the amount must be CASH
ed.
Everything is now reduced to the gold
standard, and this is twenty to one, The
sham has lived long enough. No govern
ment-no people can encounter such q
system of value as this The government,
indeed, avoids the difficulty. Il has its
schedule But the poor widow woman,
the infrm old man living on his little in
come has no schedule. What purpose,
then, we ask, does tn currency serve 2
The government evades it, the non-produ-
Ger is crushed by it. We cling TO & cur
rancy from habit. The fact is, in our cir
cumstances, we want no currency. 1t is q
monstrous nightmsre-that note bureau
and the sooner the spectre is Dismissed the
better. But, it is asked, how shall the
government supply its wants without mo-
nsy2 How shall the people buy without
a medium of exchanged To the latter
Question we reply, that the currency does
not affect purchases: it merely ministers
ID oppression. 1t is no medium Of ex-
change where thousand dollars of cOu-
pons of interest secure only fifty dollars
Horth of any commodity. Nine hundred
and fifty dollars are destroyed in the ope-
ati0n. To the first question We answer
that the government Is entitled teisupplies
for the army, and it must have them. Let
- ~ y 40" SS---5' - ---aiaaaAna of
Indebtedness, bearing interest.
All the notes in the confederacy should
be burned-the government compromising
the holders with cotton or bonds-that is
the remedy for the Confederate finances
-any other remedy will merely tax Mr.
Trenholm with imaginary devices, that
will end like Mr.. Memminger's. Mr.
Trenholm has no lamp like Aladdin, and
he may use this present one till doomsdsy
without getting a dollar. What would
the people do on the event Of the
disappearance Of the currency 2 They
would do as other nations have done al
ready--they would simply exchange one
give meal for sugar A man would give
two COWS for horse. Some articles would
become the most common articles of ex-
change, as, for example, tobacco. Persons
would procure a supply of such an article,
and give an equivalent for an equivalent.
Inconvenient this would be certainly but
something is better than nothing. As
matters now stand the presence Of the
notes shut out all this; you cannot even
use gold. We have tried to buy bacon
with gold. We could not do it. The
lofty figures tempt the eupidity of sellers,
and the prices are unhealthy. 1. Eli
When a fact developes itself, it is the
part of common sense to treat it as fact
Statesmen should act upon existing facts,
and not cling TO objects which the current
has passed. There is time to be cautious
and time to be bold but he is the good
surgeon who knows when to cut. The life
is better than an eye or leg. What is
Mr.. Trenholm standing there for, steady
ing himself in the eddies of Confederate
notes Let him shove out in the current
and the boat viii swim.
Arrival of Exchanged PrIsOners-The