Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1864-06-29
HIGH pRrcEs.-rHE rRuE CAUSE.

! 1t is quite the custom just now to at
tribute the present high prices to an ex
panded currency. We are fippantly told
that this is the one cause of commercial
arrangement, and that if the currency
were only reduced to the standard of thret
years ago, prices would come down in tn.
same proportion. Let us think moment
and We shall see the utter absurdity o.
such conclusion. No matter what i;
the medium for making exchanges. Oh
what is the currency. or what is lawful
money-whethcr it be gold, or bank notes
or treasury notes---war prices always were
and always must be high prices. Europe
learnt it during her Napolesnic wars; we
learned it in the war of 1912, and the
same stern teacher compels us to submit
to it now. The reason is clear and sim.
pie. Production is diminished, and, by
the waste of war. consumption is increas.
ed. The war draws the farmers sons
from the pillow, and fewer acres are sown
and smaller harvests are rcaped. The
mechanic arts suffer in the same proper.
ton. Scarcely less than two ffths of our
male population are now devoting all their
time and energy to putting down the re-
bellion. Of these, vast number are in
the field with our brave generals. large
part man our ships of war, now counted
by hundreds and many are in hospitals ;
while those employed in the navy yards,
iron. works, machine shops, and in the
manufacture of military clothing and
equipments, and in producing munitions
and supplies, swell the aggregate to the
limit we have named. This great class
of producers cannot be withdrawn from
their ordinary pursuits without a great
diminution in the products of the coun-
try. When the supply is greatly dimin.
ishcd, and the demand not only continued
but increased, prices must advance. There
is no possible help for it. If we could
return to specie basis tomorrow, it
would still be war basis, at war prices.
There is but one exception to this ad-
vance in prices, and that is the Govern
ment bonds and they are not exceptions
to the rule, and only follow the general
law of supply and demand. The ncces.
stiles Of war have made them abundant,
and therefore they are cheap; but when
the war ends the supply will cease and
they will be dear---and the man who in.
vests in them now is sure Of q liberal
profit.
A reduction of the currency will be
well, and we have the official assurance of
the Secretary of the Treasury that it is
now taking place, but it is not the infal-
lible panacea for financial disorder that
many suppose. Mr.. Cisco, the Assistant
Treasurer of the United States at New
York, states that he has cancelled forty
one millions of interests bearing legal
tender within two weeks, and that he
now holds thirty millions Of grcenbacks
and yet bread and butter, wheat and
corn and cloth are no cheaper.
The first cause of the increased cost of
all commodities, gold included, is alto
gether outside of the currency. A redun,
dant currency increases the misfortune;
but docs not create it. But suppose the
Government does contract the currency !;
what is to prevent the State banks, that
give no security for circulation, from quad
rupling their paper issues, as they have
already done in many parts of the coun-
try? What, then. can be more absurd
than to make the Government or Treasury
Department the scape-goat for evils that
are simply consequent upon the most gi.
gantic war the world ever knew. If the
body has fever. is it just to make the
hand that supplies its wants responsible
for its unnatural condition ?-N. Y. Er.
aminer, Of June Esd.
VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY. spec.