New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1864-04-28
FINANCIAL CRUDITIEs.

A friend writing us on other topics takes the
following flight in regard to the Currency:
1.-THE next topic desire 20 say word or two upon
is that Of Fiadacc wish TO preface however by say
ing that am no Banker or Financicr But tia much.
in MI molcsty, permit me TO say, and TO adyancr my
opinion upon: what the most casual observer must see.
and the 'wayfaring man. though fool cannot but be.
hold that this country never truly prosper, nor the
poor Of the land cease at tines from paying errdioH
Dycs for the necessaries Of life till the people and The
Government the necessity and at hereupon Of hoy-
ing an iprariaji, circvia'is9 ms6'vu, either ~ gold
silver paper cloth leather which sLoi nor BE- sDiS1'
70 the fluctuations aud variations Of barrier sale and
speculation"
Now, this friend is not a Ounce: he can
eyince good sense in dealing with topics which
he has fully considered and understands: hc
blunders only because he is ignorant Of the sub
jcct he discusses Let Us try to set him think
ing:
Gold and Silver are, by common consent, the
best possible buses (to say the lca~t) of Circu-
lating Medium; by many strong minds, they are
regarded as the only substances that should
ever be recognized by law as possessing the
character of Money, though We presume none
would object to having bankers ard other bust
ness men facilitate their exchanges Of products
or values BY the use Of paper tokens or obliga-
tons representing specified sums of money.
Now, then, it IS simply impossible h0t th,re
sloph be ANY circulating Medium Of ony Kind or
nature rich shoatd be absolutely imPsroi0Hs TO and
unaffected By the influences ,ehieh orr correspond
emit deprecates BY its very nature and Office as
a Circulating Medium, money must be sensitive
to those influences and strongly affected by
them. Such Circulating Medium as our cor
respondent insists on is a contradiction in terms.
Suppose, for illustration, that there were no
money recognized by law or in common use but
that which consists of Gold and Silver, duly
coined into pieces Of definite and unmlstakahle
yalue-and the wit of man has never yet devised
any thing more substantial and uniluctuating
than this Every digger and washer in the
Rocky Mountains or in 'Washoe' is daily af-
fecting its volume, and therefore its value, by
adding or falling to add to its amount The
discovery Of rev Gold Region, new Silver
ledge, affects the money or market value OF the
Wheat Of Wisconsin and the Cattle on Illinois
prairies-and there is no help for it.. Thus, the
discovery of America enormously affected the
money value Of every field, every product Of
human industry, in Germany or Poland; and
the virtual closing Of the American mines con-
sequent on the state Of war that long sgnalized
the overthrow of Spanish power on this continent
affected them again. California and Australia
not only affected money values throughout the
world, but they changed the rcloticc value Of
Gold and Silver themselves-a pound of Gold
being worth about sixteen of Silver twenty
years ago, and about fifteen ten years later SO
that Col. Benton had hardly persuaded Con.
gress to alter our legal standard of their relative
value (by debasing our Gold coinage) till it
really needed to be altered back again. And
now the WaShoc and Humboldt discoveries bid
fair to cheaper Silver relatively once more.
There is, then, no possibility Of creating such