The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1864-02-13
From the New York Times.
GEN. LANES POLITICAL ECONOMY

Senator Lane, of Kansas, proposes t.
make it an offence, punishable with fine anC
, imprisonment, to sell gold at any highe
price than is paid for the time being In tht
market for United States Bonds paying si1
per cent. interest in gold, except in the cas-
/ of merchants buying gold for purchases
abroad. 1t will be well for Mr. Lane to in
form the Senate, before the bill is read
third time, how the law is to be enforced
1t will have no moral sanction to aid it, fol
he wiz never succeed in persuading any.
body of ordinary intelligence that it is NOR
ally wrong to pay the market price for one
of the precious metals. And the sale oil
gold is transaction which can always be
carried out with sufficient secrecy to render
1t very difficult 10 procure evidence Of its
having been attended with any illegality
Neither of the parties to it will have any
motive for informing against his confed-
crate, except the reward, and this will hard
" operate very powerfully upon any body
who is privy to many bargains of this ma
! ture. Those who have gold to sell, or seek
TO buy 1t, will not be at all likely to come
! before the world as common informers for
the sake of two or three thousand dollars
particularly, as, if they did, it would prob
ably be the last sale of this commodity of
which they would be allowed to become
| cognizant, by people who knew them. We
shall say nothing of the inexpedienoy of
committing offences which depend for their
punishment upon the growth of spirit Of
deceit, treachery and espionage among the
people, though this has always been, in the
eyes of all wise legislators, a consideration
of the first importance. tits always highly
a. i1ip n :,
tic, to seek to offer pecuniary Inducements
to rouges to betray others into the commits
sion of acts which, though prohibited by
law, are condemned b. the moral sense Of
the community; and this is precisely what
Mr.. Lanes bill, if it ever becomes a law,
will do.
We have always maintained that the pre-
MUM on gold was not just measure either
of the depreciation of the paper currency,
or of the weakness of the public credit.
When gold ceased to be tie only legal tender,
1t fell into the rank of commodity, like any
ether metal, and its price became subject to
the same conditions and this is the view ia
ken Of Its position in England during the last
suspension Of specie payments, by such
economists as Mill and Tooke, though most
English writer's persist, in all discussions
OF our finances, in regarding it as still the
only standard by which the value of our
paper money can be judged. The former,
we need hardly say, is the view which it is
our interest to take, and the view which
Is most favorable to the Government. But
there could not be better mode of discour-
aging 1t and bringing it into discredit than
the passage of such bills as this Of Mr..
Lanes. 1t is a solemn declaration on the
part of Congress that it considers the ma
tiona credit damaged by the high price of
gold. and then, with the most extraordina-
~ absurdity, 1t IS proposed to prevent this
damage by making the price of gold keep
pace with the price of Government stocks,
by sending anyone who sells it higher, to Jail.
OF course, if the premium on gold be
really the measure of the depreciation of
Government paper, all attempts to fix this
premium by legal enactment are about as
sensible as an attempt to make the weather
by forcing up the mercury in thermome-
ter and if the premium on gold be not
this measure, but simply the price of a
marketable commodity, why interfere with
it? We hold, therefore, that the BILL if it |
becomes law, cannot be enforced or if it !
can be enforced, that it will work the very
mischief which it is intended to prevent.
Everybody in the country, we presume.
Mr.. Lane included, is anxious to hasten !
return to specie payments. The way to do
this is to bring into the country and place |
within the reach of the Government of the |
people as large quantity of gold as posi- |
BILE, for, strange as it may seem to some
people, it is the scarcity of gold which pre-
vets the banks and the Government from
paying all their bills in it. Nothing can,
however, tend more strongly to keep it out
and drive 1t out ofthe country than restric-
tons on the trade IN it. such as Mr.. Lane
When dealing in a commodity |
of any kind is surrounded by penalties and |
risks, of course those who have it prefer
taking it to some less hazardous market,
where they are free to exercise their own !
judgment as to what they will do with It,
This is among the rudiments OF political |
economy. If a Government wants corn to
accumulate in its territory, it does not pass !
an act providing that everybody who sells |
it, except for expectation, for some certain |
low price, shall be sent to the penitentiarY. |
1t says: Bring your corn here, aud you
shall dispose of it as you please and when !
you please" Confidence and security and
liberty form the basis of abundance.
Some of the results of this bill promise
to be very curious. When Government
bonds. paying six per cent. interest in gold,
fall In the market, it is a sign either that
there are doubts Of the ability of the Gov
eminent to pay them, or of its ability to
pay the principal, and at this particular
moment it is of the greatest Importance
that the flow of gold into the country should
be stimulated as much as possible. But
this is the precious moment at which, on
Mr.. Lanes plan, there should be least in
ducement to offer it for sale: for anybody
who offers it, which has intrinsic and uni