The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1864-07-08
High Prices-The True Cause.

1t IS quite the custom just now 10 aItfi'
butte the present high prices 10 an eXpan
ded currency. We are fiippantlv told that
this is the one cause of commercial de-
rangement, aud that if the currency were
only reduced to the standard of three
wears ago, prices would come down in the
same proportion. lie. us ,hink moment
and we shall see the utter absuEdity Of
such a conclusion. No matter what is
tie medium for making exchanges, or
what is currency, or what is lawful money
whether it be gold, or bank notes, or
treasury notes-war plices always were
AID always must be high prices. Europe
learned it during her Napoleonic wars:
we learned i in the war Of II, and the
same stern teacher compeis US to submit
TO itrow. The reason is clear and simple.
Production is diminished, and, by the
waste Of war, consumption is increased.-
The war draws the farmers sons from the
plow, and fewer acres are sown and small
Ter harvests are reaped. The mechanic
arts suffer in the same proportion.-
Scarcely less thar two fifths of our adult
male population are now devo.no all their
time and energy TO putting down the re-
J be!lion. Of these, a vast number are in
the field with our brave generals, a 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, aud 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producers cannot be Withdrawn from their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 great dimipu-
alton in the products Of the country
When tie supply is greatly diminished,
and the demand not only continued but
increased, prices must advance. There is
no possible help for II, If we could re-
turn 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
men; Bonds, and they are no exception to
the rule, and only follow the general law
Of supply and demand. The necessities
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 invests in
| them now is sure Of 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 il is not the infalli-
ble panPcea for fnar ciaI 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 interest bearing legal ten
ders within two weeks, and that he now
holds thirty millions Of greenbacks--and
vet 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 re-
dundant currency increases The misfortune,
but does 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
quadrupiing their paper issues, as they
have already done 10 many parts of the
country What then, can be more ab-
surd than to make the Government or
Treasury Department the scapegoat for
evils that are simply consequent upon the
most gigantic war the world ever knew
If the body has fever, it is just TO make
the hand that supplies its wants response
bic for lis unnatural condition ~. Y.
Examiner of ,F2tne 23d