The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1864-09-23
worthlessness of our Continental currency;

upon the end of LAWS Utopian expert
ment in France; upon the results, reached
in England under William of Orange,
where mutilated specie currency was
brought into competition with a now spe-
Gle issue ;---if Secretary CHASE had done
this, it is perfectly safe to presume that he
would never have initiated the example of
the three wise men of Gotham, and put to
sea in bowl. But having put to sea-
having committed himself to a policy that
must end in certain shipwreck, pride of
intellect, and party pressure did not per-
NIT him to retrace his steps. He inflated
the currency to an enormous degr ee, pro-
cured the passage of an uncons titutional
bill, making government issues legal
tender, drove specie out of circulation,
and advanced valuations upon every de-
scription of merchandise. The results are
now upon US. An enormous debt, an
enormous burden of taxation, Govern
ment forced to pay enormous prices for
all sorts of material, and the people forced
to live at rates that paralyze their energies
and threaten them with sudden bank
ruptcy..
How, then, shall we escape from the ter
rible ruin that is almost upon us? Gen.
MCCLELLAN has answered. "By return
ing to a sound financial system." What
steps shall be taken in order to return to
such system?
1. Repeal the enactment making green
backs legal tender.
2. Reduce the volume of the paper cir
culation.
Tile h,0 Of Congress making green
backs legal tender is not a constitutional
law. We are aware that the Supreme
Court of the State of New York by ma
jurity of its Judges declared in favor of the
validity of the enactment. But the court
was actuated and unduly biased by its Sc
cret desire to sustain the policy adopted
by the Government. Decisions rendered
in periods of great popular excitement, or
in alarming or peculiar emergencies, are
always to be distrusted. The dissenting
opinion of Judge NELSON, and the pro-
found and brilliant argument Of GEORGE
TICKNoR CURTIS against the constitutional
ity of the legal tender act, should be vide
ly circulated as effective campaign docu-
ments. We are not of those who seek for
sound financiers among great lawyers.
But here is lawyer and judge who
show an intimate knowledge of financial
principles, and give evidence that the
Science of Political Economy, science
which lays at the very foundation of Dem
ocratic government, has not been entirely
neglected in this age of politicians and
stump-orations.
We must reduce tie 0olume Of the cir
caelation. Why? Because country re-
quires only so much currency to perfect its
exchanges, and any addition to that cur
rency over and above such required
amount is added to the value of commo-
dities. We have got an inflated currency;
that is, larger currency than is required
to transact the business of the country and
consequently gold is supplanted as a circu-
lating medium, and prices are enormously
advanced. Reduce the volume of the cur
rency, and prices will fall and specie grad
ally be restored to general circulation.
Until these changes are made, and a
sound financial system inaugurated, we can
expect nothing but disaster, discomfort
and eventual ruin.