Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1865-02-16
GOVERNMENT MONEY.


suing money, was were they were already
bankrupt, or, too poor to borrow. That
they made money to meet engagements
which they were too poor to meet IN any
other way, and tha their moneys worthless
ness arose from this poverty, and not from
the fact that it came from the government,
which is the point the writers against Treas
ury notes attempt to make.
But there is one other prominent consid-
eration which the writers on political econ
omy urge in fauOr of governments bor-
rowing. and against that same government
issuing paper as money, and that is, that
there is the absence of close, careful man
agement of governmental affairs, which
characterize the concerns Of companies OF
individuals and Of individuals /; that indc-
pendent of this want of economy III the de-
tails, great extravaganza, and waste, tol-
necessary consequence of departure, on
the part of a government, from her legltl-
mate sphere that Of using, but not OF max
ina money This argument, so far as 1t
lies against our government-and indeed,
against most modern European govern
ments-is as weak as the facts before no
ticed and refuted. Money can only be used
as it is appropriated, whether made on 6or-
roued and it is not demonstrable that the
appropriating power of our government, is
more lavish in its expenditures, with Treas
ury Notes, than with the money that is bor-
rowed. So this position amounts to moth
ing.
Nor is it correct as is often assumed,
that the initiation of the currency is mainly
chargeable to the Treasury Notes. The
over issues of the State Banks had more to
do with this than the Treasury Notes and
| had there been more of this last paper put
out, during the present war, there would
have been more initiation than there now is.
! This. for the obvious reason, that specie
payments could not have been maintained
under our present monetary arrangements
in the heavy expenditures of the govern
ment which have been consequent upon the
war There was not coin enough IN the
| country to do this. SO if the United States
Treasury had not issued notes to fill the de-
mand for currency, banks, other corpora
tions, and individuals, would have flooded
/ the land with worthless paper. This was
already commenced when the government
arrested it by law. There was no escape
| from it, and commodities would have been
regulated in price by the value of this cur
rency and, as it must have been worth
! less, than that put out by the government,
all products must have been prOportonally
of 1887, '38, '39 The government then did
not issue Treasury Notes, and made all its
payments in coin The result of this was,
! that the federal officers had the gold, and
the people the most worthless of rags The
/ latter had to pay from ten to Sl5 per
/ barrel for tlour--other things in proportion
and the former could get it at half the
! price So that had it been possible, i'll the
present emergency, for the government to
meet the vast outlays of the war, i'll gold
and silver, there must have been deprcci-
ated paper currency for the people. If, at
! the beginning of the war; we could have
adopted the course England pursued in 1891,
at the commencement Of her great struggle
with France, the difficulties of the present
/ initiation, might, i'll great measure, have
/ been avoided. There, the Bank of England
which, at that time, was really the govern
ment, suspended specie payments, at the
same time making the Banks notes receiv-
able for all government dues, and requiring
all the other banks 0fHe country TO meet their
obligations IN coin. These latter banks fur
nished about half the currency, and the
government, through the Bank of England,
the other half The result of this was, that
during the twenty-siX years of the Banks,
and the governments suspension of specie
payments, her paper never fell below fif-
teen per cent. at home, although the dis
count was greater at Paris, and on the Con
tinent generally When this suspension
took place, there was less than thirteen
hundred thousand Il 800, ,OOO) pounds ster-
ling, in coin, in the vaults of the bank, yet
some time after, she had twenty-five mil
lions $4,000 000) pounds sterling of her
notes in circulation, and this was treated,
in all respects,as government money. The
government ordered the suppression OF
specie payments, and used the Banks pa
per to meet all her engagements at home,
Likewise, could our government have fore
ed the banking institutions Of the country
to specie payments, and then issued Treas
ury Notes making them receivable for all
dues-to fill up the vacuum caused by the
contractions which would necessarily fol
low the resumption of specie payments on
the part of the banks, there need have been
little imitation, and the government need to
have borrowed, comparatively little, as was
the case with England, in the severe emcr-
gency already referred to- Happily, for
the country's future good, the State Bank
system is rapidly closing, and another, under