The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-09-27

no bondholders' hands. 1t is already
in the hands Of the people, aud it is in
the peoples hands that it depreciates.
You, my young workman, il you have
been putting part of your earnings in
the savings bank, will ind when you
draw it out, that you have been the
loser OF four- finbs Oftbe whole amount
Every man and woman who holds the
currency will have lost shat portion OF
their money. IL will have gone from
them as absolutely and inevitably AS II
a Democratic taX-gatherer bad gone
around and collected from the people
the whole five hundred and sixty mil
lions.
but how is 1t as to the rest; the vast
sum Of more than twenty-five hundred
millions? 1t would depreciate to the
same extent, and the loss TO somebody
would be seventeen hundred and sixty
millions. Who bears it? The bond
holders, say the Democratic orators,
and cuTse the bOndholders. In bring
ing the matter to this, we at least pluck
away the mask from these gentlemen,
and show that their pretense that no.
body is to lose, and that they don't
mean reputation, is u deception and d
sham"
As Tor repudiating or paying in ire
deemable currency, which is the same
thing, the bonds held by hundreds OF
millions by foreign bondholders, the
Governor said:
"If 1t were some bagate!le q ten or
dozen milliOns, KIND OF Ais5issip Pi
repudiation, they might stand II, but
when Il comes to ii thousand millions
ar ifsrenbOut, / strongly suspect that
the four great powers together might
peTsuade even VallHndighama and Thur
man that it was cheaper to pay. Just
Try to imagine, you business men, a
war for the snke of reputation; war
10 make Government creditors take ir-
redeemHble Treasury notes for their
bonds, when you have just made those
Treasury notes nearly Valueless, and
taken pains to destroy in advance the
only credit by which you could posi-
bly, carry on war. The country
swanpeu by this immenaurable intia-
ton and ruin Of the currency, and II
war with the whole civilized world on
your haudsl Who would these gentle
men borrow from TO pay the cost OF
such IL war? What kind of faith would
they pledge for payment? And il they
tried to raise the means by taxation,
how much easier would IL be Tor the
people to pay the taxes and TO fight in
The cause OF kuaYery and swindling,
than IL would be TO pay the debt itself
like honest menT Depreciation does
not take place Immediately upon the
issue OF currency, but 1t is always II
gradual process, the lowest point not
being reached till all the channels OF
business, big and little, are filled by the
new imitation.
"Suppose you force upon the coun-
try this vast amount Of currency which
the Democrats propose, how much OF
the loss by depreciation will come up.
on tho first receiver, aud how mnch
upon the country nt large? The mum
who gets pay for thousand dollar
bond starts the currency in circulation
Immediately, not waiting for it TO de-
prcciate. He phys his debts with it.,
and shrewd capitalists will have sense
enough to make debts in ndvunIe when
they see the danger coming; for we
must not forget that no matter how
much the currency may go down IT
will pay for the machinery you have
inude and sold months before, for the
goods you have sold and delivered, for
all the manufactures your busy shops
have turned out, and all the produce
and live stock the farmers have con-
tracted to sell. The greater part. by
far the greater part, then, of the 10 by
the depreciation would necessarily
come upon the community as whole,
and not upon the bUndhOlder who first
receives the bills.
"From whatever point of view ex-
amined, we still find ruin for the coun-
try, and Tor the whole country, follow
ing from this insensate and dishonest
scheme.
"But, 1t may be said, IT the burden
come back after all upon the people.
why object, SINCE they will only have
paid OFF their own debt?
1.-The objection would be that, instend
OF paying oil the debt gradually, and
as the country Is able to bear il, it would
be done suddenly, which could not be
borne by any people in the cnse OF IL
debt of such II size. We may pay the
debt, we will say, in thirty or forty
wears, without extraordinary suffering,
but TO pay 1t in three or four would he
beyond our power. The same Demo
cratic orators, when they had other
points to make, have been accustomed
10 asseverate that the debt was nearly
or quite rs great as the whole value oil
property in the country, and they will
| be the last men to advocate payment
when once the people see clearly that
their attempt at population would not
only be immediate pay ment, but such
! payment as IA knavish trader has 10
| make under the sherif7s hammer; II
payment which is infinitely worse
than an honest settlement with his
creditors.
| "Not only would such scheme re-
suit in tRking the whole amount ont OF
| the people, but instead OF discrinina-
/ ting in favor OF the poor, II would be
the poor who wonld suffer most in
proportion to their means. BY the
| laws, State and national, which the
| Union party have made, the income
1 and the fixed property OF the poor man
\ is exempt from taxation. This princi-
/ pie Of discriminating i'll favor of those
| who are the least able TO bear the pub
| lie burdens. runs through our statutes
| and is IA prominent and marked feat
ure in them. But have already shown
that in depreciation of currency the
loss Is on him in whose hands the
money is, and the poor man has no
| favor. The banker or trader sees the
| changes of the money market first, and
| It. will he the mechanic who IL little
versed in premiums or discounts, the
! farmer who lives out of reach OF daily
| press Current, who will bear the great
| est proportion OF loss, relatively to their
means. This Democratic plan, then
among all other sins and mischieis
! has this additional one, that IL could
/ not be more cunningly devised to force
| immediate payment of the whole pub
| lie debt. by irst getting IL into the
hands OF our own people aud then re-
pudiating; and this is the precise way
OF all others which will be the most
ruinous aud bear the hardest upon the
| poorer classes"
IT seems TO be an absolute impossi'
bility to get true report OF the grow
ing crops of the West. During The tive
months prior 10 the harvesting OF th'
wheat crop OF the current year, reports
nom all quarters of the West concurreC
in promising the largest yield evei
known. The public forthwith felicita
ted itself upon the prospect OF cheaI
breadstutIs; and, indeed, prices o
flour, which had been maintained at Il