The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-12-02


shore. Before inquiring whence we have come
and whittier we are tending, it is desirable to
know where and what is that haven Of safety
and perpetual security from financial storms
which we ought to seek A good mariner
knows precisely where the port is for which
he set out; and, although he may be compelled
by adverse winds or tenn pestuous weather TO
lie at anchor or to tack about he never turns
the prov of his ship directly from the port hs
desires to reach.
In our endeavors to reach that financial sta
bility which rests on basis as firm as the
earth we stand on, and which depends for its
continuance on interchangeable natural laws, we
must first inquire what money is. What is
that form of value which possesses not a speoi-
io but universal purchasing powers power
to buy all things from all persons at all times'
What is that medium of exchange and mea-
sure Of value which constitutes the best cur
rency .H .t tn
The object of money or of circulating
medium of any kind, is to facilitate exchanges.
1t was found that trade or commerce could net
be carried on to any extent by meaus of barter
alone, or by exchanging one specific article for
another. And hence different countries sought
for some common medium of exchange, and
salt was adopted in Abyssnia, stamped bark
in China, nails in Scotland, and tobacco in
Virginia. These seem absurd expedients to
supply want universally felt; but they were
better than nothing at all.
That money or currency is best which m ost
facilitates the transaction of business-which
serves as the best medium of exchange. 1t
should act as lubricating oil, not only to keep
the wheel of exchange in motion, but to in
crease the number Of its revolutions. It should
be the impartial agent fairly mediating between
those who are ready to render services to each
Other-guaging the relative values of each SER
VII md ~ NJ aho
be portable, divisible, durable; not too bulky
for the ready transmission of large values, and
not so destruotible as to cause its value to dis
appear by frequent use.
The most essential characteristic of the best
currency iy that it is uniform standard and
steady measure Of value. ALI currency is bad
Just to the extent that it lacks this quality
Why this fundamental point is not more dis
cussed and better understood is to US a mys-
terry. 1t is evident that, if we were purchas-
ing cloth by the yard from manufacturer
whose yard-stick possessed such peculiar
powers of contraction and expansion that it
was 35 inches one week, 81 another, and SO
the next, we could do business with little GER
tainty of profit or satisfaction to ourselves. If
the farmer contracts to sell his wheat for ST.
per bushel, and is informed one day that a
bushel is 30 pounds, on another that il is 63,
and on another that it is &C pounds it is evident
that he knows very little about what he is get
ting for his crop. And yet, in this matter Of
currency, we forget that we are allowing pre-
cisely the same state of things to exist every
year. We agree to-day to pay for certain
service, one thousand dollars, six months
hence. We may be obliged to pay what is
equivalent to eleven hundred of to-day's dol
lars, or possibly only nine hundred. Until
the expiration OF the six months we cannot
tell whether we have made profitable or
ruinous bargain. We agree to pay certain
rar,ts h11kx uhatn harra do al
bad contract will depend on the state Of the
currency when payment comes. Every pur-
chase, every loan of money, every sale of
goods or of produce, every agreement entered
into, every exchange or commercial transac-
tion, is Immediately and directly affected by
the condition of the currency; that is, its
value compared with the true standard of
value-gold. AS the paper dollar, not the
gold dollar, is the measure or supposed
measure of value, it is perfectly obvious that
it measures nothing and determines the value
of nothing with accuracy; for its own value
is ever variable. What sort of standard
of value for all other values is that which
is itself constantly changing? A yard
is yard, an inch an inch, but dollar is not
dollar-it may be sixty eight cents one day,
and seventy-two cents the next, and seventy
the next. A slip of paper containing pro-
mise to pay dollar, whether that promise is
made by a government a. bank, or an indi-
VlQudl, lS as unllt SJdQudfu OF measure OF
value on which to transact all business as the
government bark of the Chinese, or the
stamped leather of the Carthaginians. Il is
as unsuited to fulfil the object for which
money was invented, as the surveyors chain
would be to answer its purpose, whose links
were made of India rubber, liable to indefinite
expansion and contraction. Now, the circu-
lating medium which we have used during
almost two years OF peace, and which may be
made the very best to facilitate the exchange, is
still subject to variations in amount and in
value. Sudden oontractions as we'll as expan-
sions of the currency unsettle values, cause
those fluctuations in prices which derange
business, and make uncertain all enterprises
| and commercial transactnns
There is but one remedy for this uncer-
tainty and this perpetual variation in the
so-called measure of value; and that remedy
is a return to specie basis for our currency.
| When paper dollar is at all times redeem
able in coin, and equivalent to coin, it will be
| as little variable in value as gold. Gold has
for centuries been accepted by all civilized ma
| tlons as the least variable measure and best
| Known standard of value. When the Govern
ment and the National Banks commence
| specie payments, the bright days of the re-
| deemed republic will begin. To have secured
a national currency is the great financial
achievement of our history. To secure an in
ternational currency will be the crowning
glory.
The PFsss on Impeachment.
from he ~ Y, Tines