Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1867-02-06

sources and from different stand points, serve
| to prove each other, and beyond doubt are
| very near the truth.
Within the last ten years, for which have
no returns, the very reliable estimates already
given for 1868 aud 1866 would show that
more than treble the amount has been pfoduc
ed than for six years for which have given
the returns. These facts conclusvely show,
apart from the action of Q paper currency. that
gold must have irremedisbIy fallen into fntrin-
sic value. 1t has become cheap by ito abun.
dance What occurred after the discovery oil
the silver mines of Poto,i 10 1915 10 again
stamping itself upon history. There is, there
fore no occasion for any other depreciation than
| that which must inevitably befall 10 on scooun,
OF the annual addition which has been and
will be made to the general stock of gold
ard silver in the world for generations yet TO
come.
| We keep up minis and essay Offices al great
expense, but it is clear that on the whole not
one fourth part of the sums coined are retained
by the country. OF all we have coined, in
other words. three -fOurths or more has left the
country. The impress of the American eagle
gives no patriotism to coin, and it changes its
allegianco-as did the coins of other Dstions in
past ages, though forbid by Draconan laws
whenever tempted by any interest possibly
comparable. The following table shows the
work of our minis aad essay Offices since first
established
Gold coinage is sea-, $50 600 70
Silver coinage is I36, 36l 012 06
Copper coinage 5,s35 633 So
sos7, 4A Os7 81
Where is i, ? Most of it has disappeared,
rated at The value CT the pure metal contained,
and not whit advanced by the artists of the
Mint.
Among Other modes of reducing the stand
ard value of money, Congress began as early
as 1887 by debasing our gold and silver coins,
AID declared that Of one thousand parts nine
hundred should be of pure metal and one hun
dred parts alloy. The standard of British gold
/: one part alloy in every twelve ; but We have
no coins which are not debased at least one
part IN every ten. AT that time gold could be
more prof ably exported than silver, and this
measure was designed not only to mike the
legal value of the two equivalent to their rela-
tive commercial value, but to bring gold into
more general circulation. Neither object was
secured The rates of value, OF fifteen or
sixteen to one, soon became obsolete, and gold
coins, although the standard was purpose y
placed below that OF silver, we're still exported.
In order TO retain in the country any silver,
which, being worth more than its legal. ender
value, bore a premium and vas sold a COM
modify, it then became necessary to reduce the
weight of The silver coinage, and the half dollar
IN 1888 was reduced from two hundred and
TX and quarter grains to one hundred and
nineIy-two grains, and fractional parts to ths
same proportion. Silver dollars at once dis
appeared, and eagles bearing date prior to
1887, being worth in proportion to the new
eagles $40 Sc. also disappeared. The weight
of these in 1871, STANDARD gold, was two hun
bred and seventy grains, but 10 1887 they
were reduced TO two hundred and ftty-eight
grains. The debasement of coinage,
never entirely pure, thus about seven per
cent.
Foreign coins, beyond our power to debase,
nave been of course per mtted 10 be rated at
Al increase valuation. The pound sterling of
Great Britain. or sovereign, was made a lawful
tender IN 1874 at four dollars forty-four cents,
and In 1912 1t was raised to four dollars eighty
four cents-beIng an increase of over nine ger
cent.
Ii will be seen from this recital that the
standard of the Uuiled States coinage is very
low, and the normal condition of exchange with
most ether civilized nations is always against
US. Exchange on London when at NOT over
nine ard half per cent is really at par.
When cur paper money is promptly convertible
into specie it is still much below the par of the
countries with which We have the largest COM
mercal transactions. Our gold coins are re-
ceived abroad, not according to the value We
stamp upon them, but according 10 the amount
OF pure god they contain. 1t would seem
almost inexcusable to allow our paper money
TO remain deprecated below the standard of
specie fixed by ourselves for any period
more protracted than is now imperatively nee
essary. Bank notes, when they are made
equivalent to the standard of United States
coin. will be none too valuable. The second :,
third, and fourth Cilufion of money would not
be tolerated by even Hahpemann.
But the value of anything circulating as
money diminishes both in proportion to its
abundance and in proportion TO the swifness
With which it changes hands. Holders of what
is called money below the standard of the
world always eager to part with it they
never hoard it. They invest it either in some
thing more solid or are happy to be rid OF it
for even such extravsgancss as they would feel
could not otherwise be afforded. The Ameri-
Can people at all times possess a wonderful.
facility for bargain making, and an abundance
of paper money exsggerates this national apti-
tude.
In the United States the same sum OF money
probably charges hands twice az frequently as
10 England, and in England three times more
frequently than in France, and in France twice
as frequently as in Spain, and in Spain five
times more frequently than in Russia or Tur-
key. China and India appear to be SerbonIan
Dogs, where specie once introduced never more
comes to the light. 1t goes and stays there,
perhaps, because it will buy more labor there
than elsewhere; it is irrecoverably lost, at all
events, 10 modern commerce. Years ago q
high authority laid it down axiom: " Civ
en- the comparative abundance of money, its
market value will vary the rapidity of the
circulation. Given the rapidity of its circula-
ton, the market value will vary as it's compsr-
alive abundance. Gwen both the quantity and
rapidity, its value will vary as the economy in
its USE"
the evils Of a redundant currency less than that
of the United States, because the rapidity of
circulation elsewhere would be generally far
more slug ish.
The effects of an inflated currency, by Great
ing suddenly nominal increase of values, has
demoralized the nation. Men quit work and
buy property for a rise, although the rise may
have ceased. The Jew in Boston, who had
heard Of some parties who made fortunes by
falling, shut up his store, although owing MOTH
ing, and travelled about ali day saying he had
failed. toward night he reopened his store,
and said that he had failed ever since nine
O'Clock in the morning, and had not made q
single cent ! If the Spectators would go back
10 their proper avocations, like the Jew, it
would be all very we'll but they will not.
Staid men become adventurous, and adven-
tuners become desperate. Haste to be rich
fires the brain, and be who has no elephant or
no fancy stocks ready to water and dispose of
to green friends, is a fossil of by-gone age.