Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-02-10
THE CURRENCY.

= lawyers and worse lOglclan5.
t THE CURRENCY.
Mr.. MORRELL, Of Vermont, has lAtel
discussed the currency question, as con
nected with the Tariff, in the House c
Representatives. There is 50 much O
truth in his ideas, as to the preclriou
condition of our immense bubble 0
paper money, that we find space for th
/. following extracts.
He discourses thus about paper none!
in excess, and gives the following fact
respecting the infstion
know that excellent men entertain
much affection fer paper money, al
though no one at the time OF its recsu
Introduction dreamed Of its pTesen
overgrown proportions, nor Of using i
beyond the immediate war exigencies o.
the government. It's use, jusTified only
BY an OYerwhelm ing necessity, was tC
be terminated with the first dawn o.
peace. l confess to a feeling almost
Of modification in having the con
victiOn that this question requires
sober argument before an American
congress. How any friend Of America
! industry can espOu-e the csuse OF al
endless reign of paper currency, Of
which it takes one dollar and tlirty,
forty, or 6 ty cents to buy dollar III
/ specie, is To me incom prehensible. Iron
ships are rapid y coming into u@s, bur
! they can be built aOrOai, and employed
! fnr one-half the price they est here
! Will any American buiid an iron ship
/ Teuements for rent unless already built,
3 =,
! men having capital, and no poor man
darss for moment TO indulge the idea
/ nf building a house and a home Al
I though all other circumstances, save
/ only our deprecated currency, Indicate
/ a disposition and warrant in all paris OF
our country, north and south, east and
west, to start new industrial enterprises,
yet few such are actually started. Men
viii not invest, expecting five years
hence to lose One-bzlf OF the SUN in
vested
Some gentlemen think that the pre-
mium 90 gold paid hy the importers Is
ample com Bensati0n ior all the griefs VI
American manufacturers Never was
there a greater f2llacy.- When the wants
Of the government created both de
mand and war prices for goods, when IL
was easier to sell than 1t was TO buy, be
fore labor and raw materials had ad-
vanced to the same ratio or beyond that
Of gold then manufacturers wers reap
ing princely bary7sts from the rise Of
raw materials, ,andAstOcks on hand. All
that is chanfa. Now raw material has
been consul. ed ami labor has advanced,
but prices N finished manufactures have
receded and are still receding Many
mills have already suspended, aud sthers
are working on short time. Certainly to
EN- bark in any new enterprise is deemed
hazardous. Neither the great Httrsc-
tions Of the west nor of the south can
overcome the dreaded longevity Of the
race of "greenbacks." The bare
difference in the cost OF the psrma-
nent capital of English wool
en- manufacturing establishments
and American gives to the English the
mastery and ample dIvidsnds. Six years
age q wOollen mill that would have cost
81 O0O, 900 in New York or New England
could have been put up-sO much cheaper
are raw materials and labOr-ior 500, 900
in England. Permanent invest ments
there which yield three and half per
cent. per annum are satisfactory. Here
seven per cent. per annum is the least
that would tempt capital to such enter
prises, or that would anywhere be vOlun- |
tarily accepted. To-day the prices of
bricks, iron, machinery, and labor have
30 largely increased that such an estab- |
hshment would here cost nearly double |
what it would six years ago, or 2,O0O,- !
000 The interest upon this sum would |
be $40, 900 per annum but the interest |
Of the British establish ment-S500 600 at |
three and half per cent.--is no more
than 81, 800. Here Is S122, 800 per alpum |
-, &. ,f ho "a n q
sum sufficient for very respects bic divi- |
dends, certainly, on capital Of $500, 600. |
Is il any wonder tlat we have an extra /
ordinary influx Of British goods, or that |
all Europe last year was swept to furnish |
American markets2
Prior to the war the cost Of labor ex-
pended upon a yard of cotton cloth !
I64xS4 printing! was nine mills, but now
il is two cents and seven mills, or three |
times the amount. A printer in Wash |
ington now gets S.,4 Ter week. and works /
but eight hours per day, where be for
merly received S14 per week, and worked |
ten hours per day and yet he will tell !
Won that bis condition and means to sup |
port a family have not been bettered. A |
ton of English railroad iron, in Wsles, !
is now sold for Is los. or S27 SO out IL
is estimated that the wages alone paid to
workmen in Pennsylvania, to produce a |
ton Of rails, amounts to s85, and OF this, /
A careful analysis shows S35 % TO he ex 1
pended by them for agricultural pr0due |
tons. Ia spite Of the high rates Of the |
figures, the lahorer enjoys no more com |
forts than formerly. Our paper currency !
represents dimensions without gravity, |
and It's perpetustion must prove destruc- |
tive to both employees and employsn.
-. 81 - 4s.A Aarg. 4 I
rency tends to decentralization, 70 con- |
mercisl crises, 70 excessive foreign inn I
pOrtationa, and to extravagant appropri- /
arlons, while it adds nothing to actual /
value. We quote what is said on these I
several topics:
The effects Of an inflated currency. by l
creating suddenly q nominal increase OF |
values, has dem0ralized the nation. Men /
quit work and buy property for rise, |
although the rise may have ceased. The |
Jew in Boston, who had heard Of /
some parties who had made for /
tunes by falling shut up his store,
although owing nothing, and traT-
eled about all day saying be had 4
failed. Toward hight he reOpened his !
store, and said that he had failed ever /
since nine o'clock in the morning, and 4
bad not made Z, single cent IL the /
specuiators would 90 back to their proper |
svocstions like the Jew it would be sll |
very weil, but they will not, Staiii men /
become adyenturers, and AdVeltureB l
become desperate, Haste 10 be rieh fTes |
the brain, and he who has no elephant /
or no fancy stocks ready to water and /
dispose Of TO green friends is fossil of a |
by-gone age. Even the unsophisticated |
representative OF the rural population,
attracted by the history OF some lucky |
city CANT bier, (oT "Rold operator y the 1
polite do call III, rush toward towns and /
cities eager for sudden wealth, ard are
ready TO sully character for an unsullied
eguipage, believing the splendors of an
may conceal shabby soul /
The urban population everywhere !
gains In numbers 1t the expense of the
rural. Town and city rents are fabu-
lousy dear, but not even the cholera re-
tards their rise. Hotels are filed, I
Notwithstanding members OF con-
gress from the Pacific find it cheap /
or to cross the Atlantic and spend the |
vacation in Europe rather than risk a
four -mOnths' reckoning with an .Ameri- 7
can landlord. Industry, whether sgri-
cultural, manufacturing or mechanical, 1
is no longer attractive when fortunes are /
lost by wise mer and are gobblesl up by I
fools. A few may gain what others lose
by bold and remcrseless speculation, but
the masses, trained 70 legitimate
business and to honest labor, ara daily 1
growing poorer ID pocket while they are
daily exposed to deeper ruin by the
seductive Influences of those whoseem to I
ay 10 fortune on the expanded wings Of
q paper currency. Let US set The gold 4
operators, and sll who follow Kindred