Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1868-09-30
Letter on tbe Currency Question.

are sometimes cailcu.) W Ne greasy me
chanics have our way of thinking and
talking, and thank God, of voting,
and as each of our votes counts one,
for veal or woe, we can perhaps not
spend few moments to better advan-
tage, than to consider on which side
ii ought to be east, so as to work the
greatest benefits, not only for ourselves
Individually, but for the nation at
large. Some of us are in favor of
paying this debt i'm greenbacks, think
ing to make greenbacks more plenty,
and that consequently we would be
better off. As far as making them
more plenty, | agree with them, but
as far as our being better off il con-
cerned, ! differ most emphatically,
and offer the following reasons for
thus differing. Greenbacks are for
time being, perhaps a national curren-
CIV, but il must be remembered they
are not an International currency;
that is, we cannot send them to
England, France, or any European
port, and buy what we want or need.
They are peculiarly an American
institution, a yankee invention, for
the exclusive use of the American
people. They are a commodity that
is regulated by supply and demand (;
they are peculiarly so, for the reason
above mention, to wit: they are
confined to our own borders. Second
ly, they have no intrinsic value of
their coin, ''aside from what they are
worth in old papers - they are the
creation of congress, and consequently
subjects to congressional laws if need
be they might all be annulled and
made worthless in the twinkling of
an eve but as long as they exist they
are worth exactly what we say they
are /. if very plenty, as before the
contraction, We said they are worth 10
cts. on the hundred, while the con-
traction was in progress, we gradually,
in proportion as they diminished, call
ed them worth a little more, until
contraction stopped, we said they are
worth 40 cts. in the hundred. Now
we can not do this with gold and
silver They have n value of their
own, that they will bring in any
market in the world. Congress can
not annul its value. Take it to
England or France any time, and you
can change it for anything they have
to sell. Is it so with greenbacks? No,
indeed; they lose their value in
proportion as they are plenty, and
gain their value in proportion as they
are scarce. Make enough of them to
pay this debt, and they would perhaps
be worth ten cents a bushel. Let us
see what they will actually be worth,
and how much we working men,
would lose or gain by the operation
| believe il is claimed that twelve
hundred millions, in addition to our
present circulation of four hundred
millions, are necessary to accomplish
this in my opinion, gigantic wrong.
This would be an addition of three
times what we have now, consequent
" they would be worth Just One-third,
according to the law of supply and
demand, and every salable article
Except labor would Immediately
raise to three times its value. EXpe-
rience teaches us TO our sorrow that
wages never raise in the same proper
ton as the common neceSsaries of
life. If any one thinks they do, let
him follow me for a moment through
the figures, and see for himself. We
will say greenbacks to-day are worth
80 cents less on the dollar than gold.
Take the days wages at three dollars
in greenbacks, equal to two dollars
and ten cents in gold; now make
greenbacks three times rs plenty, and
and they fall To twenty-three and one
third cents. Now is there any man
green enough to think that his wages
would raise to nine dollars a day,
which they should do, i'm Order to be
equal to what they are now, for 9x23i
=2l0.
So much for the policy. Now for
the honesty of the thing, the Demo-
cTats say government took gTeenbacks
for its bonds, and therefore they
should be paid in greenbacks. If l
buy potatoes, can | pay with potatoes
The man that furnished US with
hard-tack in the army, (which by the
way we were sometimes glad to get
and took bonds as his note; shall he
be paid in hard tack again? Talk
about plausibilityl there is nothing
plausible in it, and all know that it is
devoid of anything that bears the
semblance of honor. The Democrats
are not the only persons wholly to
blame in this matter. We now and
then have Republicans in high places,
that are willing TO degrade themselves,
and if there is anything that would
make me believe the spoon story, it is
Just such a course. Are you in favor
of contraction? said a democrat to
me the other day, yes I answered
and before he gave me time to finish
my answer, he said it was a pity
should ever have a greenback or a
cent of my own. Had he given me
time, / would have answered him as
follows: Yes, not only am l in favor
of contraction, but | am in favor of
doing away with the whole greenback
Perhaps not as fast as
Congress undertook to do it, but |
would do it just as fast as 1 could
replace it with something of a perma-
nent value, something the value of
which the Buffers and their followers,
and the PendletOns and their follow
ers, can not alter.
To think that the value of our cur
rency is at the mercy of men, and es-
pecially such men, of which such stO-
rice are told, is enough to make one
tremble. So long as we have green
backs, solong will we have Pendletons
and hitler fishes in the Democratic
ranks, and Buffers and smaller sharks
in the Republican ranks; and so long
as they exist, government credit will
be below par. What a shame that
American securities, with hundred
times the resources for redemption,
should not be considered half so good
as those of England. All this is Ow-
ing to the vacillating policy of few
men, called leaders. / say leaders, |
would be glad to believe that they are
honestly mistaken, but 1 can not.
Men of their mental capacity, know
better. But then ambition gOads them
on, and they care not where it lands
them, so it will bring power. I bOpe
it will land them in political Oblivion,
and bury them so deep that the pOlit
ical trump shall fail to wake them. In
short, l trust their political resurrec-
ton may Rerer come. England's
credit is better than ours, because she |
has an undertaking financial policy, |
bending neither to the right nor left, |
and therefore can be trusted. What |
shall we do TO strengthen our credit |
and make it firm? Adopt the same !
policy; take a straight |
forward course and keep it; engraft it
i'm the Constitution if need be, that we |
will keep faith. Talk about it being |
that the bonds should be |
paid in gaeenbacks. How many would |
have been sold during the war, when |
YOU could sometimes hardly tell which |
side would triumph, if anything, at |
times, il looked the more favorable for !
the rebels; how could you have paid /
the army had the bonds notb sold ? /
I. 4 =