The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-01-30
A NATIONAL CURRENCY
% H II T. q HI
HON. B. L. BUTLER
DELIvERKD IN THE
HOUSE or REPRESENTATIVES,,
JANUARY ls, 1869.

Mr.. SPEAKtR The currency Of hi ghly
commercial, expanding, industrious, and pro
ductive and free people, ,by which their val
ues are measured and exchanged, should be
aayorm, sound, chap, stable and etastic.
| Uniformity is thar quality which gives the
same value in every part thereof to the
money Of a country. Tnis quality our pre-
sent currency possesses in a sufficient degree
of perfection.
SoIlhdncss may Be defined as certainty
that the currency is so secured that it can
never fail Of exchaugeability for equal in
trinsic values.
No American permits himself to doubt that
our legal tenders and national bank notes, Sc
cured by the pledge of public faith, guaran-
teed by all the resources and power of the
country, are to be made good to the extent
OF value printed on their face. Our present
currency, therefore, possesses the quality Of
soundness for all purposes Of internal bust
ness and trade.
As 10 ehSdynezs, n Ilnarcia Mrsters ag9ss'
that paper currency is the cheapest Of aii
possible mediums Of circulation, whether as
regards the cost Of its supplyor Of IFS wear and
tear. or because Of beng non producing cap.-
tai while circulating from hanG to hand. II
gold and silver were used in its stead, or
locked up as a basis for its redemption, RI they
would be so much Idle and dead capital do
ing duty a. currency only, and the nation so
using il would suffer the loss of interest on
so much rGsted capital. II is apparent that
paper being but the sign or token Of value
yields no loss Of interest upon Itseli as capi-
tai while used as currency.
While, therefore, y these particulars, our
present currency Is cheap enough, yet there
is another s, ,nse in which that term is some
times used In relation to money, but more
properly to capital, which cur present cur
rency wholly fails to satisfy, and which II
will be necessary TO examine hereafter.
refer 70 the enormous price at which money
or capital is now furnished to the consumer
or nser.
Stability Of currency is, perhaps, the most
important Of all its attributes. 1t may be
well enough defined as quality Of currency
when used a. a standard and measure Of val
ue which renders it Interchangeable at all times.
As compared with itself. A measure of val
ne should no more change than should the
measures Of length, quantity, or weight. Il
should be at all times one and the same.
When sll the prop rtty OF a. people is once
adjusted to such q measure Of value It Is OF
comparatively little moment what that mea-
sure may be.
To illustrate we have two measures of
weight, the pound troy and the pound avoir-
dupois We find no special inconvenience
in their use, as the classes Of objects submit
ted to their measure have remained un-
changed for many years, and are bought and
sold with regard to the difference between
them, which also is invarable. So as to
length Ii is entirely unimportant whether
we had adopted at first the imperial yard Of
Britain or the metre Of France, as a measure
Of length, provided we maintain it unchang-
ed.
In the sense in which we have defined sta
bility, our present currency is greatly det-
cient. This arises from the fact that instead
OF being an unvarying standard Of value Of
itself, il is continually measured by another
standard, to-wIt gold, which IL itself varia-
bic. Further, our currency is still more
Huctuated by empirical attempts, either Of
| legislation or administration, on the one
hand to increase it's value by bringing it
nearer to gold, or on the other bY comblna-
tons Of brokers and bankers to reduce or
enhance its value for the purpose Of specula-
ton and unjust gain.
This variability IN our legal tenders is yet
more largely enhanced because of the law
which provides that they shall not be re
ceived for the duties imposed by the govern
ment on imports. which annually amount to
forty five hundredtbs of the whcle currency
in circulation. To buy this sum in gold,
therefore. causes Ocr lawful money to be
used, in fact, as an article Of merchandise or
commodity, TO be exchanged for gold, which,
for this purpose, ID the only legal value in
the country.
If, on the contrary, the legal tender had
been made receivable IN payment Of ell pub
lie dues, whether internal or external, and
the amount issued fixed by Law had remaintd
unchanged, without power in the secretary
If the treasury by boarding, funding, or re.
tiring it to change its volume, Il would then
become fixed, permanent, and stable value
to which all the properly Of the country
would have assimilated itself-a standard moi
| 10 be changed save bY law of which change
the whole country would have ample pre-
vious notice.
As its value as q standard would, in tha
case. have depended on the amount or value
fixed by law, It 10 difficult to see why the cur
rency might not be as Interchangeable and un
varying . measure Of the value OF oil proper
ty, as the yard and pound, the measure
length and weight OF all substances, are made
invsriable by legal enactment.
The term elasticity, as applied to curren
a.. will ds fine as the power OF contracting
/, expanding its volume, according to som,
known rule. to meet the necesAties Of Its usg
in business, arising from its activity, il