Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1869-02-18

CuIIcuCy W IHc Soio oOAuue'iu'
These measures resulted. in re-
duction of the paper currency from
1921, 100000 in 1916 to S152,OO0,-
900 in 1921. Commercial paper,
discounted at the Bank Of England.
fell from s75, 100000 in 1916 to
s13, 100000 in 1921. 1t is only
necessary to appeal to the histories
of the time to show the disastrous
effect. The productive value of
capital was increased fifty per cent.
A thousand dollars in 1921 would
buy more. than eighteen hundred
dollars in 1915. Small traders,
debtors, and laborers were reduced
10 the sorest distress. The loss to.
them was far greater than the actual
depreciation of,the currency, for all
confidence and trust were lost The
only compensation to Great Britain
was the rapid fall in5,he rate ofin-
terest from the abundance of idle
capital, and her ability to reduce
the interest of her public debt
within a short period to three per
cent. . 1l ~ --r5 -t.-s.
If Senators wish other examples
of the severe process of passing
from a deprecated currency to a
gnld currency, or to q paper cur
rency convertible into gold. let
them read the story of the times
after the Revolution and after the
war of 1912 and after the revnlsions
Of 1897, all of which were periods
of transition from q deprecated
paper currency to q convertible
paper currency. Sir, it is not pos
sible to. take this voyage without
sore distress. TO every person
except capitalist out of debt or
to the salaried officer or annuitant
it is period of loss, danger, lassi-
tude Of trade, fall of wages, suspen-
sion of enterprise. bankruptcy, or
disaster. TO every railroad it is an
addition of at least one third to
the burden of the debt; and more
than that, deduction from the value
of it's stock. TO every bank it
means the necessity Of paying $3.50
for one hundred of its notes. and
deposits. except so far'as the bank
may transfer tMs'to it's debtors 1t
-means the ruin Of all dealers whose
debts are twice their capital though
one third less than their property
It means the fall of all agricultural
productions without any very great
reductions Of taxes. 70 attempt
this task suddenly, by a surprise
upon our people, by at once par
alyzing their industry, by arrest
ing them in the midst of lawful
business and applying a new stand
ard of f'value to their property with
ont any reduction of their debt or
gi.ing them an opportunity to com
pound with their creditors or dis
tribute their loss, would be an act
of folly without example in evil in
modern times.
1t is sometimes said that we did
this in the passage of the legal ten
der act; that we inflicted the same
loss on the creditor that we now
deprecate for the debtor. This is
not true. The effect of the legal
tender act was undoubtedly to de
preciate our notes, but the process
was very slow and gradual. For
more than year it scarcely oper
ated as depreciation, and during
all the time the capital paid off by
deprecated notes was invested in
bonds, bank stocks, railroads, and
manufacturing pursuits created b,
the war, which yielded as much in
gold as the capital produced before
the war. Capital lost nothing py
the war even when paid IN green
backs. for the demands for capital
during the war made ample amends
for the loss by the depreciation in
greenhacks. 1t is estimated that
the interest bearing capital of this
country now is, upon the gold basis.
more than double the capital in
1860. And if it be true that ap
probation now will only work the
same injury to the debtor that de
probation did to the creditor we
wonld not be justified in peace in
inflicting the same injuries justified
by war: and the creditor. who is
usually the holder Of property, is
better able to bear the loss of a
portion of the money due him than
the debtor is to bear an addition to
his burden. Our power over the
creditor is unlimited. We may
levy taxes upon him any amount.
but we have no power to vary /,
contract or ado to the burden of al,
existing debt.
The questions then remains, what
mode Of appreciation Of the value
of greenbacks will operate the least
injnriously to all the varied busin .ss
interests Of our constituents and
upon this point your committee
after the most careful consideration
came to the conclusion that the only
and best plan was to allow them
to be funded at the pleasure of the
holder into interest bearing bond
ofthe United States. 20 Is
In designating the bond we have
selected that now familiar to the
people, the ten-forty bond. The
market value Of this bond is now
but Slightly above that of the lega
tenders, so that the process ofappre
citation Of the notes will be slow an6
will only advance with the inprov
ing credit Of the country. 1t is {
bond bearing as low a rate of in
terest as we are likely to negotiate
and vet of such intrinsic value
that we may hope to see it at pa1
with gold within a short period T