Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1869-01-27


I of the courageous Butler. And t
allow the amount of currency to de
pend on the result of each annua
eleetiOn-the varying fortunes of pO
litical parties-Butler seems to thinl
will be the best way of securing tina
stability and soundness which he de
sires. He says:
| 1t Is said that this currency vii
fiuctuate, il is answered its only ele
ment of fiuctuatiOn in value is the
/ fact that it may be increased or de.
creased by act of legislation. But lCc
all kROtU hOIC difficult Il is to get act,
of legislation passed to alter the cur.
FeRcy eUeR tUIeH the country Is suffer.
ing UeTy great eUils."
1T is not to be assumed that the
representatives of the people in bOtE
Houses of Congress will unite with
the Executive wantOnly and causeless'
" in legislation that shall unsettle the
values and currency of the country
1t is refreshing to notice the unsur.
passable cOOlness with which Butler
states bald, palpable fiction as if il
were fact; as for instance:
at is now admitted by all political
economists that finely engraved prin-
ting upon paper, fixing its value, is
the best of all possible substitutes for
coined money for circulation, and
cheaper as n currency for a people
than gold itself. II may therefore be
safely assumed that had the arts and
education been sufficiently advanced
in the Grecian and Roman republics,
the money of the people would have
been such paper instead of the pom
derOus and inconvenient metals"
What is stated in the first sentence
is admitted by no political economist,
who is now recognized as an authority,
from Adam Smith to Amasa Walker
We have always labOred under the
impression that the arts were as much
advanced in Greece and Rome as they
are in this country, and observation
has confirmed the impression that
Phidias and PraXiteles were equal to
Clark Mills and Tom Jones.
But if Buffers certificates had been
the currency of Rome and Greece and
Phidias and Praxiteles had been paid
for the matchless marble statues in
certificates of value" issued by these
ancient Republics, we are bothered to
hAON WHdl NOulu LdNe DeCOIue OF
these paper certificates and the unfOr-
tunate seulptOrs who had to buy their
daily bread with them, when, these
two Republics "busted up"
As JOhnsOn's barefaced scheme for
the debt made repudia-
tiOn seem more OdiOus and infamous
than it had ever appeared before, so
Buffers inverted paper money pyra-
mid, resting on the false foundation
that the laws of value or the law of
gravitatiOn can be regulated by act of
Congress, will better bring to light
the hideOus defOrmity and the palpa-
bic instability of all paper money
which are not based upon
that foundation, as firm as the earth
we stand on, the Interchangeable and
indestructable value of gold. What
Buffers motive may have been in ma
king the speech that he has, we can
not understand. 1t hadrly seems pos
sible on the one hand that a man of
his intellect could be ignorant of prin-
ciples of political economy which
have been settled for centuries, or of
maxims whose truth has never before
been called in question, nor on the
other hand, does it seem possible that
knowing the opinions of those scores
Of great thinkers and practical tinan-
ciers who have made the subjects of
currency and finance the study of
life time, he should go directly cOun-
ter to these opinions, in which all au-
thOrities substantially agree, disre-
gard the uniform experience of all
civilized nations and set up his own
crude notions against the uniform
opinions of the great financiers, the
and practice of the old world
and the new. Butler is the only man
in Congress who has the cheek to do
his