Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1871-04-11

buluA IueTe II OuIIIOu enough N the world TO
| furnish money enough for the commerce, trade,
aud exchanges of the world and could have
wished you had furnished the statistics on
which you base your opinion, to-wit the
amount of bullion aud coin, the amount Of
trade aud exchange. and the amount of the
value of the property of the world The only
use Of money is TO exchange all other values
as standard, and when you fix the amount
OF exchanges, or the amount Of the value Of
all the property of the WOrld-which statistics
! will enable you to dO-yOu will then be able
to decide exactly, or near enough, if money is
TO be OF bullion only. whether the supply is
large enough for such standard, or not
MIR. Calhoun. in his great currency speech
to be found IN his WOrks-expressed it as his
opinion, deducibls from statistics and from the
opinions Of political economists, that about
One-thirtieth, in money value. would be sufi-
cient for the exchange of any amount Of value.
He said, at the same time, however, that auy
alteration in this thirtieth money value this
SfGHRdrR-wOuld affect all other values and
all property TO Ihirry-fold the extent of the
change OF the mOney-the standard
Now, Il ask you 10 consider this opinion of
Mr.. Calhoun in especial reference To- the sup
position you make in regard to the effect
upon the business Of this country were the
currency to sink to the amount Of the gold
aud silver coin, two billion, We now possess"
Indeed. it is not altogether u suppOsition with
you. but you affirm I'VE must bring down the
volume Of Our currency to capital-that is 20
solid money and keep it there" You seen,
TO think, in such an event, that there would
be some confusion more or less; prices
woul! fail, aud the value of money would
rise" that is thirty parts would suffer while
only one would gain, That debtors would
break, &c., "but upon the whole thcy must
grin aud bear it, in consideration Of the
greater advantages that would surely follow.
THIS, sir, If | understand the spirit of your
remarks, is the light. the very light estima.
ton in which you hold the consequence Of an
event, which l should regard as the beginning
OF tremendous revolution. The property Of
the country, as think, under the very doc
trines you hold in relation to money. has been
concentrated into the hands of about QUE trth
OF the population: Do you think they will
quietly consent to another twist around their
Tree nccks, of this golden chain, which de-
Prives them Of every thing, and reduces them
to the condition of serGs This change, of
changing the standard-the mOney-in which
debts were contracted, to a more precious
standard IN which debts are to be paid, is the
question OF debtors on one hand, and creditors
on the other II a change is to be made-if
change is necessary-it ought to be change
for the benefit of both and the sacrifices should
be mutual on the part of creditor and debtor.
1t should not be expected thu. all the debtors
should "hrcak," in order TO make an experi,
ment of how long the debtors should be kent
under the exhausted receiver of an air pump;
but II the experiment is to benf. both debtor
and creditor, why then put the creditor with
the debtor under the same ex hausted receiver.
And under this view OF the situation. l will
tell Won exactly vi hal yvaa dana in, ,lI
long time ago-uuder her colonial depen-
dence-aud, when. the experiment was made
otsI1kIng the volume" Of the currency, At
the. time to which refer, tobacco was the cur.
rency-the money II faman bought any ;hing
and became debtor, he promised to pa = in to.
baccO, so many pounds Well, the house of
Burgesses finding that the tobacco was very
low, imagined that tho cause was overproduc.
tion and that if they would burn one halt of
the crop, the other half would briug more
than the whole. They, accordingly, passed a
law that one half Of the whole crop should be
burned ut the public warehouses ami it was
burnt But, they passed, "pari Passu " with
this law. as tobacco was the currency. and il
would be unjust, that when the debtor who
had given his bond for one hundred pounds
of tobacco. one half of which was burnt ..pro.
bono pubico." should still pay one hundred
pounds to the creditor, that the creditor in
stead OF one hundred pounds, called for in his
bond. should receive in the sinking" and
more precious ''volume" of the currency. inst
one half Of his claim, that is ffry pounds If to-
baccO. Now. l wish tn say to ynL, that if Won
wish tO "snk" the volume" Of the currency.
and open new books, do So, but do it on this
principle of equality tn Debtor aud creditor.
lfyou don't. you will find the case between the
hawk and the cat. The hawk mistnuk the cat
with claws, for the rabbit without claws: aud
carried her high above the earth; but when
the cat clawed as hard as the hawk. the hawk
proposed TO let 90: M said the cat. put me
back first where you took me from"
II the bond-hOders. ofiice,hnlders. gold.
mongeTs. and money Gratis, desire to ..siuk"
the volume" the fr,t thing to be done. is.
to abolish the freedom of the press aud of
speech the next TO raise the standing army to
halt million at least; and the last. to. fnd
that God has called Ulysses to be dictator. AZ
he called the King of Prussia to be Emperor
Of Germany.
will now conclude this article by saving.
that l agree with Bulliouist in the opinion he
expressed of Basti,ol's opinion, that no mere
multiplication Of coins or manu- facture of pa.
per currency" can add fraction to the business
of the country" 1t can not do it; because
product pays for product - and money is
only a medium and symbol! OBSERVER.
S"n1mH Point, Jc6erson Co, Vest Ia.
A PRIZE FIGuT STOPPED DY A WOMAN.
The rons YT,,-.N