Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-11-06
THE RUTLAND HERALD,
CURRENCY THEORIES.


In times of deep public concern ever
any question, no matter what 1T is,
whether wars or famine, pestilence or
monetary panics, a great many people
feel called upon to promulgate theories
for lifting the burthen under which the
people tremble, and bringing society
back to healthy, normal condition in
which all will be happy, and trouble
will be removed from. the face of tho
earth. OF late years special legislation
has been considered as a universal pane
cea for all the social and commercial ills
that human society is heir to. We have
even heard that there are men in the
country who desired to have the potato
rot prohibited by law, and an illustrated
paper a few days ago made one OF their
characters suggest to bank president,
that the proper cure for our financial
troubles was for Congress to make every
body's note a legal tender. Of course
we laugh over such propositions as these
and call them good jokes, but we submit
in all seriousness if there is not about
as much sound sense in them as in most
of the legislative measures suggested for
our relief in this crisis.
The plan that seems to be most taking
now, appears to provide for the issuing
by the treasury department of new
,f OF n lONtY ROT n of irtarpcf
convertible into currency on demand
and issuable for greenbacks at par; but
is not this scheme something like the at
tempt made few years ago to regulate
the price of gold, visionary and imprac-
ticable. If the rate of interest was
lower than that of other government
bonds, no person would invest in the
new securities unless he supposed he
should soon want to use the currency,
for there would be no object in investing
in these cheap interest bonds, except to
keep the money in safety for short
time until they desired to use it. AS far
as these bonds were used for this pur-
pose, it would require the treasury to
keep on hand sufficient amount of cur
rency to redeem the outstanding bonds
at all times, so that they would be pay
ing interest on large amount of idle
funds. If, on the other hand, the gov
eminent used the money, when the
bonds had to be redeemed they must
issue new legal tenders and thus make
their bonds an instrument for expansion
of the volume of greenbacks, when it is
very desirable to retire that kind of cur
rency.
Then it would furnish very cheap
and convenient method of locking up
currency in time of panic, and making
corners. These Wall street brokers
would like no better place of deposit
than the absolute safety of the United
States treasury in which to withdraw
from circulation a few millions for
speculative purposes, especially if they
could add to their profits low rate of
interest on the money locked up. 1t
strikes us that this scheme is in the same
line of the one that makes everybody's
note legal tender, and is no more prac-
ticable than regulating the price of mer-
chandise by law. Its operation would
be bad, and would be used to contract
the currency in time of stringency, and
to initiate it when money was drug in
the markets of the country. Human
enactments cannot do all things, and the
regulation of the rules of supply and
demand is one of the things not within
the reach of legislation.
If Congress, at its next session, will
remove its restrictions upon the power
of finance to regulate itself, they will
do about all that is in their power. The
price of every commodity must be regu-
lated by the uses it can be put to, and
the supply on hand to meet the demand
for it, and when let alone it places itself
upon just and equitable basis. Let the
capital of the country be absolutely free
to seek any channel of human usefulness
that its owners desire to devote it to,
and IT Will always be found where sit
will do the most good" Let any man
be at perfect liberty to issue currency to
any amount that he will secure the
redemption of it in gold, silver or green
backs on demand, and the amount of
currency will regulate itself to the wants
of the people. Then why is it not a
perfect remedy for the country in such
8 crisis as the present, to require that all
special legislation on the currency ques-
ton should be repealed except 50 far as
may be required to give safety to private
banking. What we want of Congress is
to do no further tinkering than is indi-
Gated in the comprehensive demand for
free banking and specie payment.