The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1874-05-23
THE CURRENCY QUESTION.

The CURRENCY QUESTION.
Congress seems as far from agreeing y nor
any plan to settle the vexed currericv ones
ton as it was on the first day of the session
and 1t appears reasonably sure to predic,
that nothing will be done at the present SEES
sion that will in any way assist toward q
solution OF the monentary difficulty. The
truth is that little or nothing can be done
oy Congress to hasten the natural course Of
events which are recedipg back to find their
original level from which the great bust.
ness swell was hsaved by the eruption Of a
mighty Reconsideration. The war found
the country prosperlng in natural. busi-
hess-hke way in all branches of industry.
NO bank note smaller than SIS was circn-
lated and silver and gold were plenty, the
business currency of the country being
almost entirely in coin. But the mighty
earthquake shock of war brought eyery
Kind OF business to stand.still for few
months. And then trade began to find new
channels, created by the demands of gov
efhment. The iron and brass foundries
we're put to work to supply war material;
the leather business was worked To its
utmost capacity to fill orders for the same
customer; the WOODEN manufactures had all
they could do in supplying material for
clothing for the soldiers; agriculture was
taxed to furnish grain, meat, hay, horses
and mules for the great waste of the war:
the Government started its printing presses
and made money to pay for these produces.
The demand being great the prices of
every thing ran up to fabulous Nights.
People who could scarce raise i've dollar
Dill before the war, suddaafy found their
pockets lined with gaseubacks. Luxury
grew apace and extravaganza spread among
the most economical osasses of society ws,h
its corruptins Influence; speculation and
theivery among officials became apparently
the rule. No man valued money! at any
thing like the estimate it bore but a half
dozen years previous. The tide of pros
perlty--apparent at least--swelled higher
and higher; manufacturing establishments
were all turned into work shops for tho
Government, WHICH was almost the sale
customer, and aew works were rapidly
built to supply the increasing demand.
Business had received a tremendous mo.
saentum during the war, and when it clos
ed, with everybody's pockets full of green
backs, the soldiers flush with their last
lnstalment from the paymaster; gamblers
and bounty Jumpers in the midst of their
harvest; and every thing continued to move
on apparently without any check from the
stoppage of the war. The great momen-
tum kept things moving and for a time no
one noticed that the machine was gradually
losing speed, that the engine was begin
ming to gradually move slower Business
was not so brisk as it had been, but the
business men and commercial newspapers.
promised revival in the Spring; and when
Spring came, but without the promised
revival, then the soothsayers predicted a
brisk Fall trade; and thus the evil demon
of hard times was pushed aside and the
reality postponed. But all the time the
great train which the war had put in mo-
ton was gradually stacking speed and must
finally come to a stand-still. Railroads
through all parts of the country were pro-
Jected and put under contract. Some of
them were finished, others partially SO, and
the men who had these works in charge
strained every nerve to keep things NOV
ing, but the fatal day came at last and
that fatal momentum caused by the great
throes of rebellion finally ceased, and the
machine stood still.
And now to start it up again and create
prosperity like that fever excitement which
the nation has just passed through, we
have hosts of those prophets of the past,
who, looking back to the paper money era,
prescribe more paper money as the cure
for this terrible stagnation. The paper
money can easily be made, and all the mills
with all that immense productive power of
machinery, can be again started, but where
is there another Uncle Sam - to purchase
the goods? The theory of imitation is a
dream. Athousand millions more of green.
backs would not cure the present depressed
state of trade and demoralized system OF
labor, wages and prices. We must in future
depend on the real wants of the people for
demand, and we have once more taken our
place along side Ct the plodding dsnizens
of the whole commercial world. Wemust
once more come back to the worlds stand.
ard of money, and the worlds way of doing
business. Government greenbacks are
promises to pay and to pay in gold. and
the world insists that the time has come
for some provision to be made for paying
those promises. Trade and the consciences
of men are beth pausing to see this great
debtor commerce, like all honest debtors
who mean to do legitimate business, to
pay up according to promise. The crazy
inflationists, like false prophets promise
great things for the revival of trade, il
they had another hundred million of paper
money stamped by the Government. They
don't tell us how this promised prosperity
can be renewed, but point to the past
There is no past. 1t is gone for ever
swept away by the war, never to return
Silver and gold will bring back steady bus.
mess and stable prosperity-let the nation
move toward that objective point.
PEACE REIGNs IN WARsAw.-The
Brooks Baxter war in Little Rock, Arkan-
sas, was brought to close on Saturday
last, by proclamation issued by the Presi.
dent declaring Baxter legal Governor.
The people received the news with univer.
sal joy. Brooks and his followers submit.
ted with very bad grace and considerable
grumbling. Chief Justice Mcclure and
Sheriff Oliver, Brookites, have repaired to
Washington to lay the case of their defeated
chief before Congress, and protest.
Judge Mcclure is reported to have said