New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-10-01

only object Of currency is to exchange goods pre-
cisely as the only object of the Batavia steamboat
| VIVA to bring me and fellow-passengers from Eng
| land and the goods on board also. They are both
toolsone to carry us the water the other 10
enable one man to get his goods into another man
hands, and that say is the only object OF currency
O. You consider, as an essential part OF that oD-
ject, that there should be some constancy In inc
| value of the currencyf
| A. The consistency of the value comes In IN ths
way. There III o transaction between A. and d. A.
has got ten bales of cotton to SELL and b. has noth-
ing to give YOU for it but pieces of metal A. knows
| what his cotton costs him. and between them DOM
they know the value of those pieces OF metal In the
world. because they know what they can get 1or
them in the shops--so many pounds OF tea I'D ono
shop. so many hats from the halter, 80 many poats
from the boat builder A. says, tive
| me your cotton and l will take your metal
for it," That is the action OF currency
Il is tool and why it wantedf Here IS the secret
| If all currency: am grower of sugar in Louisiana
and Won are grower of cotton. lwant to buy your
cotton say to you, take my sugar and get nd OF
your cotton" You say 81 have no use Tor your
sugar. Have you not got some yellow metalI dlVe
me that metal and will give you my cotton. Then
can 60 with that metal and buy what want"
This is the function of currency. Money was de-
might starve before he would find butcher or a
baker that wanted hat. If it was not for currency
he might starve before he got his bread. The fact
is n nation could not exist without currency. The
vice of inconvertbe currency is, that it has other
ends and objects
Q. How as 10 debts. mortgages, &c.f
A. The nature of these things is not altered oy
debts ard MORTGAGES. Every operation OF credit IS
only this: that have not got dollar to-day and
will give it tomorrow. Whether the debt is for a
million or ten millions national debt, even, or
basket of peaches it all the same In principle; but
it docs not alter the fact that the metallic dollar has
got to DO given as q pledge The doctrine is the
same.
O. The steadiness in the value of the gold secures
justcei
A. Certainly; because you have an article OF real
value; but in the case of IncOnvertiblc currency,
when YOU bring me u legal-tender note and tell me
it is as good as a dollar, that the Government Is
bound 30 pay it, say directly IF yon had brought
me metallic dollar could take it to Ieweler and
sell it, Icould not lose. At the worst could melt
il and sell it as metal and therefore am paid" But
If find YOU bringing me piece of paper which the
United States Government says shall be paid, and
docs not say when, say that it is not payment, and
if I take it 1 must charge yon something for
the risk I run. The first quality OF q
currency is that it must have perma-
nent value. We cannot say positively that gold
never changes in value. but the change is so little
that the difference practically is nothing. If gold
should Jump up as it did in Ezabeths time, through
the lowering of the Standard it would be as bad as
paper because it would miss the ono quality that
people rely upOn-permancncy OF value. Inc Amer
lean currency is not to be trusted 1t has destroyed
its one great function-that of being guarantee to
the taker of il that he will got things of equal vane
Nothing is more abominable than going to a dealer
and being compelled to ask the relative prices of
gold and currency. 1t is the same as asking of .
ship, lis she half rotten. or wholly rottenW
@. People out West know that all this is so, but
| they say if they go back to the old standard they
have got to pay ten per cent more than they owef
A. That may be. That is the punishment for get
ting into bad ways. My answer is, Is nation to be
permanently injured because it has done the wrong
thng7 Because some individuals must suffer, there
fore must all suffer Oh their account No. 1t is one
of the consequences of sin. 1 admit the statement
TO be true that there must be suffering In England
they gave three Years and diminished the suffering
as much as possible; but to say that because we
have sinned we must go on SHINING, on account Of
contingent suffering, is absurd. If it is good
political argument have nothing to say
@. What do you consider the evils of an incon-
vertible currency of Fixed amount as was up to
within Year,
A. The answer is, the quantity of notes may be
the same. unchanged but the quantity that nation
wants for may vary enormously. and therefore
the huctuation of value may go on. That is one OF
the cnrses of it. There is less currency wanted in
England now than there was three years ago. Our
currency simply goes ont of commission. There is
no disturbance in the value of it, But in the
only want three-fourths, owing to circfm-
stances such as now exist. 1t is very clear the
quantity of notes remaining unchanged won't pre-
vent depreciation in value because every man in
America wants only three notes this year where four
were wanted last year. That is the state Of things
now. The evil is not mtigated. The demand for
ust is not itself stable and can be in any peO
ple unless it be in an Indian village, where the
quantity of currency does not change much.
nation changes greatly in its demand for currency.
Travel is great consumer of currency. II is the
trade of all trades which demands ready money.
Q. Do you think the course of the Bank of
France the last year, in taking in its notes,
has inflicted any injury upon the trade Of their
country
A. Ii cannot upon trade it can upon individuals.
1t can only attack people who have got debts to
rncoiye or pay. The trade itself will be benefited.
The nation them is not injured but the individual
@. 1t must fall most heavily upon the producing
| classes, who are almost always in debit
| A. Very well; give them more time Postpone
the change. That Is o question for statesmen to
settle An economist cannot settle it. 1t depends
upon the exigences of nation. My argument is to
| the principle. In some cases you may restore the
gold value in six months in others you may wait six
years., In either case l 20 back to what said
before-that the nation must not suffer forever to
save individuals from suffering temporarily.