The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1874-05-16
SOUND CURRENCY !

SPEECH OF


sone transaction, and represents some val |
ne, money or property, which the transac- |
ton concerned This is truest OF the low
est and highest forms of credit. Take the
earliest conception of currency. 1t Is IN
the very infancy of trade before money is
vet used as a measure of value. My friend
has a skiff ON the Hudson; / have a skiff
on m e Potomac. We wish to exchange
NV friend takes my skif. He gives me a
writing which empowers the bearer to. take
his. This writingis
A DRAFT,
the simplest form Of credit, the first piece
Of currency. And in the market any man
who wants the skiff, or knows the value of
it, will accept it as currency This draft
was born in a transaction-the exchange
Of skiffs and represents yalue-property,
the Hudson skiff, which exists to redeem it.
Take a step further in the development
Of currency Money is now used as mea-
sure Of value, and exchanges are to that
degree simplifed My friend this time
wishes to buy my house. We fix the price.
He has no money, but / trust him. He
gives me a written promise to pay. Here
is another form of credit | walk off with
another kind Of currency
THE PRoMISsoRY NOTE.
This note, too was born in a transaction
the purchase and sale of the house. And
the note, too, represents property, value !;
for it represents the house which my friend
owns and which still exists as means Of
payment III my friend, when the note
falls due, has the house, he can, by sale or
mortgage, pay it, But suppose my friend
has sold the house before the note falls
due. If he sold it, he sold it for some
thing-money or currency or property
and he holds the money or draft or proper
ty in place OF the house and the represent
alive Of his motto, and ready for its redemp-
ton. just as the skiff stood behind the
draft, the house stands behind the note.
But before my friends note fell due, I
needed still higher kind of currency, one
capable of wider circulation. Strangers
refuse it, so i 90 to my bank. The bank
will discount if / will take the banks pro-
mise. The banks promise passes as mon
ey; so i take it. This time | go out with
another form of credit-another kind Of
currency
THE BANK-NoTE.
This bank bill came into being in trans
action, and represents value-the house OF
my friend. which still stands ready 10 fur.
nish the money to pay the note, which pays
the bank bill
So under natural laws currency in al
forms comes into the volume Of circulation
as the result of transactions, as the repre-
sentative value. Its volume, therefore
regulates itself. There is as much as there
are transactions, as there are values, anc
no more.
But there comes
DISTURBING ELEMENT.
The government injects it into this uatura
stream fed by the business Of the country
Government issues its promises, not as thu
representative Of gold, not as the repre-
sentative of property, but as the represent
alive of debt. Natural currency comes a
the representative of wealth-the govern
ment currency as the representative ofpov
erty.
Why, then, do not the laws of trad
eject it, this foreign element-this bastard
currency? They would Men would re
fuse 10 take it. Nature would cure her
self. But supreme sovereignty interfere
and forces it upon the people. The pee
pie submit because they are law abiding
But, says the friend of the greenback
you argue as ifthe government gave ava
its currency. This is not true. The GOV
eminent received value for it. Certainly
the government received property for il
notes : but the property was bought IL
consumption or destruction. The proper
ty Immediately upon its transfer ceased I
exist as the means for paying the notes
1t | sold a citizen cargo of grain and
gave me his note for it, the cargo of graf
In his hands, or some one else's, exists 9
the means of paying it, If sell the ca
go to the government and take its note til
government takes the grain and distribute
the grain amongst its soldiers, and it is col
sumed, and no grain is left to pay the note
nor can it be sold to furnish other NEAR
of paying them. In the case of the go,
eminent the property persisted, leavir
the notes unprotected. In the case of IL
private note the property remained to pr
duce the means for payment. This exam
ination of the nature of credit. of the OF
gin of currency,
SHOWS IT'S PROPER LIMITS.
Credit can act beneficently till it reach
the consumer there it should stop Ban
ers and merchants are simply agents f
the exchange of commodities, and as sue
they may safely promise to pay with me
chandise in existence, not for their oy
consumption, but for sale; and thus tn
may conduct their operations forever wit
out failure, through the various degrees
subdivision until the actual consumer
reached through the retail dealer. He
the point is reached where credit is me
perD!clOus and should be avoided. T
promises issued by the consumer, wheth
it be the government or the laborer, q
not, from their nature, currency, and a
effort to force their circulation produC
only confusion and loss. But this is WI
our Government did when, in the stress
war,it issued its promises against proper
which it consumed or destroyed. Her
came the greenback, fruitful source of
our woes This increased the curreu
beyond its natural limits 1t was in
cess. There was more currency than tn,
was property for it to represent, and
THERE WAS A DEPRECIATION.
Let me not waste time to chronicle {
now familiar effects of deprecated a
irredeemable currency. 1t is always
excess. This excess stimulates extra
gance and speculation. There is const;
temptation to be rid of currency VIII
value is uncertain. Use it now, it is wo
something; retain it until tomorrow,
may be worth nothing. And so the sp
OF the gambler enters into the heart of
nation, and after extravaganza come SD
ulation, crime, moral and material ru
To chronicle what of this moral and mat
ial ruin is general, i do not pause. / p
this To show that the worst evils OF an
sound currency fall upon the poor.
The harm of wrong legislation in inan
as IN taxation, falls and rests at last III
them. As a direct consequence of den
clated money, prices auctuate, so the n
VINO puys cannot tell for what be will s
Eut0 rot hsu - 4