Whig and tribune. [volume] (Jackson, Tenn.) 1870-1877, 1874-04-18


per Atlantic sca-board. "Infation
means war"-says the New York
Hrald and it speaks very ominous-
~ upon the subject. "New Eng-
land, the Middle States, Virginia
and the Carolinas do not mean that
after having laid the foundation Of
the Republic, the West and South
west shall ruin and discredit them
and the pHblic." Ofcourse nobody
supposes that the States named
have the slightest idea of going TO
war, but If they had, the threat
ened sections would care just as
much about IL as if they had been
warned in a similar way by the Dig
ger Indians. AS to the peculiar
sorting Of the cards that places Vir-
ginia and the CarOlinas in the same
hand with New England. we leave
that for the inward digestion of the
reader. The reconstructed sisters
VIII doubtless feel properly CRATE
iul for the courtesy that ranks them
alongside with Massachusetts, and
the other foundation layers, so far
as patriotism aud proper public
spirit are concerned. A man living
in the United States would not be
apt to suppose that Virginia or
North Carolina could be induced to
20 to war with the Southwest, but
as the editor Of the Herald lives in
Paris and edits his paper by cable,
the idiocy of the thing is perhaps
barely pardonablc. The idiocy of
The supposition. however, that poor
South Carolina would raise a finger
to save New England from dcstruc-
ton like that which rained upon
Sodom, passes our comprehension.
But all this talk about war is
blathcr, pure and simple. The de-
sign is to intimidate Congress, to
alarm the West and Southwest,
and to influence the President to in
tcrposc his veto against "inflation"
If necessary. We have not the
space, even if we had the inclina-
ton, to give the views held by the.
friends of the different schemes for
financial relief that have been pro-
posed from time to time. New En-
gland is satisfied with existing ar
rangements. The money of the
people is less valuable than the
bonds-and this adds to the value
OF the gold interest upon them.-
This is why Radical New England
has become a convert to the Demo
cratic "hard-money" doctrine, and
why she insanely mouths about
war. But passing over this farci-
cal buster towards the West and
Southwest, and the pitiful cajolery
of the plundered and desolated
CarOlinas, let us ask in all seri-
business if we of the threatened ter
ritory are really engaged in q work
of blended madness and of crime
The New York press violates all
the decencies in discussing this sub
ject, and its tone is echoed by the
second fiddles in the "rural dis
tricts." Those who advocate ex-
pansion, and who look ultimately
to the abolition of the National
Banks, are denounced in the coars-
est terms, their capacity diseredi-
ted, and their motives assailed.-
We arc told besides, that the South
west will be ruined beyond all pos
sibility of redemption, if the finan-
cial balloon is inflated an inch be-
yond its present proportions. This
is another dream of the New En-
gland press. England, France and
Germany, must pay the South gold
for her rice, tobacco, sugar and cot
ton, whenever Government green
backs become "irredeemable worth
less paper" Onr great staples will
rs certainly command specie in the
markets of the world, as the teas of
China, or the tin of the two only
known mines in Europe, whenever
the fearful depreciation of our pa
per that is threatened takes place.
We can therefore risk the conse-
quenccs of an "in1ation" properly
guarded. We would not risk it
however, simply because we can see
that those among whom our lot is
cast, will not be materially injured
by it. 1t is true that they are in
debt, and that it would be easier
for them TO pay in a less valuable
currency than in that which we
now have, but we side with the ex-
pansionists for no such reason. We
think that there can be expansion
without danger, and that paper
can be made as good as gold as ba-
sis for business transactions. Liv-
ing, however, remote from the great
money centers, not claiming to be
practically conversant with the
mysteries of finance and banking.
we would not ask any one to rely
in the slightest degree upon our in
dividual Judgment, so far as the f.
nancial problem is concerned. We
think, however, that due considera-
ton should be given TO the utteran-
ces of such men as Hon. Il. NJ. I.
Hunter, of Va, who for twenty
years was Chairman of the Senate
Finance Committee, and who was
regarded, in day when statesmen
were not rare, as one of the snrest
and ablest expounders of all the per-
plexities arising out of tariffs, tax
es, imposts and duties. He tells us
and we think him as safe an advi-
ser as any editor of New York, or
even of Memphis in his Opin-
ion paper money, founded on the
highest of all forms of credit-that
of the Government-may be equiv
alcnt to specie in value for the most
part, and serve all the purposes of
domestic exchange, even when the
foreign exchanges turn against us,
and cause disturbance in our re-
lations with the markets of the
world. Mr.. III. proposes to issue
currency, convertible at the option
of the holder, into U. S. bonds, of
fixed denomination, with interest
payable in specie. This is about the
substance, too, of all the best finance
bills yet prepared in Congress, but
no matter in what shape they have