New-York tribune., 1874-08-13
GOLD md GREENBACKS.


lation as they suppose. AS soon as our legal
tender and bank notes are brought to an
equality in value with gold. any deficiency in
our currency will be quickly supplied by the
influx of gold from foreign countries, or by
the retention here of the product OF our own
mines
2. That the difference between the value of
our paper money and that of gold, by current
quotations, is only ten per cent. That loss
must be submitted to by those who have
debts to pay, and In our opinion the advan-
tages of a currency in harmony with that of
the civilized world are worth the sacrifice.
Moreover, the uncertainties, Derpexities, and
perils of deprecated paper money are GER
tain to cost us far dearer
g. Gold has a natural value, and paper money
has not. Measured by the quantity of COM
mon labor which it will pay for, gold fluc
tuates less from year to year than any other
material which is available for use "a money.
1t is worth the labor which it costs to mine it
and make it into coin. Its value Is deter
mined by that labor, and is independent of
Congress and the Secretary of the Treasury,
while that of our paper money is at the mercy
of demagOgues.
A. The mines of California have given us
within twenty years, let us say, thousand
million dollars in gold. Where is it now
Scattered all over the globe. What has been
the effect The best authorities suppose that,
referring to the quantity of labor required to
produce any given article, and supposiDg no
variation to have taken place in the amount
of that labor, the price of such
tice in gold has risen twenty-five per
cent. In other words, the value of gold,
measured by labor has fallen twenty-five
per cent, and the debtor class have had all
the advantage of that depreciation. If our
correspondent will compare the gold price OF
unskied labor to-day with what 1t was
twenty years ago he will probably find that
the difference is as great as we have stated 1t.
s. Let us suppose an addition Of thousand
million dollars to our paper money. Confined
to our own country. it would cause prices to
rise, and would delraud all creditors and per-
sons having fixed incomes. 1t would, IN time,
make persons who had money afraid to lend
it. They would prefer to spend and enjoy
rather than be cheated by Act of Congress or
decision of the Supreme Court.
C. The mining of gold and the gradual de-
may be expected to go on as long as the
business of mining yields a profit When 1t
costs more labor to mine the gold than the
gold, when coined, will pay for, gold will
cease to be mined and its value will cease to
depreciate. Let our correspondents reflect
that the value of gold dollar throughout
the civilized world is determined by the labor
of getting it. Leaving out of the calculation
the little ups and downs of market prices,
which, like the waves of the sea, do not affect
the general level, no nation and no govern
ment can raise or sink the value of a definite
quantity of gold. The discovery of rich
mines, improved processes OF working the
existing mines, or economy throughout the
commercial world in the use of the great
instrument of exchange, will and do cause
the value of gold to depreclate. This depre-
citation, however, is very gradual, and cannot
be confined to single country. With paper
money the case is completely the reverse.
Congress can if it chooses, make the price in
paper money of bushel of potatoes one hun
dred dollars and everything else in proportion
T. The depreciation in the value OF property
consequent upon the restoration OF the legal
tender dollar to gold value, must be submitted
to. if the promises of the Government and the
pledges of Congress and both political parties
are ever to be kept. The difference seems to
be. and, we think, is not far from ten per
cent. Cannot the people of the United States
afford to pay ten per cent once for all, tor the
advantages of sound currency and the lux
ury of being honest?
8. Our correspondent Is greatly in error IN
supposing that contraction can be carried to
that point that one dollar will buy what it
takes two dollars to buy now. If such bar
gains could be had gold would flow to this
country from every nation in the world to
take advantage of such an unprecedented cir
cumstance. Suppose wheat, now Obtainable
here for about one dollar bushel in gold,
could be had for fifty cents, what nation
could compete with lbs in supplying the foreign
markets7 By limiting the quantity of our
paper we can restore its value to par. We
cannot make it worth more than par in gold
without prohibiting the importation of coin
and bullion.
9. A "mortgage given when money is easy
"and property high is like contract to sell
cotton or grain to be delivered at a future
time. The seller takes the risk of an advance
in value. He contracts to deliver the article
itself-nOt its value i'll things in general-and
money is a commodity as much as cotton.
From the very beginning of the legal tender
business debtors have never had the slightest
encouragement to expect that money would
be deprecated by imitation in time of peace
for their beneit-never until very recently,
we can safely say. Cannot our correspondent
see that it is of the very essence of paper
4, -, 10, oil i'll,
of contracts, payable in money, into gambling
operations
10. There are only three ways of bringing