Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1874-10-10

farmer for everything he is compelled 70 purchase
has TO SELL the increased number of dollars he re-
/ eeives for his produce viii purchase no more than
now. Not the mechanic, the merchant, the manu-
faeturer any other class OF business or industry Tor
| the same viii obtain and be true OF them.'
But there is one class Of persons that Will be oene
tinetly asserts and urges the policy Of expansion on
| this ground alone. How is this? The arbitrary
power OF paying debts conferred % 6y Law on Legal
ton. One dollar Of these notes worth fifty cents IN
gold will pay the same amount Of debt as
/ one worth a hundred cents in gold. But
the amount of labor the amount of prop
erty will procure twice many dollars when their
value is but fifty cents as when their value is one hun
The amount of debt does notinerease diminish by
expansion; it remains unchanged. Therefore, al
may be diminished one-half, yet their debt-paying
power continues the same, the debtor could IN sueh
charge his debt with half the sDor half the prop
erty that he can now. Hence the debtor class will be
| benefited by expansion and depreciation And this
is urged the chief purpose and eroWning virtue OF
But there is another side to the picture. In exact
proportion as the debtor class will be benefited the
/ other must lose For If ne be paid in deprecated
money whose purchasing power shall have diminished
contracted it viii procure for him only one-haH the
labor onehaf the property it would before exPan-
| One other class viii be benefted-the bondholder
who serenely sits and receives his annual interest in
| gold Depreciation stimulates the gambling and
| augments the premiums of the gold exchange AS
Democratic policy proposes to cut of the coin re-
sources Of the Government, and make the purchase
of gold necessary to meet the coin interest of its debt
| the augmentation Of premiums resulting from the
combined influence Of depreciation on the one hand
and this memorable necessity the other will be-
holder by the Government will be resold to it
through the gold room at excessive rates The bond
holder, therefore, viii be benefited by expansion.
But whom viii it prejudice? The private creditor,
the holders OF the present legal tenders and the whole
body of tax-payers; the millions TO whom money is
due, or by whom money is owned IN amount great or
| small
The farmer. who shall have sold credit his farm
his produce the merchant his goods the mechanic
his skill or the Iaborer his services at prices based
the value of legal tenders to-day, must suffer grew
Gus loss when under expansion they compelled TO
accept payment in legal tenders OF half their former
value and purchasing power. So, too, the millions
| who may have boarded by toll few hundreds or
homes or the comforts Of life, when By deprecation
and diminished values they shall be robbed of half
their wealth. So. also the taxpayer, when by de-
preeaton his tax duplicate now only TOO oppressive
be doubled TO raise the means for supporting the Gov
ernment its institutions school system, municipa-
ties and the thousand objects provided tor by taxa
Thus every class and interest of industry and bus-
must be injuriously affected by expansion, the
bondholder and the privite debtor alone excepted
In the exgency of such sacrifice may be impera-
tivei in peace never.
| FUTURE DEBTORS.
But conceding that expansion will operate q kind
| of general bankrupt law, to sweep away existing
debts and cheat existing creditors Of their honest
Of subsequent contraction? Will not the condition OF
the future debtor call more loudly for expansion than
his of the present? Having contracted his debts at
higher point Of imitation, the shrinking of values
which he will have to encounter in reaching the level
the expansion of to-day. But Mr. Pendleton declares
it to be the policy and purpose OF the Democratic party
return TO specie values; thai it is the old historic
party Of specie payment; and that 1t means to regain
It's ancient landmark as the Jew his lost Jerusalem
To reach that ancient landmark will not the ruin OF
the future debtor be rendered complete by leap
ing from higher elevation? why, then, ascend the
| precipicef The descent must be made. All parties
concur in this. Why not then make it now
small, in preference to hazarding new perils and
greater caamties by retracng the distance we have
already descended? Mr.. PendleJon shrinks from the
catastrophe Of leapng from the present height. VIII
the catastrophe be less when the leap is made from
/ greater? VIII he not have the same gushing SYM
pathy for the debtor then as now? VIII he not rather
clamor because the calamties of descent viii be in
tenshed? It because Of this dthculty Of return
ing to specie payment, which Mr.. PeDdletOn foresaw,
that he opposed imitation in 1861. How does he
Gle his then and now? The object Of initiation
then to provide the snews OF war; the resulting
benefit to the debtor was only the incident Now he
makes the relief of the debtor the motive and
sole object of imitation Then he deprecated; now he
advocates Was the debtor of 1861 less object of
compassion than the debtor of 1874? Was the object
Of expansion then less patriotic than now? In 1861
he opposed expansion on principle. because OF its
consequences and the difficulties of resumption;
he proposes to intensity these consequences and diff
culdes by further expansion. Does principle change?
But he proposes resumption in the future. Thy not
/ now7
He says is because the debtor of to-day has con-
traeted his debt upon the basis of expansion ami that
it Is unjust to him TO suffer the shrinkage of values
which muet be experienced by resumption. Will not
the debtor OF the future who shall have contracted
his debt the basis Of Nj Pendleons higher expan-
sion, encounter more disastrous shrinkage7 Or is
the debtor of the future of less consideration than the
debtor of to-day? Possibly there may be consistency
in these apparent Inconsistencies possibly principle in
this conflict Of principle; possibly all may be
ciIed by the fact that the debtors of to-day, numer
ous active, and intelligent class are OF more political
consideration than the debtors of the future or the
past, or the creditor class Of either period
MODERATE EXPANSION.
But it is insisted that although expansion wrong
In the beginning-was measure OF finance too full Of
peils and iniquies to be hazarded for the sal
Walton of country and that return specie values
by the Democratic party devouty wished and certain
TO be secured yet opposition to further expansion is
most unreasonable because it proposes be limited
to the wants and necessities Of business 1t might be
unreasonable if the degree of expansion were left to
the laws aud the logic of trade. But whom it pro-
posed to invest with authority to determine these
wants and the measure OF expansion necessary meet
them2 Not the natural laws of supply and demand,
which inexorable they dlnerring not the
solid men of brains Of broad intelligence and business
experiences; but to the politicians and pigmies in
Congress assembled, possessing oftentimes insufficient
knowledge to regulate the finances OF rural NUM-
paity; to the Wangs and Poppletons, and Persons,
and Sayages of political availability, rather than
profundity Of statesmanship. Can it be expected
that the financial wants of nations business Of the
Tiohfv in1erests Of trade INSTRUMENTATION and COM
meree can be wisely measured or safely limited by
such trbunal7 You might well expect It to intel
genty exercise the power and control the
times and the quantity of the RAINFALL the duration
and degree of the suns warmth the ebb and flow Of the
oceans tide The laws Of trade, like the laws Of ma
ture, above legislation, and wreehed must be the
condition Of the country when its business wants. and
the volume of currency required to supply them,
shall be measured and determined BY the personal
interests and lobby influence the partisan hacks and
political adventurers of the American Congress.
Chosen for brief period, its financial policy will
change with its political complexion-today expan-
son tomorrow contraction; always uncertainty,
cording to the interests or caprice, or corruption, it
may De, of the majority. From such source
permanent relief can come, even if want of currency
the cause and expansion the remedy for existing
troubles.
THE REPUBLICAN VIEW.
But do not believe either. do not believe there
insufficient currency in the country transact its
business The volume is ample. but it is dormant and
inactive. Not lack Of money but lack of confidence
TO invest and employ it is the cause OF the temporary
interruption Of some branches of enterprise Capital
Is selfish and cowardly. 1t will not invest without
reasonable assurance Of profit and safety. The state
Of popular feeling in regard to of these great en-
teprses during the last few years has served to give
uncertainty TO both. The withdrawal OF capital from
the conEtruCtiOu Tailroadg rpsultinp from thts