The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1874-04-06
Gold and silver as Compared with
Leather and Paper.

gul now at washington, made . speeCl
In the House on Saturday on the currenc,
question. In this speech BEN took III
ground that specie was u sortof plGye,
out basis for paper currency, and tina
after all Il was the stamp Of the govern
ment on the paper that gave It It's value
In other words, he took the same grount
that the "horny.handed" SAN CARY takes
viz, that leather properly stamped b.
the government has all the qualities o
money that gold and silver have. Wha
the country needed and wanted, said BRN
JAMEN, Is plenty Of the currency we have
plenty Of greenbacks-just as 1t wants
plenty Of cloth or any other useful com
modify.
In thus comparing specie to leather the
Massachusetts, genie (see Rarper's Weekly
shows himself the superior peSonIwe all
know him to be, and far ahead Of such
world renowned economists and stats.
ticians as Adam Smith, who wrote fool.
ish book called the "Wealth Of Nations" /"
which thousands Of foolish people
still believe to be a valuable mine
Of indiSputable facts and deductions
in regard to currency and its kindred in.
terests. In this little book we are told
that gold and silver have been adopted
by common consent as money by the
civilized world, because the production Of
them more nearly represents a
given amount OF labor than any
other metals. They are relatively scarce
and difficult TO obtain az compared with
other metals, and it has been found that
it takes nearly the same amount Of labor
in every country 10 obtain them. A man
digs, on an average, several weeks for
a nugget Of gold in South America,
Just the same as he does In Csllior-
mia, Australia or Guinea. This fact
therefore is the primary reason why
gold has value as q basis Of exchange
among all nations. Itdoes not dependon
the stamp Of any nation for its value. 1t
is not the prOmtSS Of any nation to pay but
the contamination Of q payment. And 1t
is good when that stamp Is worn of and
can no longer be recognized, good even
when the nation itself has ceased 10
exist. Far different is the case with
leather or paper. The latter Is current
only as it represents easy conyertibility
into specie, and this want Of convertibility
is the reason why our greenbacks are at
a discount at home to-day, and why they
would not pass current in Europe except
at still heavier discount An English
Five Pound note is probably at par, and
may be at premium, in France or Ger
many. Why? Because any banker in
Paris or Berlin will pay specie for II,
either dollar ior dollar, or will deduct only
very slight commission. Try the same
man with ap American greenbsck or an
Auatrisn or Italian bank note and see the
difference. He will take them only at q
shave. And the shave in each case repre-.
sents two elements, viz the trouble, or ex.
pense, and the risk OF converting them into
specie. In our case it would be princi-
pally the former e!sment Of discount,
while in Austrian or Italian paper 1t
would probably be the latter. Thus Is
seen the difference between specie and
paper the world over. Paper approx
mates specie In value Just as tits with case
or difficulty converted into it. And thus
ends our first elementary lesson for BEN.
BuTLER's neglected education