The daily gazette., 1874-12-23
The Result Of Hunest Money.

From the Chicago Tribune. p, 1.glf1
The issues and principles involved In
the financial questions of the day are
the illustrated by the difference bel
tween trade, commerce, and prosperity
as shown In the Dominion Of Canada
and In the other States Of the Union on
the other.
From the beginning, Californa, Ore.
gon, and Nevada have rejected the pa
per money of the Government as the
standard Of values. They have consti.
'tutional money, and never permitted
the false standard to be recognized
Even ct the first when greenbacks were
|at par, and were everywhere else &C:
|cepted without question, California
refused to receive them except as,
commodity, and the wisdom OF this
policy has been shown every day since
then. When greenbacks declined, III
made NO difference fnCalifornia; there
business was done on the real'money
basis and 1t made no difference how
| high or how low the paper money
might get, it in nowise disturbed the
business in Califarnia. When man
there sold property there for thou.
sand dollars, he sold 1t for q thousand
dollars real money, and when q man
contracted debt for thousand dol
lars, he promised and expected to pay
like sum in gold. The standard Of
values remained unchanged; there was
mo declining one way to-day and an
other way tomorrow. The dollar was
always a dollar--no more and no less.
There was no gambling or speculation
in the value of the money. There was
L no bulling the market to make gold
high, or bearing 1t to make gold low;
,, gold never changed, 80 many ounces
Represented so many dollars-nO more
/ or less one day than the other. Green.
backs were never recognized asmoney
and were never accepted except at their
| market value in gold. When green
backs were worth sixty cents In gold
they were accepted as equal In value
to sixty cents, and no more. That sys
tenn has prevailed in the Pacific States
from the beginning to this time. The
iresults are obvious.
a year ago, when the panic passed
over the United States as destructive
blast, destroying wealth, sweeping
Iaway the accumulations Of years, ane
, lleaving in its train an Unprecedented
. annihiiation of credit industry an(
production, the Pacific States wer'
untouched They had not dabbled II
the unclean things. They had no
lerected a paper standard as variable a
the wind. The panic found then
buying and selling and keeping &C
le counts In dollars, and not with fuctu
ating and uncertain and irredeemabl
paper. They did business in money
and not with protested promises
: They dealt with property at its valu
In money, and not fictitious value
ifounded Son bets ss to the value {
gfeenbacks at a future day. The
rs had no margins invested In the chance
Of Of the rise and fall of paper the
Idealt exclusively with real values !
real money. There was no collaps
Z, there, because there was no speeui'
ltion or gambling in the money invested
cs There was no shrinkage of values b
cause Of the shrinkage Of money. TT
a money OF California remains VI
ns changed, and the property represea
ling like money knew no shrinkag
while the banks of the rest OF Il
country closed their doors, and eve
the savings banks refused, for wa
1even of deprecated paper, 10 pay the
Idepositors, the banks of Californ
were undisturbed, paying all deman,
In coin. The year has gone by, al
tlOO, 900 mechanics of Pennsylvan
,as have been turned away from the clos
he mines, mills, and workshops, al
,ep while all over the country labor h
n, been employed at half wages or hs
time, the industries of California ha
been undisturbed, and the savin
banks of that State have on depo
ttsS;;i S68. 900, 0O0-a sum equal to the ca
tai In the National Banks of New Yo
ito. city, and exceeding that of all the \
tsa tional Banks In Philadelphia, Bal
lmore, New Orleans, Cincinnati,
ILouis, Chicago and Pittsburg co
Ibined. While the National Banks
San Francisco have capital of t
millions and o half, the commerc
banks. organized under the State i
and doing business on gold bas
@ have a capital of $4s, ,O0O, 900. TIL,
has been no panic, no disturbance,
prostration there has been continr
increase OF production, of gene
wealth, of commercial prosperity, Q
all because California has never de-
Jbusiness on paper standard, and
Jpreserved as the basis Of all her tr,
the money employed by the civilii
10 world. What is true of Californiu
% true of Nevada and Oregon, which hi
in like manner retained the coin sta
ar ard of value.
|As Let any one compare these RESI-
with that produced by the twelve We
an. substitution of fictitious standar
VII" values in place Of a real one. Here
the debtor class vehemently protest
against any improvement in the cur
- cy. They say that when they contrad
This debt, or bought this property, n
ev was worth IS, 80, or 65 cents on
dollar; now that money is worth So c'
Ian increase of their debt from 20 t
ID. cents on the dollar, to make that mo
worth par will be to add 25 to 80 per G
reets. to the amount of their debts. Amer
statesmen are proclaiming that the
lust remedy is to prevent that cure
reaching par, and to put it back
cents on the dollar, thus making me
: "cheap and plenty" In California
W ey is abundant. Capital in any guam
is to be found there, because an inv
r., ment In California is q safe one. A d.
's Invested remains o dollar to the enc