Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-01-24
THE ALMIGHTY DOLLAR.
Our Currency, Gold and Banking.

~ Illou anu <alucAiNah-
Much has been written of late on the
all important subject of finance; the
almighty dollar" furnishes a daily
topic for the newspapers, and a wide
field for speculative writers and am
bilious young statesmen.
Gold and silver are no longer uni
versally regarded the only medium of
exchange. They are no doubt the best
mediums, because they cannot be easily
counterfeited, and because they have
universal value; but it is not improba-
bic that the metals viii, IN the course
of time, become wholly inadequate to
the commercial transactions of the
world. Only once or twicein the histo-
ryOf the world has there been such
redundancy IN the precious metals as
to seriously disturb and unsettle bust
ness and produce famine prices; con-
vertlng almost every necessity of life
into gold; while its scarcity has over
and over again blocked the wheels of
commerce, and confined the dealings of
men to exchanges IN kind.
Gold and silver have not always
maintained a uniform value. An ounce
of gold has not In every age procured,
and does not now in every country
purchase the same amount Of labor and
bread. The influx of the precious
metals into Spain, shortly after the
conquest of Mexico, and the prohib .oIon
by the government against taeir ex-
port, gave to all the necess,ari of life
fabulous prices, mako a barrel of
flour, IN the time O. Charles V, cost
IN Spain, IN sllvC--4- and gold, as much as
1t did In the ate Confederacy in Con-
federate treasury notes. The wars of
TINS F-mg, waged on the continent of
Il .rope, and the necessary expectation
of the precious metals from Spain,
caused a reduction of prices in Spain
and an advance IN other parts of
Europe.
Gold, it is true, has an universal
value and viii perhaps always furnish
the best medium OF international ex-
change, to settle balances; for instance,
IN Geneva arbitrations; but for dOmes-
tic purposes 1t is wholly unnecessary;
for every day use at home, bya govern
ment and its people, it IS not needed.
At what period IN the worlds histo-
~ a certain amount of silver was fixed
at Naples as a ''scudo," or what weight
of silver made a Mexican dollar, | am
not prepared to say; nor do l know
when a certain amount Of gold was de-
clared to be "dOUbloon." or at what
period in the history of Egypt an hun
dred ''piastres' I'm gold coin was fixed
at a certain weight. But it is certain
that at some time or another g0U ern-
ment or some individual has fixed the
size and weight of the coins now In use,
and that prices have adapted them
selves to the gold and silver coins thus
declared to be a medium Of exchange.
In Africa, 1t is said, beads and other
gaudy trinkets are used among the
natives. In Brazil they have a gold
called IS. 400 refs, worth in our gold coin
or silver about eight dollars and seven
enty-five cents. They also have a sill
yer piece 400 refs, worth only thirty
three cents IN our money. When we
come to estimate these pieces and COM
pare them with our own, the estimate
is doubtless based on weight; when in
fact in Brazil the particular size or
weight of the piece was adopted be-
cause of the greater convenience and
the amount Of some particular food 1t
would buy or some fixed amount Of
labor it would command.
If there were but one people and one
government In the world, anything
which that government saw proper to
use as money, would become the stand
ard of value, and whoever had the most
of that which would pay taxes, would
have that which would possess the most
uniform purchasing power. This recOg-
nlzed government money would pay
taxes Tor tithes). If the government
received its taxes IN kind, or in what it
recognized as its money, there would
soon be established between the two an
interchangeable relation.
Taxes were originally collected in
kind, and there could have been no
change without the assent Of the taxing
power; whatever, therefore, was received
in lieu Of wheat, lambs and cattle, was
received with the assent of the taxing
power, and the price Of the tenth or
twentieth III kind was fixed in currency,
and thus medium of interchange was
introduced.
If we knew exactly how much Of the
necessary to pay taxes and effect the
exchanges Of every day life, there
would be as little danger of these prom
Uses producing fabulously high prices,
as Of a surplus Of gold and silver.
The permanency Of value to these prom
iscs, would depend too to a greater or
less extent upon the stability of the
government which made them, but IL
any change Of govcrnmtnt made by
the people who held these promises,
there would be little danger Of their
being repudiated as a legal tender for
taxes and debts due the government
OUR CURRENCY.
it is said, Is an irredeemable currency
"A promise to pay, which the govern
ment does not keep. It is true We can
not demand gold dollars for the treasu-
Nv and national bank notes; but they
are nevertheless redeemable by thegov-
eminent, and are redeemed at the rate
of two or three hundred millions an
nually. And Just here, would a return
to specie payments lessen the amount
VI ldANS NNAAdLAACu - lht NAtAAtAetAs
State Or county or municipal govern
ments? If the money with which the
people of Tennessee pay taxes was in
creased in value, made equal to gold,
would the taxes necessary to pay in
terest on our State debt be dimin-
ished:
Unfortunately the great masses ofthe
people, who live by the sweat of the
brow" have little Of anything which is
called money, more than is necessary to
meet the demands Of government. Men
who have large incomes have no con-
ception Of the number Of people who
are annually at their wits end to get
enough Of this -'irredeemable paper
money" to pay State and county taxes.
Our present currency Is, in my opinion,
emphatically the peoples money. They
recognize in it a standard Of value from
one end of the country to the other.
While the gold market may hIctuate
few cents from time to time, and Il may
require one dollar and ten cents to-day
to buy a gold dollar and one dollar and
fifteen cents to buy it tomorrow, our
,-reenback dollar on either day
buys the same quantity of wheat,
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