The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1874-01-10
THE CAMPBELL MONETARY SYSTEM

THE CAMPBELL MONETARY SYSTEM"
The La Sale Press denies the Impeachment
of being the "only champion of the Campbell
monetary system now living and mention
the New York Mercantile JournaL (Horac,
Day. the independent, the Joliet Sun, PEG
ria TRANSCRIPT and few other papers a
such champions besides which the Press say
Mr. Campbell has a whole barrel full of LEI
tiers from prominent men endorsing hi
system" From all these the Press select
letter from the Hon. Jos. Gillespie, of Mad
son county, and commends it to our cspecia
attention. Joe Gillespie, some twenty year
ago, was wing member of the Illinois stat
senate and was accounted a man of moderate
ability. Since then, we believe, he held TO
some years the Office of Circuit Judge, anC
now lives in dignified rctiracy. We can SCI
no ovcrpowerng reason, from anything judge
Gillespie ever said or did, though granting
him to be aman Of eminent good sense, why
his financial views should be regarded as o
more weight than those of the editor of the
Press, or John Jones, or any other man Of
moderate intelligence.
But if the endorsement of Mr. Campbell
scheme by the newspapers named and by the
writers of the barrel full of letters is no more
pointed and emphatic than that of the letter
of Judge Gillespie, Mr.. Campbell, in our ap
prchcnsion, IS far from being sure of his
friends. 1t is true, Judge G.. agrees with Mr.
Campbell, that the nation can create a sound
circulating medium in which the people will
have cOnfdcncc;' and that he is "persuaded -
this "can be brought about by the issue Of
legal tenders, interchangeable, at the option OF
the holders, with government bonds bearing
rate of interest not greater than the earnings
of labor" whatever those may be. But Judge
G, hints that this currency shall be "of un.
doubted solvcnCy;" and "its volume com.
with the business wants of the
neither too much nor too little"
And he further intimates that, on account
Of the failure in these important par.
ticulars of our deprecated paper system,
1.-TWO ugly symptoms manifested them.
selves. Although no complaint could
be made of prices of the products Of the
farm, or the wages Of labor being too low,
yet the times were out of joint, neither the
farmer nor mechanic, nor laboring man could
do more than keep soul and body together,
while the most astonishing fortunes, such rs
had never been known in any other age or
were being amasscd by q favored
few" How such vigorous and truthful
picture of the evils of the redundant green.
back issue, which at no time reached $50 per
capita Of the population Of The United States.
can be construed as an endorsement of sys.
tenn of paper issue which contemplatcs $50
per capita as its minimum and about $40 as
The rule, is hard to see; but no harder than it
is TO sec how such paper flood as Mr. Camp.
bell proposes can produce that currency of
'undoubted solvency' upon which Judge
Gillespie insists. ~ currency of undoubted
solvency is one which must be rcdeemable in
good money of some sort. What is the
promise on the face of a greenbaCk? To pay
so many "dolars" What is dollar? 4 bit
Of gold or n bit of silver of a certain fixed
weight. Then the currency" Judge Giles
pie insists upon is one that is redecmable in
gold or silver Is this Mr. Campbell's cur.
cncy? Abundant statistics, rs we said on a |
ormcr OCCASION show that specie value, no /
natter what the character of our currency, |
AN never be safely maintained in the United |
states with paper circulation exceeding |
1880 per capita OF course Mr. Campbclrs |
go to $40 per capita would place specie out
If the question. At $40 per capita it would
axe hat full of dollar bills TO buy gold
lollar. Then Mr.. Campbcll's promise to
'ay ten dollars would mean promise to |
Jay in some other promise TO pay ten dollars,
md that in some other promise to pay ten
loilars and 50 on indefinitely. And this rub. |
'ish he would call "currencyw Judge |
iillcspic's solvent currency evidently
means paper dollar which shall be good for
ndi dollar, not only throughout the United |
tatcS but in all parts of the commercial .
'orId, and having got such paper ISSUE, we
earthly agree with him that the only rational
hing to do is Ia let it alone, for, As he SAYS.
if there is anything in the world which can
c best managed by allowing it to regulate
self, it is money" Taking this remark in
with Mr.. Campbell's little CONT
entail congress which he proposes to organ.
&c under the name OF "Trcasury Board, D." to |
'guIatc the currency, and to keep on rcguat-
~ it, and never to get done regulating it, .
nd the language of Judge G. becomes |
ecidcdly sarcastic
TnE Worthwhile PROTECTIVE AssGuIA-
IoS held its annual meeting atthc Worthwhile