The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1874-02-28
JEFFERSON ON Rag MONEY.


fire. and so we md that tie modern advo'
Gates of indefinite paper money lhialoh
have the impudcnce to quote Thomas JEFF
fcrsou in favor of their irrational theories
Thus Campbcllte paper before us, under
the head of What Thomas Jefferson SAID
about the specie basis fraud" quotes AS follows
from letter of Thos. Jefferson to John W.
Eppes, 9th Of Nov. 1913, Geilcrson's Works,
Vol. 6, p. 243)
ut is said that our bank paper IS as good
as silver because we may have SILVER lor II
at the bank where it issues inns " not true.
One, two or three persons may nave IT. put
general application would soon exhaust thcSc
vaults and leayc ruinous proportion OF
their paper in its intrinsic worthless form
The inhabitants of the banking cry might
obtain cash for their paper rs iat rs me cash
of the vaults would hold out out Instance
puts it out of the power Of the county 10 90
This A farmer having q note OF a Boston or
| Charleston hank distant hundreds OF miles,
| has no means of calling for the cash, and
while these calls are impracticaeie for the
country the hanks have no fear oi their being
made from the towns because their inhabit-
ants are mostly on their books, ana there by
eutfrance only and during good behavior
The ,ntclQjpent reader will pot need to b.
4old that NJ jefferson, in the above, so ftr
from arguing against the specie basis
fraud" Is arguing against tie paper moGey
fraud ard in favor of specie circulation cN
ciusivcl,y. With tais understanding, the bras
s,ncss Of a Campbellte mflationist qlcting
him is something conspicuously refreshing.
When Jefferson wrote the above the Banl
of England had been in continuous suspcn
sion for about tourtcenTears, and Napoleon
having burnt up the French assignats in dis
cust was carrying onG war with ala Europ'
at sbout quarter o. what il cost Englan'
alone and was paying as he went IL gold an(
silo,cr. At thc end of the war; two gears later
England, With her paper system, had rolle'
M 4 debt of four thousand millions of dol
liars, while France emerged from the wal
crushed, ii is true, by the combined armic
lief all Europe, but financially sONnd, not oW
Ing a.do.lar, with the best currency in tn
world. Jefferson was always accused o
7eaning politically to the side of France Il
harainst England, and he certainly preterre'
the French to the English financial system
! In those day6 Europe and America ha'
less than tenth Of the amount of gold ans
lsilycr they have now, yet of all the EuropeaI
states England alone had fallen into the pa
Ipcr folly, while France had plenty Of har
money circulation and Jefferson was grumi
ling because we did not discard paper an
I.n,,,o ln,yn f., l,arl money here
And France sticks to her gold sad silve
to this day The inhatioajst papers are /
2 the habit of quoting France to us as a couI
try where ihe currency is especially inflated
Her circulation, Mr. Logan tells US, is 81
r per capita, while in the l. s. our clrculatio
Is bit Si6 Der capita Therefore we mus
have more paper But wkat does the clrc'
lation Of France consist of? $5j0O0,0O0 j
paper and $7OO,O0O,eoo in gold and silver
!, Sowe arc tod England has Il circulation I
!. soplc4 $22 capita, but of this $509a00,OOt
t coin to S275 100000 in paper!
' Compared with the Jnitcd States he 6.
culation o. England and France unaoubtedl
g is abundant and perhaps redundant yet thei
ClICbldtlOIi - JIic SCiIulbt STUN - ''i'I'y
geld and siiver-real capital and wealth.
we would have the same substantial sort s
, money here and in the same abundance Il
us DO as England and France haze dom
} bring our paper money up to gold, and the
| we too can have gold and silver Abundant,
t But our deprecated paper has driven go!
out-wc have no use tor tive make me
e chaudisc Of it and export it in lieHnoi cor
c and cotton, because il costs less freight an
c brings "a surec price
5 lie. Che government redeem Lcr grcanbacF
c in g0h-Che national band notes being r
n dscmSblc ia grecnbacks will take care
Y then4seires.l If she has not gold enough
0 do il, her bonds are worth prelaiu:N In gol
. and she can buy it. Having bough so.
enough 20 iioa, her grccnbackS, and ti,aret
J. also enough 70 float our national bank bill
d gold ard silver in common circulation hc
/ will soon be .as abundant rs in ENGLAND an
c France and then an initiation up to S@4
i S3t rcr capita would be something veal al
worth baasting Of