Omaha daily bee., 1874-04-30
Necessary Imitation.

That a large prOpOruOn oi lhe
American people believe it essential
the interests of the country to in
a the volume of paper money,
IAN not be denied. Business is not
Iively, and manufacturing interests
are not as prosperous as desirable.
are also suffering, and
speculation in everything and every-
where is dull. In Wall street fancy
stocks declined when the Limitation"
bill passed Congress, aud they de-
clineds still further when the Presi-
dent vetoed that measure. The pros
meet of the so-called initiation did not
euliven trade, nor has the veto affec-
ted it one way or the other. There's
something the matter, no doubt;
but what that something is is the
question. Is il scarcity ofcurrency?
Money is not scarce in England;
vet trade is dull there. Money is not
scarce i'm Berlin; trade is dull there
also. There is an abundance OF
irredeemable paper money IN
Vienna, but business is dull In
Austria. Money is cheap in the
United States, still business is not
satisfactory. The temporary dull
ness that prevails in all the COM
mercial and manufacturing coun-
tries i'm the world, is causing an ac-
emulation of idle capital at all the
financial centers. There is trouble,
and because of this trouble capital is
timid, and much of it Is therefore
idle. To attribute the prevailing in
activity to a scarcity of eur
rency, therefore, must be a mis-
take. If currency were really scarce,
| Ioanable funds could not be plenty,
as they are i'm Berlin, Vienna, Paris,
London, New York, and Cincinnati.
Another evidence of the superb
bundance of money is the high price
paid for undoubted securities.
United States skies are selling at
lis to 100. That Is to say, bonds
bearing six per cent. interest In
gold, equal to 81 i'm currency, sell at
a premium, excluding aceruedinter-
est, of Is to Is per cent. These in
vestments net 81 per cent. i'm cur
rency. Now, if money were scarce,
as is alleged, would people loan it at
81 Del cent? If ordinary business
were attractive, would not idle cap
ital be used in the channels of trade
rather than invested in bonds at 81
per cent? The fact that govern
ment securities are very high is
conclusive evidence that more paper
money is not the medicine the pa
tient needs. Trade needs strength
ening, but for this an extra dose Of
paper money would not avail nor
would an extra supply of gold, if
that were our currency, avail. Ber-
lin and London have gold In abun-
dance, but there is a depression in
those countries as there Is in this.
Even gold medicine, therefore,
would not be effective,
When we say, then, that initiation
is necessary, we do not refer to
paper money or money of any kind.
Nor can the imitation that is needed
be afforded by banks or by Congress.
Legislation cannot give the relief
that that is needed. If Congress
could make trade active and create
a demand for articles that are not
wanted, and give business to rail-
roads and steamboats, that are only
partly employed, and put up prices
of speculative securities, ii would no
doubt do so, but it al not. II
might, by initiating the currency and
thus depreciating its value and inn
pairing confidence in its soundness,
create a furry In the market for a
while, but this could not last, and
the relapse would only make the
situation worse.
The imitation that we refer to is
the imitation of the crops. This is
what is needed, and to the farmers
of the United States, and not to the
Congress of the United States, We
must look for relief. Congress can
not relieve the farmers, but farmers
can, with a favorable season, relieve
the country.
England imported last year food
to the value of fire hundred million
dollars. That hurt. OF that the
: United States supplied a large por'
ton. Had We produced o we
might have exported more. The
heavy demand from abroad, coup
led with inadequate supplies, pu'
prices up i'm our markets, and fOoC
is now dear i'm all the markets O
this country. This shows tina
: there is a deficiency, and the higf
prices show that We have lived anC
! traded beyond our means, and here
l lies the difficulty. We have con
/, sumed too much, and produced t.
little.
Agriculture underlies all other i'm
, terests, and upon the prosperity o
, this branch depends the prosperity
, Of all other branches. Hard time
, are sure to follow short or made
) quate crops. Every bushel of grail
or pound of meat produced is 81
! much added to the wealth of thu
: country, while paper money is no
wealth, but the representative o
, something else. If the issue of pa
!, per money is i'm excess of the wealth
it ought to represent, it is to tina
extent a sham ard a fiction. Con
Z gress may create paper money, bu
, producers only can accumulate
| wealth. The latter is what is wan
| ted, then, and not the former, ant
for that we must look to the hardy
sons of toll and not to the non-prO
: ducers who compose the Congress o
: the United States. Those, there
I fore, who depend upon good crop
for a revival of business rest thei
hope upon a solid foundation, whil'
those who think more paper money
the right medicine will be disap
pointed.
The imitation of the crops being
: in our opinion the true remedy, i
, is encouraging TO notice that thu
wheat crop promises well, and tina
= the ground occupied shows al in
crease, generally, of s to 10 pc
cent. a compared with last year
Farmers are now planting OtheI