Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-04-04
n OF WAR

ooShS NAnS VI bnOuSdHU5 VI OIHtr men,
and the fact that he has stumbled on
the right in regard to imitation viii add
but little to the weight of his opinion.
To enforce the idea enunciated by Sum-
ner the Herald should have secured an
expression of it from some great mer-
chant or manufacturer, whose opinion,
being that Of a practical man, would
be worth something. 1t strikes us that
the HerdId's course is well calculated
to defeat the very object it appears to
have most at heart. For instance, it
says:
Limitation means war-civil war pressed
upon the Atlantic States by the West and
Southwest. We have heard a great deal
lately from those sections about asserting
their power in the legislation Of the coun-
try. If the West has votes enough to rule
Congress and the country we are satisfied
10 be ruled by the West. But the wildcat
statesmen of that incipient empire must re-
member that it is one thing to rule, but
quite another thing to ruin. Initiation is
ruin, dishonOT, disgrace. The West shall
not rule ms in this thing, making us beg
gars at home and ~disreputable abroad. We
demand that the West shall not legislate to
the discredit Of the Nation, issuing paper
and calling it money, and issuing more pa
per and calling it more money, under the
hippant pretense that the country needs
circulation. Would rOuring water into the
heart send blood through the veins? Shall
the West be allowed to consummate this
crime against the outcries Of ali the old
States which made the West what it is?
Shall every American who dares to show
his face in England or France or Germany,
or in Spain or Italy, ever be dishonOred
because a few Western -demagogues have
made ii diScreditable 10 be an American?
Shall the commerce of our great
seaportS be stricken down and &C.
stroyed by a method that 10 country
can practice with impunity? Other nations
regard bullion as ~money-gold or silver
which has its intrinsic value, whether it be
stamped in the name of the King or made
into watches and rings and bijouteTie:
whereas We take the product of paper mills
and make it into money by theaid of print
ing presses in the Treasury Department.
And We constantly remind ourselves of our
dishOnOr by printing the portraits of some
Of our best ~tinanciers of the past on the
wretched slips of paper which are the
badges Of our diScredit. This thing can
not go on forever, making u disgrace and
ruin deeper as it goes, and it is bes. TO I'M
derStand the issue before it is too late to
avert il. Initiation means war just as slave
~ meant war all the time from 1910 ID
1860. New England, the Middle States,
Virginia, and the Carolinas do not mean
that after laying the foundations of the
Republic the West and Southwest shall
ruin and discredit them and the Republic
together. The HerGldS prediction of the
tread of armed men in 1861 was not more
than a repetition Of that prediction
now unless the newly fiedced States, which
think themselves wiser han the original
thirteen learn wisdom from the danger of |
the hour
This effort to give the financial ques-
ton a sectional tinge is worse than
folly, and one of the imitation organs,
the Cincinnati Enquirer, meets 1t in
this way:
The Nelg York Herald threatens war if
the financial policy of the West and South
is persisted in. Very good. We are in
favor Of the next war. Let New England
And that would be the result of the
adoption by New England of the
Herald's hue and cry. We do not be-
lieye initiation is the remedy for the
of which our people complain,
and therefore We propose to discuss the
question upon its merits. If the pep
pie cannot be convinced by an appeal
to their reason that imitation means
high prices, fctitions values and high
taxes; that the nearer the greenback
dollar approaches the specie standard
the better it Will be for both producers
and consumers, as it was in the days
before our civil war, then there is no
hope for a better currency. Certainly
5he Rerald's policy Of arraying the Sec
lions against each other viii not bring
about the desired reform. The spirit
which the Chicago Tribune discusses
IS the one which will in the end win.
That journal says:
Congress Is about to water the cur
rency in defiance of an almost unani-
nous opposition to it by the solid men
and sound newspapers of the country.
No man who has any reputation
throughout the country as a fnancier
has asked for more shinplasters. The
behind Congress, in this matter,
has been the force of ignorance. IO-
gan, boasting that he had learned what
be knows about finance in the spare
hours of two weeks, and Morton, sneer-
at Schurz, because the latter had
studied the matter before
speaking about it, are fit leaders for
those who cry for cheap money 1t is
that Americans must learn by
experience the evils of a watered cur
rency as they have those of watered
The Tribune then shows that on the
and workingmen the burdens
IF initiation viii press with especial
eThe farmer sells his goods on a gold
basis. The price at Liverpool fixes the
price in New York and Chicago. He gets
The paper equivalent of the gold price in
Liverpool, less cost of transportation there.
When he uses this money, however, TO buy
necessaries and comforts, he pays more
han the price in gold reckOned in paper.
For the merchant must not only charge
his but something more. This something
is an insurance against future depre-
cation. 4 dOllar-nOte that forms part of a
.iuctuating currency may be worth to-mOr-
low ) cents less than it is to-day. The
merchant who takes the note must be in
'ured against this possible loss. So he
must put a higher price on his goods.
Thus, if gold is 10, and a coat is
worth $40 in gold, it mo be
bought for S1l in currency, though that is
he precise equivalent of $40 in gold. But
tomorrow S11 in notes will only
De worth $3.50 in gold. The merchant
must protect himself against this possible ,
OSS by charging S12 or Sl3 in currency.
The extra s. or So is his insurance. If l
pecie were in circulation, a farmer could
ring 20 bushels of corn into market and