The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1874-10-31

Whv Greenbacks are not Money Greenbaeks
not a Medium Of Exchange The Burdens OF 9
the Farmer Contraction Duty.
An admirable address, entitled Money,
vas delivered last month, before the
Hampshire County Agricultural Society,"
at Amherst, Mass, by Prof Julius a.
seelve Of Amherst College. Prof. Seelye
i the Independent Reform candidate tor
congress in that district against Charles H.
Stevens, Republican. In that address
Prof Seelye said:
All money is wealth, but all wealth is
not money. Money is standard OF value
and an instrument of exchange. 10 be
standard it must have value, that 49,, IL
must be an object of desire, and cost labor
different articles have been used for money,
hut gold and silver are the most desiraoie
and are the only money current all over
the world. No nation which uses these 1or
ito current money can have for any Iengfh
~ time too much or too little "A redun-
dancv or stringency Of the money marker
must regulate itself in any such communi
~ in a little while Financial panics ana
so.called stringencies in the money market
onlv occur when we have put something
in the Mace of money which is not money,
ard have tried to make the shadow OF the
thing do the work OF the substance AZ ~
uusound currency is the only source Oh al
these monetary distributions, ANA TINS
brings to notice the difference between our
currency and money. 1t IS very lmpor-
tant difference We call our currency
money, but it is not money. In the hi'l
place, we have seen that money must nave
value, that is, it must have cost labor anu
he desirable in. ITSELF But this paper
which we call greenback has neither OF
these qualities; therefore it cannot posi-,
bly be standard of value. What kind OF
n standard is that which is changing all the
while at the will Of congress, or the Will OF
ANYBODY? Feb IS, 1862, congress author
lied the issue of $3.50, 100000 legal-tender
notes and July | l, of the same year. 3 l50,
600. 900 more On this same date, July
II. 1862, congress decreed that no notes
should be issued for less than dollar, but
,July II. not a week after, a law was passed
declaring that fractional notes OF dollar
should be issued, and some $4,000, 900 OF
these have been the result. Feb. %, 1868,
the national bank system. was started, au-
thorizing these banks to issue notes Tor
$500. 900, ONO, and then week afterward,
March 3, 1868, congress sent out $IOO,-
600, 900 more of greenbacks. Besides this,
July II, 1870, further issue OF S54 0OO.,,
900 bank currency was authorized. And
then our present congress, after debate
upon the currency, the like of which in
FOLLY it would be hard to find elsewhere,
added 500, 100000 more legal tenders.
What sort of standard do you call thatl
What sort of a yard stick, what sort OF a
bushel would it be which the government
could stretch after this fashion, and then
force the people to use for the same meas
ure as the old one? These greenbacks are
not money, and it is great deluslon to call
them so. They are not standard OF val
ue.
GREENBAcKs NoTA MEDIUM.oF EXCHANGE
But some one asks, Cannot we buy things
with them? Are they not medium OF
exchange as we'll as gold or silver? Let
US look at this They do exchange among
us: We do buy things with them; this
everybody knows But everybody knows
also that the piece of paper called a dollar
does not buy as much as gold or silver
dollar would, and that it does not buy any
thing abroad A United States promis,
TO pay will not be received for goods out
side the United States except to a Unite,
extent in Canada, and the reason for thi
is that it is dishonored promise; it is tn,
promise Of government which does no
keep its promises, Every one of thos,
greenhacks is a note OF national dis
honor. But no, says distinguish
ed senator and late secretary of tn
Treasury of the United States. these ar
not dishonored promises, because no def
mite time is specified for their redempt ton
No definite time specified But wha
kind of transaction would this be anon
private partiesp Suppose | should boz
row some money of you and give you
note promising to pay, but without spec
flying any time for payment, aud suppos
could wheedle you into the acceptance
such a note, and then, when you came f
payment, | should wrap myself up in Il
dignity and say, You must not demaI
payment for it now | mean to pay
some time | am good for this sum dor
you see all my property? but j have n
promised to pay at any time, and | don
mean to pay till / get ready" Now if "
should feel that you had been fool
lend money on such promise, what so
of rascal would you call me if | shou
take such ground?
But to come back to our main questio
These greenbacks are not medium Of {
change, and thus,not money, because tn
will not circulate outside our borders, a
because even here they will not buy I
goods which the dollars they are cal
by ought to purchase, and would purcht
II we had them. They are the currel
of our country, our legal currency for,
upon us; but they are not mOney, and all
acts of congress calling them money col
no more make them such than acts of G
gress could turn tinsel into gold To
one who understands what il Involves.
Legal-teDder Act must be regarded as
of the greatest mistakes, it not the gr
est, Of the war. 1t has made our natl,
debt more than thousand million Of
lars larger than it would otherwise
been; it has vastly increased our state
county and town Indebtedness 1t
swollen prOdigiously our taxation it
augmented the cost Of living it has
TO extravaganza, unthrift, aud waste
ness on the part Of the government
worse than all, il has been steadily poi
ing the minds of the people with the
tiCn that dishonest promise, a pror
which the party promising does net NJ
any attempt TO keep, may still be
full, and may even be declared by
Supreme Court to be the highest la
the land,
THE BURDENS WITH WHICH THE FAR
Is sADDLED.
Among the burdens Of this paligI