The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1874-09-04
TIE CURRENCY QUESTION.
More Currency Required to Garry
on the Business Of the Country.
Letter from Hon. &c. Parker to the
People Of the Ninth Con-
greSsional District,

.Crlved many letters from different
parts of the district, asking NV views
~ the great financial question which
Is now before the country for settle
meut. l take the liberty of saving
that supposed my views were well
understood by the people | represent,
~ these views have been clearly indi-
Gated by my votes IN Congress. Yet
deem IT my duty to answer these
letters. and l can not seek a better
medium than the columns Of your
widely circulating Journal. l do not
think | can find a better commence
.nent than 10 quote the following from
the great statesman whose name ap-
pears at the close of the quotations:
There is a proportionate quantity
OF money requisite to carry Oh the
trade of a country, freely and cur
gently. Want of money in a country
reduces the price of that part of its
produce which is used in trade. This
Is another reason why land in such a
case will be low, especially where the
staple commodity o. the country is
the immediate prodwce of the land"
|Benjamin Franklin.
There is a bitter contest in progress
to-day in this land b. the representa-
tlveS ofthe monied aristocracy on the
one hand, and by the great mass of the
people on the other. The proposition
on the part of the capitalists is to
grasp and firmly held the largest pos
SIble per centage of the profits of all
the labor of the country. They want
high rates of interest. whereby they
may tax traffic, and low rates Of wa
@es whereby they may tax labor. By
contracting the currency of the coun-
try they secure both of these objects:
for they force traffic to supplicate the
banks for loans, and drive labor to
beggary: and as the necessities of
merchants and traders render more
pressing their opportunities for loans,
the rate of interest is advanced to
cover the increased risks; and as the
demand for labor declines, the price
also declines. They demand dear
snoney and cheap labor.
On the other hand, the proposition
of the people-those who live by la
Dor and traffic. is to expand the VOL
June of currency. thereby chcapening
1noucy. and So stimulating maHufac-
curing. agricultural and mechanical
industries into such activity as will
ensure employment 10 the laporiug
classes, and rcmunerativc rates of
wages. No contest was ever more
clearly defined. At 10 time in the
history of the country has il been
evident that the interests of the
many clash with the interests of the
few.
The MANY demand expansion: the
few clamor for contraction. This few
denounce the greeuback currency.
This few are the practical repudia-
tlOnists OF the country. because for
their own gain they seek TO destroy
public confidence in the best currcn-
cy the country has ever had. 1t is
not true that there is less circulation
per capita nov than there was in 1860.
while the change in the method of
doing business requires more. There
was in 1860. SIT 80 per capita; there
is now SIS OF per capita. 1t is not a
fact that there is less circulation per
capita in this country to-day than in
either England, France, or Germany:
and does not every m know that
our business requires more per capita
than in either of those countries?
Is it not true that the United STATES
emerged from the war in 1865 with
about the same wealth a on entering.
Notwithstanding the destruction of
the South aud the expenditures of
the North? Is it not true that the
next five years nearly doubled the
nations wealth, increasing fourteen
billions during the years Of Our larg-
est volume Of currency? Was that
ruin? If so, give u more When did
the nation prosper equally? Did not
the very men who are now dcnOuncing
the greenback currency amass great
fortunes? And are not many Ofthcm
using these fortunes TO the detriment
of the people to-day? Now that our
currency has been contracted to one
third of 1866. while the wealth and
business requirements have doubled,
has not credit of an inferior and per-
sOnal nature taken the place of the
retired national currency? Is it not
true that in the panics of '37 and 81
the only one-third gold based curren-
cy was in a large measure lost or ma
terially deprecated, while in 1873
ours grew better as the panic in
creased? Did not the people hoard
it? Did not the misery moneycrats
grasp it and lock it up, thus putting
it beyond the reach of the legitimate
business mel of the country:
Is not the nation more indebted
and inflated by issuing interest bear
ing notes than by issuing non-inter-
est bearing notes for the same. debt !
Is it not q conceded fact that the
money of all civilized modern ma
tions is principally paper wherever
men cal read, and actual specie pay
ments are used only by savagrs? Can
the money rinns tell tic mamie that