Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1874-10-16
SPECIE PAYMENTS.

We think our correspondent as. f." on
the first page, is a little wrong in his posi-.
ton on the question Of specie payments.
The present irredeemable paper currency |
harms the farmer and mechanic far more |
than it does the purse-proud aristocrat"
The bondholder has his money invested |
where he is sure Of the interest on it, but |
that interest is coming out of the hard earn
ings of the working people, aud it is true
that by keeping the currency below gold un-
til the bonds payable in greenbacks mature,
the holders of those bonds may be made to
take less than their face value in gold for
them, but it would hardly be profitable for
the working classes to use their influence to
prevent a speedy return to specie payments,
keeping themselves meanwhile at the mercy
of the stock spectators OF Wall Street, sim
ply for the sake of inhcting a slight punish
ment upon those bondhoders.
The working class are the greatest suffer-
ers by huctuating currency, because when
4 man engages to do piece Of work for a
given price he cannot tell how much that
money will be worth when he gets it. 1t is
liable to become so deprecated any day that
its purchasing power to procure the neces-
saries of life is much less than it was when
he contracted for it; yet, being poor, he
cannot purchase his necessaries when they
can be had at the best advantage, but must
have them whenever he has the means. 1t
is the same with regard to the farmers sales.
Most farmers have debts to pay or wants to
supply when their crops are harvested that
cannot be put off, and the crops must be
sold for money to meet these demands, and
when the farmer gets this money he does
not know whether gold will be 100 or %
few days later when he wants to use his
greenbacks. lie is at the mercy of the spec
uators who, by combinations, are able to
effect such change in the value Of green
backs in day. 1t is enough to have it in
the power Of few spectators to make
corner in wheat or corn, without adding our
legally established circulating medium to
the list of commodities which they can push
up or down in value at will.
The argument that we need larger vol
ume of currency than that afforded by gold
and silver is no argument at all. When our
correspondent says "gold and silver are
simple articles of merchandise" and that
"when scarce they are dear, and cheap when
plenty" he knocks the bottom out Of that
craft If gold and silver are not plenty
enough to meet the demands Of commerce,
and the medium Of exchange be limited to
gold and silver, the value of the precious
metals will rise to its proper level in rela.
ton to other articles, so that less OF it will
be required to buy a given quantity Of
wheat, or coal, or other merchandise
But even this objection to return to
specie payments-the inconvenience to trade
during the period while specie is finding its
proper relative value--exists only in theory.
Paper money is so much more convenient
for transportation and use that no one will
want to exchange it for currency. The only
call for a return to specie payments is that
the value Of the paper dollar may become
fixed and the poor man who chances to hold
it may be freed from the power Of gamblers
and spectators. The moment it is known
that the government Of the United States
stands ready to redeem its financial paper in
gold, the standard medium Of circulation
among all nations, that paper becomes as
good as gold in value, and better in conve-
nence, so that business would only have to
adapt itself to a sound basis, without necessi-
tating change Of volume Of currency.
Money is a measure Of commercial val
ues. Actual value, as A" S. f." says, " is an
abstract idea, and canno. be measured by a
material substance" Actual values cannot
be measured by any fixed standard, because
given article has hardly the same actual
value to any two individuals. If the actual
value were the same, there could be no ex-
change without loss to one or both parties,
but in order that there may be exchanges Of
articles, without injustice to either party,
there must be an established commercial
value to those articles. If u man who owns
ten thousand dollars worth of property has
by accident swallowed poison, and knows
that simple cmetic will save his life, the
actual value to him of the emetic is greater
than all his property, but it would not be
just that the apothecary, who can sell the
required article for fifty cents, that being
more than its actual value to him, should
compel the unfortunate man to pay him his
ten thousand dollars for the article simply
because that is not more than its actual val.
ne to the purchaser Hence we have a Gem
mercial value fixed 10 every article, and