New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-04-20
CIV NIX GET ON RITHOUT CREDITf

Credit has been defined to be that confidence
which suhsists among men in respect to their
business affairs, and which dlsposes them to
lend money to each other, to bring themselves
under various pecuniary engagements by the
acceptance and Endorsement OF bills, ana TO
sell and deliver goods in consideration
Of an equivalent promised to DC gwen at q
subsequent period. These engagements usually
take the shape of promises to pay certain
number Of dollars. The true dollar is nothing
more nor less than % and 8-1Oths grains of
gold. Cloths fine Its value can only change
with that of gold and gold, while actually
part of the money of country, is OF all
known substances that which Is least subject
To TEMPORARY and violent fluctuations in
value. A heavy crop of grain or cotton fire.
quently depresses the price of those articles
below the cost of production, but the greatest
weld of the mines makes no perceptiblc
change in the value of the great stocksof the
precious metals by means of which the COM
merce of the world is carried on. But the
value of that irredeemable promise to pay a
genuine dollar, which we call dollar,
may range through the whole scale
from zero to par. There being no
vent for such paper outside the borders OF
the nation which issues it, any considerable
increase of the quantity diminishes the value.
Hence there is under such currency as we
are threatened with, no fixity to the value of
debts and no sound basis upon which credit
can rest. The unrestricted issue OF paper
money is destructive of credit, and tends
directly to barbarism.
The United States have hitherto had the
benefit of good credit, as regards their own
citizens one with another, and in their trans
actions with the rest of the world. Pecuniary
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES to pay dollars, promises
to pay certain specific weights of gold OF
standard fineness-have been created in the
shape of Government and State stocks, mort
cages andmOrtgage bonds, book debts, promisso-
nv notes, and loans of various other sorts to the
amount of thousands of millions of dollars.
In this amount is included every dollar Of
what circulates as money, every dollar de-
posited in savings or other banks, and every
dollar paid for life or fire insurance policy.
The monstrous edifce rests upon credit, and
when credit weakcns the structures which have
been founded on it will become insecure,
and if credit is destroyed they will fall. In
that case we shall have, for time at least,
in addition to Turkey in Europe and Turkey
in Asia, Turkey in America. Imitation Is
advocated by Butler and Morton and others
of that class on the express ground that it
will diminish the value of the dollar
ard relieve the "debtor class" Can
the "debtor class" be relieved in this
way without injury to credit We, indeed,
deny the existence of any distinct debtor
class, except bankrupts. There are farmers
who owe money. but have they not, as own
ers of property, some interest in the main
tenance of public and private credit, by
which wealth is created and dis
tributed and civilization itself main
tanned We resent the SANDER on our
countrymen that every man who owes money
is DESTROYS to get rid of a portion Of the
debt by lessening the value of the paper
dollar. And how is it with the laborng
classes and the hundreds of thousands who
have a little money laid by in savings banks
man who deposits 800 now may draw out SlOG
a year hence. Meantime, if initiation prevails,
it is not unlikely that $1O6 may not go as far
toward buying house or piece of land as
800 now. The same argumen: applies to all
persons who are in receipt Of fixed salaries, to
all who have taken out life insurance policies,
and to all who have lent money on bond and
mortgage.
Our money, if it were genuine, would have
increased with our trade, and its increase
would have been the sign of prosperity.
On the contrary, the increase of our paper
money, together with Its consequent deprecia
ton, has been caused by the increase of our ma
tional debt 1t measured not the increase of
our trade, nor its profits, nor the savings of
the people, but the necessities of the Govern
ment. Can any reason be given for the ex-
istence of greenbacks, except that the National
Treasury twelve years ago was empty, or in
danger of being sol Were not the $4,000 900
Of legal tender manufactured and put out
since the panic issued solely to pay the cur
rent expenses of the Government Let
the honest but ill-informed men who clamor
for more greenbacks ponder well this sentence
from the remarkably able speech of Senator
Jones of Nevada: "If the opportunity the
"war gave us to issue greenbacks had been
"denied us, and if such great benefits
"have flowed from their issue, / tremble
"to contemplate the position we should
"have been in if peace had continued for
"with the increase Of population and the
"alleged need of certain amount of money
"per capita, we never could have Owed enough
con which to do our businessw If those
who are in need of money and cannot
obtain it will reflect, they will find that
it is lack of credit rather than lack
of paper dollars which stands in the way of
their borrowing. If Gen. Buffers principles
are to prevail, to lend money will be to put
money in lottery where there are no prizes,
and it may, in the end be found
by the debtor class" somewhat incon
IN hn oil