The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1874-03-05

L AAs=as - - - l4asA
yFenasAa FAsssiss so1sss she rahah6aal
Problsua. Are his PrePosat Hons Utserly IN.
reasonrhas
10 the Hen 3. Butlersfss
Is sSIR Allow me, among the multi
tEde Of counselors, to propose q plan
| of 1nance:
A debtor nation is always the slave
of its creditor. Our slavery to Eng
land In seen the threat of the Bank Of
England to eWamp Mr.. BoutWell's
Syndicate If he did not conform 10 the
| wishes of the bank. In c0neequence
of this dependence q debtor should
separate entirely its national currency
from ifs international currency, IN
order to save its home system from
foreign interference. propose, there
fore, one system of currency for home
use, and another, entiraly distiDcts for
use betWoon ourselves and foreign
nations. 5s.s..l
For home currency propose as fol-
I. Take from the national banks all
right to Issue bills, and oblige them to
return what currency they have with
in . reasonable time.
4AIGbRb buC REW8G1t S4cCAlaSAo AZ
payment of all debts due the govern
ments and destroy them Is fast as paid
in ae IS a 50 50 ssnessss
2. Let the United States lend green
backs at 3-65 per cent. per annum TO
any one who will pledge national
bonds or improved lands. : For bends
thus pledged the owner is to have in
greenbaeks four-fi fths Of their par vail
ne. For land one-half of its value ;
such vslue to be the average Of what
said land has been Appraised st for
taxation during the last ten years.
Such gEeeRbacks to be- legal tender
for All debts due the government as
well &c for those due private persons.
Let them state, each one on its face,
the manner In which they are to be
redeemed, which I.specify in the next
paragraph. essf assff1a oao
3. Any such borrower, who at any
time 1iilds he does not Want bis areen-
backs, can, Of course, return them and
hare his boads or land released to
him. Any other holder Of greenbGcks
can surrender them, and have in their
stead q natfoha1 bond bearing $50 per
cent. interest, payable In gold in
twenty or thirty years from date.
The results Of anch system would.
be: s ssss
L To redeem and destroy the pre-
sent ereenbacks, and thus silence the.
comp lainf that governments does not
keep faith in the matter of their re-
demption and also TO reduce the in
terest on orr national debt to about
four per cent. Suppose the nation
thus issues Clends1 $1,000. .000, 600 of
currency, then it will recefve over
SO, ,0C0000 in interest. The annuaI
interest ON our debt is now. in round
numbers, $1l2, 100000. Subtract $40,-
900, 600 from this, and it leaves MS to
pay $S0O00,000, annually, which is
less than four per cent. on the whole
debt. g#
Twelve hundred millions ofcurrea-
ey would be no extrayagant estimate.
We have two or three times this
amount Of what IL Reallycurrency now,
since bills OF exchange and checks are
really currency in their nature and eff
fects ss much as greenbaeks are. Un--
der my plan we should have fewer.
checks and bills of exchange and more
green backs. But if we had these 81,
200, 900 of greenbacks and beside
the same amount OF bills and checks
as now, it would be no i'll, and no
wonder. France, an old. rich nation,
thoroughly developed, has now twice
the amount of national currency per
head that we have. a new and unde-
veloped nation like ourselves oughtto
have twice the amount per head that
France has. Hence, If our greenbacks
were trebled il would be we'll.
2. The second result would be that
neither the Bank Of England nor sny
ring, there or here, could disturb our
currency by corner in gold or green
backs. We should be beyond such
, 8. In time capitalists will invest in
such bonds, since, in conformity to
their present theories, these bonds
will at last be paid in gold.
4 We develop our new country by
having money abundant at 3.65 per
cent. interest, and can thus compete
with any nation without protective
tariff.
Why cannot we now compete with
Scotland in shipbuilding, or with the
Welsh n making rails Not becanse
of our rate of waQes-that is not the
reason. Thos. Brassey, the largest
employer OF labor, perhaps, in this
country, proves (see his life) that 1t is
cheaper to build railways in Asia and
Hungary by carrying there English
vsefkmen, at SO cents day, than by
employing natives on the spot at 10
cents day. IL IL not rate Of wages
that cripples our manufacturers and
our NV Featern Development. 1t Is be-
cause onr dead Capital-lands. build-
iEgs, naachiner. .-is worth here 10, IL,
ana 14 per cent. Abroad Ii is worth
only 8 per cent, and we work at q
constant disadvantage OF 4 TO 10 per
cent, ysar- by-year. Give our Eastern
manufacturers and our Western land
holders, money ct per cent, and we
can thenSdefy the competition OF the
world. Keep your revenue tariff TO
pay the debt. Abolish its protective
element at once. waive entirely, so
far as our hogne currency Is concerned,
all aboFtive attempts t0 keep 3 good |
basis. We have never really had one. |
We have only pretended to have one. |
One dollar in gold 10 i've or seven in
paper is no real gold basis. We have
itvyas, and asa coDseauence /
IL hae happened inevitably that, the
moment confidence ceased, the banks
have alwsys suspended specie pay |
ments Just the moment we needed |
specie, We could net get it out of the |
banhs. It Is OF no use TO try to keep I
up this sham any longer.
As for our international currency, /
we must remember that our coin is
worth nothing abroad as coin. It is /
received only as so much merchandise,
aeeorafnO tn Era 4slr,-if1y and l1v.iaa in he I
like wheat Still, as gold is \ |
medium OF exchange on
many accounts, and at present is so
received by the world, our govern
ment will help merchants to use it. In
order 70 do this the government will |
certify, by its stamp, the weight and
purity of gold bars sent to its mint. /
The government viii keep gold de-
poaited with it by merchants, aud give
certificates Of its amount and value.
Such certificates may be used here |
and abroad, thus enabling the meF-
chants TO. save the cost and risk of |