The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1874-09-05

men who will not be involved in the ruin.
Just SO thought and SO proceeded the ig-
norant people of the American colonies
one hundred years ago. Professor Sum
ner's concise history of American currency
Ia book which every western farmer
ought to get and thoughtfully reads a
record of experiences Of the paper money
superstition that, with change of dates,
would answer for the present time. Men
clamored for cheap money" in the shape
of promises based on faith in the value of
debit And when the delusive swindle had
brought them to the door of beggary, they
clamored for more. Each new issue sunk
them deeper in the hopeless slough of
bankruptcy still more money" instead
of better money was the insane cry. For
cheap money to pay debts they even got
up . rebellion, which Washington put
kown by the sword.
What was the effect of the cheap mon
'ey-to pay-debts" policy then? Says the
historian:
"The suffering It caused was widespread and in
tense II fell most heavily on the most patriotic
and the most helpless. PHILIPPE quotes q letter,
left t her competence, which Fer guardian had in
vested in real estate lsecurty) six years before He
now proposed to pay her fortune In paper"
The paper money in which the guardian
proposed to return the patrimony of his
ward was then rated at t,oo cents. gold, on
the dollar! 1t was perhaps as cheap as
Mr. John Logan, or any other ignorant tel
low who stands denouncing the advocates
of true money as dishonest hypocrites and
fools" could wish to have it.
The argument then used by the ignorant
advocates of lawful money" that ena-
bled guardians and other debtors to rob
their wards and other creditors of ninety
eight per cent of their estates, strikingly
resemble the arguments employed by the
I,oeaps, Mortons, Voorheeses, and other
shinplaster swindlers now. The following
is cited by Professor Sumner from his
torian of the period:
'sThe gradual depreciation was urged a. reason
why the notes should not be redeemed AT par l.
(the deprecaion) was said TO opera.e az ,aa as
most eqnal TAX because it acted in proportion 10
the amount held, the rich suffering largely on .ne
large ,uns. the needy but signify on lhelr scaIl5
pitfances How fallacious these reasonlngs' WIN
which congress and the peop'e solaced thGmseNes
are, must be apparent. Poor cohsolntlon Wa ~
those who had been beggared, conhdlng intle non
or and honesty OF their country, to hear that lle
| ruin had merely been gradual tax to kho" Ihat
from the operation Of lcgaltender laws tDelr prop
| rrty had been taken away and given TO othe.si 10
see the wealth accumulated by the dishonest mum.
indies of contractors spectators and defrauders OF
that unhappy period, and TO feel that it had been
plund red from their own Golfers Tor the aggrah
d cement of such people,
THE truth is, says Professor sumner
land history veriGes the statement,) that
'oope1nuaent can not make a forced loan by
ieoalteader issues aoithoM giying oDportu-
NTH for private nclivid,tals to take forced
: loans from their neighbours"
The effects of the legal-tender forced
> loan known as continental currency are
thus summed up:
1T polluted the equity Of our laws, turned them
into friends Of oppression and wrong, corrupted The
Justice of public administration destroyed the for
ttupes of th usands who had most confidence in it,
eneryated the trade, husbandry and manufactures
of our country and went far to destroy the moral
ity Of our people
Yet it was Wanted by the shinplaster
, lites of that day, as the ''greenback forced
It loan is Wanted now, as the safest posi-
l. BILE currency which nobody could take
a away" Ignorance Rugged the senseless
It delusion that legislation can put value in
G debt and called men dishonest, hypocrit
ical, and fools, who endeavored to open
l. the eyes of ignorance to the truth 1t is a
h history that sets up glass in which west.
a ern farmers who think there is help in a
J, lawful money" shiuplaster swindle, can
l. see themselves clearly reflected.