The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1875-11-25

slg snereis In opfiion; sna 1t IS such 40
gtaefon as may asasonaBlT be called q su-
pers;iti0n i; spr so .ar nobDdy has been able
10 show Whittier greenbaeks are redundant
or mol. Add There hes been no approxima.
Ion TO q pFoofof The seandness OF tbe epin.,
ion. People ho Iiing tbis opinion are fond of
taking ofthe country g growing np''tothe
currency, and of waiting I'LL 1t does groHnp.
TO that point before doing anything towards
They do not stop to think that
unless their theory of redundancy is true
there can be no such thing as the country's
growing up to the currency. And they do
not open their eyes wide enough to see that
NE have been experimenting on their the.
DRY for several years we have 10 the mean
time seen high prices and low prices we
have seen every body busy, and large mum.
bers idle; we have seen money scarce and
plenty, and Interest very high and very low
and yet gold is now higher, or, what Is the.
same thing, greenbacks are at a greater dis
count than tEey were iVe or ak years ago.
The country has In the mean while been
growing and it's business has been inereas-
ing; yetihere has been no tendency through
this, growth to bring greenbacks up to pars
The whole theory is q grave fantasy, q Wal.
,o'-the.wisp, that beDighted people, travelling
nsthe. dark, have folio wed till they are be.
coming weary. 4I0y !, gu,Httl. a4s-g1
There is ample reason for the deteriorated
value Of the greenback currency in the fact
that it consists Of broken promises to pay.
People instinctiYely look upon them as they
would on. the paper Of Bankrupt, who did
not pay, but who was believed to be able;
and. willing to pay at some futures time,
,cithout interest. Such paper would neces.
sarily pass at discount And 1t! would not
make any difference ifpeople were obliged
By law, as in the case of greenbacks, to take
.it.in payment of debts. !, There is no virtue
or magic in the legal-tender act to lift the
greenbacks out of the condition Of dishon-'
ored paper, of broken promises. They are,
indeed, very useful; they serve In the place
of money they perform many Of the func.
tons of money; but they have this disad.
vantage, that they pretend to be the value
of coined dollar, while the whole people,
Government and all, agree that they are not.
There are two, and only two, ways TO. get
rid of this difficulty. One is for the Govern.
ment to pay according 10 its promises; the
other is to put the holder of the greenbacks
in as good position as he would be in if he
were paid according to the promise. That
might be done by allowing them to be fund
ed in long bond that would sell at par in
coin, payable, principal and interest. il. coin.
In either case, as soon as the Government
was ready TO act, greenbacks would every.
where be as good as coin, for they would be
at once convertible into COIN Consequently
coin would be no better than greenbacks.
Some coin would undoubtedly be called for
perhaps $100000,000, possibly some more;
but it would 60 into the currency Of the
country, which would notify this operation
be diminished dollar. On the other hand,
all the coin now in the country held
by banks and private persons would
become of the same value with greenbacks,
and no more; and hence would be added
to the circulation; and thus the currency
would be increased instead of diminished.
This increase would make real redundancy
of the circulation, psbyided there is enough
now; and the redundancy would be preyi-
ded for either by the return of national bank.
surplus coin. Whichever way the super.
fluffy of greenbacks was disposed OF would
necessarily be that which was best, as it
would take place through the voluntary ae.
ton of the holders, seeking to put their
coin and greenbacks Of equal value, and one
convertible into the other, the greater con-
yenience of greenbacks would make them to
be preferred rs soon as confidence was estab-
lisbed. The day for boarding coin has gone
by, and money Of all kinds is now used, not
kept. s~ .s.. -,
After greenbacks and coin have been made
Of equal value the question whether we are
to bave more or less currency than at present
must aud may safely be LEFT to the laws oil
trade, that always have governed, aud always
Will govern, the supply exactly 10 accordaLce
with the wants Of the community when per-
mitted TO do so. And so absolute and so
certain are those laws that all talk Of con.
traction as an evil under resumption Is either
wholly unimportant or based on entire igno'
rance of those laws 1t is just ss necessary
for the Government to provide that We shall
have a sufficient supply of -four, or coffee,
as of money. The irrepealable laws of trade
compel the commercial world to furnish Us
with all the money as we'll as all the tea and
sugar we want, provided we can pay for it,
and provided also We will use the worlds
money, which now we do not do.
1t is no doubt difficult to arrive at specie.
payment, but the difficulty is by no means in.
superable. It is q complex matter, and it is
not to be supposed that every body can un-
derstand il. There are several ways that
are practical from which the Government
must select. and some are much better than
others. But practical way can be adopted
that does not commence with contraction.
In making the selection and carrying the
plan into execution the following rules must
be observed:
/. Having compelled US to use the green
backs in place of money, and as if they were
money, the Government should continue to
treat them in all respects as money TO the
extent that they have heretofore done so.,
9. ALL laws requiring contraction OF the
currency should be repealed.
q No restrictions should be placed on the
amount Of the national. bank currency; put
ample facilities should be provided Tor It's
redemption without expense to the holder.
4. The greenbacks should not be treated
as necessarily evil, but only evil so far as the
promises which they make are not promptly
performed.
The Government must then become en-
enough, to know shat in the long
RIM it is cheaper for it to Keep its promises
than to break them. ~ ~.
= We have had great many financial doc
tors Offering us schemes for restoring specie.
nsyment; but much the larger part are like
surgeons, who, finding their patient has Oh
aching head, advise amputation. : The
remedy is simple, and will certainly stop the
ache but the patient does not want to take
the remedy Contraction to- arrive at re-
sumption is nearly, perhaps quite, as bad as
amputation of the head and just as absurd.
We must have resumption, and we must
have it by some more healing. process.
And here let me say word of the
leaders of the Republican party. If
thew had before now had the sagacity to