The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1875-03-13
GOLD VS.. RAGS

ind,f,erentlv in its efforts to maintain the
superiorty Of paper rags over gold in the case
the FREE TRADER supposed, couple OF
weeks ago, of an Iowa farmer selling his pro-
duce in Canada or Europe at gold prices and
getting his pay in deprecated paper, The
noint the FREE TRADER made was this: that
the western farmer, in selling his produce at
Chicago or New York, to be thence exported
abroad, receiving his pay in greenbacks,
must, in addition to the cost of freight and
handling, pay an unknown sum, ranging
from to Is per cent, 10 cover the risks OF
fluctuation in the gold value of the currency
while his produce is passing through the
hands OF four or five middlemen; and again
he must pay the same tax while the foreign
goods which his produce has bought are
passing through the hands of the same row
of middlemen on their way back to the FAR
mer. THIS increase Of cost both ways, which
may be called guarantee fund 70 inc
m,ddlemen, we insisted was In most cases
not less than from Is to 30 per cent IN addi.
ton to the ordinary profits Of dealers and
merchants under sound currency, and was,
of course. so much additional tax on the far.
mer for the blessing of base currency. To
this the Age makes the following astounding
reply:
Why suppose cases Why not take actual
factss II so happens that we were IN Can.
ada in 1873, when gold fell from 1917 to rs
pricing goods all the time, to test the pur
chasing power Of greenbacks. But w0 could
buy no more goods in Canada when gold WAS
Isl than when it was 1917. Theoretically we
ought to have been able to have bought
about II per cent. more goods when gold was
down than when it was up.
If this amounts to anything it only con-
firms what we stated above in reference to the
guarantee fund" the farmer must pay on &C
coua, of dealing in rag currency. Instead of
regulating the percentage Of that fund in
Canada from day to day as greenbacks seesaw
up and down IN the market, the Canucks,
regarding oil paper from 1.-THE states" In the
same light as of the genus "stumptail'' or
" wild cat" put lump shave upon it of about
25 per cent. and stick to that IN everyday bust.
ness TRANSACTIONS so that, when the green
backs of our friend Of the Age were at 755ss
per cent discount, he had to pay a larger per.
centage to the middlemen's guarantee
fund" than when the rate was higher, that S
all
but, asks the Age, I" if paper money is
such bad thing for the people and such a
good thing for the bankers, why is is that all
bankers are so opposed to greenbacks? If
gold is such good thing for the people,
and by implication, as the FREE TRADER
man seems to believe, such bad thing tor
the bankers, brokers, and gamblers, why is it
that all the gamblers, brokers, and bankers
are such fools as to spend thousands of dol.
lars to have rulnation forced upon them by
specie payments'"
It's no 4" implication of the FREE TRADER
that because paper money is bad for the peo.
pie it must be good thing for the bankers
That is a sort of demagoglsm the FREE IRA
DER don't deal in. There ID no real antag.
onism between the legitimate banker and
the people. Genuine capital is timid and
dislikes violent fluctuations in values; and
though from their vantage ground the bank.
ers are less liable to be losers in the daily ups
and downs of currency values, all the in.
stincts of the honest banker lead him to pre-.
fer steady values and sure footing. The
Age, however, is sadly mistaken when it as.
sers that the gold and stock gamblers so anx.
iously desire specie payment that they are
willing to "spend thousands" to bring it
about. With specie payment the gold room
would close and the millions of which the
people are annually robbed in that den of
thieves would pass into legitimate business
channels.
But the Age has a settler against specie
payment in the following: Here" says
that print" is the bank statement of all the
banks of Ontario and Quebec, for the month
ending August 3lst, 1874:
Specie. ,............... ST, 200, sos
Circulation ........ S23, 744,S 1875
Gov demand deposits. 3543,299