Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1875-11-06
.eeklg gntelligenter,
IMITATION LUEAOY.
Thsmas X. Beecher on the state or
the Currency.
Communicated to the Natiou.l

1AOH2O K ON tine State VI
the Currency.
Communicated TO the Nation.l
SIR: sit ought to be disgracefu.
and ridiculous in q day and gene
ration Tor a grown man to go about
trying to persuade people that good
money could DO manufactured by
printing press."
1.-THE impossibility of dispensing
with gold and silver as a measure OF
value ought to be by this time settled
az one Of the facts which are only
questioned in lunatic asylums."-
Nation, Sept. 80, 1875.
ldoubt not that sagacious men quite
generally agree to oppose further ill.,
fiation Of our 'slegal-tender" curren-
cy, but I am not yet able to accept al
the propositions by which the Nation
aud other strong writer's lead up to
% an enquirer, however, not as a con
troversiaIist.
Does not a valid distinction lie be-
and legal-tender2 Agreeing that gold
j = tuC AACooolC vi NoiuC thR hoo ~
tanned an almost worldwide accep-
lance, does it follow that gold shoul'i
therefore be the only legal-tender,
and that all c%urrencies or other debt
certificates of whatever kind shonld
be tsredeemsble In gold" only? de-
tect In the general flow of commerce
pheuomena which ! will call closed
circles-i. g., circles of exchange with
In which the same currency NAV re-
yOlve forever, independently of gold.
such circles are, indeed, little short
Of countless. Some Of them are very
small, az for instance, the dealings of
.agrocer with his miikman the grocer
taking five dollars worth of milk
tickets and creditiug the milkman ac-
eordingly, aud the milkman redecm-
Ing his tickets in milk-gold mean-
while serving the use of a measure
both of the groceries and the milk.
Am / safe In asserting that where
ever . closed circle like this can be
demonstrated there is need of neither
gold nor silver as legal-tender2 True,
II either party die and the business
be wound up by strangers, then must
come In an outside currency. But SO
long as the milkman aud the grocer
continuein their respective relations,
have we not here q trade of one hun
dreds doiasrs q year in which milk
tickets serve all the use o. currency 7
From this smallest circle step at
ones TO the largest circla-a sovereign
G~ovsrnr1ent like the Quilted States
government {. with an undisputed right
70 tax ont of the people say two hun
dred million dollars q year. The peo-
PIE 1t large are to pay to the national
treasury, in the course of u year, two
hundred million dollars. The gov
ernnont IL to disburse precisely the
same sum to the people. Have We
not here . closed circle, foreign cred
ftora excepted?
Where lies the fallscy, then, in as
serting thut any stable government
may wisely meet its Obligations by
issuing its notes promising 10 pay,
jusi ae cur greenbacks do promise TO
pay? And inasmuch as by the tax
law every citizen must pay to the
and these notes of the
government by their very face are
receivable for taxes, why not make
them, for all purposes of Internal
commerce, legal-tender, their volume
to equal 1T least the amount of the
annual budget?
The treasury notes thus issued are
on . large scale what the milk tick, t.
were on . small scale.
II the government have q legal
to take from citizens at large
two hundred million dollars, l am
not able to see that there is any ul,-
wisdom or injustice in requiring citi-
Gems to recognize treasu. J notes
which are legal-tender to the govern
ment-as legal-tender also in the set
of private accounts. Mean
gold may be serving a use as a
OF value. but not as the only
legal tender.
Incidentally, Of course, so large a
volume of treasury notes as two hun.
dred million dollars, thrown out
among the people al large. will be
retarded on its road back to the
serving the uses of curren-
ey. or as . basis of other smaller cur.
rsncies ; and a sum something larger
than two hundred millions NAV be
Issued. How large this adj
ditional sum may be made, is the open
question between the inflaiionisis and
the non.inaationists or contraction.
l cannot deny that when the cur-
rency Observation-Disclosures that the
|egal tender 10 from ten to fifteen Der
sent. below par, there is too much Of
tho legal tender outstanding, anS
more ought to be Issued. no
h 1t necessary, then, IN
return 10 specie paymsr oroer 10
re-enact what sesp- Ats; so-caiiea'
Die absurdity tip -s a
.old sbail hs Ie.- 1t gold and oHIy
n~nnairah,e,, al tender? l say de-
yer ti,p> .nsurdi,y, becauseas What
argo.' nf disaster the people al
.sr' using c"nf.irnce, brgin /" drive
=, other by suits of Inv, and Il b.
ore c,n s,i,siy Judgment according
/, ,i,e letter ui the law will gold IL
serve the purpose. Why, then, pro,
clam gold tue only legal tender wi Ell
AZ n z ance il is obvious that god
ca-.p, rye This purpose
81, Hu tsfr Y is II cry nigh one
(W ',e. Il g"h"i) tor s,s',"g ti,a, lii,
"a,iH III England wcr
IL .r 'iuriug The yer, day,
= "a II "a, ..ut 'rinus that The goi,
reserves Of the bank ere alread,
exhausted. The comsols neId by IN.
bank were the basis of this over,
issue.
| am not able to lee, then, an,
failacy In the statement which 1 nov
repeat, thai any stible sovt reign gov
ernlnenf NAV wisely furnish to citi
z:ns at la.ge treasury notes soine
thing in excess of its W annual col
lec,ions in the way of internal reve
nue., and, by receiving them in pay
ment of all dues to the government
actually redeem them. And thes
notes, issued by law and collected b,
law, are, aud of right ought to be
The only legal tender, while gol
stands by, serving it's use as a meas
ure Of the unit of currency-a dolla,
Repeating my first remark-tha
sagacious men generally agree to OF
pose further imitation of our currel
cyl ask the Nation to point out til
fallacy of the above theories, not b
demitting me to all insane asylum
but by some gracious condescensiu
to my limited understanding, whic
IL more my misfortune than my faul
nn1n 5" 0TTTTkM rOTT1Jmu