The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-06-25
THE GOLDEN TENET OF DEMOCRACY


Hearty thanks are due to the Democrats of
Maine for their well timed demand for re-
turn to q gold circulation. They want ga
sound currency, coin or its equivalent"
Those seven words in the Ohio platform
would have been like apples of gold in pic
lures Of silver.
It is unfortunate for the individual who is
a candidate for an Office in the gift of the
people to have anything in his past public or
private career that require explanation or any
form of apology. 1t is still worse in party
when the necessity of an explanation is de-
volved upon every prominent and active men,
Der. A party taur pas is party misfortune
No matter how pure and honorable the lead
ers and the masses Of the party may be,
single blunder, single deviation from the
line of consistency, single act OF deIeliction
in public duty, will often expose the party to
such censure and to such ridicule as to give
its managers infinite trouble.
It has been part Of the glorious mission
of the Democratic party to begin and con-
summate separation between the govern
ment and the banks of the country. The era
of this brilliant triumph is distant, but it was
so well remembered and SO truly appreciated
that no party dared to attempt reunion Of
the government with the banks. 1t became
the settled policy of the country to abide by
coin of the precious metals, and by that only
as the lawful tender in payment of all debts,
and as the sole, true and fixed measure of
values. The duty of the government relative
to the currency is to establish and maintain
uniformity in the value Of coined metals, to
protect the public against loss by counterfeit
ing and adulterating, to afford facilities TOR
converting bullion into coin without expense
to the owner; all for the important purpose of
affording to the people of all the States an
exclusive uniform legal tender and currency.
The reason for constitutionally forbidding
the States to coin money and to regulate the
value thereof and for assuming that exclusive
function is quite obvious. If each State had
for the past ninety years coined its own
money and changed its value at pleasure,
there would have resulted much crude legis-
lation; infinite tinkering with coin, innumera-
BILE experiments in paper money, thousand
expedients to give the citizens of one State
advantages over those of other States, cease
less confusion in business transactions, and
repetition in q multitude of forms of all the
mischiefs that the monetary history OF ma
tons has recorded.
hill &c <1,n cti fr1ki in.
tended to authorize their Congress to issue
and circulate government promises as money,
or to prohibit the export and import of coin
and bullion. or to do anything by which
money should be made scarce or plenty. It
was no part of their great and sagacious plan
to impose upon Congress the duty or to give
it the power to regulate the prices of mer-
chandise or the values of property power
which is comprised in that of increasing or
lessening a paper circulation at will. They
gave Congress its power Of coming money in
the same clause with the power to fix the
standard of weights and measures, both for
the sake of uniformity, both to avoid numer-
Gus and complex systems, but in neither case
their standard coins or those to be measured
by their standard yard sticks, weights and
gallon cans.
1t was only through dire necessity and in
contingency which could not have been fore
seen that the government was forced to bor-
row money with which to meet the current
expenses of the wal. 1t chose to do this in
part by issuing bills of credit or government
notes, necessarily irredeemable, but forced
into circulation by being made legal tender
in settlement of debts. But if there was ever
q necessity for such an issue it ceased ten
years ago, during which period every possible
means should have been employed to get rid of
h, and of all that part Of the paper circula-
ton which has any connection with the gov
eminent. But the Augean task has been left
to the hands of the herculean Democracy, and
it must begin with the return Of that party to
its legitimate ascendancy. The work must be
done with much care and circumspection, as
slowly as public interests require, but with
certainty and uniformity, SO that all con-
cerned may have reliable basis for all their
monetary calculations.