The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1875-11-04
MAKING c0ETRAtTS IN COLD.

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There is little use in crying over spilled
milk, and yet it is difficult to restrain the
regret that the policy of'making all CON-
tracts on gold basis, which the State Of
New York has resolved to adopt on and
after the list Of January 1879, was not
forced on the people, of this country at
the beginning of our civil war9iiltris
profitless now,perhaps, toinquire wheth-
er the National Government need ever
haye abandoned specie payments, or TO
question the expedienCy of its issue, Of q
legal-tender paper Currency but itisim-
possible, to escape the impression that
this thing was theinitial point of all our
financial trouble 1t wrought grieyous
injustice to thousands in the beginning,
and millions must curse its expressions
before the end sis seen, The man who
loaned $4,000 in fgreenbacks in 1854,
when gold stood at 2.S0 premium, wasa
victim of practical reputation, since he
received less than half his money. Such
were the evils that accompanied the in
PRODUCTION of our legal-tender paper cur
rency, and the same, greatly intensified,
must follow the progress back to specie
payments. In the popular consciousness
of this fact lies the entire strength ofthe
Imitation policy. During the rise of gold,
or, more properly expressed, the depre-
citation of greenbacks, the creditor class
suffer, and during the appreciation of
our paper the debtor class carry the bur
dens. ..... ......,.
In a communication to the Boston
Herald, replying to the recent report of
an interview of Mr.. Schurz by Republi-
can reporter, Mr.. Wendell Phillips says
that two-thirds of the people of this
country belong TO the debtor class, and
that they will not submit to the oppres-
sions of specie resumption, which neces-
sarily increases the amount of their in
debtedness, wherefore they demandln-
flation, in order to depreciate greenbacks
either to Or below the point where our
paper stood when their debts we're con-
tracted This is plain and concise
statement of what, as has been said, iis
the whole strength of limitation. Rob re-
sumption of this sting, provide a means
whereby the appreciation fgreenbacks
will not swell the volume of our debts,
and no one will oppose the effort to re
turn to specie payment. ln1ahonshas
been hastily and stupidity seized on as
the cure-all for the evils which flow from
our effort to preserve the legal-tender
character of our currency, and enforce
the injustice of denying to our Courts the
right to recognize the variable value OF
greenbacks. Yet initiation but perpetu-
ates the miseries of our present situation
bv the maintenance of an unstable cur
rency. Nothing could be more ill-judged
than the conception that initiation would
relieve our condition, since it could have
no effect but to shift the evils Mr.. Phil
lips complains of from one class to an
other A flood of paper money would
simply increase the discount on green
backs, and in direct proportion to thein-
crease of this discount beyond what it
was when a debt was contracted, would
the creator be robbed of money which
he loaned While there is, then, some
Justice in the complaints of the infa-
tionists, their proposed remedy only re-
lieves one injustice by the perpetration
of new one. The man who is heavily
indebted to-day advocated imitation with
narrow minded regard of his present in
terests and stupid disregard of the future.
The debt he owes this year may be paid
| with half its real amount next year, but
Just so will the money borrowed of him
to-day be cancelled by halfthe amount in
a year. Where is the benefit For the
| future it would not be hard to provide
the means of security. We have been
running along with things upside down
ever since we got paper legal tender;
why shall we not set them right and try
i: that way? We have talked Of the pre-
MUM on gold, when we meant instead
the discount on greenbacks, Instead Of
quoting greenbacks at 85 9-10, we have
said gold is 116s New York proposes
| that after January |. l879 a dollar shall
mean a dollar in gold. Why not this re-
form begin at once all over the country,
and this pitiable farce of concealing the
fluctuations in our paper by pretending
that gold fuctuates, be put an end to at
once? Let all memoranda Of ofindebted
ness hereafter incurred be expressed in
gold, which is stable representative of
value Let the man who borrows money
to-day reduce the sum that he receives to
its equivalent in gold and give his note
for that amount in gold. The interest
payments can then be done to both bor-
rowerand lender, no matter what tluCtua-
tions in greenbacks may occur. AS it is,
the representative of values which we
use expresses no definite quantity. A dol
lar means eighty-tive cents to-day, eighty
cents tomorrow, and ninety cents the
day after. We are at the mercy of the
gold gamblers and spectators, whilst it
lies in every mans power to make him
self wholly independent by simply max
ing use of definite instead of variable
expression. SO much is easy for the fu
ture, and it may be well that similar
expedient could be availed of with refer
ence to existing debts, so that note
given for stated sum two years ago
should be interpreted to mean its equiva-
lent in gold at that time. The mon
strous National debt Of the United States
if estimated at its equivalent in gold at
the time it was contracted, would shrink
to comparatively respectable proportions.
Perhaps this may be partial reputation,
but even if it be, there is less of ruin and
disaster than there is in initiation, which
means entire reputation. The Republi-
can does not commend the suggestion,
but inasmuch as it rests half formed in
the mind of every one who owes money,
there can be no harm in giving it express
sion.-MiSSouri Republican. ..-..g