The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1875-08-31
paper W. Coin-Letter from Wendeil
Phillips on Currency.

PAPER ~. Coin-Letter from Wendell
Phillips on Currency.
The following letter from Wendell Phil.
Inns has been addressed TO Mr.. Eugene
Ecehe, secretary Of the Lcgal-Tender Club
ne New York. It gives in forcible language
tb,t peutleman's views on the delicate ques-
tiou Of circulating medium, and will be
read with interest by all who have money or
want it: ~ ,o--
Mr.. Eyqeae BeeJe, Secretary Of the Legal.
Tender Clnb:
Dear Sir.-I appreciate the great import.
uncc Of your agitation 10 prevent furthcr
contraction Of the currency, and am sorry L
shall rot DC able to attend your meeting IN
Snptcmhcr. Il seems to me there are but
two questions to he considered touching the
currency:
FTr.t-Upon SHAT basis shall it rest?
Sgcood- How much Of it shall we have?
4 long time ago there might have been
third-cf what shall it be made, gold and
silver or paper: But the experience Of
bu.ircss-ucn long ago answered that inquiry
AID settled if beyond recall, that throughout
CbristcnGcm the cnrrcrcy must be paper. II
gentle hallucination hes heen encouraged to
Quiet ,imid men and delude the masses. But
the thing itself has not really existed for
Gr,v or hundred wears. Great Britain,
where, if anywhere, such Il basis could be
main.aiued. has to-day fifty ccrtS Of coin to
800 Of paper. Patterson. Science Of FL
rance. pi,. ), 6, 81. IS, 81, 80. Edinburgh,
1861
ANY individual may have that fifty cents,
nroyided be does not need it. aud provided
here is no special reason Why he should
have il. If at any time his business ah-o-
lutely REQUIRES That be should have that fifty
cent. OF coin, at that time he cannot have il.
\ sDecie basis Of tirtg cents coin TO support
$500 paper! 1t reminds me Of that Irish
siy.hottIc topper who always sat down to
drink with small bit OF strawberry at tue
bolton OF bis wine glass and kept it there
through the evening" II gave 50 fine i'll
vor To the winc!' Doubtless that fly cents
coin gives a strong specie 1layor TO the vast
system of British paper and makes Bull feel
warm and comfortable.
roIilicl economy settles very few points
nv thcoriZing. Now and then experience
decides question, and it passes into accept
ed and uuGeniable truth. In this way buSi-
mes. experience has decided that cur ency in
civilized and commercial nations must rest
on credit and consist Of paper. Thus expo
rierce answers our first question. The cur
rencv does rest and must rest on credit.
Whose shall that credit be? Shall it be the
credit Of banks and their customers or the
credit of the nation: This question also eX-
periepcc has answered. Before the war re
had banks resting each one on its o WI credit.
We all remember the result. The bills of
bank ceased generally to be current a hundred
miles from ; own counter. You lost ten PC:
cent. in changing those Of the South and West
for eastern bills aud Horace Greeley de-
murcly told the committee who paid him Il
handful CT western bills, Ill convenient l
should much prefer well executed counter
felt on some eastern bank" What makes
our national bank bills good, and equally
rood, everywhere to-day? The nation stands
behind them. Such noIeS pass every where.
and everywhere ut the same value, because
the nation guarantees them. All the note
currency we have rests on national credit,
directly or indirectly.
Bagehot, the highest authority in England.
SAYS the public takes Bank Of England bills
without inquiry or hesitation, because it
knows that in any emergency the Govern
ment will sustain the back. Here our bills
pass because the Government is distinctly
pledged TO 90 so. The two great CONNER
cia ccnlrcs have dritted lDo Il currency
based, in fact, on Government credit, ard
they deliberately accept the situation.
Our first question, On what shall our cur
rency rest, is fully answered by facts. In
commercial nations it rests, and must rest,
on Government credit.
SecouQ.-How much currency shall we
have?
No single man, officer, or institution can
d. eide, or ever did decide. this question. Cur.
rency made up Of bapkbills, deposits, notes,
bills Of exchange, &c., is like any other article
Of mauuiucture-we make as much or 1t as
we need. The business OF country, when
not in'erfered with, always settles the
amount Of its currency. Business creates,
everywhere and at all times, just such and
Just so much currency AS it needs. Banks
and secretaries Of treasures imagnc they de-
telmine the amount OF the currency. AS
we'll might Old Probability claim that he de-
termined the weather. He and they only
record what mighticr forces do. Hats,
shoes, wagons, rails, cloths, cotton, wheat
one year we want more, the next year
less-Who decides? The dealers in tine
article and the users Of it. Does any,
body advise going back to other days
aud having some board of wdseacres
decide how much wheat shall be planted and
how much cotton, how many loaves or wag.
OPS made? No such dreamer obtrudes him.
self on the public. But thousands clamor
for allowing bank directors, and them alone,
to settle the amount CT the currency. And
they are allowed more control than any other
agency. The New York city banks alone
decreased the currency 50 900 900 (S2,957,-
2Q0) in one mouth, September. 1874, and de-
creased il s. 100000 in one week of March,
1875. This aristocracy in the money manu-
fscture is an odious monopoly, alien to our
institutions. and harmful to our prosperity.
What should we say if five hundred men,
and such friends as they chose, were allowed
to plant wheat and mine iron while every
one else was forbidden?
Ye. this is but another name for our pre-
sent bank system. Let US cease, then, to
have any plan either to enlarge or contract
the currency. Let the Government stand
ready to issue all the currency any busiu.s.
man wishes and can give good security for.
at low interest and convertible iuo long
bonds. II necessary. in order to c,pcliatc
existing prejudice, let the capital Of these
bonds, having long terms to run, be payable
in gold. Make greenbacks legal tender for
all purposes, customs and all Government
dues included There is every reason
why this should be done. History is
repeating itself. England never knew
more prosperous years than from 1900
to 1920, during which she neither had
gold, nor wished to have it, nor promised to
paw gold to any one whatever. All that