The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1875-09-02
GOLD, SILVER AND PAPER

STIVflTl NOT
FIXED STANDARD OF VALUES Ann RAsIs
VI cURRENcY-SRC0ND, PAPER MONEY
BOTH THE REPRESENTATIVES, AND sTrRsTT-
ToIE FOR GoLD-rHIRD, CURRENCY SHOULD
BE ADEQUATE AND RETAINABLE.
To the Editor Of the Sentinel:
SIR;-fhe very fact that gold and silver
have ever been regarded as the most pre-
cious and valuable OF all metals and as
consequence become the greatest interna-
iioDal medium Of commercial exchange
would seem, upon a moments reflection. to
% sufnclent and satisfactory. When
IL alone Is the standard of values and
basis OF currency, values and currency, in
The very nature of things must be rendered
unsettled and unstable consequent on the
ABUNDANT Oh scANTY
supply OF coin resulting from foreign specu-
lations, the changes of commerce or neces-
sites of war. The very circumstances
which make it the surest found
alton for the currency necessary, in for
eign Transitions make it the most fuctu-
atlng standard of values and basis for
currency employed in home trade and home
Industries. Again the supply of gold and
silver mas not maintained an equal proper
ton TO the production of other vsluables,
and the demand, therefore, consequent on
the increased population of the world, and,
for that reason, should net be regarded as
an lnfallible standard of values and true
basis OF circulating currency. The world
would most probably have abandoned
twenty years ago, the specie standard and
specie basis theory had il not been for the
valuable and timely discovery of the rich
gold fields of California, In 1S47, and the
more recent, yet less productive regions OF
Australia, British Columbia, Nova Scotia
and In the province of Otago, in New Yea
Ia nd -
not redeem the one-twentieth part of the
currency and bills of credit necessary
in the transaction of business be
tween man and man and its
scantiness when compared to the abundance
of other valuables, testing it ald them by
the law of supply and demand, certainly
does not make the precious metals very
correct and well regulated standard of
values.
A REPRESENTATIVE AND SUBSTITUTE.
As a representative, paper money would be
based on gold and silver; as a substitute it
would not be subject to any sliding scale
on the external spssmodIc ex-
pansions or contractions of the metals, it
would rest on government securities, and be
lnconvertible into gold and silver. As rep
resentative it would be chiefly useful in It's
when required at home and its
into coin when necessary in
settling the balance of trade due foreign
lands. 1t would be entirely controlled in
its quantity in proportion as the metals are
abundant or limited, for no representative
can with safety be augmented unless the
thing represented has become proportion
ately increased. As 8 substitute It would
prevent disastrous reduction or oontrac-
ton in the supply of coin, resulting from
changes, war necessities or large
foreign specnlations by supplying the vacu-
um occasioned thereby. When issued alone
by the government, as it should be, and
properly guarded with necessary checks
and balances, it would become the great
support of labor, shield against panics, pre-
vent commissions to credit, commercial dis
asters and general distress and disSrust in
business.
''THR TWO CHEF EVILS
on any system of finances are
too narrow base and want of stability"
What is to determine the adequacy Adam
Smith, in his wealth Of Nations, "says that
the quantity of money which can bs annu-
ally employed in any country must be de-
by the value of the co8sumable
goods annually circulated in it (page 26l)
and again, shat the quantity Of money
must in every country gradually increase as
The value of annual produce increases"
page 162 The necessity is determined,
men, by no international, external contin-
yencies, but by the value of consun1able goods
circulated within our own
1oarders and the value of the annual prod
ice of the country. As that fixes the oues-
ion of adequacy or can specie or acurrency
he representative of specie certainly answer
he requirements? We say not, because IL is
90 uncertain in its quantity at home, oonse-
luent on foreign demands resulting from va
ious external circumstances. The supply
nay be abundant or very scarcity and our
always uncertain in its expansions
md contraotions to an extent fuctuatsng the
TalueS of every thing dependent on 1t, A
currency should be retainable to the extent
# an eQpalized necessary volume required
n transacting the vsrious branches of bust
ness that, one half ofthe country may not
DO distressed while the other is affluent,
hat commerce may not be embarrassed,
suspended, agriculture
'endered unproductive, labor impoverished,
,rime increased and the fo0dgates of every
svil and every misfortune opened upon the
Gold and silver having f2ed the
country for the last fifteen years to settle,
iaily demands in the foreign. transactions,
what better illustration can be given of the
nadeGuaoy of o currency based on coin
which is not retainsble. than IS, to-day viii.
IN agriculture one ha1 have more labor
han they can Go. while the ether half sea-
;ze profits In manufacturing the de-
nands for the produces are thousand per
,snt less than the skilled labor, ready and
willing to produce. Labor is either poorly
paid or cursed with the 'gl0t OF
eisure and Unemployment" Manutsc-
uring has no profits, and commerce Is
in the same proportion. Hun
lreds of thousands OF the best mechanics
and skilled iaborers are to-day tTaversing
he country with knapsacks IN thsir hands,
and seeking, begging for bread,
md importuning for employment, all the
of a false and fallaeious theory
If hnancieriDg on specie basis coins
which are neither retainable nor adequate
4 theory, the only effect of which can be to
aggregate capital in the clutches and Golfers
II moneyed sharks and sharpers, to the OPP
preston and outrage of every other class of
business and labor; making the rich richer
md the poor poorer, widening and deepen
ng the gulf between Dives and Lazarus.
BRAZIL, Aug. 80, 1879 JUSTICE.