The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1875-10-09
ByTeIegraph
ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORT.
TO THE DAILY INTELLIGENCER
HARD W.. SOFT MONEY.
Reply OF Carl Schurz 10 Wendell
philliON,

Ohio, and found your dispatch intimat
ing a desire that should promptly repl
to the letter Of Mr.. Wendell Phillips
published in the New York Herald o
October o. have just read that letter
and consider It scarcely necessary that
should answer 1t. Still, If you desire It
! will devote a few hours TO the task
Mr.. Phillips is known as an elegant wri
ter, but the tone Of his letter Is so Flip
PANTY offensive, so small and supercilli
Gus in personal attack, that should have
been inclined to consider 1t "a hoax,
had not found it in a fair collection o
those crudilies and startling misappre-
tensions Of principles and facts distin
gushing all Of Mr.. Phillips productions
on the subject Of finance, will take VI
seriGiim the iour points Of my speech
which Mr.. Phillips attempts to disproVe
First-I quoted the following passage
from Gov. Aliens speech at Marietta
"These men (meuning his opponeRts) 60
about and cry there Is too much money
in the country. / wish to GOd we could
find some Of It. Laughter,l They say
1t il in the banks, IL il? 1t might Just as
well, for the purposes Of money and cur
rency, be In the bottom Of the Pacific
Ocean, for II II is not In circulation II il
no more money than so many COrnstalks
would be. To be money il must circulate
as medium for carrying on the eX-
changes Of tho country" Then | pro.
ceeded by quoting the fact that an over
whClming majority Of the business
transactions OF the country are ei-
icctcl by the transfer Of bank nc
counts through checks, notes and bills Of
exchange. That in Tact the circulation
Of money takes place mostly through
the banks. 70 show the brilliant non.
sense Of Governor Aliens statements,
Mr.. Phillips tells us that he and Gov.
ernOr Allen were aware Of these facts.
II they were, could they still be guilty Of
80 glaring an absurdity rs that money
in bank might Just as we'll, for the pur.
poses Of money and currency, he in the
bottom Of the Pacific Ocean, being not in
circulation at all. Although / have
never been an admircr OF Mr.. Phillips
financial theories, yet always considered
him far less foolish than Governor Al.
len. II he insists on stepping down to
Governor Aliens level, bC II 80. but
here IL something more curious: Mr..
Phillips says the very fact that so large
proportion Of the business transactions
Of the country are effected by means Of
checks, notes and bills through the banks
il the corner.stOne Of their gravest
charges against our present system Of
finance. lie argues that, as notes, checks
and bills Of exchange are 30 performing
the functions OF currency, the banks are
able at will tO initiate and contract the
currency, and il Is the intention Of
his friends to break this "aristOCracy Of
money manufacture" by introducing
their system Of turning green
backs into interconvertible bonds,
which ns he says leaves the: pow.
er Of initiation and contraction in the
hands Of the whole mass OF business men.
There are so many mOnstrOus aCcumula.
tions Of NbsurditiGs in this proposition
that scarcely know where to begin or
where to end In dissCCting them. Who
Is II that draws checks, and makes notes
and bills Of exchange2 Who creates that
kind oicurrency which consists In checks,
notes and bills, and who causes that corr
traction and initiation OF which Mr.. Phil.
lips Speaks2 II Is not done by the banks,
but Is done by that same whole mass Of
business men to whom Mr.. Phillips
speaks Of giving that power as II they
now were deprived OF Il. II the business
men did not do 1t under our present Rys.
TEN, II would not be done at all. II Mr..
Phillips does not know this, the small
eat clerk in dry gOodsShop can give him
Some useful information on the subject.
Can Mr.. Phillips be in earnest when he
gives Us to understand that lo and his
party want to abolish this system
Does he really mean anything
when he says, ave mean 10 have more
greenbacks and less checks" Is he 80 ut
terly ignorant as not to know that the
check, the note, the bill Of exchange Ms
they pass through the banks, constitute
the very agency which, by almost inf
nitely increasing the efficiency Of the
greenbackS or any other sort Of currency,
enable that currency to satisfy the re-
quirements Of business, and that without
this agency the immense number and VA
riety Of our business transactions could
not be carried on at all. In the year
1873, according to the clearing house
records, checks, bills Of exchange and
notes passed To the amount Of 33,000,-
100000 in New York alone, In making
purchases and payments, and Mr.. Phil.
Iips wants to put In the place Of that
medium Of exchange ellecting such gigan.
tic transactions, his "system Of green.
backs mud interconverlible bonds"
wipe out those facilities which the genius
Of modern civilization has developed, and
reduce the immensurable compass and
the endless variety OF our business trans
actions to the actual handing Ovef,ffom
hand to hand Of greenbaCks. Mr..
Phillips pretends to be man OF pro.
gress. What Ia this but return
to the clumsey methods Of barbarism2
Or does he want to facilitate these bust.
ness transactions with his "system Of
inlercOnveftible honds'7 II so, as |
understand the system, the peculiar
charms Of which | mean to discuss at
length at another time. the intercOn-
vertible bonds are to be given by the gov.
ernment to those who deposit currency in
the treasury, aud are to be exchanged for
currency again at the option OF the hold.
or. Now, is the government to discount
notes, and sell bills Of exchange, and nc
commOdale private business with time
loans? Ia that pOssibleY
Mr.. Phillips affects to look down upon
me with some condcscensiOn as only q ma
tive OF Germany. lie was born In this
country and lives In one Of the finest
commercial cities Of the Union. But has
he the iaintcst conception Of what IL going
on in that busy life around him? II he
had, he would himself enjoy n hearty
laugh at the idea Of supplnhtfng our syi.
TEN Of checks, bills, notes and modern
bank facilities with his "system Of green.
backs and interconvertible bonds" lie
would understand that such a substi.
tuition, even Il we multiplied our green
backs ever 40 much, would produce
40 serious a contradiction rs 10 bring
the business Of the country to an
almost absolute stand-still. The con.
ception IL so utterly childish that we
wonder how II could have grown In the
k.afa - a t,an ~ apiy avare1n s.n.l