New-York tribune., 1875-09-01
THE LATEST CACKLE OF THE NFLA


Nothing can be more senseless than the hos
tility manifested by intlatiOnists toward banks
not merely banks of issue but banks OF all
kinds. The great Sangrado and his disciples
have lifted up their voices against banks, and
the explosion of the Bank of California; has
fairly intoxicated the whole band. Kelley goes
round reciting solid chapters ont OF Gouscs
ferocious "History of Banking" while the
"invcrted pyramid and vile epithet " British y
are made to do more than eight hours work a
day among the rag-moncy masses. stranger
would imagine that to compare thing to an
inverted pyramid, and call it a result of
"Britsh credit" worked some powerful charm,
so constantly are those cOnjuring phrases used
az a substitute for every logical process. Men
who have the power of observing and thinking
for themselves do not need to be told that
banks are now not less firmly established as
part of the social machinery of every civilized
nation than the printing press and the steam
engine.
1t is probable that property was transferred
from one man to another By means of credit
long before money was invented. The en-
ployment of money did not put an end to the
transfer of commodities by credit, but in
creased the number of such exchanges. The
invention of banks added still more to the i'm
portance of credit as factor III trade and
commerce, and their multiplication and I'M
proyement have assisted the progress of civ
iiized races in all other directions. But credit,
through all its notifications from the loan of
quarter of beef to the deposit of millions in
the Bank of England, is dependent for sta
bilty upOn the prudence and honor OF those
who conduct its operations. In San francisco
credit has been outraged, as often happens III
new countries of unbOunded natural resources.
The principal bank of the Pacific States has
been undermined and destroyed by practices
which should be criminal, if they are not so
already, and great distress will probably fol-
low. This disaster forms no argumcnt against
credit or banks, any more than the explosion
of the Westiiold's boiler did against the steam
engine.
Our advocacy of Il convertible paper cur
rencv, resting on the natural values of the
p,ecious metals, is based on the belief that
under such currency there is likely to be
q grcater stoddincss of industry and prices than
is attanabe under any System of legal tender
paper, not convertible on demand into coin.
If the experience of the United States during
the l:lSt lUlllttH N'iilS th' ous
of the practical workings of pure
paper money, the inferiority of the
rag product might easily be demon
stratcd, but when we add to what we see and
have seen, the knowledge that almost every con-
cevabe system of "DOn-exportable currency
has been tried and failed miserably, the 800
scheme not excepted, the conclusion is ire
sistble that paper cannot fill the place of gold
as a standard for fixing prices, wages, and
future payments. All laboring men have an
immense interest in the continuance of steady
prices and an uninterrupted movement of trade
and industry-a contamination which is not
promoted in the least by the mere increase in
quantity of money, whether gold or paper.
The following tables give some interesting con-
trasts, and show that british credit" and
honest hard money have resulted in much
steader movement of business in Great
Britain than we have experienced here.
a. The exports Of a county are subjected
to the vicisstudcs of foreign mlr..tls and
within three yo..:s als hadr u. Gre h,irsln