The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-07-23
Plea for a Hard Money Cur
rRmCN.
LEwIsBURG, Tenn, July 18th.

| LEwIsBURG, Tenn, July 18th.
| 70 the Editor fthe Herald and Mail:
What will the Historian of our futur,
say, when adverting to the fact that til,
United States really mines more Col,
and Silver than any other Nation of The
| Earth, and yet in times of profound
peace, she cannot well afford the frac
| tiOnai parts of dollar in her daily ex
| changes in coin2 Our country stands a
the front in the production of gold anC
| silver, and yet ten years after the only pre-
| text ever made by any sane man for thu
substitution of an incOnvertible paper.
dollar for gold dollar, this coin money
the only recognized standard Of all val
ues-has fled the light of day in the marts
| of trade. And this policy must be con
tinued for an indefinite period of time
Certainly madness rules the popular heart
and frenzies the brain of common serse
when our people will lend willing ear tC
these appeals for more money 1t was Nc
Dufiie who said many years ago, when
L hear a Northern man shouting Union,
Union, methinks hear the bugle blast
of a rObber band.' And when to-day |
hear our own Southern people crying out
for more paper money, even the very
echoes hurl back to our ears the walls of
misery already inflicted by the ruinouS
policy of paper promises to pay, born in
anarchy and war and babtized in blood
From 1850 to 1860, our country ex>
ported tire hundred millions gold to
foreign countries. Not less than one
thousand millions of gold has been min
ed in this country, and yet if mer-
chant or trader handles dollar to-day,
he must pay premium Of from - to IS
per cent for the luxury. 1t is said by en-
iuent statisticians that two>ffths of the
bullion is made into plate and other arti-
cles of luxury, while the remaining three
ffths is coined and should 90 into the
marts of trade as money. Where is all this
immense accumulation of money? Gold
and silver wear out very slowly; some Of
it is buried in the sea, no doubt some is
buried in great California, but the
most of it is SOmechc1e stored up, and
can be brought out to the full light of day
by the proper methods and little effort.
That Government which cannot even az
ford its tens, tweaty and fitty-cents
in coin currency is broad burlesque on
craftsmanship aud burning shame upon
rulers. Among the relicts to be exhib-
tied at the centennial in Philadelphia
July the 4th, 1876, should be samples of
coin currency once Legal Tender in the
Republic of Washington, Jefferson, and
jackson. No currency except convert
ibe coin currency, is the memorable law
"a law stronger than that of MPdea and
Persia But we are met with the drgU-
lHentum ad h0minenl-the argument of
the bushwhacking politician and low |
demagogued, that it will lower the price of
labor and bring down prices generally |
until it will ruin the man who has con
tracted former debts through sheer |
of values. We reply to this |
that real UdlueS never shrink-it is your |
shoddy fictitious war values that colr |
lapse when pricked by the spear of Peace,
turned into a pillow share or pruning |
hook Burn every paper dollar now in
The United States to-day, and to- morrow,
= days labor would be worth and would |
in exchange the same amount
Of bread and meat as to-day. An acre of
and would be worth the very same in val
lie, for it will require the products of the
ioil to feed man and beast all the same.
IN fact currency does not control values,
abor must be had forever, and as long as
nan earns his daily bread by the sweat
# his face, Just so long will honest, ollie
.ent labor receive its reward There
lever was . greater tallacy enunclassi
han that Government should supply all
he demands of trade with the requisite
mount of currency. Hundreds and
thousands of men in the country are now
aging for homesteads not by currency
mt by daily toll, Never before in the
istory of any people were the laboring
lasses better paid than now. The daily
aboTer can buy as many pounds OF meat
s much bread. and as much merchandise
or day labor now as he could at tthe
lose of the war. And if | read the
igus of the times right, il viii not be