The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1875-10-08
GOV. DAVIS ON THE. FINANCES.
His letter 10 Il. r. Allis Of Mil vaukec.

! -. .1'1's NAANAuNCcs " AS.~Mt deal
Sir: have Xead with great attention the
letter which you did me the honor to ad
dress to me in the Milwaukee Seminal ol
the 2lst inst.
Our difference Of opinion is 80 absolute
the question concerning which VIC differ
is so important, that have taken the lib
erty OF replying to you in this public
manner, not through any love Of contro.
verSy, hut in the hope that our views may
excite reflection in others and lead them
70 Sound conclusions. If, therefore, l use
tritc illustrations, reiterate automatic
principles of finance or cite the common
warnings Of history it will be with 10 i'm.
pertinent attccta,ion Of instructing YOU
who arc familiar with them all. NV Oh.
ject IS simply to cndeavor to convince
those whose acquaintance with them is
not to be presumed.
The occasion Of tho public expression
of our difference of opinion is the ami
madvcrsions to which in my address at Be.
lott | subjected the resolutions of the con.
vention recently held at Detroit.
You believe in those resolutions. Top
pose them. The first resolution is as fol.
lows:
That the rtople owe to the Government at
all times and in all emergencies loan of
money adequate to its needs, at rate of inter-
est SO low as to he the least possible burden.
and to offer the least possible compensation to
private enterprise?
This is nothing more than an expires.
sion Of the doctrine of allegiance to the
Government. 1t is the duty of the peo.
pie to furnish the means to carry it on,
to give their substance and their lives to
defend it whenever necessary. The du-
ties OF the Government arc reciprocal in
their nature within limits which cxpe-
rlence has fixed. The application Of this
resolution to those which follow it is
specious and Ca]lacious. 1t does not fol-
low from the truth which it cx.
presses that it is the duty Of the govern
ment in times Of emergency to loan the
people money adequate to its needs, or
force them to loan to each other by pro.
viding forced and irrcdecmaLle cur
rency, thereby making itself the broker
who effects such loan. or in any way to
interfere with these great laws Of COM
mercc and exchange which nhcre in 9TH
er causes than the mere relations Of GOV.
eminent laws which no legislation ever
yet succeeded in repeating, suspendiny or
in any way affecting except to make them
destructive in the violence by which they
have put down such insurrcctionary pro
tests against their action.
The second resolution is an expression
Of the theory upon which the Convention,
as think, proceeded to erect lis struc-
turc Of faIlacy and soplistry.
1t states ''That the Government owes
to the people an absolutely safe and uni
form currency, ada pied to their needs, in
amount and value, not materially differ.
ent from that Of other civilized nations"
The first objection to this is that it ig.
nores the fact that the needs Of com.
merce and the actual commercial inter.
course Of men are not coterminous with
the boundaries Of any State. We arc
not isolated like the people with whom
the reasoning imagination of Francis Ba-
con peopled the House Of Solomon. We
deal with all the nations Of the world,
and when, in the great clearinghouse of
commerce which states the account of bal.
anccs, we are found in debt we pay that
debt in something. With what? Not
with our paper currency but with gold
and silver which by law which has ex-
listed before Abraham paid ''four hun.
drcd shekels of silver current money Of
the merchants for the cave of
Machpelah in which to bury his
dead, have been the stand.
ard and the measure of value in
exchange among the nations. They have
become so not by conventional arrange.
ment alone. 1t became necessary to have
something for these purposes which would
be portable, impcrishablc, not likely to be
produced in excess, and to obtain which
the labor would be SO great as to give it
great value in itself. Gold and silver
meet these requirements, and no substi.
tute for them has yet been found. The
value of thing is measured by the
amount of labor necessary to procure it.
Governments do not labor. Everything
valua BILE is the production Of individual
toll. Hence every dollar represents the
labor Of those whose successive cxertions
have produced it. 1t is worth just its
cost. Your assertion that the coin is
worth more than the metal Of which it is
made is true to an extent almost inapprc-
chile. To make the coin requires labor
which confers the additional value: the
increase being in this country one half Of
one per cent, the estimated cost Of coin-
age.
For these reasons was correct so far
as specie is concerned III saying at Beloit
that no government owes currency to
its people, and that the trainers O: the
resolution had conferred the prcrogative
Of coinage with the function of producing
the substance coined.
We come now to consider how far the
Government owes to its people that other
commodity-paper moncy-which is the
currency spoken of in the third rcsolu.
ton. l believe it to be sound, original
proposition that no government can un'
dcrtake to furnish such curl ency with
out cntailing upon the citizen the misfor-
fortunes which you have SO vividly de-
picted as now assailing us. But be this
as it may, the limitations OF the resolution
render unnecessary any discussion Of the
proposition in this broad extent.
It is stated in this resolution THAT a
providing Of currency for the people is
an attribute of: sovereignty, and we de-
mand that the Government Of the United
States shall perform this duty in way
so as to furnish the public an amount of
currency adequate to the business re-
quirements of the country, and independ'
cnt Of action of banks or other private
corporations"
This resolution after promising that it
is the duty Of the Government to furnish
currency, prcscribcs, lst, that it shall
be absolutely safe and uniform I'd, that