Litchfield enquirer., 1875-11-04
The Meaning os os".rredeemabIe.' .''

Docs the Enquirer mean to say that greenbaeks ev erywhere redeemable in government interest oearine farmer and lzbOrer is crazy to redeem tu msrcnan- dise manufactured articles, farm products or Aoora '.irredeemabIe paper currency ?"-Rf"stsd Frees.
 That is precisely what we do mean. First let us take the everywhere redeem able in government interest bearing bonds at par" notion. These ''interest-bearine bonds," pay just 8 65-lOO per cent annu' ally. in currency, if we understand the PEvS I~usuz1. Ezuuey, m Tne meanume brings seven per cent. interest, or six at the lowest. Will capital that can obtain nearly twice that interest on good security take these 365 per cents at par, as an in yestment? Certainly not. That matter ia settled by recent sales at 72 and B oi Dist. of Columbia 3.65 bonds, decided chargeable to the U. s. government. The ''eonvertible" feature of the proposed h. AAtiOn plan, therefore. is simply snare. At what rate arc merchants, manufactu- Ters, &c., "crazy to redeem" the green back? Not at par with gold. but, as all our inflated prices show, considerably below. Just 60 Tn South Carolina, while the Con- 1ederscy lasted, people were crazy to re- deem the notes of that government, but at the rate of $1OO, each bushel, for potatoes, or $500 for each pair of shoes.
 Will the Press allow us to give an in- ssapce? Within the past few years we have had occasion to know that the orders of the county of LitchAeld were worth less than the sams amount in orders of the town of Litchfeld. Why was this The indebtedness of the county was only one or t&o thousand dolla.s, whereas the town owed one hundred thousand dollars, with only tenth of the property of the county to pay its debts with. The difference lay in the fact that payment of town order could be compelled by suit. while that of a county order could not, and in the further fact that town orders were always payasle on demand, while county orders, though always paid, some times lay on interest for a year or two. These county orders bore only per cent. interest, while money could generally be made to bring 2 per cent, so that the first inquiry of the buyer was when the order would probably be paid. and the amount of shave to which the seller had to submit depended upon the length of time that would probably elapse before payment. Now let us suppose the time of payment of these orders indefinitely postponed, and the interest on them reduced to 3.65 per cent. per annum, how much would they probably be worth? Then, if the county had power to make their or. ders legal tender, would there not be at once e tremendous nominal rise in pric. es? A pair of boots worth 6 in gold, O, $5.SO in greenbacks, would probably be worth $500 in county orders. Goods that now have one value in gold, and an other apparently greater value in green backs, would have still another and still greater apparent value in county orders. We should then be blessed with three kinds of currency: We should have q currency of gold and silver worth fixed amount the world over. We should have c national currency depreciated from gold values because the time of its redemption is uncertain, and liable to be still more depreciated by the unwise or dishonest action of Congress elected. we are told by apeople the majority of whom are debt ors who would be benefited by such de preciation. We should have further l, county currency, still more depreciatet than the national currency by reason O its limited range. and also subject to tht freaks of a popular assembly. woult that mean special prosperity for Lltchfielt County?
 Ia it not fact that what popularity In Aation has. is with people who know tha our paper currency is depreciated becaus there v doubt about it's redemption ii specie, and who desire to increase rathe than diminish that depreciationf Wen dell Phillips in effect confesses this in hi Ause letter to Mir. Schurz "The man wh borrowed $10O. last month, must. if tn law forces resumption. pay s117 to settl his debt. Thus the capitalist robs hi dsbGse by asking Che government for suc alaw." Yes. but If Imitation prevails. am it becomes fixed fact that there is to no resumption, only . convertible bon drawing S.65 per cent. interest, and th premium on gold rises to 40 or 150. wh is robbed theae Who was robbed whe government which had declared that Il dollar should always contain . csrtai amount of gold. substituted paper,r an men who had loaned one hundred gol dollars were repaid in one hundred pap, dollars worth less than fifty gold dollars Only extreme necessity m . var. tn, threatened the life Of the nation coul justify such an act. It was condition
 things no ~isdom could foresee. On Il other hand every man who has borrows
 money or bought property and agreed pay money for it aimee the passage of u Legal Tender act, has had the risk of R
 sumption constantly before his eyes. {
 ia a measure of which the 0overnmel
 hos certainly given such warning that !
 prudent man can say that it comes on hi