The New Orleans Democrat. (New Orleans, La.) 1875-1876, 1875-12-26
Resumption by Railroad.
from tho Chicago Times.

Resumption by Railroad.
From tho Chicago Timcs1
The great American board of tran
sportation and commerce have adopted
n brace OF resolutions OF a most OK
traordinary character touching the
subject of currency. The first OF these
resolutions lays it down us an axiom
that "the presence Of a metallic cur
rency Is the result of commercial pros
perity, and not tho cause of that
prosperity" and proceeds to deduce
from this assumed automatic PROPOSE
ton the conclusion that in order to
restore this kind Of currency 1t Is only
necessary ito supply the means Of
tobacco, cotton, oil, and other products,
at prices which will enable us to use
those products of other countries, =
whatever that may mean. The second
OF these resolutions declares that the
only way in which the means of export
ing our grain, etc, Eat prices which
will enable us to use those products of
other countries is by the cooperation
of the people through the machinery Of
government. TO put It briefly, value
money is the result, not the cause of
way to bring value money into use Is
to provide the means of swapping
things and the only way to provide the
means of swapping things is TO set
Uncle Sam up in the business OF com
mon carrier
These resolutions were not adopted
without opposition. Mr.. Jonathan
Young Scammon moved to lay them on
the table. He thought the currency
question should not be preached in a
convention which had as much as it
Il IL in of
cheap transportation. The convention
thought otherwise, and refused to lay
the resolution on the table. Mr.. Thur
bCr then proposed q substitute, which
he said had been drafted to propose in
case the convention should refuse to
adopt the resolutions reported by the
committee. This substitute, which had
nothing whatever to do with the cur
rency question, was favored by Mr..
Scammon. II was. opposed, however,
by Mr.. Frobel, of the resolutions com
resolutions as reported. Everybody
knew" he said, THAT gold must be
drawn away from country that buys
more than II sells. Therefore the pres
encc of gold represented the prosperity
OF the country" Hence the committee
had thought best to embody in the reso-
lutions the fundamental truth of
finance that "gold was the result and
not the cause OF commercial prosperi-
ty." The convention agreed with Mr..
Frobcl, and voted to enunciate the
fundamental truth OF finance"
| It is to be regretted that the Conven-
| ton did not appoint a committee to ex-
pound this fundamental truth, and
bring 1t within the average capacity of
apprehension. It is not everybody who
is capable Of seeing at a glance how the
expectation of grain, flour, bacon,
cheese, tobacco, cotton, etc, in ex-
change for. "thosc products Of other
countries !" can supply us with q gold
circulation. There isa prevailing opin-
ion among those who have given some
attention to this subject that there are
only two ways in which it is possible to
obtain gold, namely, to buy 1t, or Dor
row IT, And those two ways are at last
reduced to one, for il we borrow gold
we must eventually pay for it, unless
we repudiate our debts. II there is
another way OF doing the business-if
we can obtain gold by exchanging
commodities for commodities, as dis
tinguished from gold, it would be wei!
to explain for the benefit Of mankind
just how this kind Of exchange can pro-
duce gold, any more than the exchange
or gold for silver can produce commo-
dities in general. If this can be made
to appear, the rest will necessarily fol-
low It will follow that we can resume
specie payments by building railroads,
digging canals, improving natural
water courses, substituting steamship
lines, and otherwise increasing the
means and reducing the cost of trans
portation. But unless 1t can be made to
appear that bartering commodities for
commodities will produce gold, it will
aNt r,,tv To, I.s. Il Il.
transportation can In any manner con
tribute to that end.
1t would appear from Mr.. Frobel's
remarks that the " fundamental truth
Of finance he had in mind, and wifi CHI
he supposed to be expressed In the first
OF the currency resolutions, is the
balance-of-t trade doctrine. Everybody
knows says Mr.. Frobel, that gold
must be drawn away from country
that buys more than it sells; by which
he probably means that gold must be
drawn away from a country that buys
more than it sells of things other than
gold. His mode. therefore, of obtaining
supply OF gold for use us money is to |
sell moro and buy less of commodities |
in general. and so keep our gold at
home. And indeed that is exactly |
what we must do il we ever substitute |
specie for paper as the common medium |
OF exchange. But we can never do that |
In the way proposed by Mr.. Frobel and
the board OF transportation and COM
merce. We can never stop the outflow |
of gold by cheapening internal and |
ocean transportation alone We may
in that way increase our exports of
breadstuffs, cotton, petroleum, etc, but
If SO it will be because foreigners will
want to buy more Of those things, and
because they will have more products
to offer us in exchange. In other
words, if we increase our exports of /
commodities in general by reducing the
cost Of transportation, we shall increase
our imports in like proportion. This
for two reasons:
First, because the cheapening of trans.
the transmission OF goods in one direc.
ton as we'll as in another,-to encourage
the bringing Of merchandise into the /
country, as we'll as the sending of
products out OF the country. Second,
because the increasa Of foro;fx,, -ao,,,