The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1875-03-11
GrosnbaeEs VI. Coin.


men, will be found to contain many
pertinent facts. worthy a careful perusal,
"The most important and prominent
problem at present, is the currency
question. Its discussion is not confined
to the halls Of Congress, nor to secret
session in the Cabinet. The daily pa
pers teen with articles on the subject,
but none of them have yet given a clear
aud satisfactory solution of the riddle.
Indeed. nine-tenths of the articles on
the subject are about as "clear as mud 4"
and most of the remedies proposed for
the financial difficulty would ony y ag-
gravate the situation.
What is money, and Of what use is
it? 1t is neither food, shelter or cloth
ing: it is not gold, or silver, or copper
or nickle, or paper, although all Of these
can be used as money. Different arti-
cles have been used as money in differ
ent countries, for instance, the Lacedo-
monians used iron; the Africans on the
coast use shells and those in the inter-
ior use salt; the Central Americans
used cacao beans; the old Pittsburghers
used coon skins; all these answered their
purpose, but had their Inconvenience.
Our definition Of money would be "A
plain and easy method OF keeping ac-
counts between individuals and the pub
lie by means Of tokens which are
readily transferable. These should be
used by the government in denominate
and fixed quantities in proportion to the
population, and the quantity should be
sufficient to meet the requirements of
commerce, and should be sufficient at
east to pay one months labor of each
individual-say twenty-five dollars per
head to the population, Or one thousand
millions to the whole country. But
whatever sum may be fixed upon, it
should be rigidly adhered to, and kept
in circulation 1t becomes measure
of values, and an elastic measure of value
is as wrong in principal as an elastic
bushel for measuring grain.
BY using greeubacks this Uniform
quantity can be kept in circulation: but
if gold is used os a medium, the country
will continue to suffer from fluctuations
aud pancs, from boarding and cxporta-
ton Of the currency.
We have been taught from infancy,
and have thus come to believe that gold
and silver are precious metals, The be-
lief in this humbug has been a dead
weight on our couutry-a heavy drag on
our prosperity-and will continue to be
unit! the belief is exploded.
All wealth is the product of labor
money is not wealth; it is only certif-
cate that the bearer has parted with, Or
furnished to the community a certain
amount Of labor or its products; these
certificates are readily transferable, and
thus enable men to transfer property and
keep accounts easily and simply; bag
gage check is not baggage, but is proof
that it belongs to the holder.
A man buys farm for ten thousand
dollars, and pays five thousand dollars
down, giving mortgage for the remain
ing halt, and il the Government then
reduce the volume of currency one half,
it would be virtually robbing the farmer
Of all he had paid, as it would require
twice as much labor Or produce to cover
the remaining five thousand dollars
after the reduction as it would at the
time Of the purchase. Contracting the
currency adds to the value of the money
on hard: 1t makes the rich richer and
the poor poorer.
Oh, says the hard money man, we
don't want au irredeemable currency.
Who redeems the greenbaekS? Why,
the same chap that redeems the gold
The grcenback has the faith OF the
Government, and all the property and
all the labor Of the country is pied ged
for its redemption. Now, what security
have you that the gold will be redeemed?
Only the belief that has been installed
in the minds Of the people that gold Is
precious; which belief is daily lessening
and will soon be among the things that
were-all its value is imaginary and cx-
treDsic; it is now only one-ieuth as valu-
able as it was, and one hundred years
hence it will not buy one-tenth its
present value.
Gold and silver have a conventional
value and an Intrinsic one; their conven-
tional value is very large, and their in-
trinSic value very small. Gold was the
first metal discovered. 1t was known
fer ages before any other, yet it had
never been used except as an ornament,
or in drinking cups or spoons. For the
last twelve years it has hardly been
seen, and yet it has not been missed. Its
intrinsic value is not tenth part of that
Of steel. 1t is unfit for an earthly use
except as an ornament. 1t takes fue
polish and keeps it, and this quality is
its only valuable one, 1t does not OK
ydize easily, and it is fortunate it does
not as its oxide is ten times more pois-
onous than arsenic-fully as much so as
corrosive sublimate. The salts Of silver
are fully as poisonous as arsenic, but are
not to be compared with those Of gold.
In issuing greenbacks our govern
ment made some grand mistakes. One
was in discriminating against our own
currency iD favor Of gold. Had the
government refused to take gold for
duties and demanded greenbacks, gold
would now be at discount, instead OF
Is per cent premium. Another mis-
take was in permitting the issue Of ma
tinnal bank notes. It does not rennire