The daily gazette., 1875-06-24
From the Baltimore Gazette.
The Imitation FdLEacy.

| 1Ac 5TccIiDHCk DidHk Vi tlt NJut
Democratic platform is proof of tn
loose ideas that prevail at the West oil
the subject of the currency. Nor ar,
such ideas entertained by one politica
I party only, they are common alike tt
Republicans as well as Democrats, Sc
that their effect in drawing voters from
one party to the other is pre- tty much
neutralized. Great as the fallacy Of
Initiation Is, it Is popular one through
out the Western States, and also at the
South. Even.in some parts of Mary.
land there are those who cling to it,
believe in it, and would be glad to see
the currency expanded, ,and greenbacks
everywhere take the place of National
Bank notes. II we are to have paper
currency the latter proposition Is not
{ so very objecti enable. 1t would even
be desirable In an economical point OF
view, inasmuch as il the issue were
limited to four hundred millions of
greenbacks, and the same amount of
the notes of the National banks with
drawn from circulation, the velume of
public debt would not be increased
whilst there would be saving to the
Treasury of twenty millions of dollars
annually In the matter of interest. 1t
must be clear to everybody that if Ma
tional Bank notes are to be based on
greenbacks, and greenbacks on the
faith of the Government, and not on
redemption on demand in gold or sill
yer, the just plan is to have but one
currency, and that currency green
backs. But would it be wise to trust
any Government with the purse as well
as the sword? Would cheap money
mako cheap goods? Would it add
anything to the legitimate capital OF
the country, which is the accummula-
ted surplus of the net earnings of the
people? The West wants more banks;
the South wants more banks; how are
they to get them but by buying green
backs from the Goyernment2
They cannot get q greenback or
National Bank circulation, except by
paying for 1t. 1t is money that buys
money, or buys bonds to get paper
currency. Where then is the money
to come from to establish these banks?
The Government is not the National
almoner to make currency and distri-
butte it gratuiously in States that are
clamorous for it. All the commodi-
ties it requires can be paid out of its
annual revenue. 1t is not purchaser
as it was during the war. Then it had
million of men to field. men taken
for the most part from industries to
become consumers and wastera. 1t
wasted clothing and tents, and medi-
cal stores; large and small arms; shot
and shell, and gunpower; military
trappings; horses and mules; grain
and forage; breadstufs and provisions;
ships and the use of railways. ALI
these things, and multitude of others
it had, to pay for it in greenbacks. A
large part of these are now represented
by the bonded debt, the hulks that lie
rotting at our navy yards, the accumu-
lation of arms and ordnance, not use.
less, and by the clothing and blankets
for which an appropriation is made an
nually, to preserve them, by some pa.
tent preparation, from the ravages of
moths. The war made paper money
plentiful, loyal contractors and manu-
facturers wealthy, whilst the westward
farms, getting high prices for their
cattle and breatistuffs, paid Oft their
mortgages and indulged In domestic
comforts, and even in luxuries, to
which they had never before been ac
customed. Peace brought with it an
enormous public debt, high protec-
tive tariff and heavy county, and city,
and State, and Federal taxes. The
price of farm products declined, but
the price of all other kinds of commo-
dities for use ordomestic consumption
was kept up by custom duties and in
ternal revenue taxes. The farmer, un-
less he had husbanded his gains, found
himself in worse condition than he
was before the war, for the family, in
many instances, had launched out into
expenses when money was plentiful,
and could not, or would not, descend
to the petty economies they practiced
before the war.
The merchants and the capitalists of
the great cities, and all sound political
economistswel know 1t is only through
a contraction with the currency and
the temporary sufferings and ha -dships
it entails, that we can get back still
more TO specie payments, and SO put |
ourselves on an equality with other
countries in the markets of the world.
With greenbacks, at the present time
seventeen per cent. below par, we pay
a tax to that extent on every commo. |
dity we import, in addition to the |
custom duties exacted by the tariff. |
The burthen of this tax lies heaviest |
upon the farmer; for, whilst he has to |
pay so much more for his farm implc- |
ments and machines, for the wages of |
his hands, and for everything he wears |
and consumes, thcprofits ON his money
crops-his wheat and his corn-are
eaten up by the cost of raising and
transporting them to a market. He is
thus placed throughout at a disadvan-
tage; for whilst the importer adds to
his goods the duties imposed and the
premium on the gold in which those
duties are paid, and the usual profit on |
the aggregate cost, and whilst the |
home manufacturer regulates his |
charges by tho price of imported arti-
cles of similar kind, tho price of the
farmers wheat and corn isfixed by the
market rate abroad. 1t is a great mis-
take in him to imagine that by increas-
ing the currency trade will permanent.
ly improve and prices go up, The ma.