The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1875-07-31
TaE yENERABLHPETE COOPER
ONTHE FINANCES.
A Strong Argument Against Forced
Specie Resumption.

r., the Editors aud Legislators Of Ny
Nqtire City and Country.
An incxtinguishable desire :" do what
can. in this the S5th ySar OF my age,
jmpels me TO call and fix the attention oil
the American people on the appalling
c,u.,s that have 80 ctiectually paralyZed
IN, varied industries OF our country.
This destructive cause has already shrunk
the value of property IN less than three
y..ars to a condition whore real estate
cannot be sold or mOrtgaged obtained on
II for more than one-halt the amount 1t
would have brought three years ago.
There is nothing that can be more i'm
ppr,uut than to find out and remove u
cause that is bringing bankruptcy and
ruin on millions of the most industrious
and cuterprising men ottheAmerlcan p' o.
pie. The national policy that has brought
the frighttul calamity to our country
.huuld reCieve the most thorough inves-
tioation and the most decided action OF
our government. -.
1ropose t. show the true public pol
lev that undcrlies this whole question,
and to indicate what appears to me, rs
the principles and the just methods that
ought to acuate the people in their eXer-
else ofpowcr through the government and
the remedies which that government
nuyht 10 devise. For it must ever be
borne in mind that the government and
t, po,icy in this country are just what We,
the people, make it. 1t Is our duty,
therefore, at all times and in every way,
+, .nlipbten and exhort the people and TO
,rus, to such appeals rather than any nm
mediate criticism or appeal to the gov
eminent itself.
The whole question of the currency
and money ari. es from the necessity OF
trad. or exchange among men IN the
products of their industry, and the causes
and methods that make these exchanges
fair, lust, and beneficial to all concerned,
or means of tyranny and injustice, and
tor the exercise of greed and seIhShneSs'
t. fix upon an arbitrary and iiuctuat-
ing standard, sue h AS the worth or eX-
chnngesble value of gold dollar, to IN
dictate the exchangeable power of pa
per dollar, is rs uncertain AS to take any
other permanent product Of human la
Dor. such as bushel OF whoa. ora pound OF
cotton. Nor can any standard he fixed
for the value OF a currency, because the
Uses and demand of currency Is fuctu-
atiug want Itself Now, the exchanged
bic value of anything depends upon its
rouvrrtibiity into something else that
ha, value ut tn. option Of the individual.
This rule applies to paper money as to
ANYTHING else.
We must require the government to
mike IT'S currency. at all times, and ut
the optinn of the individual, convertible.
IN, the currency must be convertible IN
T., ,.;,rthing, over which the govern
mept nm, entire control, aud to which 1t
can rive a definite as well as perma-
naut value. This is It's own interest,"
bearing bonds. -,
Instead Of this, what do We find the
government dong? Resolving that at
A certain future time, in 1872 the cur
rrucy shall be- convertible INTO goid
WIZ did not our Congressman proceed
to resolve that by that time there should
b, gold enough in the country to ABSORB
all the currency that foreigners might
wish to be converted into goldf
Even Ricado, the high priest Of bull
ionists, the father of the present BritlSA
system, says:
"A regulated paper currency isSo great
nm Improvement IN commerce that
should greatly regret if prejudice should
induce Us TO return To system "t less
utility. The introduction OF the prec'
lou, mc,els for the purposes OF money,
may with truth, be considered a. one OF
the most important steps toward the I'M
movement of commerce and the arts oil
civilized lie. But it is no less true that,
with the advancement Of knowledge ana
science. We discover thst it would be an
other improvement to Danish them again
frola the employment to which, during
the less enlightened period, they had
been 50 advantageously applied.
believe have shown that the policy
adopted 10y our government 10 hasten re-
turn to specie payments has rendered
the attainment Of that object more distant
and difficult than it was at the close OF the
war of the rebellion.
am now convinced that an opposite
policy. one that would have legalized all
the government money in circulation at
the close Of the war, making it convertible
into inter est-b bearing bonds, and recOnver-
tible into currency AT the will ofthe hold
er, would have established justice between
the people and the government, and would
have caused our currency TO appreciate to
= L.. 1. r. Il I.F.