, 1875-12-07

try In tho world stRnd9, rs llGa boon often
aptly Eaid, pyramid on its apo1* Whom
tho pyramid comes down..
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WHAT A 0REENBA0KER SAYS.
Some days ngo, The THrnuNE established,
by incontrovcrtiblo argument, three facts,-
ilrst, that we could b,y noeeBaarica and other
goods from foreign nations only II our cur
rency wns oxchangeable, by some process or
otl,er for the worlds currency, gold; SECOND,
that tho amount Of gold given for each dollar
OF tho paper thus exchanged fixed tho valuo
or purchasing power Of tho whole paper cur
rc,tcy in tho United 6tates; and third, TINT
mainly bocause there is probability Of ul-
tin,ntu redemption Of the latter. Wo asked:
"l1ow, then, it gold-ro<lomption ia openly
abandoned, even in theory, is our currency to
bo exchanged into that OF tho world and tho
absolutely necessary international exchanges
ef'ectea?" In ro11y to this question, wo
have received tho lengthy, rambling, dis-
iointetl, and i1ogical letter from Mr..
$. d. CARPENTER which wo publish else
where. If he did not expressly say that ho
was trying to answer tho question. wo should
never have suspected the fact from nnytling
in his long letter. We should haye painfully
toiled through it, noticed such gfoss errors in
simple mntters Of fact as tho statement that
tho import duties annually amount to " ncnr
$500 600, ooo," instead of S1G0, 600, 900, M is
the fact, mud lilo astounding declaration that
gold "wcnt down into tho 7Os" nftor tho pns-
sngo Of tho SHERMAN bill, or that tho noto-
holders lad lost $3H,0s5, 900 on brolon No
tionM Banks, whereas they never lost a cent
on these notes; and should have laid down
the epistlo, silently wondering what the
writer was driving atr and whether his COZ
science would e1cttso his wasting 60 much
pAper mud hpaco on such worthless words.
But Mr.. CARPENTER essays, rs n member OF
tho Executive Committee" Of the 'National
Independent Party" and d signer of its plat
form md call, to givo a satisfactory reply to
tho query We put. We conflne ourselves
.hon, to this ono point. making no reference
10 the mass Of irrelevant rubbish with which
ho overlonls his pages mud wearisomely
leMgthens his letter.
On the supposition that his promise is pos-
foctly correct, his conclusion is wholly wrong.
llo Hays TINT money is "yaluable in proper
ton to tho valuable uyeH it mny 10 put to-"
aad TINT tho Governments allowing import
duties to lo paid in greonbacks instehd Of
gold would so increase the use Of grocnbacka
that they would become rs valuable as gold.
These few words, by the way, express every.
thing there is in the naturo Of reply to our
question in bfr. CAnrESGgns manuscript
Now let us see. Clearinghouse statements
mud general trado statistics chow that the
property sold and transferred in this country
and the wnges paid amount to between
eight and ton billions Of dollars (38, ,00o, !, ,00o,-
900 aud $4,000, oQo,0o every ycar.
Greonbacks md bank notes are valuable
for oGuciing nil these exchanges. If
they wero also " valuable for paying the
additional b1G0, ,0o0, 600 Of import duties, how
much would this inorcaso their uses and
therefore their value Just per cent, since
the $lG0, 900, 600 is but one-lftieth OF go. 0O0,-
100000, or whole volume Of transactions. As
lilo groenback now vacillntes at about sc
cents on tho dollar, It would, on the SUPPOSE
ton that 1lr. CAnrENrEu's premise and
method Of reasoning arc correct, be worth 2
per cant more, or about 873 cents. Tho
whole effect, therefore, Of his damboyaut
sohelne Of greenbacks for duties would be,
according to hs own logic, to raise tho greon.
back Ii cents in value On the dollar, Or, in
other words, to make what might DO called
the ii standard basis OF the greenback dol
lar, the figures below mud abova which it's
worth constantly 7uctuatcs, 873 instead Of SC
cent?
But the brokers ars now willing to give d
general average Of 8G cents In gold for tho
paper dollar" first, because It is a legal-
tonder for existing debts, and second, be-.
cauae there is good ohanco OF it's ultimate
redemption BY the Government (and every
note bears on it, faco promise to redecm)
b1r. CARPENTER makes some passing reference
10 redemption in the future by the Govern
mont, but gives no explanation Of how it Is
to ba done when tho greoubacks are doubled
In amount and the bank notes retired; nor
what reason lie has for thus contratlicting tho
plnin, irzedoemablo position Of his rclomp-
tionless Independent party, as shown by tho
call he signed q few days ago,-a call that fatty
negatives tho idea Of redemption Mt any time
Ills party's plan would destroy all chance or
hope Of redemption, whilo it would doublo the
volume Of greenbacks, and would 20 cut OF
tho great reason for the present willingness
of tho brokers to pay even 30 conts for tho
greonback. Tho valuo Of tho Inter, there
fore, instead Of rising to s73 cents, would
fall to II, CT, IL, aud 10 down, and as soon
a. tho existing acbts wera paid of in the
atu6 ,-aa aoon, that is, as every creditor had
boon illegally choatodout OF A part Of his Dues
our currency would become worth continual
ly less and less, and finally bink to nothing
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