New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-06-29


make money plentiful. and silver rose to 800 per
cent Then o Land Bank was proposed, with 393
subscribers, whose bills were payable In pro-
duce or manufactures, at rates 10 oc
fixed by its directors, and lent at per cent 10
its subscribers This project has proved deusve Also
II protested TO encourage manufactures. 1t oncrcd
low rates of interest and long terms to its debtors
and allowed them to pay In goods. 1t was Ve'oe"
by the Governor, but its projectors went on as
partnership, and gradually obtained the controi NJ
the Assembly and Council and bid fair at one time
to become masters of the Province Then Game 'no
Silver Bank, whose bills were payable In com NJ
20 shillings the ounce, but this could OBTAIN no
charter and went on without one. The bills Oh uese
banks as they fell carried down with them the biis
of credit of the Province to for and subsequently,
in 1747 TO 1 for I. The great effort had peeh ~
make money plenty" but the more there was Oh !"
the less it was worth The result OF the excess :" ~
to ruin trade, impoverish the PROVINCE anu
retard the growth Of population, ana tho
general complaint was that money was scarce
The wretched condition OF affairs was portrayed by
the Governor in his annual messages, by the clergy
in their election sermons and finally was admitted
by the Assembly las Douglass expresses III In one
of their lucid intervals"
At length after the capture Of Louisburg by an
army composed in great part Of the hardy hsherInen
and militia Of the Province, England agreed 10 de-
fray the expense and offered to pay fleo,ooo iof IT,
imbursement but at the instance of her merchants
required the Province to apply it to the extinetoh
of the paper money, and the Legislature pledged lis
faith that it should be done. Parliament passed acts
TO prohibit paper money in the future, and to sup
press the Land Bank and the Silver Bank AT length
the specie reached Boston. But even then 1t was
urged that return from silver at 100 per l,ooo 10
and
silver ut par would "giye shock to business ana
ruin trade" that the Province must walt
until the other colonies came into tho measure
and then make gradual change. lint the o'ncr
Provinces declined to resume, and the Governor IN
sisted that then tho Province must keep its falkland
the exchange was made at once at the rate OF Sl III
silver for so in paper and in year by single
movement the Province went back to specie pay
ments. and was known as the " hard-money colony"
Thus far all the remedies for the scarcity OF money
had failed but this measure proved successful. lie
transition was great from silver at one Tor ten
in paper when compared with the slight change we
now REQUIRE of an eighth Of dollar only. The dif-
ference then was 900 per cent and now 1t would DC
from ~ to II per cent only But Hutchinson, the
historian Of the Province, who describes what ne
saw, informs us in glowing terms that resui'p
ton, instead Of giving shock to business
gave an impetus to commerce.; that the SHOCK
predicted was not felt by Massachusetts, but was
given TO other Provinces of New-Engand that had
not the courage to follow her example, and for ~
years. from 1749 TO 1915, the Province steadily
adhered to specie payments. During this period III
advanced materially in commerce and wealth when
had previously declined and was able TO take very
prominent part in the great struggle with England,
in which her sister colony of Virginia was also
prominent having closely adhered to specie pay
mcnts.
With the Revolution came the second experience
of Massachusetts, under an avalanche OF paper
money. which again exhausted her credit and
brought her 10 tn brink of ruin But as soon as the
country was reorganizcd she at once returned 10
specie and for half century, down to 1887 throngn
embargoes and wars, adhered to specie, and MAN.
tanned specie payments in New-England, although
from 1914 to 1919 all the States South and West OF
New-Ensland suffered from deprecated currency.
She was thus able TO averts the calamties that be-
fell Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cincinnati, and other
cities from their suspension, and thus was Boston
enabled to compete successfully with New-fsrk I'M
ill the latter returned specie and opened her great
arteries of commerce. After the disastrous year OF
1897 she again resumed and adhered TO specie until
greenbacks were made legal tenders, and the cx-
penscs of our late thus greatly increased.
Massachusetts finds nothing in the history OF the
assignats of France, the bonds Of Texas our own
provincial bills, or the paper money OF tho kevolu-
ton 10 reconcile her to an inconvcTtble currency,
and believes in the adage of her historian, MI uhte
o,od uop bopest,,m.n T. III. DERBY.
Boston, May 20, 1873.