Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1875-09-24
Making More Money.

Does II ever occur to the people who In
sist upon an increased issue of greenbacks,
in order that there shall be more money"
that money in any form, paper or coin,
can only be obtained in exchange for la
Dor or some of the products Of labor 7
Every dollar of gold or silver costs dol
lar TO produce and procure it, and no man
can honestly get coin dollar save by ex-
changing an equivalent value therefor or
by gift II is the same with paper money.
The Government may print IL in unlim-
tied quantities; but it can only be honest
ly obtained from the Government by an
exchange of something of equal value.
There is no more chance of getting money
out of the Treasury honestly, without Civ
ing an equivalent therefor, than there is
of getting it out of any bank or out of any
other PERSONS possession.
1t is immaterial how much money there
may be in the country the only way to
obtain it is by giving something in ex-
change for Il. The owner or holder
OF money may give il away, but unless
1t be proposed that the United States shall
distribute 1t per capita gratuitously among
the people, in which case estimating
the total population at 42,000,000, it
would require an issue of over
$1,000,000, 900 TO give each person twenty
four dollars. But that is not yet proposed
by anyone. There remains, therefore, but
the one way in which this money can be
goN and that is by giving labor or some
other valuable equivalent therefor. For
every dollar of the additional issue of cur
rency there must be dollar in value
given. How, then, will the increase OF
the issue of greenbacks make money
more plenty in the hands of the people ?
Greenbacks can now be had by giving an
equivalent therefor. The man who has
anything to sell which anybody else wants
can get greenbacks in exchange, and he
can do no more in case the Government
should double the issue. There are $780,
600, 900 of currency now in the hands of
the people, which has cost the people an
average of SO cents on the dollar in coin to
get. They have given of their labor and
their production to that value in exchange
for the currency. They have exchanged
their property for the greenbacks. To get
any more of it, they must give other prop
erty in like manner. This currency which
they have thus got in exchange Tor their
property is in their hands; it is on
deposit subject to demand in the
savings banks and other banks An in
creased issue of greenbacks, if it have
the effect of depreciating the value Of the
currency, will of course also reduce the
value of the currency now outstanding,
for which the people have already given
its full value. Every cent of depreciation
in the value of the present currency is an
aggregate loss of several millions of dol
lars on the money now in the hands of
the people. To get the new currency we
must give dollar for dollar in property,
and as we get it it declines in value,
sweeping away million after million of
dollars Of the hard.earned accumulations
of the past as we'll as of the earnings of
the present. As we give of our substance
for the new currency, its value will be re-
ceding every day.
Let any man who wants "more money"
or expects "more money" as the result of
an increased issue of legal-tenders, ask
himself how he is going to get it. Can
he obtain it without giving an equivalent
for it? Will he not have to pay for it just
as he does now? Can he get it without
paying for it in labor or property, unless,
as we have said, the Government makes q
free distribution of it?-Chtcago Tribune.