The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-06-27
GOLD PRICES.

GOLD PRICES.
The New York Journal of Commerce. SPEAK
ing of hard times and prostitution Of business
uses the following emphatic language:
There ia a w.v ont Of this quagmire, but the
people must be thoroughly aroused before tIey
will take it, and 20 many are already Snssngleu
that they are afraid to struesH. seai
they sink the deeper and fall hopelessly o. nn NJ
ieade ss weight that letters industry and stiles
enternrise. II every honest man who knows
what lie and sham the present money STANDARD
is would give his voice ia favor OF nNDg &oid
1ssv september next to his daily transactions,
and would then begin to call dol
Lard by it's true name; to enter every
trade At it's real price in dollars; to quote paper
deprecated currency circulating at this discounts
10 keep all their records in real money. and ad-
Just their dealings to it on this baeis. the first
efectual stop toward new prosperity Will have ,s
been taken. This 10 throwlng no
disoredit on government issues, and 80 far from
depreciatiDg the paper money, it would tend to
give it an increased market value. If gold could
once be restored to its real place In the daily
reck onings OF this market the relief would be 90
great that people would wonder he. how they ever
which has afflicted rs for SO many Year,.
In its issue Of April 8 the BULLETIN had an
editorial on Gold Prices, setting forth ct some
length the simple manneo in which gold might
be reinstated Is the measure in values We
endeavofed to show that ct some early day
bankers, brokers and business men in all
branches would, a. matter of self protection,
soon be obliged to adopt metallic measure
Of values.
That the paper representation of money is
too variable to answer the purpose Of
medium of exchange scarcely needs demon
stration. The man who buys an invoice on
sixty days time, payable in paper. does not
know within five per cent. what his purchase
will eventually cost him. An article valued at
q hundred dollars to- day, may cost q hundred
and Eve dollars before the 9th Of July, or it
may cost only ninty-fve dollars. The buyer
Of twenty thousand dollars worth of produce
may sell it twenty days afterwards for twenty
one thousand dollars, and yet be loser.
Money deposited in the beginning Of month
may have deprecated in the course of the
month, five per cent or more.
When the careful man Of business puts in
bank five hundred dollars in gold, he is sure
that in sixty days he can draw his deposit
and have exactly what he put in, with it's
purchasing power unchanged; but if he de-
posits that amount in currency, he knows
that the same amount in currency will be re-
paid to him, but he does not know how much
it will be worth. Paper is never the same
thing at night that it was in the morning.
It varies like the atmosphere and the temper
ature 1t is ono thing to-day and another TO-
morrow. Every influence affects it, and this
inseparable variableness renders it very
poor substitute for money and . medium Of
exchange.
Dealers Of all kinds are obliged to take this
variableness into account Tho seller who
has already calculated fair percentage of
profit on something which he puts upon the
market, must again calculate another and ad-
ditional percentage as q margin to cover the
probable variation in currency. The mana-
facturer charges an extra profit to cover fuc-
tuation. The first buyer puts or an extra
cost mark to pay interest and further fuctu-
alton. By the time the article has reached
the consumer, it is assessed with more than
double profit as q tax to pay for tho employ
ment Of an elastic, delusive, variable and al
ways uncertain measure of values. And all
this loss could have been avoided by simply
adhering to gold prices.
All the time, talent and labor employed in
handling exhange and manipulating paper
is total loss to all but those engaged in it.
Spectators flourish in an atmosphere Of I'M
certainty, but while it is sport to them it Is
death or damage to all others. The money
spectators would have made none OF their
gigantic fortunes if our currency had been
gold and silver.
The paper currency is upon us and must
abide with us for long time. but we can
begin to get rid Of its evil effects by ignoring
it as measure Of values. Let dealers, the
largest in front, put gold values on their goods
and wares and secure stable prices, trans
fsrring the variableness to the paper. AS we
said eighty days ago, "Let gold be restored to
its inalienable aud indefeasible prerogative
as the never-varying standard of measure
ment in all monetary transactions. Let cost
be calculated, profits be assessed. and prices
fixed in gold on all property, produce, securi-
ties and merchandise whenever practicable.
We are pleased now to meet in the columns
OF the Journal of Commerce SO emphatic
recommendation of return to gold prices.
It is pleasant forerunner of that early day
when paper will become the article Of mer-
chandise instead of gold, while the latter re-
sumes its lawful functions as an adjuster and
regulator Of values.
In allusion to the BULLETINS earnest call
for railroad to Texas the Nemaha. Nebraska,