National Republican., 1875-09-02

except where the letter Of the contract re-
quires payment in coin. or course the
bondholdes would then have plenty Of
greenbacks to loan and we could get our
share of them. Reputation. ehf Not at
all. We would pay them the difference
between coin and currency whenever the
the contract required it, but hereafter all
contracts shall be for legal tender currency.
Suppose for moment that every one
could obtain what money he might wish to
invest in real estate improvements or in man
ufacturing upon simple endorsements con-
ditioned for endless renewals, how many
American citizens would devote their time
to laborf No one, of course. We should
be a nation of spectators, who would
starve in the endesvor to extract something
from nothing. And this is imitation. It is
extravagant prices, plenty Of money and
everybody made rich without labor.
But let Us return to the original PROPOSE
ton. What makes money scarce : The
last answer was wholly incorrect. Itis not
the banks which make money scarce. The
very life, soul and profit of banking is in
loans. As a rule they never hoard money.
They cannot afford to do it. Their exist
ence depends upon their ability to keep
their capital and circulation and deposits all
proftably employed. But they must have
prompt payments at maturity. Their
'fbills receivable" must be made to take
care of their ''bills payable" What made
coin scarce in San Francisco last Friday
and Saturday = 'Panic - What is
''panicf" Utter loss of confidence
by the people in certain banks
or bankers is money panic. They
run to withdraw their deposits all at
once, and the result is suspension on the
part of the banks they run to for such pur
pose. The banks, instead of suspending at
once, yielding gracefully before the storm,
pay out all their money and then stop.
Both parties to run on bank know there
can be but one result, eventual suspen-
sion. No bank can do profitable business
and always keep in its vaults, at all times,
the full amount which it owes depositors.
Money withdrawn from banks during a
run" is generally boarded by the people
who withdraw it. They will neither pay
it out themselves nor loan 1t to others to
pay out, 30 that 1t may remain in circula.
ton. Money deposited with banks Is not
withdrawn from circulation, for the banks
loan 1t to their customers; but the private
hoard Is substracted from the aggregate cir
culation of the medium of the country.
Again, the requisite volume OF medium
of exchange is measured almost entirely by
the activity of It's circulation. If II was
considered necessary that our forty millions
Of people should have q positive hoard of
twenty dollars per capita by them at oil
times Il would involve the locking.up of
the entire aggregate circulation Of the coun.
try. II would require eight hundred mil
lions 10 constitute that hoard. So we see that
II 10 not the "rascally" national banks OF oil
which hoard the currency and make Il
scarce, but the individuals who lack cona.
dence In individual borrowers, and refuse
TO lend II them except upon United States
bonds for security.
Now, then, tho next question 10 be con.
sidered Is, who Is TO determine when we
have just greenbacks enough printed and
issued, under this new order Of things, 10
transact the business of the country. We
hear the reply ready made, "When there
is redundancy Of greenbacks afoat, the
people will refund them into 3.65 converti-
BILE bonds and get interest on them" That
is brilliant idea, Is 1t mott Greenbacks
which you would gladly pay seven
to ten per cent. per annum for now,
are to be made so plenty that 8.65
currency bonds shall be preferred before
them. II is rare indeed that the thing
to be redeemed is of higher value in market
than its redeemer. So long as greenbacks
command on the average for business pur-
poses an interest of 1880 per cent per an
mum, they are worth just twice as much, as
an investment, as 3.65 bond. So the con-
vertlble hexibility arrangement of Daniels,
Carey, Cooper, Kelley, Durant and Co.,
would prove to be cheapener sure enough.
1t would decrease the value Of the green
back just 80 per cent. Really, we have no
patience with such twaddle as this seems to
us to be. Why do not Cooper, Hewitt and
Co., issue q lot of iron certificates, that
shall be good for all kinds Of iron, and Is
sue them with the assurance that there is
no need of the metal at all. Would they 60
just as well as the rails with company
that wished to iron its roadf But if people
really demanded the rails, they then found
that the certificates were only good for
rails of a certain pattern and weight, and in
the purchase of others were equal to
only eighty or ninety per cent Of cash,
would they not feel swindledP Our legal
tenders as compared with coin, the real
currency of this nation, are only Uucle
Sans orders on his store for certain kinds
of domestic goods. If you want foreign
goods you must pay gold.
Capital is an accumulation Of the surplus.
of the products Of labor beyond consump.
ton. II is the direct product OF thrift on
the part Of some one. It is what has been
saved by living within their means. And
this Is what people mean that they want
when they say they want " more money"
Thsy really want to borrow capital to specu-
lsts with, and II they make large gains,
they will pay back the capital and pocket
them II on the other hand losses cat up
this borrowed capital, they fall, and the
capitalist stands the loss.
Money, proper, 10 tho representative Of
created wealth, In other words-labor-
and 10 only designed % medium by which
10 effect exchanges Of the products Of labor
instead Of subjecting every one TO the In.
Of taking pay In kind, and
then procuring necessities by trade and
barter. It was never designed that labor
should pay two or more profits to Its en-
ployer. Mr.. Cooper, we suppose, would
scorn the idea of paying off his men at the
rolling mills in orders upon his own store
for merchandise only, and yet he insists
that Uncle Sam may do so without disgrace
TO himself or injury to his employees.
Mr.. Cooper is old enough to know that
men will not work SO long as they can
borrow the means to speculate on. He