Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-04-27
The Greenback and Prices.

ing power, and various causes nave operated
to make that purchasing power greater in
the case of most commodities than it was
wear ago. But what gives the greenback its
purchasing power? Certainly not its intrin-
sic value-for it costs comparatively little
for the Gov eminent to COIN the green
back, and if by running the printing press
es it can create wealth" there is no limit
to the amount which it can produce in the
course of time, and every person in the
country can be made a millionaire-in paper
money-at comparatively small expense.
The greenback derives its value from the
promise made upon its face that the United
States will pay it, and from the belief of
the public in the ability and willingness of
the United States to ultimately keep its
promise. But if the Government should re-
place the promises to pay which are now in
| circulation with "coinedn paper money
which would set forth that a certain bill was
absolutely one dollar, or five dollars, or ten
dollars, or one hundred dollars, as the case
may be, just as a gold coin represents abso-
lutte value, and that the only redemption
which the United States would ever make
would be to supply new dollars for worn
out ones, it is hard to believe that anv man
in the possession of his senses will insist
that the greenback would not speedily be-
come worthless. And if confidence in the
ability or inclination of the United States to
ever redeem its promises to pay should be
shaken, the greenback would naturally and
inevitably depreciate in value No scheme
can be devised by which the greenbacks
can be made better than gold, and the
only possible way by which they can be
made as good as gold is by making them in
Interchangeable with gold at their nom
inal value. Judge Kelley and few
fnanciers of his school claim that if the Gov
eminent honored its own currency by taking
it for customs dues, it would be appreciated
in value The fact is, however, that if this
were done, the Government, having to pro
cure $100,0CO,O00 IN gold every year to pay
the interest on the National debt, would be
practically at the mercy of gold operators.
Gold would necessarily continue dcmone-
tized, and the effect would be to depreciate
the value of the greenback. If the United
States honored its currency after the man
ner proposed, and at the same time declared
that it would never redeem it in anything
but paper, no legislative enactmcnts could
sdNC IL IlOlu greatly OepECCldlIHS. MOI even
the necessity of having currency would boil
stcr it up, for the people would not accept
bits of paper which were intrinsically worth
less than bits of wood with characters en-
graved upon them as a rccompcnse for an
expenditure of brain and muscle, unless the
paper was brought to them in wago1-loads
One favorite theory of the grecnbaclZ men
Is that the greenbacl does not huctuatc, but
that gold does, or that gold fuctuates fully
as much as the greCnback. Now, no adYo
cate of specie basis for currency claims
that gold does not tiuctuate, but It's claimed
that it is the least frctuating commodity
available as a medium of exchange. When
treated purely as 8 commodity, as it is now in
this country, its price in greenbacks-those
promises to pay gold-is sensibly affected
at times by the demand. But to maintain
that gold fuctuates-its value being
measured by its purchasing power
in respect to other commodities
as greenbacks have fiuctuated is nonsense.
This can be proven by an examination of
the price in gold in Great Britain and the
United States of various staple exportable
articles before the war; of their price DUR
ing the war in gold in Great Britain and in
greenbaclls in the United States, and of their
price at the present time in gold in Great
Britain and in greenbacks in the United
| States The varying prices of raw cottons
at different periods in both countries will
serve admirably as an illustration. In
April, 1860, common midlands were quoted in
New York at II 7Sc in gold. The same month
the price for common at Liverpool was cid.
Early in 1864, with gold at about 100, the
New York quotation was about 7Sc per
pound in currency. In Liverpool the gold
price was 264d to 2619d. Thus in this coun-
try the price was seven times what it was
before the war; in England it had only in
creased four-fold. If the price of raw cot
ton in greenbacks had fiuctuated no more
than it did in gold, midlands would have
sold at 531lc in New York when they actually
brought 7Sc. On Thursday last, with gold
at 1928 in New York, fnidlands were quoted
at 1890 to 10 9-16c per pound in currency,
little more than one-siXth what they were
worth in 1864, and nominally from 211lc to
2 7-16c per pound higher that they were in
gold in 1860. The price on Thursday was
equivalent to about II 9-10c in gold, or
about &c more than in 1860 In Liverpool
on Thursday raw cottons were quoted at
7-16d to 11-16d per pound, trifie more
than they were worth in 1860. They were
worth there just about one-fourth what they
were in 1864, and if there had been no greater
fuctuation in this country than there was in
Liverpool, common midlands would have
been quoted in New York on Thursday at
19c, instead of at 1890 to 13 9-16c, or more
than forty per cent. what they were; while,
if they had fallen in Liverpool as much
nominally as they did in New York, the
price at the former city Thursday would not
have exceeded 42d These figures show
most conclusively-what ought to be patent
without any showing-that the prices of
commodities fiuctuate more with fiuctuat-
inc standard of values than they do with
standard which has some claims to be con-
sidered stable.
A DOG got into hydraulic pipe in Ne
vada City recently, was forced through
five-inch no zzle, and landed against an
embankment several hundred feet distant.