Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1876-01-27

Of the currency fuctuated from four {.
ffty per cent. discount. Toremedy th
embarrassment to trade, arising from
the fluctuations in the value of tn
credit bills, the Legislature, in l732
made tobacco legal tender at one pen
! nv q pound, and Indian corn ut twent,
pence per busheL Taxes on Lachelors
negroes and Irish servants did not seen
to produce q fund sufficient 10 reclaim
the paper bills, or revenue enough 3.
dispense with their emission and nee.
Placing the paper money emissioue d
the small colonies Of Delaware, Nev
Hampshire and Georgia at !R500, 900 il
all, we come lastly to Virginia, Whose
issues between May, l755, and July
l776, exceeded one million pounds
There was no lack of coin for currency
in the early history Of this colony. Tbt
people set to work to raise tobacco and
other products which would bring cash
in the worlds markets. Specie can al.
ways be had when there is something
valuable to be exchanged for it. Eng.
land loved tobacco more than gold.
Like human slavery in ancient days
paper money in recent times seems to
be one of the ruinous incidents of war
To meet the expenses of the ill.fated
Braddock expedition, and to pay fol
the scalps of the Indians, was the use
to which the first credit bills were put
in Virginia. They bore five per cent
interest, were lawful tender, and, al.
though counterfeiting them was pun
ished with death, they were counter.
feited to q fearful extent. They were
an imperfect instrument of exchange,
because issued at different dates, and,
bearing interest from date, the nominal
pound of no two issues was of the same
real value. Mutilated or defaced bills
were not redeemed. that is, exchanged
for other bills. The emissions having
reached .e35O,000 in a single year, OF
course, they became worthless as mea-
sure Of value, and made, as jefferson
saws, "a lottery of all private proper.
ty."
To recapitulate in brief, the Ameri-
can colonies, prior to the day from which
we date our independent existence, is
sued thirteen million pounds of bills of
credit. Adding to this twenty million
dollars, the amount of continental bills
put out prior to July 4. 1876, we find
that the paper money emitted and sub
stantially repudiated before our separa-
tion from Great Britain reached the
frightful sum Of seventy million Of dol
lars.
Viewed in the clearer light of the
principles of the economic sciences, as
at this day. it does not ap-
pear that q necessity existed for the
and use Of paper curren.
cy in the colonies. Had the policy of
England and her colonial authorities
been guided by the accepted maxims of
political economy, the supply of a cir
culating medium would have come
through natural laws operating in trade
and commerce. The precious metals
flow like the waves of the ocean to fill
up the currency level to the uniform
b. light Of the great circulating sea-
Had all the colonists exhibited the ex-
ceptional wisdom Of Roger Williams,
Penn, aud the first Lord Bal
timore in dealing with the Indians, and
had they been employed in producing
wealth, instead Of destroying it in in
wars, sufficient quantity
Of exportable products would have been
produced to exchange for all the silver
and gold actually needed for a medium
Of circulation.
The earth, the forests, the streams,
and inland seas afforded articles of CON-
which civilized nations wanted
and were willing to pay form gold. And,
had England left commerce with the
colonies absolutely free, had she allow
ed them to sell in the words highest
and buy in the cheapest, bad
she placed no restrictions upon their
liberty to trade beyond their own incli-
nation and interest, there would have
been no lack of specie, because no lack
Of products for which the world was
willing to exchange specie. Values
would then have been measured with
coin, not with debts or due bills.