The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-03-13
Tne Currency question.
rFor the D!spztch.J

reS0rted 20 ,Oef0fess AT WHAt tue' "ou''
ask. During the war How could tee
green backs. have been spared tnen' Wnen,
instead of drawing In any, the Governme1I
was issuing thousands or huDdred tnouSanos
a day? Was It at the close OF the #ar,
when IN the South all the gold and silver 10
the country had by some means oeen ooagoe
up with Confederate money ana sent 70
foreign countries to buy supplies ana ammu.
nitions of war; when all the accumulations
Of the country in gold and silver or bank
notes had been turned into Coniederate
money; and when that exploded the conn.
try was left entirely without money
of any kind, like o man whose
blood had been almost all drained from nis
veins; when in the North the country naa
been flooded with greenbacks 10 40 extent
which had caused an infltion of prices that
caused demand for all the money Ia inc
country; when, owing to the interruption Oh
commerce. with other nations In great part,
and totally with the South, yfthe war, 10
the increased and extraordinary eXpehol.
lures abroad, losses OF seq, ana stoppageo OF
communications with California and other
cold countries, occasioned by the same
cause, the stock of gold even 10 the NORTH
had so diminished that, with little foreign
trade, the price OF, gold in currency was
three. dollars for one dollar. Was that
time for lessening the currency by the con,
version of any portion Of 1t into united
States bonds? Where was the gold to come
from to supply lis place ? There was Ut
tie in the country, and as the Soutn
had not begun to produce, more gold was
required for foreign trade than now BE-.
sides, at that time United States bonds were
worth far less than now. They were worth
less than gold-less, even, than greenbacks,
which were in demand for circulation every
where, but particularly in the South. Iney
would not have been exchanged for bonds--a
fact which was striklugIy manifested IN the
necessity which The Government was under
in order to induce capitalists TO buy its bonds
then much below par) Of holding out 10
them the induccment Of establishing national
banks based upon United States bonds,
on depositlng which applicants were
to receive from the Government, free of Ia
terest, a certain large per centum in green
backs, which they might loan oHt at interest
in sddilion to the interest on the bonds de-
posted, which they still continued to re-
ceiVe. But the very necessity OF establish
ing such banks on such a basis, and with
such exorbitant privileges, shows the ext
pency under which the Government acted,
and the urgent need of currency for the
people, and the eXtremities both must have
been reduced to before submitting to such
demands. Not dollar of specie are these
banks required to keep in their vaults for
the millions they issue and loan out in pa
per. Their only capital, known to the law
as such, is the bonds they have deposited. If
it had been so easy an operation, by
simply allowing greenbacks to be converted
into United States bonds, 10 have made
the former equal to gold, and consequently
to have invited the entrance of gold and 10
have ensured its free and ready conVertlblllty
with green backs, why have not these banks,
whose bonds on deposit in the Treasury are
now, according TO the quotations in the mar
ket, worth more than gold, been required,
or rather aliored TOR indeed there would
seem to be no need of reqniring), to sell all,
or ut least a certain per centum, OF these
bonds for gold, and deposit the proceeds 10
place of the bonds Withdrawn? If only q
small part every year, in short time they
would have in their vaults one dollar lh
specie to every three they have Of their notes
10 circulation; they would become tpso tacto
specie-psying banks; our present currency
would be at par, and presto, the great desld-
erstum resumption of specie pay ments-
would be accomplished. Would the
bank be any the loser by this!
No; but, rather, the gamer. For many
Of these bonds are selling for more than gold
if sold for currency. If bond is worth
lis in currency and gold ia, would not the
bank gain the difference in currency Of four
cents by selling bonds at 11S cents in cur
rency aud buying gold with ia cents of it,
nj, 49,, fam
currency or 100 cents of bonds? This may
seem to be reductto ad absurdum, but
where is the flaw in the reasoniDg-w where
the missing link in the chain? / do not see
that the conclusion does not legitmately and
necessarily flow from the premises. If the
conclusion seems to any person to be pre-
posterous, absurd, ridiculous, or eXtraVa-
CAN'T, let him blame me not unless ne can
convict me of false reasoning; and if he can
not, the error must be in the premises in
the assumptions in the facts taken for
granted. The error, if any, must lie
in the assumption with which we set
out that the present quotations IN the
New York market are any criterion Of
the real reLatiue values OF gold, of green
backs, and of United States bonds, or of
what those values would be under any
other than the totally fictitious ard artificial
state of things in money matters which no"
exists, and especially under the change OF
circumstances that would inevitably be
brought about By the proposed measures of
Mr..Snermah and his bard.money associates
for an immediate resumption of specie pay
ment in 1879, by relying on the conversion
of greenbacks into United States bonds. If
any person believes that because gold, not
being The circulating medium, but q mere
commodity, not in general, ordinary,
and universal use, but--in limited, &C.
casional, and exceptional use, not In
real but almost nominal demand, 1T
takes only III cents in currency
to buy one dollar in god, that therefore
when gold becomes the circulating medium,
the only legal.tender for payment Of debts,
that the premium on gold will be what 1t is
now F.; or if any person supposes that because
now, gold not being In demand except for
limited uses, and the bonds Of the United
States being in demand by the Government,
which every year buys up portion of them
with its sinking fund, employs a syndicate
or agency to sell them in European markets,
and uses every means, advertisements, de-,
to enhance their value and promote their
sale, those bonds besr in the New York mar
ket higher price in currency than gold
does, they will do the same when gold is
made. the only legal-tender, when specie
payments are resumed, when the circulation
is altogether specie and reduced to $780,
900, 900, when property will be reauced
to half its present value, and nothing
but gold will buy it. II anybody supposes
that United States bonds are worth now in
Europe rs much as gold; OF that if the pa
tional banks we're to attempt to sell their de-
pssited bonds now they could sell them at
par for gold, much less for four cents In cur.