Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1876-04-21
The Greenback and Prices.

Judge hcliy, OF fennsylVanla, one OF the
most earnest and honest advocates OF the
doctrine that non-exportable irredeemabie
grccnback currency Is superior TO gold cur
rency, interjected brief speech in support
Of his views into the discussion Tuesday
evening on the Legislative, Executive and
Judicial Appropriation bill. Mr. Miller had
made the suggestion that a value of n green
back dollar had much TO do with the question
of salaries, when Mr.. Kelley took The floor
to promptly, instantly, correct u mistake
the gentleman has fallen intO,h and in
quired: Does he not know that dollar
grecnback will buy twice as much wheat as
1t would two or three years agoy Docs he not
know 1t will buy more silver than 10 would
six months ago? Does he not know it will
buy more yards of cotton goods of the same
texture and of wooden and worsted goods
than II would six months ago, one year ago,
or two years agoY Docs he not know, ask,
that 1t will buy more silver, more cotton
goods, more wooden goods, more wheat, more
wheat flour than gold dollar would before
the war? Why docs he call 1t deprecated?
Why does he say you cannot measure values
by it?"
The greenback dollar possesses purchas-
lngpOwer, and various causes have operated
to make that purchasing power greater in
the case Of most commodities than II was
year ago. But what gives the grcenback its
purchasing pOwcry Certainly not its intrin-
sic valuc-fOr IL costs comparatively little
for the Government to "coin" the green
back, and IL by running the printing press
es ii 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 millionaire-in paper
money-at comparatively small expense.
The greenb1ck 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 keen its
a. (,ntprn1upOt tchn
place the promises to pay which are now in
circulation with "Coiucdn 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 he, just as gold coin represents abso-
lutte value, and that the only redemption
which the United States would ever make
would be to supply new "dollarsn for worn
out ones, it is hard to believe that any man
in the possession of his senses will insist
that the grccnback 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 he
shaken, the grecnback would naturally and
inevitably dcpreciatc In value. No s-heme
eau be devised by which the grecnbacks
can he made better than gold, and the
only possible way by which they can be
made MS good as gold is by making them in
tcrchangcable with gold at their nom
inal value. Judge Kelley and few
tnanciers Of his school claim that if the Gov
ernmcnt 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 S1OO,0000OO 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-
tizcd, and the effect would he to dcprcciatc
the value Of the grccnback. If the United
States honOrcd its currency after the man
ncr proposed, and at the same time declared
that it would never redeem 1t in anything
but paper, no legislative enactmcnts could
save 1t from greatly dcprcciating. Not 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 rccompcnsc for an
expenditure of brain and muscle, unless the
paper was brought TO them in wagon-loads.
One favorite theory of the greenback men
is that the greenback does not tluctuatc, but
that gold does, or that gold iiuctuates fully
as much as the greenback Now, no advo.
cate of a specie basis for currency claims
that gold does not fluctuatc, but it is claimed
that it is the least luctuating commodity
available as medium of exchange. When
treated purely as commodity, as 1t is now in
this country, its price in grecnbacks-those
promises to pay gold-is scnsibly affected
at times by the demand. But to maintain
meosurcd hy its r,,ro,osinO, ,,o,,'i,25
in respect TO other commodities
TIT So, 10 ,,,,'a,, ~ -,
tbn nricn in odI6 IN ca ~ Rpitai, nnd 40 ~
iInitnd Statcs ~ various stario axnnrtoiIo
articIcs hefore tb. Ivar. 90 III 1r;oo 49,
inc thc ,yor IN o,nid IN rraot pritpi o,,S T.,
greeonho"Ls in a. irnitod Sfatoo od o. thoi.
5rn of tho rosrt t;',, -; ga HI ~ Vi Gt
Britain and In greenbacks In the United
OF sinfr nfF
NJ difTcront norilds PotS ,1rio rn% I'M
serve aSrnirPpbiv "a " nm 'o lin nsiratinn W., In
Gnri tsfo common p,idlords ,ynro n,,n,od T.,
NV Yor Of ~ iIc IN I'D rho s,,1o
tbc nrice f"r ~ af enid
EorIy in Iset ,yi,h i,"id ~ pV,t leo a.
New Yort a,,otation Sos ahont ~ ror unr
Mound in cuTrnncv Tn iiyernooi thc oplid pid
ppricc was S6iId 10 o6ltd Thns IN this o6Un-
before the war. in EnSlond % IL Sad S onIv ;ns no
creased four-fold. If the price Of raw cot
ton in greenbacks had Gudtuatcd no more