Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1876-07-28
For the VERMONT FARMER.
Initiation.

The vital question of to-day is whether we
shall or shall not have sound currency,
Upon question Of such Importance it be-
comes every citizen to have an opinion Of
his own, an opinion founded upon sound prin-
ciples. These principles are not beyond any
mans comprehension. The whole theory Of
sound currency is based upon few sim.
pie facts easily understood by any one who
wishes to understand them; and when
understood they secure tho mind against all
the sophistries Of inaatonists.
The two theories have but little 10 com.
mon, but perhaps the most striking as well
as most vital point of difference is found il
their respective answers to the query, "What
is dollar?" The inhationist claims that
the unit of value is the piece Of paper with
-"Sl by Act of Congross'-ou its face
the hard money man asserts that gold is the
only reliable standard and that 25.S grains
Of gold, nine enths fine, is the only real dol.
lar. These two answers contain the plat
forms Of the two parties. The opportunity
is fairly laid before every man to decide
which shall be his, and in deciding, it is
well to remember that the standard Of value
to be reliable must have these two charac-
teristics. 1t must have intrinsic value and
that value must be as nearly invariable as
possible. These are so evidently demanded
that the only question is which dollar best
fulils these conditions. The gold dollar il
worth 100 cents, the paper dollar is worth
what AS to their stability, gold is the
standard of value the world over, and though
it would be too much to claim that it is per.
fectly invariabl0, it nevertheless ful6lls the
conditions of stability better than any other
metal or compound of metals known. The
changing value of the paper dollar is but
too apt an illustration of the mutabilIty Of
all things human.
The whole argument Of the inhatiOnist j!
based upon the assumption that nation
about whose permanaceucy there is not the
shadow Of doubt, can issue paper money
which shall completely take the place of
specie. The inAationist would have con,
gress attempt to control the laws Of value
and also make such amendments to thos,
laws as might please them. At one time
during the war congress did try to regulate
those laws, and with most disastrous resu
In 1864 it passed bill termed the "Gold
Bill" with the view Of keeping the premium
on gold within reasonable limits aud thereby
prevent speculation. But instead of doing
that, the bill awakened such universal dis
trust that the premium leaped at once from
81 to $50 per cent and that, too, at a time
when the worst Of the war was over and
when victory was attending the armies Of
the North. Congress saw its mistake AND
at the earliest opportunity repealed the bill
and as a consequences the premium soon re-
turned to its former rate. This distrusI
most certainly was not occasiOned by any
doubt of the permanency of the government
but this case If it proves anything proves
that congress cannot by its decree make {
paper dollar equal to gold dollar in value
But even admitting that congress could
create currency which would be generally
acceptable in this country, still the newt
able specie must be called into use in all ou
relations with other countries. At presen
we are compelled to endure the humiliation
of seeing our currency despised by country
so near to us as Canada. The advantage o
having our currency at par with that OF an.
country to which We are commercially re
lated are too obvious to be dwelt upon.
Inaationists sometimes endeavor to prov
the soundness Of their paper scheme b!
throwing discredit on the specie. Their ar
guments rest upon the fact that the speci
basis before the war could not prevent fnan
cial panics. This would appear to DO
hard fact to surmount were there not an
other fact which greatly breaks its force
In truth the currency was not establishes
upon specie basis but upon a mixture o
paper and specie, with decided PrePOnder
ance of paper. Just before the war Their
were s46O0O0,OOO of paper against $50,
100000 of specie. If that is specie basis
we must confess that 1t is q remarkably SINAI
] base for 50 large top.