Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1876-09-29
Initiating the Currency.

| ana III Lnc course OF his remarks
said: "Thc cause of our trouble is
not over production but under con
SUMPTION" This remark should be
thoroughly digested. Its great wis
dom is hidden in the quartz rock
which will only yield it up, on faith
full crushing and shifting. 1t is as
though the tailor in making YOU
coat should make a misfit. "The
coat is too large" say you. ooh, no.
says Benjamin, "the coat is not toe
large, the man is too small, and that's
what's the matter" Suppose uncle
Benjamin had pig in a pen and
should give him more corn than he
could eat, and keep on increasing his
feed till he had surrounded and en-
comprised him with corn, so that he
hadn't room to take hisnccessary ex
ercisc, and the pig should fall sick
Now in very truth what is the mat
ter? A blunt, old-fashioned, hard
money man would say, 1T is plain
case of over feeding" "Not at all, .
says my uncle Benjamin, "nothing
but lack of penetration could have
led you to such conclusions; this is
not a case of over feeding, but a
clearly defined case of under eating.r
How grateful we should ever be tc
Mr.. Butler for setting us right on
this essential point.
Upon yet another important point
Butler, Kelley, Allen, etc, are still
more original and eccentric. They
go roaring up and down, that gov
eminent is contracting the currency
and as result, money is scarce, and
that is what makes the times SO hard.
There are soldiers in the greenback
army who don't know any better, but
those gentlemen do. IHey know
that the bill for resuming in 1879
provides for more currency instead
of less, that it authorizes an increase
of National Bank money, and only
retires eighty dollars in greenbacks
for each hundred of such increase:
thus positively adding to the amour,
of paper in circulation. Whether
the notes are National or Greenback
is not matter of the least conse.
quence, for they are taken and passed
indiscriminately, and not one man in
twenty that has ten bills in his peck.
cts or safe, knows whether they are
the one kind or the other.
Those gentlemen know also that
the statement that there is a scarcity
of currency in the country is incor-
rect. They know there are many
millions more of money than is used,
that there is n mighty surplus which
is piled up i'll great quantities lying
idle, though it is freely offered as low
as per cent. on the best security.
If some man from the rural dis.
tricts had come to town during a
heavy rain some day last June, and
gone crying up and down Main street
that there was dreadful drouth and
the country was going to ruin for
want Of water; that the wheat fields
were four inches under water, but
the wheat was dying for want of rain,
it doesn't seem as though that man
would get any followers, docs it?
and forthwith clubs be formed and
they begin to pray most vehemently
for rain? 1t would only be on lev
ell with the demand for more money
when the country has already an ex.
cess of about hundred millions.
We know that this excess doesn't
reach the farmer, we know that mon
ey is scarce with them. What is
needed is to make it plenty with
them, for they are the backbone and
If times are good with them, times
will be good with everybody. But
the greenback folks don't seem in
clined to treat this question in har-
mony with natural laws. They AZ
que backwards; they put the cart
before the horse. They say wheat is
low because money is scarce. That
cannot be true, for there is a surplus
of money in the country. The truth
is, money is scarce with the farmer
because wheat is low, and the true
remedy is to take measures to raise
the price of wheat, INSTEAD of adding
to the piles of useless money now
lying idle at the money centres
Once upon an honest specie basis,
confidence will revive and all kinds
of business will start up, money will
again circulate freely, farm products
will rise and we shall all have good
times.
The greenbackers assume falsely
that there is deficiency of currency
in the country, and OH this false ba-
sis they make their demand for more.
They demand Gas much currency as
the wants of trade require" Stand
ing alone this phrase looks innocent,
but in the company in which we find
it, it means nothing but mischief
If the 25 per cent. excess of curren-
cy we have now over what the wants
of trade require is not enough, how
much will satisfy them? will five
hundred millions? Surprising the
thing should work as they promise,
and by issuing new batch of paper
they should force prices to an unnat-
ural figure, say wheat up to $500 and
hogs to % cents, and everything else
in the same ratio, money would in
stantly become very scarce because
it would take so much more to do |
business. Then Congress must issue
more paper because "the wants OF
trade will require it," And the new
issue poured into the arteries of trade
will raise the fever still higher, and
force prices up again, which in turn
will require more currency, which in
turn will force up prices, and so on
and on, and round and round like a
dog chasing his tail. And
where will it all end? Where will
the balloon come down? l don't
know exactly, but everything that
goes up must come down, and wheth-
er our balloon comes down on the
sea or in the dismal swamp, its pas
sengers will perish, except the nimble
SPECTATORS who always alight on
their feet. But it must always be
that only one man in
two hundred has the needed talent
for a speculator, is one who can get
rich on other peoples labor
Now is it improbable that things