Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1876-08-25
THE CURRENCY QUESTION.
A Clear and Pungent Review Of the Fl
nancial Situation-The True Cause o!
Business Depression.

The question of finance is big
question, too large to be deeply dis
cussed in this hot weather, but an ar
ticle of small calibre might possibly
pass.
For one, do not pretend to have
mastered the subject, and whether
great or small, I don't know the man
who has; but the call for a Green
back Convention in Buchanan coun-
ty has interested me, and l want to
talk the matter over a little; and
among the few who may do me the
honor to read my words, I hope no
one will get angry with the BULLE-
TIN and stop it, for am not aware
that l hold one idea or sentiment in
common with that paper. Among
the gentlemen who signed that call
I am acquainted with several, and
though differing from them, do it
with entire respect for the gentlemen
and their motives.
They close their call with the well
rounded and ringing sentence,all are
invited I" to unite with us in the or
ganization OF party whose purpose
shall be to cause men and principle,
and not gold to rule the American
people," I understand the inference
to be that gold rules the American
people and new party is demanded
to dethrone it. Is that a correct
statement of the case? How does
gold rule the American people? 1t
seems to me to have but a very small
influence IN the internal affairs of our
country. True, duties on imports are
paid in gold but they always were;
there is no new hardship there; but
in our internal trade and exchanges
there is no gold used, only currency
that cannot draw the gold, though
originally intended to be redeemed
sometime or other. Gold and green
backs are farther apart than they
were four years ago, if I remember
right the premium now being two
per cent. more than at that time, and
Horace Greeley declared that we were
then further from resumption (prac-
tically) than ever. Resumption is
not and never has been imminent; if
it had, gold would have felt it and
declined. 1 cannot see that gold
rules our country in any respect. 1t
was superseded and displaced as
money when Congress suspended
specie payment and it still remains
out in the cold.
l fully agree with the call, that
the country Is in most deplorable
condition, but instead of charging
our bankruptcy and ruin" to gold l
charge it to the absence of gold, to
the condition of affairs consequent
upon the suspension of specie pay
ment and upon nothing else.
Peter Cooper said in his letter to
the Greenback Convention that the
real estate of the country had de-
clined one-half in value in the last
three years. 1 do not think man
over eighty should indulge in quite
so wild q statement as that. A good
cause does not require misrepresent-
alton.
Now, does any man believe that
real estate has declined one-half in
Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Wiscon-
sin, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Vermont
or any other of the long list of agri-
cultural states? No one believes it.
1t is not true. In some portions of
these states real estate has declined,
but in other portions it has advanced,
on the whole nearly holding its own.
The average decline in the agricultu-
raj states is estimated at less than ten
per cent. The manufacturing states
have suffered more and in some iso-
lated cases there has been fall of
fifty per cent, but those cases consti-
tute the exception and not the rule.
Perhaps Mr.. Cooper had in his eye
the empty stores POSSIBLY his own)
in New York or in Boston, where
hundreds and even thousands of the
most elegant and princely stores are
without a tenant, and yet they have
not declined over twenty per cent.
But whatever loss there is on stores
and factories and hotels, imitation is
responsible for.
You have an illustration without
going out of Buchanan county in the
case of the spunky, enterprislng little
town of Jesup. Early in 1865 the
writer first beheld that town. 1t was
quietly waiting with two little stores
for the surrounding country to settle
up. The following winter the first
wave of initiation struck the devoted
town, and in the following spring
they commenced building stores just
as they did stores and factories in
New York and Mass, without the
slightest regard to the natural wants
of business; and in about three years
there had been built and stocked with
merchandise of some sort, thirty
stores, great and small. In 1870 fif-
teen of them were vacant, and three
years later they were vacant, and
further this history does not go, tho
I think they are vacant yet. Now,
Jesup has about FIVE substantial stores
doing living business. The sur
roundings never justified a greater
number and they would never have
been built-to the ruin Of the build
ers-but for the wildness that accom-
panies fictitious money and fictitious
values. What happened in Jesup on
small scale happened in New York
and Boston on large scale; the first
being built by small men tumbled
quickly, the others, being built by
rich men, will hold out long time.
The initiation of the years from
1864 to 1872 stimulated every kind
of business to a monstrous degree,
and the manufacture of iron and cot
ton and wooden fabrics, clothing and
paper, mounted up to huge proper
tons, far above the wants of the
country or the ability of the country
to consume; and the extravagant
mode of living of all concerned in
the manufactures, the stilted salary
of agents,-from five to twenty thou
sand dollars being paid-and the high
wages paid to overseers and opera
tives,al these things combined to car
nv up the price Of the manufactured