Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1876-01-15
MONEY, MS USES AND ABUSES.
Why should 1t be made Of Golds
National Banks and their Circulation
How to Resume Specie Payment.
And Pay the National Debt.

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Money was originally intended for
convenience, to be used by merchants,
tradesmen, and others in carrying on
the various branches of traffic and
trade, and not for speculatlons. 1t
was used to represent values or wealth;
and as it was originally intended to be
used, SO it should now be used and
not as an article Of trade and spcula-
ton. =
Money, strictly speaking is not real
ly wealth, for nothing is really wealth
that has to be entirely exchanged for
somethingSelse before it can be made
to yield profit to its owner. For in
stance nation may possess thousand
billions of gold and yet it will be of no
real advantage to itsel or its peo-
pie SO long as it lays locked up within
its vaults and not allowed to circulate,
or be used for the purchase of such
things as would supply their various
wants. For instance, we sometimes
hear of misers perishing from expo
sure and the want of the necessaries
of life, leaving bags of gold and silver
hidden away in some obscure corner of
their wretched hovel. Neither is money
in the true sense of the word, neces-
sity, luxury, or a comfort, only in
Imagination; but may be exchanged
for any one or all of these at the will
Of its possessor, provided. however, he
is where these things can be purchas-
ed, which is not always the case.
As for instance, ships ladened
with gold or other precious metals
have been cast away upon desert
islands, and the crew, with all of their
great wealth.. perished for the want of
the commonest necessaries of life.
Now since money is not real wealth,
nor a necessity, comfort, ora luxury,
but only convenience, (and very
great convenience too), why should
we select that particular article, or
metal to make money of, that seems to
be SO scarce and so hard to get pos
sion of? Why not take iron or steel
in place Of gold, silver. and copper
The difference in the real value of
these metals is only imaginary, or be-
cause one is more plentiful or more
scarce than the others. For instance
if iron should become as scarce as
gold, and gold as plentiful as iron, the
iron would be considered the most val
liable of the 4wo and would really be
so, for we have good reason to believe
that iron and steel will make better
implements of agriculture. car wheels,
&C., than gold. Now / do not propose
to make money out of either iron OF
steel, for as tits such convenience that
so many of our poor people need, !
desire to use something cheaper than
either, for instance paper, or in other
words, | propose to take the green
backs themselves as they are made oi
paper and already made. They were
| good enough to whip out the Southern
people and srush the rebellion. They
were good enough to enrich thousands
of hungry army contractors and off
GERS. They were good enough to build
the Pacific railroad which has power
it seems to swindle the United States
government out of $200,0OO,00O, all
| Of which must come out of the tax
payers pockets. They were good
enough to increase the salary of the
president and the balance of his as
sociate salary grabbers. They have
been good enough to make rich
many thousand dishonest officials.
Then why in the name of common
sense should they not still be good ?
I like them better than iron or gold,
because they are more convenient to
carry. If | wish to travel over the
United States, one thousand dollars in
greenbacks would be no encumbrance,
whilst thousand dollars in gold
would be very troublesome.
But some one would say; you could
purchase cheeks from banks" Yes,
could do this but I must be taxed three
different ways to get and use them.
1st. The premium on the draft.
End. The risk of the banks breaking
before 1 get through with my trip, and
Sd. Having myself Unidentified before
l could get them cashed. For the mi
ser, who only seeks the selfish pleas
ure of knowing that he has money
buried in some hidden nook where il
will be of no benefit to himself or others,
gold is best, but for the man of bust
ness or pleasure, who wants money
either for traffic or the good he can do
with it, or for the necessaries and lug
uries it will buy, paper money is cer-
tainly most convenient. Money is diff
ferent from nearly everything else that
is called property, it pays its owner,
only as it goes out of his possession
and never pays him any profit whilst
in it, Therefore the sensible business
man who receives money, receives il
only to pay out again and it certainly
can make but little difference with
him whether it is gold or paper money
that passes through his hands. He
only wishes to know when he receives
it that it is current money and good
Rutthe bullionist, OF goldspeculators
will say that there must be gold in the
treasury to redeem this money before
it can be good. This I emphatically
deny. If such was the case why has it
been so good and current during the
last ten or twelve years, Every one has
known that there was no gold in ths
treasury to redeem it during all of this
time. The stability of the government
! ! :nd the confidence of the people in its
ability to make good its promise to
pay, are all that is necessary. Let this
confidence exist as it should. land as i
would with reliable men at the head Of
National affairs, and the people would