The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1876-06-30
THE FINANCIAL QUESTION.
Tho California hard Money system

Tho California Hard Money System.
Continuing from June 10th, the re-
view of my friend Assumptions arti-
Gle OF June p, this is his next argu-
ment to show that the United State:
generally should adopt hard money
system:
In California where the greenback!
We're never tolerated, or to a very linn
tied extent, they have never lacked
| for money TO do the business of he
vast and varied enterprises. 9Th,
people hold iast to gold and silver, OF
| whose scarcity there is no complains
and OF whose value there is no CUES
tion."
Granting this to be fact, and tina
California has not only gold and silver
but enough gold alone, to transact it
business, it so clearly illustrates tn,
fmpossibility of the rest of the coun
try following its example, that 1 an
surprised to see my friend jumping a
wrong conclusions because Mr.. Blain,
did. California is part of the United
States; California does business will
gold; therefore all the United States
can DO its business with gold. This Il
the logic we are asked to accept. Blu
logic based on half the facts, is apt t.
lead to wrong conclusions.
The reason why California has /:
metallic currency, and why green.
backs and national bank notes are bu
little used there, is because California
has special and exceptional advantages
over the rest of the United States, fol
procuring and retaining gold, and fol
carrying on business without an ssirre
deemable'' paper currency. The cor.
rect conclusion therefore is that the res
of the country must have equal golG
facilities with California, before it car
be equally supplied with gold, and i
its facilities are comparatively nothing
its supply will be in proportion.
From its settlement, California ha;
mad metallic currency, dug from it's
gold and silver mines, and has been or
an independent business footing from
the rest of the world. Its climate and
soil have produced all that its people
need and nearly all they desire, its
Isolated position soon forced it to de-
velop self sustaining agricultural and
manufacturing industries, and its
mines furnished it with enough metal
lie currency for It's business operations
and saI plus for export. This was
its condition when the war of the re-
belllnn began, and the rest of the
country, not having enough gold or
gold and silver TO do business with, or
enough to keep its paper currency on
a gold or gold and silver basis, was
forced to suspend specie payment and
rely altogether upon an irredeema-
BILE" pap er currency to carry on BUSH
ness. This made it still easier than
before for California to keep and in
crease its supply of gold. 1t did not
have to exchange gold for paper, nor
for anything else which the rest of
the country had to offer, and there
fore by common consent an6 a unity
OF action more effective than any
statute law, the people of California
retained their metallic currency and
continued to transact all their bust
ess with it and refused to use paper
currency in its stead. Debts became
of course legally payable there in
greenbacks, but public sentiment was
so strong against any man who UNDER
took to pay a debt in paper, that he
stood no chance of doing business, and
every such attempt was crushed out by
an almost unanimous opinion. Paper
currency had little favor there even
when it would bring gold - when it
went below par in gold it had no favor
at all, and business transactions with
the rest of the country were so limited
that attempts to introduce greenbecks
and national bank notes were too few
and weak to succeed. When the Pa
citfc railroad was built, it found Cali
fornia with large supply of gold, and
with more of oLher products to ex-
port than its imports amounted to,
and hence there has not been any
balance of trade against that State to
cause It to ship out its gold to settle
the bill any faster, to say the least,
than its mines kept on producing. Its
having enough gold to do business
with, and its having kept the legal ten
der paper currency practically out of
use, are therefore not matters to sur
prise or perplex anybody, or to m islead
any person who is simply seeking fl
nancial truths, without self interest or
Drejudices to warp his judgment.
The case of California proves that if
he other States of the Union were sup
piled with gold and silver mines like
California and its adjacent tributary
sections are, and were under no necesi-
ity of shipping specie to Europe, they
Gould procure and retain gold, or gold
Ind silver, as California does, and re-
ume specie payment without first de-
troying most of the currency and
business of the country. But my
riend Resumption will find that con.
'ention reso buttons, and party plat
orms, and hard money tickets, are
cry poor substitutes for gold mines
md favorable balances of trade, and
hat California simply illustrates
more clearly than anything else could
he inability of the rest of the country
o procure or retain enough gold, or
ven gold and silver, to transact BUSH
less with, or furnish specie redemp-
ion basis, and particularly an exclu-
i've gold basis, for an adequate amount
# paper currency.
1 recommend the distinguished Con-
gresham who points to California as
an example for the rest of the country
o at once introduce a law to provide
III the other States with as good a sup
,ly of gold mines as California has,
md to have their exports to Europe
xeeed their imports and debt pay
nents there, and as soon as this sssup-
Elementary legislation takes effect. /