The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1877-07-19
WHOLE NO. 1853.

OF these bonds national bank notes.
Y. AS by the LIST. of January 1879
there will be no greenbaeks to redeem
the government will have resumed
specie payments. This is the 'splun.
Then continues the Pioneer Press:--
We favor resumption because uniform
coin standard of value is as necessary to sta
blllty OF values, and to the financial confidence
which is the life of all healthy business activ-
ity, as IS fixed standard of weights and
measures, and because q currency redeemable
in specie is the only kind of currency possible
which adjusts itself by the laws Of trade to,
the wants OF trade; and by, virtue of the eco
nomical laws which govern its volume and
distribution, renders the measure of value in
dependent of the arbitrary interferences OF
politicians and demagogues
That sounds very pretty Let us ex-
anime it.
"a coin standard is necessary to stability Of
values
Indeed! How comes it then that tho
poice of gold is varying every day! It
cannot be the volume Of greenbacks1
that affects it, because that remains
from day to day practically unchanged
Why did gold rise en- the outbreak Of
| the Russo-Turkish war from 1O4 to lO7l
| Where is your stability of values?
"A coin standard snecessary to financial
confidenceand healthy business activity"
Indeed! Where was the financial con-
| fidence and healthy business activity
in the crisis of 1891 and 1857 and yet
we were on coin basis2 liz fact it
was in the attempt to accommodate
the business of the country to the
coin basis that produced those crises
"A coin standard adjusts itself to
the wants of trade
! If the present European waa spreads
to the other great nations how much
of your 'scoin Standard will be left in
the United STATES, and where will your
'Wants of trade" be then.
And this is che kind OF. eloquent
bosh which supplies the intellectually
needs of the readers Of the p. p:
An irredeemable paper currency, made by
law q legal tender, such as we now have and
which we infer cur correspondent desires to
permanently maintain, is in no sense money
and derives its sole value from the promise
, to pay money which the government has
written on its faee-and it is valuable exactly
in proportion to the degree Of public conf
dence that it means to redeem that promise
and has the power rs we'll IS the will to do it
I at some definite future time.
e False again. The government bond
t is a promise to pay money, and to-day
| the Currency Skies, which have forty
; years to rnn, ARE worth tw3nty per cent :
Y more than gold, And when due they
: are to be paid in greenbakss and the
II the meantime. If the doctrine of the
=. z. is right why were the fuA legal
o tender notes Of the e. S., issued dur
" ing theWar, north ut all times as MACH
II as gOl3;--even when GOLD was worth
= 285! They were irredeemable prom
N Uses to pay" rlst as tie. greeabacks
y were, but they were receivable fOl
duties on imports while greenbacks
y were not. If the greenbacks to-day
5 were receivable for duties they WOult
70 be worth as much as gold; and all thu
ry nonsense Of the p. T.. aboua ''the pub
~ lie confidence" would end in smoke.
~ The p. j.. continues:
The value Of such {. currency, even whel
al EanchOred on prOnase OF failure paymen,
is subject to constant fluctuations arising froI
the shifting demands OF trade al one end
% lille at the other end it Is dependent on tn
ne arbitrary caprices Of congress, in which Their
is always formidable nuiaber OF demagogue
~ and politicians.
is This is all abused. Why do not tn
m bonds fucttlatel are they not like
ly wise dependent on the arbitrary ca
: prices of cosigresss' Cannot the pee
So pie repudiate the bonds as we'll as tn
greenbacks!
no The z. p. adds:
a In reply to one of the queries Of our CORE,
a uondent lis sufficient to say tat under a
It'll old State bank system specie basis of fro
We ffteen to twenty per cent was always foun
m sufficient for all purposes of redemption, ar
len even less would be Sufficient as redemptiG
ent reserve for greenbacks or n s.ional bank note
Fifteen or twenty per ct. was suf
~ cient until the people wanted the go
. and then the banks collapsed and a
~ business collapsed with them.
Given the greenback or national bank nc
t, at par with gold and nobody would want
fly exchange the paper for gold EyeryDoo
;. | would prefer the paper by reason OF Its grea
n er convenience and portability
aw This is refreshing in the face OF Il
ac- fact that the resumption act, now b
ing enforced, will not leave gree
ks. back in existence in 1879; and the
ace P. has not one word Of condemnati'
of that act.
ese On the whole we are overcome wi
in wonder at the small modicum of info
nation necessary to conduct an OraC
600 lar daily paper.