, 1877-08-21
MAKING lRnEDEEMABLE NOTES PAR
WITH COIN.

We print letter from AIr. JAMES BucuAs-
AN, Of Indianapolis, who is tho " brains of
tho Grecnback party In that State md its
lcaling writer In tho West, who believes 1t
possible to furnish the country with M
abundant irredccmable paper money to cir
cu!ato ut all times Or par teiM eoini Be-
cat1sa OF hia leadership In that party, his
possible future candidacy as its National rep.
rossntatIve, and because ho believes In what
lie says, I'VE give space enough to note the
points of his argument, anil to briefly CON-
ment thereon.
!. Ho urges that, II greenbacks wero nnde
receivable for customs duties, tloy would at
onco 10 ut par with gold. OF course they
would In sttch cases be at par with gold for
tho payment Of dutlea. but that would no.
necessarily mako them at par for nny other
purpose. II grceubacks were also paynble for
interestou tho public debt. Tue VatnusR would
not oppose their reception iu payment OF
duties, but would advocate 1t. So long 81
this interest Is payable In specie tho Govcrn-
Iuent must have cortain sum In coin anpu-
n}ly for that purpose; mud 1t secms 10 ua to
bo moro wihe to hive the importing mer-
chants sell their groenbacks to the gold deal
ors and spcculatora for coin with which to
pay dutiss, than for ths Government to re-
ceivc tho greenbacks for duties aud then 20
upon the market und sell them for whatever
gold tho speculatora would give for them.
The share to which tho Government would
have to submit would DO serious loss Of
revenue, TO be ,uade good by additional tax
alton. Tho merchants, moreover, can got o
better price for tho irreleemable notes than
the Government could. The whole lnescau-
tile community, having to sell gxeenbacks, ase
interested in keeping their price ~ high Us
possible. II tAoy were ualo sellers Of gold
their interest would b. 10 dsrreciato the
grecnbAcks, ind help to skin the Government.
=. The statement that paper convertible
Into coin Oil demand "loscs its par va1uo
when few miles from tho redeeming
point, aud the holder IL compelled to sub
mil to " shave" and o loss, Indicates on
the part OF alr, H., NO regret 10 say, very
superficial knowledge Of facts. Do the ratea
Of the Bank OF England declins In value u
compared with gold few mile. away from
the redeeming sgeucy? Where con they
be bought ut luss than pas2 Can hi.
BUCHANAN buy them ut less than par
in gold iu indianapolis, or In Now
York, or San FEaucisco. Yokohama, CAL
cutta, Melbourne, HongKong, Paris, Con.
stantinopls, St. Petersburg, or Jerusalem :
0u the contrary, he ought to know that foz
fifty years the further the notes Of that
Bank are away from home the more they are
worth, because Of their cheaper anl safer
portability than coiu. It 10 this very pre-
MUM that prevents them from circulating In
large quantities in distant parts Of the world
Every tsuys!er in Europe knows that be car
sell the uotes OF the Bank OF France
in Germany, Austris, 1ta]y, aud Switzerland
for more gold than he can get for them IL
Pazia Mr. BUCHANAN ought to hayo known
also thst the notes Of the gold banks OF Gal
isornia are not sold for lesx than par in gold,
aud that 1000 miles away from home ths
brokers ask premium for them in gold. Il
the National Banks were redeeming theis
notes IN coin at Washington just IS they arc
now redeemiug them in gEeenbacks in Wash.
ington, tboss bank-notas would be at pa,
with coin For al purposes for which paper
ID more convenient than coin they would be
! more likely to command q premium than