Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1877-12-13
Light on the Currency From Bright
Luminary.

secular matters as religious and
invariably correct in matters of gres
Importance in which the welfare @
the people is concerned. A lat
number of his paper contains al
article on the currency from whic
| we take the extract below. He evi
IDENTIFY believes with President Have
that an inflated CT variable currency
may be profitable for the rich an,
money dealing classes but mischiev
Gus 'sto the industrial masses wheth
er their occupations are of skilled o.
common labor" Dr. Fowler says
| The prize problem now demand
ing solution by the american peo
pie is this, "Ho,e mang cents make I
dollar 2" other questions retire fol
the present. The negro, like Mo
hammed's coffin suspended between
heaven and earth is suspended be,
tween citizenship and bondage. HI
is an elevated probation, experiment
ing On the use of his faculties. State
sovereignty is dead. 1t had its brains
knocked out at Gettysburg, and had
its head cut off at Appomattox. Its
tail will wiggle and rattle for some
time, but it is beyond resuscitation
The dominance of Northern ideas il
suspended fer season. The South
is allowed another experiment, while
the negro wanders In the wilderness
This change is question of geogra'
ply. Soon the expanding West
never contaminated by slavery, will
dictate national policy. The west
has already dictated who shall rule
and who shall command. She is fill.
ing the White House, because she
did fill the ranks and does fill the
ballot box. Soon she will leave the
old slave soil, with it's transmitted
prediudices, as little section IN the
South east corner of the republic
The old strife will never 90 much
north of the Ohio or West of the
Mississippi. Pending this forty
years of wilderness wandering be.
fore the negro actually takes pos.
session of the promised land, namely
the ballot-box-and by logical invol-
ution, the White House-and while
the West is rising to permanent
protectorate over the republic. the
problem to be settled is this one Of
he.number of cents in dollur
The present great duty of the nation
is to give this problem an honest and
final settlement.
| The things required from our cur.
rency are simple. Rightly under
stood these requirements point out
the path of duty, which is always the
path to prosperity. Currency is q
term representing all the contriUanceS
by ,ohich society effects exchange. Ita
most common and comprehensive
form is money coined from gold and
silver.
The qualities of these metals cata.
logued in works on Political Econo-
my are very suggestive, and give
US a good inlook into the heart OF
this matter. They are vatue, or
poa0er in exchange, stability in value,
portability, uniform quality, indestruct-
ibility, maIledbility, readiness for being
allayed and refined. vniuersality of APP
probation, general ditusedness, ana
Su6iciencg an quantity.
Our case is not one of coin as cur-
rency but in the emergency of the
war for existence, by right of nee.
essity, which the Supreme court vim.
dictates as the supreme law, the
United States was compelled to ex-
tort loans from it's citizens and from
the world at large. This was done
by issuing promises of future coin
and compelling men to accept these
promises as legal discharge of OBJ.
legations. We have many millions
of these promises, and the question
what shall be done with them This
Dan be answered by the question,
What do we require of this mixed
currency
The first thing required is SEC
| URITY. We must know that this
currency is certainly valuable. Men
of all classes, Black Friday specula
tors alone excepted, place this relia-
bility as of the utmost Importance.
This involves, first, that somebody
is back of these "promises," who will
make them good in due time , and
second that they shall be in such
shape that the common citizen can
tell that they are the promises oil
that responsible Somebody. The
people thus want Uncle Sans name
and face on these promises, and not
the image and superscription of any
of the States. The frequent robber-
les committed in the name of remote
states, and of wildcat" or sbob-
tail'' banks, have put this part OF
the question beyond debate with
this generation.
Security involves stability. Cur
rency must have a fixed and steady
value, must be in league with actu-
alities as distinguished from defini-
tons or terms. In short this ele.
ment of security implies the subjec-
ton of the volume of the currency
to rigid specie support. To be
steady it must grow in things, and
represent SO much labor and skill
and time, and be incapable of exag-
geration beyond these most stable
elements of human destiny.
The poor man handles prices, while
the rich man reaches down to values.
Price is what thing will bring in
currency. Value is what it will pro-
duce in necessities. The price of a
bushel of wheat is how much curren-
cy it will bring. Its value is how
many shoes it will buy. Prices fuct-
uate with the volume of the curren-
cy. Values are comparatively super
Tor to it. Some tables of facts touch
ing the cost of a given number of
products and of the amount of cur
cency per head show how these keep
company. We select some out Of
many showing the same law. Ten
articles coffee, leather, molasses,