The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1877-07-20
GARFIELD AT HOME.
in in.er-iaw with The Statesman in Ei,
Rural Retreat.

and little girl, with a lady visitor
knocking tha balls around the yard il
, a lively game of '.Prtsby TERN bi,
lards.
.'Yon see said the G-neral, ~ Il.
. planted his foot Oh the ball for 4
stroke, 81 require my boys to do SC
. much work every day. and IN turr
, they ipsist on my playing croqdet in
tie evening. So. eycuse me; I'll fin
ish the game And so,
..while the charmed ss,nset fingered lox i.i0wI
In the red west,
our conversation ran about thus:
The fact is, Mr.. Hanson, ] meyer
before have CThe other Way, M son
the other way;) never have allowed
my mind to lie fallow 50 long as since
the adjournment of Congress. I've
done no political thinking. 1t is evi.
dent Hold on, Sissie, its my knock
down. evident that there is a period
of general lasti,u ude in both p rites.
The Republicans should Now, Sissie
go through. Now send him of toward
theA apple tree - Good. They, al
course, expect suciI period, t.sis. par,
tty is always in such 6. 1state a few
IIlonths after its President goes into
Office. -.---,sTa "a ~ ..r=-ETs 20
1T is too early, anyhow, to hadst
public mind in settled condition. 4
suppose Mr.. Conyerse-but it is getting
dark, and we must finish this game. y
The game was finished, and we retired
to the parlor and to actual business.
Subscriber-General, there seems to
be another crisis on the financial issue
G.-There always is. Ohio lives on
crises. Did you ever read Mackey's
book Oh Popular Delusionsp Well,
read it and you will see that while
witchcre #, religious mania, South Sea
bubbles and the like have their rise
and fall, the belief in "cheap money
is the most persistent delusion of the
whole lot. The paper money iaiiacy
reappears with perfect regularity und, r
all forms OF government. and nearly
always follow the same process of de-
velopment, and has 10 be fought over
the same old ground. We have now
fought through the first stages. aud
must go Oh. Ten years ago we started
in this State with Pendletouisu. tp pay
the bonds in greenbacks. Tue Idea
took, and the initiation wave swept the
State. The Republicans got frighten-
ed and let down their platform n lie
tie. They got beat, of course they
always do when they lower their staud-
ard. The next year We got down to
basis principles, put sound financial
plank in the platform, ard beat them.
That settled Pendletonism. But we
drove tie nail through by the coin act
of 1869, and clinehed IT, But the
question came up in another shape
Business was active, speculation was
lively, interest high, and soon there
was a loud call tor '.m,re money. y
Now l want you to notice one thing il.
this paper money disease. When bus
iness is active and interest high they
yell for ''more money!" when busi-
ness is dull, times hard, interest low
they yell for ''morc money" In the
one case they want money printed to
make business lively, and in the other
they want it because business is lively.
S. But they tell me that interest is
not low; that it is high, and money
very hard to get.
G.-Well, they lie. No other way
of explaining it. Men who say inter
est Is higher now than il was in 1864 5
are either very forgetfui or they will
fully lie. Universal experience shows
that the larger the volume of money
the higher the rate of interest, provid
ed always that business is active. for
1t takes so much more money to do
the same business. Interest about here
was nearly twice as high in 1865 Is it
was in 1866. Within few DAYS the
Savings Society has put down its rates
to per cent. | am now hunting Wig
orously for somebody to take the
money of Hiram College at s per cent.
The college has $50, 600 to loan. Of
course we want to loan it safely. and
We can find nobody to take it at s per
cent. But TO resume. They soon be
| gan the clamor for more money. And,
odd as it now seems, they ignored
greenbacks and called for more bank
currency. Many of them have forgot
ten this but they did it, For months
their cry was: The East has got all
the national bank money; the West
not enough to do business; its crush
ing monopoly" etc, etc. Well this
looked reasonable enough, and we
gave the West all she asked for-fifty
millions and more. Then everybody
was happy for a whole month. But
all at once it was discovered that the
West did not take up her bank privi
leges. Four years, in fact, passed be
fore it was all taken. Every argument
of the infiationists was belied by the
facts. But they were not q particle
discouraged. They turned square
around and made war upon the banks
We gained another victory on the
march to specie payments, and for d
while it looked as il the thing was SET
| tied. The platforms Of botn parties
| declared unequivocally in favor of re
sumption.
But nothing is settled in this coun-
try as long as we have irredeemabIe
paper. The Democracy, without a
blush, turned back on their record of
several years, and instead of Pendie-
tonism we had Bill Allenism. But as
an edu Gator the campaign of 1875
was the best we ever had. Before it
Was over everybody understood just
what we meant, and with that under
standing the people sustained US Now
L can not believe that all that educa
tion was thrown away. | do insist
that the people are sound on the sub
ject, and there should be no letting
up on our part. l am not strenuous for
specific day. Lot US move on as fast
as possible toward specie basis. and
if when the day draws near we are not
prepared, we Can do as other debtors
do-take short extensions. But let
there be no step backward. Put the
plain facts before the people, and the
popular common sense will decide for
U.S.
S.-There is, however, a great dread
of contraction.
Cit is because the people think
an early settlement of the question
would derange prices. But that evil
came long ago. Prices fell to a coin
basis as tile panic took effect. Resump-
ton would bring Certainly in business
transactions, which would more than
counterbilance ali possible disadvan-
tages resulting from a coin basis at an
early Gay. 1t is uncertainty that kills
There VIII b. no certainty until the
question is settled and settled right.
Now experience is worth something.
We have had other panics, and we find
this; that the generic cause of all pan
les Is the same, though there are spe-
cine differences as to the subject mat
ter. The se.eric cause is: The de-
structive consumption of capital (that
is, OF funded wealth, The same great
cause in our last three panics; but in |
1887 it was land; in 1857 in bank issues
and speculations; in railroads and iron. |
In these, and all past panics, beginning
In 1877, it has taken four years to re-
cover. The speculation that led to
1887 was in wild lands and town lots. |
Ii is amazing to read of the popular
folly. There was more land bouoht |