The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1877-07-19
WHOLE NO. l58.

of these bonds national bank notes.
V. AS by the 1st. of January 1879
there will be no greenbaeks to redeem,
the government will have resumed
specie payments. This is the ssplun."
Then continues the Pioneer Press:--
We favor resumption because uniform
coin standard of value is as necessary to sta
bility 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 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 bys 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 greenback1s
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 lO4 to lO7a
Where is your stability of values!
"A coin standard snecessary to financial
| confidence and healthy business activity
Indeed! Where was the financial con-
fidence and healthy business activity
in the crisis of 1881 and 1857 and yet
we were on coin basis? Intact 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 war spreads
to the other great nations how much
of your sscoin standard" will be left in
the United Stairs, and where will your
sswants of trade be then.
And this is the kind Of. eloquent
bosA which supplies the intellectually;
needs of the readers of the,P. P.
An irredeemahe paper currency, made BY
, law legal tender, such as we now have and
w hich we infer our correspondent desires to
permanently maintain, is in no sense money
and derives it's 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 as well as the will to do it
t at some definite future time.
e False again. The government bond
t is promise to pay money, and to-day
| the Currency Skies, which have forty
; years to run, n,are worth twsnty PER- cent :
' more than gold! And when. due they
are to be paid in greenbaks, and the
: interest is payable in greenbacks in
\ the meantime. If the doctrine Of the
p. p. is right why were the fuA legal
o tender notes Of the u. S., issued dur
!" = ing thewar, north ut all times as mach
n as gol3;--even when gold was worth
= 285? They were irredeemable prom
n ises to. pay,' Just as tie greonbacks
IS were;, but they were receivable fol
duties on imports while greenbacks
2 we've not. If the groenbacks to-day
$ were receivable for duties they would
lg be worth as asmuch as gold; and all The
~ nonsense Of the p. T.. about ssthe pub
~ lie confidence" would end in smoke.
a+ The p. =. continues:
The value Of such currency, even wheI
al tanchored on pronise Of failure payment
lis subject to constant fluctuations arising from
the shifting demands of trade at one end
% while at the other end it is dependent on tn
le arbitrary caprices Of congress, in which ther
= is always formidable nuiaber of demagogue
" and politicians.
is This is all abused. Why do not tn
m bonds ffuctuate. Are they not like
y wise dependent on the arbitrary ca
:. prices of cosgresss" Cannot the pee
IS pie repudiate the bonds as we'll as tn
greenbacks!
no The p. p. adds:
a In reply to one Of the queries Of our CORES
a pondent isis sufficient to say that under a
tn old State bank system specie basis Of frol
We fifteen to twenty per cent was always foun
n sufficient for all purposes Of redemption, an
en- even less would be Sufficient as redemptio
mt reserve for greenbacks or .tional bank note
Fifteenor twenty per ct. was sufi
~ cient until the people wanted the gol
- and then the banks collapsed and q
- business collapsed with them.
Given the greenback or national bank no
J, at par with gold and nobody would want
fly exchange the paper for gold. EyeryDod
;, would prefer the paper by reason OF Us 8rea
n er convenience and portability.
aw This is refreshing in the face OF tn
ac- fact that the resumption act, now b
ing enforced, will not leave gree
ks. back in existence in 1879; and the
zee P. has not one word Of condemnatiC
of that act.
ese On the whole we are overcome wit
in wonder at the small modicum Of info
nation necessary to conduct an 0rac
600 lar daily paper.