Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1877-07-05

serves his country best, /" is maxim
that will live forever; though we must.
confess that We Think Prest. Hayes has,
neglected to understand his own utter
ance, if we are to accept his Southern
Policy, as we do accept it, as the hon
est purpose Of wholly honest man.
The ADVANCE, published at Por-
tage City has recently become a green
back organ. In recent issue It Rurr.
ed its mighty thunders into the camp
of the hard money men, and hurled
some particularly piercingC!) shafts in
to the Register Office. D.
The Register in reply quotes few
I facts from the Chicago Tribune which
seem to have been ignored by the great
majority of the greenba OK proselytes
who are made to believe that the hard
times we are at present experienc,nc
are occasioned by contraction of the
currency of the country.
In order to give fair presentation
of the views Of the Advance as well
as the Registers rejoinder, we copy
the brief article from the columns of
the latter paper:
CONTRACTION OF THE CURRENCY
The statement of the Register as to
the amount Of currency, is correct as
far as it goes, but it only specifies
greenbacks and the issues of national
banks as currency; while our estimate
included everything used as currency,
in which estimate is over S27, 0O0,.
600 of fractional currency, $3.50, OO0,-
600 of 1880 treasury notes, 500, 107,-
745 temporary loans, $55'905, 900 GER
tifcates of Indebtedness, $50. $50, sol
5 per cent treasury notes due 1865,
SILL, 120,1 41 compound interest
notes, &c. The article by Hon. VIM.
Ortedge, III another column, is clear
exposition Of the subject. to which
our readers, are referred -AdUance.
To which we reply: The fractional
currency is still in circulation or its
place has been supplied by an equal
issue Of subsidiary coin 1t is simply
absurd to talk about temporary loans"
and certificates Of Indebtedness as
being currency in any sense. No one
in Wisconsin ever saw any such thing
IN circulation as money. and if the
1880 treasury notes (bonds) are to be
regarded as currency, the reply is that
they still exist, except that many of
them have been founded into a lower
rate Of interest bonds.
The trouble with Mr.. Orledge seems
to be that he considers all of the ma
tons evidence of debt as so much.
s'currency."
The Chicago Tribune, on Wednes-
day last, in referEing to the subject,
pertinently asked:
"What is the use Of spending words
refuting the knave or idiot who asserts
that the currency has been contracted
81, 500, 000,0 ! ;" The highest
volume of currency ever out standing
since 1860 was in 1873,-the year Of
the panic. The bank circulation was
at its largest and after the panic set
in, the secretary of the treasury refs
sued something like $4,000, 900 of
greenbacks, hoping thereby to arrest
the smash, but the effort was futile ,
the imitation did no perceptible good
At this time there is more unused, idle
money in the banks of all kinds than
was ever before known in this country.
The reason is that business is stagnant,
and the borrowing demand for money
is much less than the supply. Some
of the bankers, aye winding up, num-
Der are reducing their capital, and
others are withdrawing part Of their
circulating notes, all because they do
not fnd profitable use for ADJ Of their
loanable capital.