Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-12-22

~ CNCAt III 5Otu anu silver, WoulO ID
,r impossible on our present volun
r. Of paper currency for many years I,
i come. In the proportion of coli
Is In England 90 redeemable pape
= money, u would require ab0u
4 eighteen llunnred millions in ou
i country to maintain resumption oil
! the six hundred and fifty-eight
I millions Of paper money outstand
I ing. In the proportion OF Frances
3 paper money TO her coin, we would
require an accumulation Of sixteen
I hundred millions. Take even the
!, proportion Of our country in 1860 to
: the highest volume of paper money
: then in circulation and nominally
+ redeeInable, and It would require
1 nearly nine hundred millions of coin
to float our present paper money.
How can we accumulate such a
vast sum of gold? The coined pro-
duct of our mines, If it were ali re-
tanned here, would not yield ii 6 per
|, cent. bonds in the markets of Eu-
rope in exchange for gold, we could
, not get a hundred millions. RecoI-
I lect, sir, that England, France, and
Germany, never suffer a shipment
of gold from their shores, if by any
! artifice or power they can prevent
1t. All the vast sales of bonds
abroad for fifteen years past have
brought ms nothing but our own Sc
curities or merchandise. England
II refused TO pay the Geneva award Of
fifteen and a half millions in gold.
but paid if.in securities. All export
Of ten to fifteen millions of gold
will always produce a panic there.
1t is the base of the pyramid of cur
rency and credits in every specie
paying country, and the withdrawal
of any part of the base shakes the
industrial fabric resting omit. Hence
every monarch of Europe guards
his country's gold as he does his |
crown or scepter.
/ RESUMPTION NECESSARILY IN /
WOLVES IMMENSE CONTRACTION |
OF THE CURRENCY.
Hence resumption can only be
maintained by the destruction Of the /
greater part of the present paper
currency. To accomplish that pur-
/ pose the means provided i'm the law
are probably adequate. Mr.. Sher-
man says they are. He ought TO
HhONs LIE pi1A DkODdDlN VIII DC /
to limit the amount Of redemption
per day to say, two millions; to re-
quire all the egreenbacks to be present
ed througha chosen syndicate which
can pay him two millions of gold
per day for per cent. bonds, and
present two millions of greenbacks
per day and receive the gold back.
1t could probably be managed so
that most of the gold thus used
would be merely diverted from Eu-
ropean and American mOney-mark-
cts long enough to flow through the
Treasury and back to the same
markets, causing comparatively lit
tie disturbance, and accomplishing
in effect merely fi0aoilg of most
of the greenbacks into gold-bearing
bonds.
My colleague Mr.. Garfield saws
the people will not want the gold
when greenbacks are at par. True,
the masses will not. They never
have wanted it in preference to
greenbacks, which they always have
regarded as being, in the language
OfPresident Grants message i'm 1878,
'the best paper money they ever
had" But the peOpIegenerally will {
have no more to do or say as to the
redemption and cancellation of their !
currency than they have had with
the finance policy of the Govern
ment for the past twelve years; than !
they had with the establishment of
the national-bank saystem; or the
funding of the 81 ,200,0 100000 of in
terest-bearing Treasury notes; or the
passage OF the Infamous act of 1869;
or the rascally sleight of hand by
which silver was demOnetized; or
the enactment of that sum of finan-
clal ylllainies-the resumption law.
The national banks, the importers,
the gold rings in New York, the !
money kings Of Et2lfEt EtlfEdtp..s street, nc , the !
we are financially enslaved." IIlll tG.i I
will present the greenbacks for ~ ~ I
demptiOn and destruction os fast ~, s
the gold can be paid over the coIi,.S Q
ers of the Treasury.
But we are assured there will be :
little more contraction, because gold
will take the place of the redeemed !
greenbacks in the business of the !
country. That is most fallacious .
conjecture. The dearth of gold Lere, !
the present large demand for it, the !
immeasurably increased demand !
arising from the fact that considera- {
bly, more than two thousand mill y
ions of national, savings, and other |
bank deposits will then be payable
in gold; that seven or eight billions !
of other debtS;s corporate and pri- &
Vate, and seven hundred and fifty l
millions of annual taxes, now paya- !
hIn IN | 4
bic only in gold, that every banking
institution in the land will be at the 9
mercy Of the millionaire gamblers
who may hoard it to burst the banks !
and place the business of the coun- J
try at their feet, will create a gener- y
al scramble for coin which will keep !
every dollar of it out of general cir
culation.
WITH SILVER REMONETIZED RE- !
SUMPTION STILL IAIPRACTICABLE
But we are told that silver will be I
remOnetized, and then resumption .
will be practicable without further J
contraction. That, in my judgment, !
is an egrcgriOus error. The total Z
supply of silver coin and bullion i'm !
the United States, exclusive of sub I
sidiary coin, is stated on excellent
authority not to exceed from five to |
ten millions Of dollars. There is no !
great stock of silver i'm the world on !
which we may draw for the enor- J
nous sum needed as an auxiliary to !
the only large accumu- {
latiOn being the demonetized coin Of }
Germany, which does not exceed :
$50, 100000. RECOMMENDATION by us ]
will strengthen the already strong {
tendency in Germany TO restore its !
silver, and will go far to remove the
on that coinage i'm
France, Italy, Spain, and the other 8
States of the Latin Union. Mints /
have been established to coin it i'm !
Japan and India, and are about to be /
in China with n view to /
the substitution of silver for copper I
in the domestic business of those I
countries, which is vast enough to I
absorb all the silver of the world. /
If our paper currency should be con- {
tracted no further, and if every con- q
were to result i'm our favor, q
we could not possibly accumulate In q
the next twenty years enough of the \