The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1877-07-26
THE BASIS OF TRADE.

on 1.-The future of gold,'' in which he !
takes the ground as a geologist that
from the remotest era Of history
down to the present time there has
not been enough gold unearthed to 4
justify the general establishment Of
the single money standard Of gold.
He goes on to show the limited sources
of gold supply and AYERS that at this
very time 'smOre than half the gold
which can ever be extracted from the
earth by human labor, ingenuity and
perseverance has already come into
the hands Of man. and that the pc
riod of ultimate exhaustion must come
with greater rapidity because of the
greater scale Of which mining is now
carried on by the aid of modern ma
chinery and processes for extracting
and reducing ore to bullion. On this
ground the professor concludes that
gold and this he finds in silver whose
sources are relatively much larger and
richer than gold Pioneer Press.
But if this is true of gold is it not,
relatively, true of silver!
Is it right to base the rapidly in
creasing business Of mankind on two
comparatively useless metals, limited
in their quantity and steadily dimin-
ishing in supply9 Will not the great
nations yet have to make the basis of
their trade and commerce the faith
and credit of their own government
We have an exemplifcation of this in
the case Of the only tull-legal-temder
notes issued by the United States dur
ing the war. They rose to par with
gold, and remained there even during
the darkest days of the civil war. A
cotemporary says:
ssReceiyability by the Government
for all dues would make the notes par
with coin, without the farce of prom
ising convertibility into coin at the
bank counter. This receivability for
custom dues made the $60,O0O,OO0 of
; demand notes par with gold coin, latter
the Government suspended specie
payments in December, 1851. These
! demand notes remained par with gold
$ until the last one was retired. They
! rose with it in the New York market
n W ~AsCO ILL q lily 1OOTs LAAOC1 OuOPNAA-
sion they were just as irredeemable
in coin as our greenback is at present.
u If the present greenback was made
e receivable for custom dues it would
! at once remove the market premium
3 from gold for the same reason that
- there was no difference in market
value between demand notes and gold
e The reasoning is solid to say that il
= receivability for custom dues made
:. the demand notes par with coin dur
e ing the war, that same receivablllt.
a. will make the greenbacks par will
s' coin to-day, when we have no war
=. Both rest solely upon the credit OF th'
in government and are alike irredeem
at able in coin. The argument is strong
N y, er in favor Of the greenback for tn
n. reason that government credit is no,
A. stronger than it was then, for then
was not certain whether the govern
ment would stand or fall
10 Another illustration is found in tn
ry full-legal-tender paper money G
on France, which has remained at pa
rs with gold, despite all the suffering
ss:e of that unfortunate and conquere
er country.
ar We cannot but think that if ever
ne nation in the world would make til
IA - basis of it's trade and commerce sue
en- a national full-legal-tender paper,
he amounts adequate to the wants I
om trade, and holding fixed proportit
he to the assessed taxable property Of Il
people, great stride forward wou
be taken in the progress Of mankin
is and that mendicancy would be almo
in obliterated in the world, and CONNIE
" cial crises rendered impossible.
49,. mt The use of gold and silver, as mo ne
di- is an ancient barbarism originating
It the dawn of civilization, when the
me was no such thing as national cred
A of In that day men and women wore t
hat precious metals in their noses; nj
oil they have grown into yokes for th'
ac- necks.
len o+,,r -h
Ugh = ~ -
was great, 1Iet, IcIliio iaiiu hnO ouio ~
EN- unlimited resources in it's fiel
and mines, woods and factories, and |
'om 1;n;+od anorov among ;ts moon
lee
his Snouiu lnu an l1o pios 1888 aIiesIeu
it's willing laborers reduced to star
eer- ton as they are now. It is the Gu
ted of barbaric traditions; it is an
tempt to rule the financial world
1877 A. D. with the ideas Of 1877 B.