The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1878-07-25
4ifIllllulld islatlh.
TTfIRsD,ay 81 e. &. 4 !. JULY s5s 1873.
!. sorras aair i j

R4nl6S WIZ ID ttic CIV ~
,mistaken. Here are three planks OF 9 plat
90fm laid down the other DAY 81 9 meeting
in Stsiihcnvilie, OhtU: s - 3 Il ss.ss
a Gold anu silver should be dem IesiseA
AID aif bank issues suppressed. sss ssS.t,
z %. The Repukl ican party openly aadYos
estes hard motley and hard times, while 10
this and two other States the Democratic
partv attempts to carry water on both snQui.
AeRH Is regards the currency question, IN
sfE hope Of capturing the stienaps green
hack labor Yetes.si We are therefore .op.
posed to cos! ition OF any Kind wlsn f etsnes
OK the old parties, and would advise tnsEl
to fuse together and become one party -
name as they aretin fact so
13. Recognizing the attemps Z, q ny SnS
a SarfY 10 direct attention from this great
asSastion of the day, currency, we declare
ourselves In favor OF a high protective tarif
on any article that comes In competition
with home indust;y--raWs material NOT pro-
duced In this country TO be free OF duty:
Here ID richness FOR you. . and Y Is 70
these foolish extremes that the teachings OF
the siIlys doc,rinaires lead. These people
are evidently totally ignorant. OF the sun
iacfs to which they refer n'so curt q man
ner.f their resolutions. They declare that
apold and silver should be demonetized,
and all bank issues should be suppressed"
Now. what simpietons the authors OF that
reselutiou must necessarily be- ~. - - :
aa Let us see how their remedy HOE nara arg
times would work: let US suppose that
gold and silver are demonetized, and taat
the Government is ready to9issue green
backs in abundance to furnish the necessary aiy
currency to the people. The FIRST thing to
be determined upon IS the legend upon the
greenback. What shall be written a. upo9n,
these pieces OF paper? Plainly, twill not
do to initiate the formula used upon the eS-
isting greenbacks.I This reads, !" The un,tea
States viii pay to bearer one dollar or
i've. or ten, or az the case may be- Gold ano
silver having been demonetized' there
would be no longer any such thing as COL
lar. A dollar is Is $40 grains OF gold,
nine.tenths fine, or 412s grains OF silver,
nine tentbs fine. The contract which the
Government entered, into. when it uttered
the existing greenbacks was, therefore, to
redeem these representatives, of: money
these paper promises to pay-iprgold or sll-
yer coin. There are no other kinds OF dol
lars in this Countrywide Steubenville
platform, then, proposes to destroy all real
dollars as preliminary stcpitowards man
ufacturipg new and better kind OF money.
But as there would then be no real dollars
it would be impossible to tell what the
Government meant by its promise, even II
it should make the same contract in the case
of the new grceubacks which 1t made IN
the case of the old ones. The words 'sThe
United States will pay to bearer one dol
laro would no longer have any meaning.
Evidently those words would have TO be
omitted from the face OF the new green
backs. =. 5 e. 81 jT..a rs,
IS What then? There being no such thing
as dollar, it would seem to follow that the
word SCHOLAR !" would be, entirely inappro;-
pirate il placed upon the new greenbacks.
So would be. Thepiece OF paper might
just rs well be, malked 2. one pound" or
.so1e cent? or {. one franc" as !" one dol
lar.,'.e II It is not to he redeemed in! gold or
silver coin, the greenback having the word
"dollaro upon it would represent nothing
valuable. 1t is only because this word
ndollar" means so much gold or SD
.yer@,that the present. greenbacks have
a value as representative Of money. II
they did not represent real money they
would have no value. Nevertheless, the
greenbaekers propose to issue pieces OF
paper marked cone dollar, -" five dollars"
&c, to the amount Of fifty Of these bogus
sedollars" for every inhabitant OF this
country that Is to say, oyer two thousand
millions of these so-calied "doilars." Yet
the word .sdelars" as they thus propose
to use it would have no meaning whatever.
It would be an absolutely senseless use OF
the word. ,.r,' sas4s's
The wonderful theory OF these greenback-
ers is based upon the idea that the Govern
ment can establishvalu by law. Hso, the
issuing of greenbacks as ameans OF initiating
the currency would be a;useless expense
and an inexcusable waste OF time. Itwould
be Just as easy 60 pass an act OF Congress
providing that the minis shall recon the
two hundred millions of goldand silver now
in the treasury, and mark each one-delar
coin ten dollars; each iye-dollar coin fifty
dollars each ten-dollar coin a hun red dol
lars; or, what would be still simpler and
better, nm act providing that one dollar shall
hereafter pass for ten; ten for o hundred,
and SO on. Itwould thus take but short
time to initiate the currency and have
two thousand millions of .'dollars" u
in circulation. No greenbacker could
reasonably object to this scheme. II
proposes /" fiat money" "absolute money!
or g irredeemable money!" as you may
chooseto cali it; but stiIl itweuld be bet
ter money than the irfedeemable green.
backs, because itswould really be worth one
tenth. Of its face value, whereas irredeema-
BILE greenbacks would be worth nothing.
But it is useless to argue with men who
advance such theories as we are combat
ting. They are incapable Of perceiying the
force Of logic, or they would never surren.
der TO- such doctrines.
New Rock.
The life of General albert Sidney John.
ston, embracing His Services In the dr.
mics of the United States. the: Republic
of Texas, and the Confederate States.