New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-12-24
have clear statement and fair understanding
of il st the outset.
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CREENBACK DOCTRINES.

|
comments:
T. Farmers and all others who live by labor appear
have all they do to live, taxes and interest
| The case was very much worse In lo43,
when there had been no real or fanced con-
| traction of Government currency, and no de-
| monetizaton of silver. We enjoyed pro-
longed spree of speculation. high living, ana
wanton creation of debt, during the periods
ending in 1887 and 1878. Those who dance
must pay the piper. We have been forced
to endure the inevitable reaction and
prostraton of business IN the period ending
with 1878, as in the period ending with 1S43.
Whether interference of Government caused
the reckless imitation and speculation or not,
it is certain that in either case Government
was utterly pOwerless to avert the necessary
consequences.
H. People ARE being aroused by their condition and
suffering aud they viii not be satisfied with anything
short of some relief.
With hearty sympathy for such suffering
as does exist, we have none whatever for
those who are inclined to do dishonest things
to escape from suffering, nor for those who
fancy that relief can come from any dishonest or
suicidal course. 1t is dishonest to try to rob
creditors because it is hard to pay money bOr-
rowed. II is foolish to fancy that relief can
be secured either by new career OF imitation
and speculation, or by dishonesty toward cred
itOrs
Ill Many think that the Government should issue ifs
own paper money making Il "a full lega-tender for all
debts public and private
The legal-tenders are to be received for
duties, by the recent order of the Secretary OF
the Treasurer. They are taken now by cred
Iors in preference to bags of coin. To make
tacm "a full legal-tender for all debts
would not help anybody who has debt to
pay, in the slightest degree, unless the amount
issued should be SO great as to cause their
depreciation. In that case, it would be naked
robbery OF creditors to make the deprecated
notes a "ful legal tender "a robbery for
the purpose of relieving those who borrowed
and spent the money of other people from the
legitimate effects of their own unwisdOm.
Moreover, the laboring classes were continually
plundered during the whole period or inn ton
and speculation, by an advance in the cost OF
| living greater and more rapid than any advance
they could obtain in wages. 1t would be- intin-
lite cruelty to them to plunge the country
again INTO the mOrass of deprGriated currency
from which it is now escaping.
~. Many believe that specie basis aud resumption
| At the expense Of the many.
The very same false guides, who now insist
that resumption is n fraud and n delusion,
were in the habit of procaimDg one year ago
or more that resumption was a very good
thing, no doubt, but it was absolutely
q" impossible for this country to reach it,"
| Up to this time their assertions and
predictions have been so completely and
| tal Inv hat
very blind continue to follow these blind
guides. For example, Mr.. Shupo's Ad-
rocate. which boasted circulation of
nearly half million not long ago, has
expired for lack of support. Resumption
| is here. Every man can see for himself that
| it is not q fraud; that the legal-tender in
which the poor mans wages are paid has at
last been made as good the gold which
the bondholder is entitled to receive.
V. Thy say by contraction all manner OF depre-
| citation and ruin las followed
Very ignorant men indeed suppose that
| there has been q great contraction Of
| the currency. For they have been told
so by knavish office seekers who knew better.
| ANY man who has intelligence enough to be
| n competent citizen OF a free government has
| seen published again and again the official
! record which proves that the aggregate of
| legal tender and bank circulation IL greater
now. and has been greater during the whole
Of this and last year, than it was in 1854 or
| 1865, at the close of the war greater than
it was in 1868. 1869 or 1870, when the
country enjoyed great prosperity, aud greater
| in volume with respect to its purchasing
power than it was in any year since the issue
| of paper money began. Neither is it true that
e
| Gus than any other, and its labOrers more
| fairly supplied with necessaries and COM
| forts than those Of any other land,
and its Industries are steadily pushing
| 10 the wall those Of it's chief rivals and its
| business this very year, ii measured In guam
titles of products exchanged, is greater than
il ever has been in any preceding year since
the Declaration of Independence. IL is pitt
fully unmany for us to keep up a continual
| whine about " ruin and suffering in this
country, when every mail and every morn
ings kilograms bring us details OF far greater
disasters in Great Britain, caused, in large
| measure, by the triumphs of our own skill,
invention, enterprise and labor.
W. They say that the leading journals are con-
troed IN the interest OF capital, without regard to
| the welfare of the masses.
We profoundly pity the man who does not
| know that in this country "the masses are
the capitalists. No American journal can az
ford to ignore the interests of the Masses"
because in this country the masses read. Such
stuff ought to be uttered only by men who
have not been long enough in this country to
know to whom the vast accumulations of
capital in savings banks, insurance and trust
companies, and United States, State and mu
nicipal funds really belong.