Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1878-07-31

itself tend to undeceive those who
bestow any thought upon the sub
ject. In this respect the National"
leaders are overreaching them
selves. They are forgetting that,
however glittering their promises
may be, the grounds upon which
the promises are based must have
the semblance, at least, of reality,
or the promises will attract only
the utterly unreasoning.
That we do not overstate the
fact in this matter let few
citations from one of the National
organs-the National Enquirer
show. Speaking in recent issue
of the resumption the Enquirer
said:
Resumption means that the
government shall supply coin to
take the place of paper money.
To get this coin the government
mnst Issue bonds and borrow it.
On those bonds interest must he
paid. And the coin when borrow
ed is no better than full legal tender
paper"
This is either an artful and DELHI
crate falsehood or the statement is
born of ignorance so dense that it
amounts to a crime in country
where intelligence is so widely diff
fused and so easily obtained. Gre
sumption" even in its narrow sense,
does not mean that the government
shall supply coin to take the place
Of that portion Of our money called
"greenhacks," leaving the $685.
000,O of national bank paper
still in circulation. And in the
sense that resumption is interpret
ed by Secretary Sherman, which
is the only sense worth considering,
inasmuch as Sherman's resumption
is all the country stands any
chance Of having, IL does not mean
any reduction of the paper money
whatever. In reality, it means
imitation of the currency to the en-
tent Of such coin as comes into
circulation, as a moments reflection
will satisfy any thoughtful person.
The coin in the treasury the
Secretary proposes simply to ex-
change for greenbacks when hold
ers of tie latter think they would
like coin better, paying ont the
grenebacks again as fast as possible.
All the result is not so easy to fore
see, hutitis ascertain asa mathemat-
ical demonstration that no one of
them will be n reduction in the
volume of paper money. AS for
the statement that coin is no better
than full legal tender paper, it is
the rankest of nonsense. The
utmost that cuIr no oui'' &C COLL legal
tender paper mot redeemahle in
coin) is that with all the conditions
in it's favor, with the government
in perfect credit, and the volume
not too large, it would be as good
in this country as coin. The value
of coin, however, does not depend
upon any such conditions. The
faith and credit of the government
may he utterly worthless and the
nation bankrupted without effect
ing the value anywhere of the coin,
unless the latter has been falsely |
stamped. And even if the govern
ment remains in good credit and
keeps its redeemable paper money
good at home, no sane person will
seriously pretend that such money
will have any such value abroad as
coin. The notion is too preposter-
Gus for serious argument.
Following the paragraph cited
the Enquirer argues with affected |
gravity-which may be either
malicious or ignorant-that specie
payment means the reduction of
the volume of money to S150,000,-
900. and then proceeds with this
astounding propositions:
"When resumption first COM
menced there was 81 $50, 900, 900 in
legal tender money. and business
was so good that everybody was at
work and prosperous and the fail
nres were only $50 in the whole
United States. Resumption com
menced with contraction, and has
been carried on so far by con-
traction, until the legal tender has
been contracted S1,200,000,000
and this contraction must go on
until the original 81 100000, 900 is
reduced to Sl50,000,000.
Concerning such a statement, no
stretch Of charity can justify the
assumption that it is ignorantly
oodo No buman bcino Until, tho