The Portland daily press., 1878-09-06
FRIDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 6.
Currency and Labor.
In an extended article the Boston CONNER
cial Bulletin comments as follows

In an extended article the Boston CONNER
cal Bulletin comments as follows:
The friends of an enlarged and diluted cur
rency are fond of pointing out, in proof that
more currency Is needed, the fact that the
country was very prosperous during the war
and the years Immediately succeeding the war,
something to do. 'Give us more currency"
they cry, "and business will revive, and we
shall have work again" Admitting, SO Tar as
the discussion Is concerned, that the erroneous
statement in regard to the relative amount of
currency then and now is true, it does not fol-
low that the prosperity of those days was due
to the abundance of the currency then in circu-
lation. That. in itself, was only one of the
elements, and perhaps minor one, to which
the brisAness of business is to be attributed.
Back Of it all lies the fact that there was an
artificial demand for various products of indus
try growing out of the war; The Importance
of this cannot be overestimated. The pur-
chases by the Government for the support of
the army and navy gave employment to hun
dreds of thousands of persons The expendi-
lures of the United States for the support of
the army and navy for the years 1862 and 1866
inclusive were So, 1851, 800, 900, or average of
more than $600,000,000 year. The present.
expenditures are little more than $50, 900, 900
per year. But the influence of the war as
motive power in business did not cease with the
war itself. The payment of S2,400, 600 by
the Government from 1862 to 1865 for products
OF American LABOR, anu OF Sl,UUU,UUU,UUU adj
ditional as pay to soldiers and sailors, had
spurred our industries to the greatest activity,
and there was work enough for all. Not only
did the Government foster, by its great demand
for food, clothing, etc., the industries which
produced these articles, but it also directly
aided in other enterprises, notably by assisting
the builders of the Pacific Railroad, and there
by stimulating railroad building to an extent
which IL is impossible to comprehend. This, in
turn, created an enormous demand for iron and
iron manufactures, and developed the great
iron industry abnormally, and so closely allied
are all American industries that all prOspered
together That this era of prosperity should
come to an end was the most natural thing in
the world. Instead of spending $500. 900
year its expenditures dropped in three years
to less than $100.000,000 year. For while
there was no great change. The momentum
acquired in five years of such business Kept
everything ia motion for several years longer
1t was not from lack of money, but by loss of
their best customer that the producers Of the
United States were driven into idleness. The
inference as to the future is plain. There is a
need, not of money, of which there is now
more than can be probably used, but of custo-
mers. The wheels of our industries can again
be set in motion if the Government will again
expend $4,000 600 a year, and it will M AXE
little difference whether it spends it in war or
in peace. The Government may print money
to the amount of hundreds of millions of dol
lars, but unless it expends that money for labor
the laboring classes will be no better off than
they now are.