The Van Buren press. [volume] (Van Buren, Ark.) 1859-1914, 1878-10-29
[Vol. 16.---NO. %
Beecher on Greenbacks.
from the Boston Journal.I


| from the Boston Journal.
The Rev. Henry Ward Beecher open.
ed the course of lectures and entertain
ments at the North Avenue Congrega.
tional church, Cambridge, last evening.
His subject was 1.-The Reign of the
Common People, and the urpose was
to show the changes which the general
spread Of intelligence has wrought in hui
man thought, and in the relations Of
men toward one another and toward gov
crnments Speaking Of th popular de-
| lusions which are now engrossing the
public mind, lie said that there was none
which would fade away sooner than that
which the greenback represents. Con-
tinuing on the same subject, he said:
The idea that government can create
money by simply stamping paper or lea
ther is theory which may live for day
] or two or a seasnn. hut If there ever vas
anything that will cure itself, that will. !
am not afraid of its ultimate results. !
know that the people say boldly that tits
the government that determines the cur.
rency. What is the currency? tits the
means by which a mah can exchange one
thing for another. cannot cut off the
corner Of my barn, and buy a pound OF
snuff. ] cannot carry around anything
as bulky as an OK. have got to have
something by which cau exchange one
kind Of property for another. What
should you select2 You don't need TO
select anything at all you might as well
talk about selecting the kind of an A.
mosphere in which we shall live. There
is one thing about which the nations
agree, and don't know that they ever
agreed on anything else. There Is one
thing upon which they are singularly
united, upon which they stand together,
aad have stood together for 5000 years,
and that is that gold and silver shall DO
the medium by which property shall be
represented aud exchanged. 1t 10 not
question which has been determined by
governments at oil. All the governments
on earth might pass an edict that gold
shall not represent property, and 1t will
not make the least difference. 1t is one
of those things which have been deter
mined by the successive experiences OF
nations. For more than five thousand
years we have the actual record OF the
proportional value between gold and sil.
vsr, varying little with time, but still
about the same. Down through thou
sands Of years gold aud silver have been
the same. Gold ia gold everywhere.
Five dollars in gold is tue same every.
where, and the man who has gold IN his
hand, can 60 anywhere and exchange Il
for property.
Paper is nothing but representative
Of gold, used for the sake Of convent.
ence, Us property is too bulky for ex.
- suta n = nn nnye Dnt feR.
mand them and il Is good 1,isdr 7oif "a8tnnk
when it cannot. Cornelius Vanderbilt
went down to tho bank, one day, with
piece Of paper in his fingers, and he did
not seem to make much Of 1t. But IL
was a check for S3,000,000, the largest
that had ever been passed there. II he
had tried to pay the same amount In
gold, he would have found it = pretty
hard Job to carry it. Gold Weighs .
ton and half to 81 ,000. 900, SO that he
would have to carry nearly FIVE tons.
When commerce is comparatively small,
gold and silver can be transported from
place to place. and are convenient; but
when commerce extends, il cannot be
used conveniently. Suppose man In
New York wants to pay half a millioA
dollars to man in New Orleans. don't
want to be suspicious, but think there
at least ten men between New York and
New Orleans, who would steal il they got
the chance. Silver weighs thirteen tons
to 100000 They can be easily han
died in small transactions, but in large
ones we have paper as commercial con.
vMienc. II you can exchange II for .
house or farm. it is good for that Ifie
cannot be exchanged Tor property or for
gold or silver, what is it good for7 All
gold and silver represent property; oil
paper represents gold or silver, and 10
ought to represent them definitely. II
you print five-dollar bill, you must Be
definite about what it represents. wheat
or cloth or gold. But if it is merely 1--WE
dollars. and you offer it to man, and
he says he will not pay gold or silver for
it; or you offer it to the government.
and it says it will not pay gold or silver
for it, then its face.yalue goes down.
Why cannot the government take paper
money? Because it can do with reall-
ty what it cannot do with sham. Gov
eminent only regulates existing values.
and in the case Of paper it is proposed
not to regulate values, but to give it val
ue. There is no government on Ged's
earth that can give value to paper They
can say that paper shall be equivalent TO
gold and redeemed lit, but no govern.
ment on earth can say that zero means
something.