The Portland daily press., 1878-05-02
The BuenOs Ayres Dollars

AAO DuOhVS AJACo DuAoAc.
The following appears in tie Camden
Herald:
Reply to the Portland Press.
The following item is clipped from the
Maine State PhEss of April 11th, and q we'll
known sea captain of this town sends reply.
Some people nowadays, attribute the hard times
under which this country has been suffering to lack
of abundance in the circulating medium. How do
I1ney account ioT the situation IN Buenos Ayres
tle horses sheep hides, wool and many other things
for expectation and which has suffered and is suffer-
Ayres is blessed = from the Greenback standpoint
with government notes in such abundance that a
dollar note is only worth four cents in the money Of
Maine State Press.
The editor of the PRESS shows his ignorance
OF the money of BuenOs Ayres, BY confounding
their regular four cent dollar with
the dollar of 100 cents, as will be
from well-known sea captain in Camden,
who has done business at all the three ports in
that Republic.
To the Editor OF the Camden Herald:
DEAR SIR:-Enclosed please find reference on
Greenbacks which l noticed in the Maine State
PRESS, by the editor, Judge
al party as such things IMisst injure the cause.
money, as have been at three ports in the AT.
gentine Republic as master of a vessel, and done
some business with them and handled their money
Now as to the Greenbacks this person refers to-
They are issued at one dollar "a cents and pass at
par, and to distinguish them from dollar of 100
cents in talking trade, the word Patagonia is men,
toned. Then we understand it to be the dollar of
100 cents gold or sver). But in talking dollars we
understand the cent dollar.
The PRESS said that the Government dol
lar-notes of Buenos Ayres are worth only four
cents in the money of the world, a statement
which the Herald and its correspondent do
not dispute. These dollar-notes represented
at the time of their first issue one hundred
cents in the money of the world, and their
depreciation to four cents is owing to the in
fation Of the currency and the neglect to re-
deem it. Buenos Ayres did what the Green
hackers want US to do. 1t issued national,
multiple of dollar each. 1t continued the
issues to "meet the wants Of trade" and re-
fused to redeem them, until the dollar-note,
or dollar as our Greenbackers would call it,
came to be worth but four cents. Of course
as the value OF the notes fell the demand in
creased; for as prices doubled or trebled, or
quadrupled, the amount of money needed to
make purchase doubled, trebled and quad
rupled. At last it came about that where
once one piece of paper purporting to be
dollar would buy an article it took twenty
five of these pieces. There was no end to
the call for more money. This is exactly the
course that the Greenbackers would have us
enter upon, and the result must be the same.
The Buenos Ayres currency was "based upon
the faith and resources Of the country"
country exceptionally rich in the things that
60 to make wealth. The basis is the same
that the Greenbackers want. 1t did not ere
vent depreciation in the case of the South
American State. 1t will not prevent depre.
citation in our case. The statements of the
Herald and its correspondent merely serve to
strengthen the illustration and emphasize the
argument which the PRESS used in showing
the results of a deprecated and redundant
currency.
Let us look at the history of this Buenos
Ayres currency as given in that excellent
manual the Handbook of the River Plate"
published at Bueuos Ayres in 1869; 1.-THE
price of the volume, book that would sell
for two dollars, perhaps, in this country, is
sixty dollars currency. In 1926 the Govern
ment began to issue paper money. In that
year the issues amounted to $2,694,S56, and
were easily maintained at par with gold.
But the amount was greatly increased there
after and in 1929 the paper dollar fell to Is cents
In 1886 the circulation amounted to $15,OOO,-
900. In the three years following $24, ,OOO,-
900 more were emitted, and the value of
the paper dollar came to be but five-and-a-
half cents. The subsequent depreciation was
rapid and ruinous. So violent were the fluc-
tuations that large fortunes were lost in a
single day. In 1910 $12.OOO,OOO were issued,
and the paper dollar fell to two-and .a-half
cents. Then the Government ceased to issue
paper money, and began to husband its
resources in order to pay its debts, and
and by 1S46 the paper dollar had
risen to eight cents. But change of
policy took place in that year, $75,OOO,O0O
were issued, and the paper dollar fell to three
cents. From that time to 1858 $91, 900, 900
were issued, the currency steadily falling in
value. The Government once more took a
wise course and in 1858 withdrew and burned
$7,25O,0O0 of these paper dollars. The value
at once went up to five cents, and there re.
mained until 1859, when fresh issue of
$S5,0OO,000 sent it down to four cents. A
further issue of $1OO,0OO,00O in 1861 contin.
ued the depreciation. So great was the loss
and distress from this fuctuatlon of the cur
rency that contraction was again resorted to
and 55,000,000 of the notes burned. Com
traction "hurt" as it always does, and
great outcry was made against it las great
outcry is made in the United States today
and law passed in 1868 to stop contraction
las the United States House of Representa-
has passed a resolve forbidding the further
withdrawal of our paper money!. In 1864
the paper circulation amounted to $34O, ,OOO,-
900. A. long and painful crisis in the money
market followed like our panic of 1879.
The fluctuations were ruinous to tradesmen,
and the prices of all staple articles of produce
were affected. Various schemes for regulat-
ing the currency were proposed. In 1866 the
Government resolved to ''scale" the debt, to
partially repudiate. 1t virtually went into
bankruptcy, and offered four cents on the dol
lar. That is, it agreed to give,one coin dollar
for twenty-five of its paper dollars. For a
considerable time the value Of the paper dol
lar thus became fixed, fluctuations ceased.
and legitimate trade was benefited. That
is how the paper dollar, which was at first
worth hundred cents came to be worth but
four cents. The path which Buenos Ayres
took is the path recommended to us by the
Greenbackers.
The correspondent of the Herald says that
these paper dollars are distinguished from
dollar of hundred cents by applying to the
latter the term pGtinOnia. (He presumably