Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1878-07-10

tnaC IL was Issued Tor temporary pur-
poses" only, and provided that it
should be eXchangeable for United
States six per cent. bonds and receiva-
bic for all loans made to the United
States.
Q.-Was this promise kept by the
government?
A.-No. The exchangeability OF
legal tender notes for six per cent.
bonds was forbidden after July 4th,
1868.
itations S '' ''''' '''
A.-To crowd down the value OF
our paper currency SO that it fell from
about IS cents on the dollar in July,
1868, to 50 cents on the dollar one year
afterwards.
Q.-Is it necessary to have coin
basis for our currency?
Ayes, SO long as we trade with
countries which have that basis. Our
annual export and import trade with
such countries averages more than
SO, O0O, 900 for every day i'm the year.
We cannot hold our own, much less
make a profit on this trade, unless the
measure ofvalue which we use agrees
with their measure of value.
Q.-What has made England the
richest nation in the world in money
capital?
A.-The perfect stability of her fl.
nancial system. All values for sever.
al centuries have been reckoned Who'll.
ly in coin?
Q.-Can the United States wrest
this financial supremacy from Great
Britain?
A.-Yes, if we will adopt an unva-
rying standard of money value. We
have a vastly larger territory, more
productive soil, greater variety OF
staples. more inventive and enter.
prising people, cheaper food, cheaper
materials for clothing, more abundant
coal and iron, and large quantities OF
gold and silver mined within our
own borders.
Q.-What is needed to make the
United States the imperial business
nation Of the world?
"A perfectly stable monetary
system, whereby all our trade, COM
merce and manufactures can be plan
ned and calculated with a certainty
ti1ttt tllC SSloA 1SSulGS VIII HtllUtI
shrink nor swell. The profit of one
farthing yard on cloth is enough to
keep British mills in motion; but il
their currency was liable to shrink
two farthings before the cloth could
be sold, hundreds of mills would
stand still.
Q.-Is it just for the government to
pay interest on money borrowed for
its benefit?
Ayes, the same as it is to pay
wages to soldiers and officers, or to
pay for their meat, bread, clothing,
and weapons, or to pay for the carry
ing of its mails, or the printing of its
advertisements, or the building of its
public edifices, or anything else which
it requires. The government ought
to pay interest on money just as much
as individuals or firms pay it, and all
honorable governments payit. There
is no moral difference between O,OOO,-
600 people and one person, when they
take away your property.
Q.-COuld the government have ev-
er been established orpreserved with
out the power to borrow money?
A.-No, and this power is expressly
given in the federal constitution.
Q.-Could money have been bor-
rowed without the promise of the
government to pay interest on it?
A.-No, for this would deprive a
man of his property without just COM
pensation, which is forbidden in the
constitution.
Q.-What is the basis of credit?
A.-Confidence.
Q.-How is confidence gained?
A.-By the fulfillment of agree
ments.
Q.-Can government ever secure
good creditwithout fulfilling its agree
ments?
A.--NO.
Q.-Has the United States govern
ment ever been without credit?
A.-Yes, during the revolutionary
war.
Q.-What happened then?
A.-The government had issued SO
many. paper promises that they sank
into worthlessness. Nothing could be
borrowed and our troops We're starv-
ing to death. Robert Morris, Phil
adelphia merchant, pledged his own
credit for vast Isums, raised supplies
for the government, and enabled it to
gain our liberties.
Q.-Is it not therefore nonsense to
talk about a governments creating
money value by it's mere "fiat" or law!
Alt is. The simple promise Of
one man was worth more in an emer-
gency than all the pledges which the
thirteen United States could give.
Q.-How then shall we re establish
confidence and prosperity?
A.-By an exact fulfillment of all
the promises and bargains which the
United States have ever made, to the
end that individuals can form theil
business plans and be sure the financ.
es will not be disordered or the cur.
rency shriveled up in their hands.
Odd any nation ever flourish
permanently on a paper currency
which was not convertible into cOir
at the will of the holder?
A.-Never, but many nations have
fallen into ruin by issuing irredema-
BILE paper notes.
Q.-What did Abraham Lincoln
say of our currency in one of his an
nual messages?
A.-"A return to specie payment al
the earliest period compatible with
due regard to all interests concerned
should ever be kept in view. Fluctu
ations in the value of currency are al
ways injurious, and to reduce thest
fluctuations to the lowest possible
point will always be a leading pur
pose in wise legislation. Convertible.
ity, prompt and certain cOnvertibility
into coin, is acknowledged to be the
best and surest safeguard against
Them"
Q.-What did Andrew Jackson say
on the same subject?
A.-''There never was nor never
could be any use for any other kline
of currency than is redeemable in
specie, except for spectators and
gamblers in stocks, and this to the ut
ter ruin of the labor and morals o.
the country. A specie currency gives
life action to the producing classes, on
which the prosperity of all is found.
ed."-Lansiag Republican.
THE LIES ABOUT REsUMPTIoN.
The Big Stories Of the creenback.
ers with the Air out Of Them.
From the Winterset Madisonian.
The Beacon Light in its last issue
finds fault with the Nadisonidn be-
cause it stated in a late article that
there had been no contraction of the
currency to the amount Of 81 ,OOO, 900, :
900, as is stated by greenback papers
and speakers all over the state, and
thereupon it copies from some un-
known paper table in which it in
clvdos the fnllOWinp classes of interest