Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1878-07-12
CuRRENCY CATECHIsNI.
Voters, Read and
Think.

yet neither cf them have eyer been q legal
tender from man to man.
Q-What was the professed reason for
making the second issue of greenbaeks a
legal tender?
A-To enable the government to raise
the sinews Of wal, by forcing its promissory
notes on the soldiers, contractors, and all
Others from whom it needed services or
supplies.
Q-Wss there provision made in the le-
gal-tender law for the payment or redemp-
ton of this currency2
Ayes. The law expressly stated that
it was issued ''for temporary purposes
only, and provided that it should be ex-
changeable for United States SIX per cent.
bonds, and receivable for all loans made to
the United States.
Q-Was this promise kept by the gov
eminent?
A-No. The exchangeabihty of legal
tender notes for six per cent. bonds was
forbidden after July 4, 1868.
Q-What Was the effect Of this imita-
A-To crowd down the value Of our pa
per currency so that it fell from about %
cents on the dollar m July, 1868, to 30
cents on the dollar one year afterwards.
Q-Is it necessary to have coin basis
for our currency?
A-Yes, so long as we trade with coun-
tries which have such basis. Our annual
export and import trade with such countries
averages more than So, 900, 900 for every
day in the year. We cannot hold our own
much less make profit on this trade, TN
less the measure of value which we use
agrees with their measure Of value.
Q-WhaL has made England the richest
nation in the world in money capital?
A-The perfect stability Of her financial
system. All values for several centuries
have been reckoned wholly in coin.
O-Can the United States wrest this f.
nancial supremacy from Great Britaine
Ayes, if we viii adopt an unTarying
standard Of money value. We have vast
" larger territory, a more productive soil,
a greater variety Of staples, a more inVen-
tive and enterprising people, cheaper food,
cheaper materials for clothing, more abun-
dant coal and iron, and large quantities
of cold and silver mined within our own
borders.
O-What is needed to make the United
States the imperial business nation Of the
world?
A perfectly stable monetary system,
whereby all our trade, commerce, and
manufactures can be planned and calcu-
lated with a certainty that the cash results
will neither shrink nor swell. The profit
of a farthing a yard on cloth is enough to
keep British mills in motion; but if 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?
A-Yes, the same as for it to pay wages
to soldiers and officers, or to pay for their
meat, bread, clothing and weapons, or to
pay for the carrying Of its mails, or the
printing of its advertisements, or the build
ing 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 honor
able governments do pay it. There is no
moral difference between 40. .000, 900 people
and one person, when they take away your
property.
Q-Could the government have ever been
established or preserved without the pow
er to borrow money?
A-No, and this power is expressly given
in the federal constitution.
Q-Could money have been borrowed
without the promise of the government to
pay interest on it?
A-No, for this would deprive man of
his property without just compensation,
which is forbidden in the constitution.
Q-What is the basis of credit?
A-Confdence.
Q-How is confidence gained?
A-By the fulfillment Of agreements.
Q-Can a government eyer secure good
credit without fulfilling its agreements
A-No.
Q-Has the United States government
ever been without credit?
Ayes, during the revolutionary war.
Q-What happened then?
A-The government had issued so many
paper promises that they sank into worth
lessness. Nothing could be borrowed and
our troops were starving to death. Robert
Morris, Philadelphia merchant, pledged
his own credit for vast sums, raised sup.
plies for the government, and enabled it
to gain our liberties.
Q-Is it not therefore nonsense to talk
about q government ''creating" money
value by its mere 'tfiat" or law?
Alt is. The simple promise of one
man was worth more in an emergency than
all the pledges which the thirteen United
States could give.
Q-How then shall we re-establish con-
fidence and prosperity?
A-By an exact fulfllment of all the
promises and bargains which the United
States has ever made, to the end that indi-
viduals can form their business plans and
be sure the finances will not be disordered
or the currency shriveled up in their hands.
n Nd A.,
emily on paper currency which was not
convertible into coin at the will of the
holder?
A-Never, but many nations have fallen
into ruin by issuing irredeemable paper
notes.
Q-What did Abraham Lincoln say of
our currency in one Of his annual mes
sages?
4-"A:return to specie payment at the
earliest period cOmpatiable with due re-
gard to ali interests concerned should ever
be kept IN view. Fluctuations in the value
Of currency are always injurious, and to
reduce these fluctuations to the lowest DOS
sible point will always be leading pur-
pose in wise legislation. Convertibility.
prompt and certain compatibility into coin,
is acknowledged to be the best and surest
safeguard against them"
Q-What did Andrew Jackson say on
the same subject?
A-t'There never was nor never could be
use for any other kind of currency than is
redeemable in specie, except for speeula-
tors and gamblers in stocks, and this to
the utter ruin of the labor and morals Of
the country. A specie currency gives life
and action to the producing classes, on
NH aTah = L. I'll e.,