Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1878-06-16

currency question, IN wheh NC
"a be our opinion that II the volume OF the
uaxreocv had been maintained at the
so,,res which obtained at the close OF the
war The country would to-day be vastly
more prosperous, and there would DO
fe,ray idle men in the United States. The
Fofe,py,ise is unfair enough to convey the
inference that we had said something in
favor Of imitation. We never said any
thing Of the kind. 1t was not for mia
f;ou hut against retraction that we argued.
We said simply that the standard reached
during the war period should have been
maintained as a matter Of sound policy.
Everybody knows that contraction de-
strovs values. The Government owed
something TO that class Of people who ac-
ouired property at the inflated prices OF
twelve years ago. Apropcr medium should
obtain it is not justice to crush any
portion Of the business community. And
yet this is precisely what contraction has
done. Ii it were possible for the Govern
ment to call in all of the currency at pres
ent outstanding in the next ninety days,
is it not certain that at least one-third of
the business men Of the country would be
forced into bankruptcy With the in
crease Of population and the demands Of
the business world, there was not too
much money, and there should never have
been any leHsening Of the volume. The
Enterprise says;
Times were prosperous during and after
the war, but it was not an Eouest pros
perity. Nearly three thousand millions OF
something representing dollars we're DIS
tributed through the country as money, IN
one form or another, but that money was
not ours. 1t was all borrowed.
The Enterprise blunders again. 1t
ronfounds the bonded debt with
the currency. Tho Government never
borrowed greenbacks from anybody.
We W nobody for them. They are
simply Uncle Sans promises to pay, the
good faith and resources Of the whole
country being pledged to their redemption.
The security is the best in the world, and
the money in consequence is as good as
any that can be manufactured. 1t is the
stamp, the Endorsement, that makes the
money. We would as soon have Uncle
Sans stamp on a piece of paper as on a
piece of metal. We have lately read in an
Eastern exchange a paper from Hon. Sam
uol F. Cary on the functions OF money.
Some extracts from it will fit in very
nicely just here. We quote as follows:
Al the recent session Of the American
Social Science Association, in Cincinnati,
the Hon. William 5. Groesbeck, an emf
ncnt lawyer and statesman, in the discus
sion Of the financial problem, said:
ssThere has never been too much gold or
silver in the past; there is no too much
now. and we have no reason to apprehend
there will ever be. n y II
Sometimes they were scarce-much
too scarce; sometimes they were compara-
lively abundant, but never too abundant.
The eras that we're brightest We're those of
abundance; the eras that were darkest were
those Of scarcity. II y y
sThey nave never been and never will be
too abundant. The more reasonable APP
prehension is that they may at some time
fail. Let us hope that our mines may not
be exhausted, and if they should, yet
others may be found"
We have no criticism to make upon the
remarks in their general application. The
same may be said with equal truth of our
iron, copper and lead mines and their
product. These have never been too
abundant, and are not likely to be but
the exhaustion Of any other Of our min
erals would be infinitely more disastrous
than the exhaustion of gold or silver
mines. We could live, and Christian civ
i~lization might survive, if there was an
entire failure Of the gold and silver pro-
duct. We agree with the honorable gem
tleman that gold and silver were never too
abundant, and that the brightest eras were
when they were most abundant, and that
the darkest eras were when there was the
greatest scarcity. Why? Because these
metals were used as an Instrument Of err
change, and the greater the volume Of le-
gal-tender money the greater the prosper
ity. Even a large supply Of wildcat :"
currency has given a stimulus to trade and
developed the resources OF a country. II
was only when the discovery WAS made
that these issues Of worthless and ire
sponsible corporations had neither silver
OF gold. nor any property, real or personal,
as . basis, that disaster came. 1t is re-
corded as . fact, that kegs of nails have
been stored away in bank vaults to make
the impression that the institutions we're
sound and their paper was we'll backed up
with coin. So long as this false pretense
deceived the people, their notes gave ac-
tiyity to business and accomplished the
functions Of the precious metals. The
disasters which followed were not 50 mueh