The Portland daily press., 1878-02-25
A Curious DelusiOn,

Mr.. j. F. Turner, who seems to be well
meaning. sensible man, in his ordinary rela-
tions, has got an indubtable bee in his bon
net on the subject of currency and national
finance. He has been nominated by the
greenbackers as their canidate for Mayor of
Portland, and at meeting in Arcana Hall
on Friday evening last he is reported to have
said "that when the war closed the
country was better off than when Fort Sum-
ter was fired upon"; and as this will serve
to.illustrate the fallaces and delusions with
which these men are bewildering themselves
and seeking to bewilder others, 1t may be use-
full to consider it.
rency; that is only means for more con-
venlenty making exchanges of property
among the citizens and it is valuable only be-
cause it serves as means of moving some
thing that is valuable. 1t is just here that
our greenback friends deceive themselves
by assuming that currency is national
wealth. The wealth of a nation is its land,
houses, crops, agricultural and manufactur-
ing implements, railroads, horses, cattle,
sheep and the capacity of labor in the peo-
pie. These are the substance; the currency
is its shadow. For Jour years from the time
that Fort Sumter was attacked about two
million Of men, north and south, were drawn
from productive to destructive pursuits.
From producers they became consumers.
The loss of their labor alone for this period
pft ifyTv 1sv,ns
mutton of the national wealth. But this was
not all they were not idle consumers. They
were actively engaged in destroying wealth.
They laid waste fields, burned houses, killed
each other, wasted and destroyed everything
in their path throughout all the dreadful
struggle. 1t is difficult to estimate the losses
OF property resulting directly and indirectly
from the war; but it must be evident to any
one who gives the slightest thought to the
matter that they were very great The
part Of the measure of loss; for that only
shows a portion of the money actually paid
out by one of the combatants for property
destroyed. Add to that the confederate debt
and you will have about half, of the money
actually expended for things to be destroyed.
Losses may sometimes seem to occur from
failures in business, financial crises and
monetary disturbances; but there is no real
loss in these. The property is merely re-
distributed it all exists as before. But a fire
or war makes real loss to the country.
Things are destroyed; men are killed or dis
abled. These are the only actual losses to a
nation.
The four years from 1861 to 1865 were the
most destructive ever known in the history Of
our country perhaps in that of any other coun-
try; for where was civil war ever waged
on so gigantic scale before? The vast ac-
tivity caused by this great national CONFUSION
seemed prosperity; it was really adversely.
The vigor was that Of fever-an unnat-
utal, dericus. fierce energy. The reaction
as surely came in the political body as it
would have done in the natural body
Ever since 1865, when waste and destruction
ceased, and men returned to productive pur-
suits, the country has been gradually regain
ing its health in wholesome but
tedious convalescence. If the green
hackers, silver men and other quack doctors
will only let it alone it will soon recover in a
wholesome and natural way. But men
sigh for the feverish energy of the war peri
cd they yearn for the Beautiful dreams of
delirium. They are not content to await the