The Portland daily press., 1878-09-05
War Pr0sneritY.

1ue UreeuDacKerS Stlll lnSlSI tnaL Gce great
prosperity and enormous business of the
country during the war and the years that
Immediately followed the conclusion of peace,
were due to the extraordinary amount of our
paper currency; and they argue that infa-
tion will bring back the great business of
were not due to an enormous amount of
paper currency and for the very good reason
that an enormous amount was not in circu-
lation. The volume of the currency then
was larger than it is now though its pur-
chasing power was scarcely greater, but not
so large by hundreds of millions as the
Greenbackers assume. Their error in fig
ures has been proved again and again, and it
is unnecessary to go over the books now. If
then, a huge volume of paper money did not
make business lively in war days, it will not
now, and so imitation will not revive trade.
What then did make business lively and
swell the volume of exchanges? Let US look
into the matter a little. Suppose there
should come an order upon clothiers, an
extraordinary demand for two million suits
of clothes to be furnished at short notice.
Would not that branch of trade be brisk
Would not increased employment be given to
tailors and seamstresses,to wooden and cotton
manufacturers, to sheep raising and cotton
planting, to masons anu carpenters who
would build new mills, to machinists who
would furnish new machinery, to iron miners
who would be called upon to furnish more
and lupnhnr daoIarc N ha bod
for more wood? Suppose an added million of
shoes were demanded. Would not the hide
and leather business receive an impetus /?
Suppose iron was wanted to make into guns
and iron-clads. Would not mining interests
look up? Suppose a hundred thousand
horses were wanted at once. Would not the
prices Of those animals advance. Suppose
two millions of men ceased to pro-
duce, to earn their bread and clothes
by ordinary toll, but were clothed
and boarded while they destroyed the gar
ments and food of others. Would not the
prices of provisions and clothing go up2
And would not the absence of these men
from the fields and workshops cause an
eager demand for transportation facilities,
and would not more railroads therefore be
built, and would not that cause an extraor-
dinary demand for iron and wood and the
services of men?
Now suppose this state of affairs to con-
tinue for four years, with a million men
withdrawn from productive labor, engaged in
destroying each other, in destroying crops, in
burning buildings, in using up vast quanti-
ties of food and clothing and munitions of
war. Would not factories be put up on
every hand to supply the great waste
Would not those who remained In the work
shops and the fields be called upon to sup
port the men engaged in destroying the
products of labor? And would not the prices
of labor rise? And should all this waste sud-
denly cease, should the men engaged in de-
struction return to peaceful pursuits and pro-
ductive labor, would there not be cessation
of the extraordinary demand for labor and
material? Would not the factories built and
equipped to supply an extraordinary demand
have to cease operations? With so many
people thrown out of the employment in
which they were engaged for four years, and
eagerly seeking new and peaceful employ
ments would there not be pressure upon
the labor market, and would not the price of
labor fall?
Well, that was the condition during and
after the war. While the war was being
prosecuted there was an extraordinary de-
mand for almost everything. Four millions Of
men were withdrawn from productive occu-
pations and set to destroying one another.
While doing this they had to be fed and
clothed, to be furnished with arms, and to
be carried from place to place. The Govern
ment became an enormous purchaser, brought
extraordinary quantities of food, of clothing,
OF iron, and powder, and wood, and paid
enormous sums for the transportation OF all
| these. To supply this great demand mills
sprang up on every hand, and railroads were
built to transport the products of the mills.
As a million laborers had been taken away
there was a sharp demand for those left, and
wages went up. Then all this IsuddenlY