The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1878-08-20
TUESDAY MORNING, AUGUST 20.

deadly struggle with rebellion, through
the illimitable use of paper money
AS long as there were armies to be
equipped and a foe to be vanquished,
there was valid ex ,use for the lavish issue OF
promises to pay. But when victory was
achieved, and the supremacy of the flag up
held, it was the paramount duty of the G overp-
ment to prepare tc redeem its pecuniaIy obliga-
tons. That requirement was delayed several
years longer than it ought to have been, and
lamentable train of calamites epsued as the
penalty of the neglect to do what was not only
obviously right but clearly polite. At last,
partly through the discipline of adversely and
partly by the influence of natural causes, SO
much of the public debt as is represented by
notes payable on demand has been cancelled in
one way and another, that the residue is with
In shade Of par, and will in all probability
be equivalent to gold in q few months if all
further tampering with the currency can be
prevented. This is state of things which
benefits all classes, but especially men who live
by labor, or whose income is derived from
wages in any form. There can hardly be need
of argument to demonstrate proposition SO
selfevident as this. Wages never fall in the
Same proportion that commodities do in times
OF depression, nor rise as rapidly during periods
of Initiation. There is really no portion of our
population who have so vital an interest in the
appreciation of the purchasing power of the
dollar as the men who earn their livelihood by
work.
Panics have generally been followed by sea-
Sons OF popular discomfort The most intel
esting reading in Benton's "Thirty Years in the
United States Senate is the account he gives
OF the events that succeeded the great revul-
sion OF 1887. The money power was then
srrayed against resumption. The merchants
of New York and many of the bankers also
were vehement in their denunciations of the
administration of Mr.. Van Buren, because it
insisted upon putting the treasury upon specie
basis. The Democrats were the champions of
hard money. There was no bankrupt law in
existence then, and the shopkeepers of the
metropolis were importunate in their entreat-
les that the Government should commit itself
to the policy of expansion long enough at
least to enable them to extricate themselves
from their endorsements even ii they had to
adopt the alternative of saddling them upon
somebody else's shoulders. There were no out
cries at that epoch against the ''bloated bond
holders" and 'thieving capitalists" by crea-
lures who were inspired by whiskey or whose
intemperance was of the still more violent and
disgusting kind that manifests itself exclusive
ly In brutal language and horri1 blasphemies.
The enemies of order were clothed in purple
and fine linen, the remains of their former
good standing with their haberdashers. The
supporters Of the national integrity were the
nard-nsted men who were in fact as well as in
name, the hardy sons of toil.'
The infationists of that period resorted to
that convenient method of fomentiup apita-
ton, the ballot, and succeeded in carving the
Presidential election of 1910. But nothing
uncer heavens would have vtalized the foolish
doctrines they propounded. They were essen.
TALLY and Inherently impracticabe. The res
toratlon OF specie payments was accomplished
before they won their political battle, and hard
money sentiments continued to prevail lust as
fully as If they had never made sign, Thew
kept business in state of suspense and inoer.
utude Tor number of years; and it was not
TIL after Democratic administration was re-
lnstated that matters got fairly regulated. The
same thing will happen every time the issue is
Joined between redeemable and irredeemable
currency. The only question is how long it
may take to controvert error and to yindicate
truth.
Curlously enough, the parties have changed
names since that day. The Republicans are
the Champions of everything the Democracy
upheld then, except slavery. and that was a
crime that no genuine Democrat ever did or
ever could have the slightest federation of. 1t
mad not yet obtrudsd itself SO conspicuously up
on public attention as to leave the Democrats no
alternative but to defend it or abandon their Or
ganization. When it did, some years after
ward, the elite of the order, leaders and rank
and file, ranged themselves on the side of liber-
ty and brought upon the supporters of caste and
privilege an ignominious and crushing defeat.
IAe Republican party absorbed all the princi
pies OF democracy that were worth preserving
ana all the men in it who believed that the doc
trines OF the Declaration of Independence were
living real tiles and not glttering generalties. :"
Immediately upon its advent to power it was
called upon to sustain the patriotic declaration
OF Andrew Jacksonville Union-it must and
shan be preserved" Now, it is charged with
s~~S ~NpJ "a PhOSCANluS tuo uAtlOual QODOr and
Whatever hIndrance may lie in the way of, or
whatever sacrifice may have to be encountered
10, the contamination of that purpose, it must
and shall be crowned with success
Suppose, by wsy of illustration, that the
Greenbackers were allowed to have their own
way, and an addition of hundred millions or
30 of legal tenders were authorized. What
would become of them? There are vast sums
OF them at this very moment lying idle in the
vaults OF the snb-treasuries and banks. ANY.
Dody who has good securities to put up as COL
iaterals can borrow them dd sbituna at two per
cent. interest per annum. I dare say there will
be less of this locking up of money the moment
the owners of it feel perfectly assured that the
schemes OF expansonists, communists and an.
archists are not likely to meet with any favor
from the voters of the country. The man who
sincerely desires to see better times and more
general thrift cannot do anything that will tend
TO promote that object SO effectually as to as
sist 10 scoring up a victory for hard money in
the fall election. In that way he can turn his
political privileges to practical account The
one great hindrance 10 the renewal of prosper
ty is the distrust which has been engendered
by the ominous utterances of the "Nationals''
n respect OF financial matters. Capital will
not be freely put in circulation until those who
control it can be made to feel that it is safe
from every form of aggre ssion. And it is well
to bear in mind that they do not suffer any
where near as much by the deprivation of the
earnings of it, as the people at large do through
being kept out of employment.
YARMOUTH