The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1878-03-27
GreanhackS.

A very good thirg are greenbacks, but then
sit depends entirely upon how you find them"
My gardener was working one day near a win
dow, and member of my family heard him
ask man who was helping him-both Irish
Sand are you a married man?" eyes, am;
good luck to me'' "Ah! I'm sorry to say, Pm
too much like yer.,' 'And sure, let me tell
yer, to be married was the best job you ever did
in yer life." "Ah! but that depinds upon how
you find it!' His wife was drunkard
And so greenbacks may be very good thing,
but it depends entirely upon the way the mat
ter is arranged. Many unfortunate expert
ments have been made in the greenback line,
which might serve as lesson to our greenback
friends, If only they would heed them. Lam
artine in his Histoire des Girondins, has brief
treatise on paper money, in his account of the
creation of the French greenbacks-assignats.
He says:
"ro supply the place of gold and silver which
seemed to have dried up (tarD suddenly, the
Constituent Assembly had created paper mon
ey under the name of assignats. =
Paper money, whatever economists may say
about it, has no other value than that of the
law which creates it, and of the credit which it
carries with it. The proportion between things
bought and the sign (the paper money! which
buys them must not be suddenly changed by an
improper multiplication of the monetary sign.
The real and true price of all things is deter
mined by this proportion. Law only, a law
honest and prudent, can strike money. Wheth-
er the law strikes money in gold, silver, copper
or paper, provided the proportion be religiously
pras nd ,nrovidad ha manila
also confidence in the honesty aud in ths cred
1t of it,
"The Bill of Exchange-the Draft-private
money which has no other value than the
credit of him who created it, supplies among
individuals an immense amount of money. 1t
has all the effect of gold and silver, but it is
only money struck by the individual and repre-.
sents only the public confidence in him.
"The government. pressed by increasing me-
cessities, extended too suddenly the amount of
the new paper money!" which Lamartine
always speaks of only as q representative
(stgne) of money. ''Thencs came depreciation
of the value of this monetary sig'se, and the
vanishing of values ia the hands of those
who possessed it or who should accept it;
thence also came severe tfnaptacabte) laws
against those who should ie1use 10 accept IL.
At last came a diminution of circulation, de
preston of commerce. uncertainty in business,
suspension of trade, cessation OF WORK, failure
| of wages, hunger to workingmen. Landhold-
ers and the rich lived upon the direct produce
of their lands or upon their reserves in gold
and silver, which they spent sparngy and only
| for their most pressing needs. They neglected
| the cultivation of the lands. They consumed
but little. They did not build at ALL Car
riages and horses disappeared. Furniture was
| not renewed The dress of these people indi-
| Gated fear, avarice or extreme want. Life re-
duced to the bare necessaries, cut of all em-
| ployment and all wages from the innumerapIe
| artisans usually busy in supplying tne attin-
cial wants of society"
Lamartine goes on to say that under the Hood
of assignats, prices were constantly going up,
| and the means of the people going down. In
order to correct this, the shrewd and wise
greenbackers of that day passed a law "hxing
a maximum price to all merchandisel All
commerce was destroyed, being subjected to