Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1878-10-31
Debtor and Creditor.

| Debtor and Creditor. .-.l
| In his recent speech 10 Boston Secretary Schuz
spoke as follows Of the relations of Debtor and
Creditor and an inflated currency:
Another cry which is artfuy used by the advo-
| Gates OF new initiation Of irredeemable paper
! money, is. that it will benefit the debtor. will
not stop to discuss the morality of such PROPOSE
tom but let US look at its practical effects II is
thought that, when in consequence of the expan-
sion of our paper money, the currency depreciates
and YOU can receive larger nominal amounts OF
money for the things which you may have to sell,
YOU will with the deprecisted legal tenders So oh
tanned pay off your debts with greaer ease and ia
llitv and so get rid of them Nov II will be well
for you to remember that, during the period OF
| currency expansion which preceded the crash OF
| 1873 for every dollar of debt that was paid of
| several dollars of debt were contracted. In fact
| il was not debt paying, but it was emphaticaly
| debt-making period, marked with an extraordn.
AIRY degree of recklessness And this was natural
| for, when business is carried on under the inhu
epce of artificial stimulus, when by initiation Of
prices fictitious values created, and enterprise
runs to great extent into speculation, the hopes
of men unreasonably excited. and all sorts Of
ventures entered into credit. Moreover,
reckless extravaganza in private expenditure is
stimulated by the ease with which fictitious gains
appear to be realized. This is matter of histor-
cal experience. If, therefore, another period OF
currency expansion really did result as the green
| ness enterprise and the same illusions of wealth
easily gained, it would not induce you to get rid,
by prudent management of the debts you have. but
| it would rather betrav you into the making Of
new debts top of the old ones, and, when the
dav of reckoning comes, you would be worse of
| than before; or do you mean to bury the good
name and prospective fortunes Of the country I'M
der the disgrace and ruin Of universal reputation
shall be slow to believe that there are, among
| those whom these words shall reach, many so ut
| tery destitute of honor and good sense as to con-
template such idea without repugnance and
| indignation But If q new imitation of our paper
money is undertaken, under present circumstsn-
ces il will be able to affect the debtor ia differ
ent way and debtors would do well to stop and
consider the freaks which an irredeemable paper
| currency, in process of imitation. always plays
with the value of money, and by this time well
understood in this county, especially with those
| who have money due them. The creditors have
gathered some pertinent experiences. They know
| that when such paper money increases in voeme
| 1t will decrease in value, and that in period OF
initiation the money due them will grow less 10
value the longer IL is out. The creditor, when
reasonably sure of his capital and interest, is apt
to deal lenently with his debtor, and to ac-
| commodate him as much as possible. In most
il will be his interest to do so, but when be
knows that the legal tender in which the deb is
| due him, and is to be paid will shrink more and
more in value from day to day and especially when
| he is alarmed by the success Of wild schemes, what
will he do then He will resort to every means in
his power to get hold Of his money as quickly
as possible, so to nut 1t into such invest
ments as will secure him against that loss which
is threatened by currency depreciation.
Now, suppose the greenback policy of the fiat
money scheme, which is to relieve all those that
are heavily laden, be fairly naugurated, will not
the creditor at once know what it meanss Will
he not clearly foresee that if the plans of the pa
per-money apostles be carried out, the country will
be flooded with paper legal tenders that those le
gal tenders will inevitably grow beautifully less in
value with every dav the debt due him remains
unpaid. and that, If he wants to save his principal
and interest, be must do it quickly. Aud what
theni Then you will see the creditor in his most
pitiless and inexorahe state of mind. He will put
on every screw of the law to squeeze his money
without delay cut of the debtor. Then no more
accommodation; no more leniency; more extern
sion of notes; no more renewal OF mortgages.
The creditor will swiftly clutch every particle Of
security he may lay his hands on, and foreclosures
of mortgages and forced sales will be the order Of
the DAY. What a glorious harvest time it will be
for marshals, sheriffs and cOnstables!
But what will become Of the debtofs9 There
will be lively chorus OF groaning and railing
among them, for the miraculous paper money,
which,was to relieve them Of their burdens. will,
instead, relieve them Of their property,
and not in all CAKES at the same tine of
their debts. The paper money apostles promise
to make business lively. Ave, my friends, if you
are in debt they will make it lively for you. And
then, in the bitterness of your distress, it will
dawn upon you that it would have been infinitely
better had you instead of listening to the song Of
| sly trickery, depended upon your own honest ef
| forts for relief from your Indebtedness, and set
your faces resoutsy against deceiving money
| system, calculated to impair the necessary con-
fdence between debtor and creditor, and, by a.
most natural alarm, inducing the latter to save
himself through the severest process against the
| former. And thus careful and candid consdera.
ton will convince you that a new imitation of our
paper currency. instead of relieving the debtor, is
more likely to subject him TO the most pressing
| and ruinOus endorsements. and entirely destroy
that confidence which is the first requisite of sound
and fruitful credit relations in the business CON-
mubty. This, then. is the way 10 which our paper
| sgitators expect to make business lively, and
to give general prosperity q new start revive bus
mess, restore prosperity, by bringing about q
dtion of things in which everything will be in
cloud of uncertainty and distrust in which conf
dence and credit will be shaken to their very foun
dation by the existence Of money system which,
with the experiences before our eyes, will in
every business transaction make every body afraid
| of everybody else. And under such crcum-
| stances, with such fears hanging over the bust
| ness world, do you, working men, expect capital
proverbislly timid to venture into the chances OF
enterprise and TO set all our industrial energies in
motion again Is il thus you think that work can
be furnished to the employedi Do you know, Is
every sensible man knows, that confidence is the
hrst thing necessary to call industrial forces into
action, and that these wild schemes cannot but be
the death Of hope and trust ! And such policy
you could be foolish enough to prefer to the re-
sumption Of specie payments, the mere prospect
OF which has already qucke ned the revival of CON
hdence to degree which everybody sees whose
eyes are open. Surely, of all people in the world
you whose daily life depends upon faithful activ
ty OF our social forces. YOU ought, intelligent
men, to DE the very last to counlenance those wild
teachings whose threatening influence seems now
the only thing TO counteract that revival the hope
full symptoms Of which are with sigh of relief,
greeted all over the land.
Political.