Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1878-10-09

then stands thus: The currency was eoDiIAc'eU
between 1865 and lsCS, and several years Oh pfos-
perity followed. The currency was eNpdiioed
fronl 1860 to 1873, and the collapse OF business
occurred. might evea add that between lS'S
and 1874 the currency was expanded from S'1''
Os2 s6s "a TO s5s, $780, 9sO OF, that Is 10 say over
thirty-one millions, and yet the depression was
not only not relieved. bat grew IN dlstress1ns
severity. Our infis tion friends may not feiish
that kind of reasoning but what have you 10
answer?
THE REMEDY
The best thing one can do after the cotlspse Is
quietly TO gather up cur five senses ana 90 10
work like men 10 repair our shattered fortunes
And how can those shattered fortunes be re-
paired? First, by recognizing the errors OF our
ways and discarding self-deceptons ana hiu-
sions; by remembering that our weaith must
consist in what We produce and nave anu not
in what we dream Of by abstainlng eohse-
quently from all windy schemes 10 make our
selves rich by printing the word dollar upon a
piece of paper; by acting upon the principle
that the only honest way 10 get rid OF our ueots
is by paying them, and that we can become
prosperous only by Producing things that are
useful, and by spending less than We earn 10
furnish that sound foundation, without Whlch
business can have no healthy development, and
without which the prosperity of the people VIII
always stand upon a volcano ready 10 explode
al any time, three things are of the first neees-
sity: \ good national and individual credit
based upon national and Individual honesty.
Second, sound currency of real and stable
value; and third, safe and reliable banking
system, the depository of business funds and
the machinery OF business exchanges.
FIRST As TO cEEDrr.
1t has become the ashton for many poIiti-
clans and public agiitors 10 cry out against
the bondholders, and nus 10 excite prejudice
against the bond, which is an embodiment OF
the national faith. TIE bondholders are repre-
sented as set OF ''bloaied' individuals residing
down east or in foreign countries, who bought
their bonds at thirty i've or forty cents on The
dollar and now demand 100 cents and high inter
est in gold. Thus the 0ondholder is pictured as
a sort OF criminal slood-sueker, who, with
cold blooded cruelty, attens upon the suferings
OF a down. trodden people. Now, suppoStng our
national bonds were still in the hands or those
who originally bought Them, can you fail TO re-
member that when tonds were sold at forty
cents on the dollar, and the quantity so sold
was not very large, the life OF the nation was
threatened by a monsuOus rebellion? That the
Republic seemed 10 DC in the agon!es OF death'
That IL appeared uncertain whether the bond
bought at forty cents on Monday would be worth
ten cents or one cent on Saturday: And that
the purchaser OF the bond risked his money FOR
the country just as much as the soldier risked
his blood? Did not the American government
ask him to take that bond at almost any price,
when the Republic was in extremities? And
now when he has helped us by taking 1t and Civ
ing up his money at the risk of losing it all, are
we, now that everything has gone well-agains;
the predictions ami expectations Of many-are
we. as n high minded people, TO turn around
upon him who has helped Us in our hour OF Sc
preme distress, and tell him ''You are blood
sucker and a scoundrsl. 3" have known indi-
viduals who, when you had helped them with a
lean, would feel and act as if they owed you
not the money, bat grudge. You would des-
pise such persons as mean and contemplate Eel
lows.
SOUND CURRENCY.
What was u that made you regret the disap
pearance of coin money and the substitution Ofir
redeemabIe paper currency for it2 Simply the in
stinctive feeling that when you had gold dollar
in your pocket you knew what you had. Bu
when You had an irrcdeemable paper dollar you
didn't. And that apprehension has been justi
ned by subsequent events. You may tell m,
Of the paper legal-tender in 1865 you prospered
That is true; at least IL looked so. But in IS;
the fearful day arrived when the balance
sheet was struck, and where were you then,
All OF a sudden the balloon burst, and we CAM
to the ground so heavily that our bones are still
aching. A-ud repeat that this collapse was no
brought about by a contraction OF the pape
currency. ! have sufficiently shown, by prov
ing with official figures, that for five years pre-
ceding the crash the currency had not been con
tracted but steadily expanded, until in Isl;
there were over hfty-six millions more OF it on
than In 1859, and nearly thirty millions NOR
than in 1858.
Plat MONEY.
We are gravely told by nat money men tha
this is a great country; it has some forty Of
fifty billion dollars of property in IL, and th'
government of this great country puts its stamp
upon a piece OF paper and thus makes IL money;
then that money is based upon the whole wealth
of the country. This sounds magnIdcentIy,
but presently, when we have made that fat
money plenty, we shall find that il depreciates,
and will depreciate more and more the greater
the quantity issue, just as the greenbaeks ID.
Nothing is more ridiculous than to hear these fiat
money doctors pretend to have made a great
original discovery and to parade II before us as
the most progressive idea OF the age Why, II
is a story thousand years old. They had such
money In China in the ninth century of this era
They had 1t in Persia towards the close of the
thirteenth century. They had it in the Ameri-
can colonies in the seventeenth century ia
the shape OF bead and clam-shell eur
rency. They had 10 in France at the
beginning OF the eighteenth century, under
the management OF the great progressive Scotch
dnaucier. John Law; and they had IL in France
during the great revolution in the shape OF the
assignats. They had IL in this country again
during the war Of independence in the shape ol
the Continental money. Always, in all essen
tial features, virtually the same-a paper money
based in some indefinite way upon an indefinite
something. In some cases with the promise o
resumption OF real money; in some cases with
out IL; in some cases issued under the stress o
circumstances; in some cases for financial spec
ulatiOn.
BANKS AND BANKING.
The third thing which pointed out as neces-
sary to lay the foundation for sound business
and prosperity is a well regulated and safe
banking system a depository for business
funds and a machinery for business exchanges
The American people OF this generation have IN
this respect gone through liv ely variety of ex-
periences from the wildcat Stale banks which
existed before the war to the national banking
system OF to-day. What qualities must bans
possess so that you may call IL a good one?
IL be a bank of issue its notes must be well Sc
cured, and surrounded with such guarantees o.
convertibility that they may pass throughout
the land without discount and without danger
of loss to any body. Second, Its deposits musl
be well secured by reserves so as to be reasona-
bly, safe Third, Its discounts and loan bushes,
must be conducted without extortion, so as 10
afford reasonable accommodation to the busi-
ness community.
Now compare the State bank system, as 1t ex-
listed before the war, with our national banking
system as 1t exists now, and what do you find?
Under the state bank system we have partial
and general suspensions and break-downs of
banks-in 1850, 1914, 1919, 1s25 1854, 1857, 1853.
1871 and is5z-resuIting in aggregate losses of
hundreds Of millions OF bIIlnolders and de-
positors, and the most disastrous confusion In
the business of the country. Our national
banking system has now been in existence for
about fifteen years. 1t has passed through a
financial crisis, reaching further and more dis
tressing, perhaps, than any that ever swept
over this land. And what has been the resultY
Not single holder of a national bank note has
lost cent; and The whole loss suffered ny de-
positors In national banks during the whole
period OF their existence. including these nve
terrible years OF collapse and distrust, amounted
to about six million dollars, loss less than
that suffered by depositors in State and savings
banks this year alone. These are facts which |
cannot be disputed These banks have stood
successfuliy q trial which no banking system /
n this country ever stood before. And now we
are told That the national banking system Is
Unpopular, aud must be abolished.
our national bank currency possesses quail