Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1878-09-19
THE VOLUME Of CURRENCY.

The declaration is freely made that
the money, the currency Of the people,
has been reduced in volume land
speak of the free value now, rather
than the actual value of the money!
from near two thousand millions.
discussed this proposition last year,
and it becomes necessary to discuss il
again, for the declaration Is persistent.
ly made In newspapers and publica'
tiOns intended to be authority with the
"hat" money men and others, who
seek every occasion to complain of the
policy of the Republican party In re-
gard to the currency. find one state
ment in what is known as American
Finance" recOgniZe authority in
the Greenback and Democratic parties,
that the currency on July 1, 1866,
aggregated Sl,SlS,3l7, ,19I AZ. In order
to arrive at these extraordinary figures
they take the amount of the United
States notes and of fractional currency
outstanding at four different given
periods, commencing with the 30tb of
January 1854. and ending with the LIST
of January 1866, and add these sums to.
gether, thereby producing the above
amount. The process Is simply a
multiplication of the outstanding
volume of United States notes and
fractional currency by four. And vet
these curious and extravagant figures
are gravely put forth as the basis OF a
charge against the Republican party
of ruinOus contraction. But they chief.
ly rely on another statement Published
in many Of the greenback aud Demo
cratic papers, and found in almost
every greenback and Democratic
speech in the west, which Is that
very large amount OF the interest
SGates should be fairly counted as a
part of the money or currency of the
people. For instance, the seven-thirty
notes of which $50 millions were Issued,
are taken into account in making W
the two thousand millions of currency.
The compound interest legal tender
notes, the temporary loans, and certi.
ficates of debt, the five per cent legal
tender notes, and many other forms OF
Indebtedness are taken into account in
order to swell the figures in this calcu-
tiOn. Now, sirs, Mr.. J. T. Fowler who
Is chief of the Warrant Department, in
answer to an inquiry made of him in
relation to the above forms of iDdebt-
edness last May, says: 1.-THE compound
interest notes and the seven-thirties OF
1861 and 1865 being interest bearing,
never entered into the circulation to
any considerable extent" 1t is WELL
known fact that all of these interest
bearing notes were gathered up by
banks and capitalists, and held for the
interest, and funded into six per cent
or five per cent gold bearing bonds.
remember very distinctly that the ar.
my with which was serving in 1867
was paid In these interest bearing notes
of the Government: and during the
time the paynaster was In our camp,
and just prior to the battle of Pittsburg
Landing, l recOllect that one of the Of
ticers Of the command to which be-
lOnged suggested to me the propriety
OF not taking our pay at that time in
these compound interest bearing notes,
and that by the next pay day tie legal
tender money would be issued by the
Government, and 1t would bel better
currency than the interest bearing
notes, showing that the officer, who
was very good patriot, was not a very
good financier. .-..
I also recollect well that while at home
in the fall OF that very year, and after
the legal tenders had been put into cir
culation, saw six dollars in legal ten.
ders given for five dollar interest
bearing note of the government by q
speculator for the purpose of funding il
into a six per cent interest bearing
bond. And 80 the whole OF this inter-
est bearing Indebtedness, although a
portion of 1t was made legal tender,
was gathered up, and by the first of the
year 1866 every dollar of it had passed
out OF the hands Of the people rs cur
rency, and had ceased entirely to per-
form any of the functions OF money
whatever.
.,t.. t.... WITNESS THESE TRUTHS q
And now gentlemen, you are each of you
my witnesses as to the truth or falsity of the
statement make, | assert here in the pres
ence OF laborers, Of merchants, OF business
men, of bankers, and of landholders, thai
since January 1856 there has not been in cir
culation in this community or in any commu-
nifty in the United States, as money, any OF
the various forms Of government paper TO
which have alluded. And | further assert
that the sale of money of the people for the
last twelve and a half years has consisted of
the legal tender or United States notes, the
National Bank note, and the fractional cur
rency, up to any recent period, when the
subsidiary silver coinage and the trade dollar
have made their appearance to some extent.
Now | come to the question as to the
amount of currency in circulation as money
at any given period subsequent to the first of
January 1866. And | will take as point of
time the first of July, 1856. We had at that
time 400 millions of Greenbacks; we had 281
millions of National Bank notes; and of frac
tional currency 80 millions, making an aggre-
gate of S711, 100000. This aggregate was
very slightly increased by an additional issue
of national bank notes and fractional curren-
cy, but in the main il remained at the above
figures until 1867, when Secretary McCul-
Tough proposed to Congress to gradually re-
tire the greenbacks and put them out of cir
culation, and the bill was passed by both
houses of Congress and became law by the
signature of President johnson, authorizing
the Secretary of the Treasury to retire green
backs at the rate of four millions per month,
which he proceeded to do. The bill became
a law by the almost unanimous vote of both
houses of Congress, but one single democrat
in either house voting in the negative. After
that law had been in operation II
backs had been retired, and the volume re-
duced by that amount, its further operation
was suspended, leaving the volume of the le-
gal tender notes standing at about 356 mil
lions in circulation. Now, there was no
further legislation affecting the volume of the
greenback currency until the 43d Congress.
During the panic of 1873 President Grant, in
conference with the Cabinet and with other
distinguished men from different sections of
the country, directed the then Secretary to is
sue from the Treasury portion of the forty
four millions held as reserve, that had been
retired by Mccullough. 1t was thought that
this would relieve the disasters Of the coun-
try, but it was found that it was consumed
almost instantly. 1t was taken up and disap'
peared like cupfulI of water thrown upon
parched street in August, and when the Con-
gress met in December, 1878, this currency
question, its volume, its character, and every
thing connected with it came up for discus
sion. 1t was debated from the first day Of the
session for three months, and finally it was
determined as to the volume of the currency
that 1t should remain just where that Con-
Il Iakn- shak th.,~~