The Portland daily press., 1879-08-15
my, .Tribune.l
The A B G of Finance.
The Money Question Made Clear.
NOTES EQUALLY GOOD ATALL TIMES


NOTES EQUALLY GOOD AT ALL TIMES.
Up and down, in sickening uncertainty, Tor
seventeen years we have been tossed on the
waves of unredeemed paper money. At last
redemption chains the currency to gold, and
our feet touch the solid land. Now, for the
first time we can know over night what the
greenback will be worth at breakfast time.
Men say, gold also changes in value. So the
solid rock, to which the ship is moored after
voyage, is really movng-reund the sun. But
it moves only as the world moves. For all
practical purposes it is still. A currency that
is moored to gold can change only with the
money of the whole civilized world. Hence it
disturbs foreign commerce, and consequently
domestic industry and trade less than any 9TH
er form of money that has yet been tried.
Even at its worst our currency of green
backs and National bank notes was in some
respects the best this country had known.
When it rose or fell in value, the whole coun-
try shared the gain or loss. Uniform money,
which no longer made the West pay tribute to
the East, was of incalculable benefit If the
money in use during the war had not been OF
equal value in all parts of the country it is not
at all sure that Grant would have reached APP
pomattox or Sherman the sea. Men learned
to see behind each note, not some one of
swarm of banks of all kinds and grades, but
one great nation. Each note was as secure as
any other; whatever value any had, all had.
Yet this simple currency, though vastly better
than that which it drove outof use, was bad
money, because it had no fixed value. 1t was
ever changing, because the note was promise
which was not redeemed. The prospect of its
being paid varied with every battle; with good
crops or great fire; with each increase or de-
crease in the amount issued; with the victory
or defeat of a party.
This money did not tax one section steadily
for the benefit of another. But it taxed every
body by turns, for the benefit of nobody The
brigands of Mexico do not take as much from
the property-owners of that country in the ag-
gregate, as is taken in needless taxes, or pill
fered by corrupt officials i'll many civilized
lands but they kill all trade and industry. So
changeable money infested all the highways of
trade, making every step uncertain and costly.
AT first the dealers, as a class, made great
gains; they bought with dear money at low
prices, and sold for cheaper money at higher
prices. But their turn to lose came when
money went up and prices went down. Soon
they learned to charge higher rates of profit on
every sale, to insure against risk of change
in the value of money. Having paid 50 bar
rel for -four, in money worth 55 cents on the
dollar, the dealer knew that he might be
obliged to sell for money worth only 40 cents and
hence charged 81 per barrel. This made a wider
gap between the price paid to the producer and
the price paid by the consumer So all mid
dlerflen, dealers, transporters and spectators
defended themselves against a possible fall in
the value of money by heavy tax upon con-
sumers, and this is the secret of the eXtrava-
CANT charges and retail prices, in time of vari-
able money.
But this wider gap between producer and
consumer sweled the cost of living. That
forced workmen to seek higher. wages. That
raised the cost of producing things and that in
turn, compelled the producer to ask higher
prices and that in turn, drove the trader to
charge still larger profits. So the cost of things
was pushed up step by step. First, our foreign
trade was disofdered; this became the best of
all countries in which to sell, and the worst in
which to buy, and goods from abroad were
emptied upon this market with goods of our
own which foreigners had been wont to buy.
Next, many found that they could no longer
consume at high prices as much as before.
Workmen found that wages had gone up less
than the cost of living, and they had less to
spend. All the wheels were clogged. Every
% SGay re In sg a ew s ssaaa see
Active traders were left with great stocks of
high-priced goods; prices tumbled and traders
by the thousand were ruined. Producers
stopped their mills or mortgaged their FARMS
and workmen by the thousand sought work in
vain.
Every thrifty man who had saved anything
began to lose when money fell in value. If he
had loaned 1000 dear dollars, the debtor paid
Il 900 cheap dollars. IF his savings were in the
bank, each dollar came to mean less value.
He who had saved 800 in 1860, found in 1864
that SOL of it had vanished. He who had
money in stocking found that two-thirds of
ITS buying power had gone. There was small
inducement to save such money. 1t seemed
to come more easily every day, but melted
away in the hands of one who tried to save it.
Habits of thrift faded away. That meant
mischief, not merely to men and women
whose habits thus formed have cost them years
of misery, but to all good workers and honest
dealers. Industry is kept alive by capital
that is, by that which has been saved in the
past. When saving stops, the stream of capital
runs dry. AS thousand little rills come to-
gether to form river deep enough to float
nations commerce, the small savings OF the
millions are brought together to sustain great
enterprises, to float an active trade and to keep
mills and mines, furnaces and farms at work.
But the little rills dried up, in the years when
bad money discouraged thrift. Those who
had money too, became afraid to lend it, for
nobody AeT what sort Of money might be
not by redemption, and every gain of acheap
money party made lenders less willing to lend.
Thus on all sides Industry was deprived of sup
port. On the other hand, much money was
drawn into the wild speculation which uncer-
tain money breeds. The chances to make
great sums by rapid changes in the value of
money and in prices turned trade into gam
bling. Money went thither. Production
tainted, and speculation thrived.
All these things we have seen. For years
we saw dealers trying, by heavy charges which
finally overloaded trade, to guard themselves
against the risks which come with variable
money. We saw the producer get low prices
for what he sold, and pay high prices for what
he bought. We saw savings shrink, while
men of means locked up their funds in fear.
For years we saw spectators busy, while mills
were still and furnaces dark. The sharp lash
of suffering should have. taught us that the
land does not thrive when its money changes
in value day by day. AT last redemption has
chained our currency to the worlds money.
With lower prices comes a vast foreign trade.
Steady money brings lower charges by retail
dealers, transporters and middlemen. The
workman gets low wages, but the cost of liv-
ing is low aud few are out OF work. Savings
again supply capital, and men and women are
getting back tie the sober and frugal ways of
our ancient prosperity With firm land under
their feet, men of means take new courage,
and unlock their treasures for the support of
labor We have learned in a hard school,; let
us not forget that note that is not redeemable
at the will of the holder cannot have a steady
value, and that notes of unsteady value are
bad money, which brings terrible loss to the
nation that uses it.
METEOROLOGICAL.