The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-09-06

10 protect the gold in the Treasury from
being drained olf after resumption day.
In debate in the Senate on May 2sr
1878, Mr.. Blaine expressed the opinion
common among the friends and the enc
mics Of forced gold resumption, when be
said In the Senate; "Undoubtedly, the
whole question Of resumption has been
changed by the coinage Of the silver dollar.
The Secretary Of the Treasury may begin
resumption tomorrow with ten millions In
silver, In my judgment, with perfect safety.
For resumption in silver you have got
plenty, For resumption In gold you have
not got half enough" To this partial re.
storation Of silver and 10 three enormous
crops in the United States, accompanied
by three failures OF crops In Europe, which
have turned the balance Of trade largely
In our favor, Mr.. Sherman owes the fact
that he has 50 far equaled his great proto-
type, Sir Robert Peel, in reaching and
maintaining resumption; while he has far
surpassed him In the miseries inflicted on
the people in his march to his bad emf.
nence.
WE HAVE EQUALIZATION, BUT NOT REsuMP-
TIoN.
Not only has the resumption law been
made by our efforts less disastrous by
stopping the destruction OF the greenback
currency, and less impracticable by the
remonetiZation of silver and the unexam.
pied succession OF large crops OF home and
eager markets abroad, but It IS also 10 be
borne in mind that the result attained Is
not in fact resumption. We have equal.
iZation only, not resumption. Resump-
ton, as promised by its advocates and un-
derstood by the people, was the free circu.
lation OF gold, silver and paper and their
the United States. There will be no re-
sumption in fact until every bank in the
United States receives deposits OF coin and
paper without distinction, and pays de-
mands In either form OF money the holder
may prefer. Such is not the case. Gold
isno more in general circulation now than
1t was five years ago. There Is, in effect,
none in the bank vaults. No man in Ohio
can get o thousand dollars in gold with
out paying as a premium the cost Of ex-
pressage to and from New York. A friend
OF mine the other day at Columbus-aI
city Of $1,000 inhabitants, with q dozen
banks-wanted to get two twenty.dollar
gold pieces as presents for his daughters,
and went from bank to bank in vain to
find them.
Instead Of resumption, the people have
merely equalization Of paper and coin
that Is, gold prices for their lands, labor
and products; that is, s. 25 q hundred for
their pork, 90 cents a bushel for their
wheat and S75 cents to 81 per day for their
labor, with which to pay enormous and
undiminishing taxes and debts, contracted
when their products and labor were worth
over 80 per cent. more than they are to-
day: It is true the money earned by q
days labor will buy about as much as
days earnings would have brought four
years ago. 1t is true the money got for a |
hundred pounds OF pork or bushel OF
grain will buy about as much as the
money for the same products four
years ago. Here is neither gain or loss.
But it is also true that every mans debts
and taxes cost him in labor or products
so per cent more to pay them now than
four years ago.
The debts Of the country, public, cor
porate and private, running from four
years age, amount to not less, as have
heretofore repeatedly shown, than ten bill
lions Of dollars. This shrinkage ofyalues
results in compelling the payment Of debts
with 80 per cent more OF labor and prop
erty, and in effect adds FIVE billions Of dol
lars to the weight OF that vast debt burden.
Our taxes, Nationalaud local, amount, in
the aggregate, to eight hundred millions OF
dollars each year. This shrinkage of val
ues increases the tax burden one-half, or
four hundred millions year. That in
crease amounts to interest at 4 per cent on
ten thousand millions OF dollars, more
than one-third OF the present wealth OF the
country.
Messrs. Sherman and Schurz adroitly
and elaborately attempt to convince the
people that there is vast gain in increasing
the purchasing power Of their money. l
deny it. The greenbaek OF 1874 was pre-
cisely as good for all the purposes Of bust
ness in the hands OF the producers and
exchanges Of wealth as the greenback OF
1879. It Is true the greenback dollar now
buys 80 per cent more than 1t bought then,
but 1t takes so per cent more OF wheat,
pork, land or labor to- get 1t now
than then. There is no gain at all 10 the
industrial classes by this appreciation Of
the dollar, which means merely the lower
ing OF prices Of land, labor and products.
When we consider the vast distress in
ficted upon the industrial classes in the
process Of forcing prices down to the low
gold level, and the vast addition to debt
and tax burdens which are necessary con.
sequences Of that reduction otvalues, the
pretended advantageof Of adding so per cent
to the purchasing power OF our paper cur
rency Is met by set-off OF losses hun
dred times greater than the wanted gain.