The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-07-01
Che GttelIigttretr.
,.,,ce, Nos. as and ~ Fourteenth street.


C,eeubnck IdIoey In CabeIl County.
The Charleston, W. Va, Courier keep
standing in It's columns string Of resolu
lions passed by the Cabell County Green
barkers, number OF which reads as fol
lows
"The immediate calling in Of oil United
States Bonds and the payment ot them
principal and interest, In legal tender law
inl grecnback paper money OF the United
states, and that every dollar OF such issue
of legal tender lawful money be pro
tectei by the Government at par with
nther lawful money in gold or silver coin
never to be converted In bonds OF any rate
orclasS."
1t is difficult to characterize such utter
ioolishness as Is embodied in this resOlu'
lion in appropriate terms. To say that Il
is the quintessence Of ignorance and
iliocy is expressing the case mildly. The
men who got II up and endorsed it would
lave the bonded debt Of the United States,
about eighteen hundred millions OF dol
lars, paid otFin greenbacks and that much
added to the present circulation which is
over seven hundred millions. This would
give us twenty-five hundred millions Of
dollars, an amount Of currency over three
times as great as we had at any time dur!
ing the war or afterwards.
The special and particular idiocy Of the
project consists in the demand that "every
dollar of such issue Of 1tegal.tender lawful
money be protected by the government at
par with other lawful money in gold or
silver coin, never to be converted into
bonds Of any rate or class"
This resolution is about as rational as il
those who got it up had resolved in favor
Of keeping the Ohio river within its banks
after rain Of forty days and nights. They
would have as much power to prevent a
Hood as they would to keep $500 millions
Of paper money at par with coin.
The men who got up such resolution
ought to be familiar with the history Of
the Southern Confederacy, for We presume
that they were and are still sympathizers
with the lost cause. DO they not remem-
ber how each successive issue OF Conied-
crate mouey enhanced the premium on
gold, even es early as 1852, when the pros
poets Of the Confederacy were considered
very hopeful in the South. For instance,
on the LIST OF January, 1862, Confederate
money was ut discount oil only 20 per
cent, but on the Goth day Of July follow
ing, without any special change in the
military situation, it had fallen to so per
sent. discount, or, IN other words, it took
two dollars OF paper to buy one of gold.
Six months later it took three dollars OF
paper to buy one OF gold, and six months
after that it took s. 10. And thus the de-
probation went on and on, after every
successive issue OF paper money, until
finally, on the 10th day OF April, 1865, it
took $500 OF paper money to buy sin
Ele gold dollar.
This is the sort OF ghastly feast to
which these played out remnants OF
Confederate financial wisdom down in
Cabell are inviting the people of this
country. They have apparently not only
forgotten the history of the Coniederacy
but also the uttGrances OF such sympathiz.
ing Democratic statesmen as Geo. II. Pen
tlleton, Allen 4. Thurman and Garrett
Davis of Kentucky, who solemnly warned
the people on this SIDE of the line, early
in the war, OF the effects OF issuing large
volume of paper moneys warning that
at one time threatened to be more than
realized. Ifthe Cabell county iaanciers
will turn to the Congressional Globe OF July
Cd, 1872, they will find the following
words OF Garrett Davis in the United
States Senate:
"The issue of this paper is Just like that
OF all irredeemable paper. The effect is
to increaserthe price Of gold and increase
tho price OF property greatly, and to di-
minish the value Of the paper; and it
consequently takes larger and still in
creasing amount Of the paper to answer
the ordinary commercial transactions OF
the country; and they who have any
property to sell raise cry for more paper
because OF the enhanced price OF their
property, the paper being the medium by
which the value OF the property is meas.
ured. The more such paper is augmented
the effect is to increase the appetite which
it feeds. The more paper that is issued
the more is required to answer the busi-
ness transactions OF the country, until the
currency becomes utterly vicious. hold
tha, n more bold and mischievous project
was never conceived than that the govern
ment should have without limit the power
of issuing an irrcdeemable paper circula-
ton. A more gigantic scheme for the
purpose OF increasing The power oi the
government and enabling 1t to dominate
owes TIE whole pecuniary concerns oil the
country was never suggested"
These words OF Democratic Senator
IRON Kentucky should have weight with
the men down in Cabell county who con-
coctel such an absurd resolution as num-
her five Of their platform. They are not
ehe words Of Republican but of strict
Democrat OF the Kentucky school. 1.-THE
Grccnbackers OF Cabell county propose to
conduct canvass on the basis Of this res
oIWion in West Virginia they will come
oal at the very smallest end OF the horn
when the votes are counted.
The Necessity for More Light In Regard