Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1880-08-26
Inflatlon.
GFaanhaCEpr

The enemies of rerorm and especially
Of the Greenback idea are never tired Of
urging against it that it will, If carried
out, initiate the circulation-induce un-
natural activity in business, stimulate
wild speculatiOn-produce a great rise in
the price OF all commodities, and be fol-
lowed by contraction-panic, bankruptcy,
and financial ruin to multitudes. Hence,
Greenbackers are opprobriously C, He'd in
hationists, and charged with wishing to
unsettle and overthrow those financial
which the wisdom of ages has
demonstrated to be the best. We are
gavely told that all past periods of inaa-
ton have ended in the same disastrous
manner.
In England, France, and here at home
it has been the same. Our recent terrible
collapse is one of the most sorrowful illus
tratons of the necessary connection be-
tween initiation and business prostration.
AS Greenbackers, we freely concede that
all pait mutations have uniformly been
followel by the same sad results. Only
one exception exists, and that is the case
OF Franc since the German war. There,
inaation\was salvation. The reason we
will showfarther along in this article.
No otha result was possible. No other
ever can be possible. Our recent crisis
was absoll ltely certain, in the convictions
tions Of a careful thinkers, years before it
came as ithis now.
We areIrapidly preparing for another
and more hariul one. But, before com
mencing THY direct discussion of this OBJ
lection, adult freely and fully that we
are in favor I Imitation. To initiate means
to fill up-extnd by filling. We want to
I'LL" the channels Of commercial circula-
tion with that Slement necessary to meet
the demands otrade.
Now TO the ariument: There are two
methods OF initiation possible. The first is
the one we have Mentioned. 1t isl the one
always practiced huetofore. 1t is an IN
ilation OF credit, or'mpe strictly speak
ing, Of debt.
Our great mutations haN been prodtced
by the issue OF obligations in the form of
notes called bank bills, OR reasury nots.
or United States notes, etc They hive
been used instead ofmoney, though ever:
body knows, or ought to knJw, that in
stead oil beng money, they are only prom
ises to pay money. They are evidences oil
debt; consequently, the more Of them
are issued, the greater the debt OF the
bank issuing them.
These bills have no debt paying power
No one need accept them unless hi
please; and if he does so, it is simply ex
changing debtors, it is not payment. Th'
larger the volume of such circulation he
comes, the more unstable and dangerou
is the financial condition Of people. Fo
all debts there must come a pay day, an(
bank notes can plead no exemption. Th
makers of them must substitute money 10
credit. Money they don't have, for tn
basis Of banks is not specie, as falsel.
claimed, but confdence-in other words
gullibllity.
Hence, when the demand for none,
comes, the banks at once begin to con
tract-that is, they refuse to issue NOR
bills, they are sparing in their loans, an,
they exchange the notes held against in
dividuals for their own, thus diminishing
their circulation. Panic is the result
| All our financial crises, except the last
have come in this way, and the sam
principle precisely was involved in that
in 1866, we had a currency circulation O
nearly or quite 81, 2O0,000,000. But ther
was only a small fraction Of specie money
1t was mostly paper obligations issued b
the government.
The greenback we have is neither "lis
nor fowl" money nor credit, but is
blending of both. 1t is a promise to pay
This is an attribute OF credit. 1t is
illegal tender" to certain extent, an
that is an attribute Of money. But tn
attribute Of credit attaching to all kind
of government paper, then circulating q
currency, made it possible for a corruE
administration to call it in and divest
entirely of its quasi money attribute, /
transforming it into interest-bearin
bonds.
This process produced the ruinous col
traction from which we have not y,
emerged. Thus, we clearly see that a
past mutations have been OF some form
credit. There has never been an inhatic
of money! With gold and silver it
simply impossible. The quantity is tC
small.
The Greenbackers propose money il
, nation-to fill the channels Of trade ci
culation with money-not promise
pay money in the future. We will 1851
a paper money, not a paper credit
greenback with no promise printed therec
with no excepts stamped upon its fal
or back, but the fiat OF the nations nigh
: mess impressed, making it the equal
gold, silver, or any other form Of money
The greenback OF the future, beir
money, and not credit, will be an expo
9 ent of power-the end Of all controver
/ so far as debt is concerned. 1t will be
= full and complete legal tender. ltw
cancel all debts, instead of substitutlI
one debt for another.
Suppose, then, that all the channels
trade circulation were full Of money
= full That every man, woman and child G
n pable of work, and willing to work, cou
! find ready employment and ready pa
would not the hum of industry and t
it song OF satisfaction be heard FROM t
y Atlantic to the Pacifcp Would not hum
d wants impose tax upon human ingenui
r. so constant and growing that idlenei
= and its companion, crime, would retr
d into obscurity? ''Good times" won
|. have come. All this, and more, too,
&c admitted, as the inevitable result Of abu
!. dance Of money. Well how are you s
ing TO get up panicp You have no ban
Of issue, no bills to be redeemed or call
in 10y the makers. How can you contri
'f the circulation when there IS nothing |
y money circulatingp That money is pi
be of the nations life, as it is symbol OF
h 20 wer. Every man feels himself part
" tle "basis" OF that money. 1t don't r
70 OIL confidence in an unreality, but up
to the absolute power and integrity OF
A entire people. As firmly as are laid
n foundations OF national existence, so stro
!, will be the confidence Of the people in
Il stability of full legal tender money.
r. Panic is impossible-so also contractic
ID The greenback that is, with vii
4. clipped, and sorely wounded with s.
~ locks poisoned arrows, has partly say
II the nation. How much greater the sal
ne tlon;-when healed Of its hurt it 81
spread its pinions on the winds Of til
the herald angel Of mans redempt
of from the abyss of want and poverty.