The Lamoille news. (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1877-1881, 1880-11-10
Creenbackism.

The following article We deem
worthy Of notice, coming from n non
partisan paper, the Boston CONNER
ciul Buletin, which long and close OBJ
seryation has rendered one of the most
reliable financial papers in the country :
The election this week has assured the
Grecnback party Of what all other par
ties were already conscious, namely, that
il was dead beyond the hope OF resurrec-
ton. Maine Greenbackism was no critic
riOn for the party. for there were other
causes which have worked strange things
IN that State for a few years past. mthe
West the heresy has died without a strug-
gle, and Il was scarcely made even so
much rs a local issue. Both parties play
ed fast aud loose, much to their discredit.
with the tainted, purely for the sake of
their votes. but even that availed but lit
tie, for party lines have been drawn on
other grounds, and Greenbackism, pure
and simple. was utterly ignored, and is
dead-very dead.
This is well. 1t is impossible to believe
that the schemes of the now happily de-
funct party could ever have been serious
ly considered, and yet their propositions
were dangerous, and to some extent they
were plausible. But the good sense ofthe
country has emphatically disapproved of
any such Utopian scheme as attempting
to have duties and all other government
taxes paid in legal-tender notes; it evil
IDENTIFY does not believe in making the Ma
tional Treasury as at present constituted
a bank of issue, TO the exclusion ofnation-
al bank notes 1t does not see the wisdom
in ~eXhaustlng the coin in the Treasury
by the payment of bonds, instead of re-
funding at a lower rate OH even short
time; in short, the era of fiat notes with
the legal tender quality is clearly seen to
be a delusion and Il snare; that under it
financial s|Oundness and material prosper
ity are absolute impossibilities.
1t is true that the natural law of curren-
cy, which is that the worse currency
drives out the better, has apparently been
violated by the importation Of the silver
currency in this country since the passage
of the silver bill. Had we not been on a
practically gold basis, had there not been
paper notes with one hundred cents in
gold behind every dollar of it, the law
would not have been imperative.
1t is hardly to the credit of the people
who ever entertained the Grecnback theO-
ry that they are now willing to admit that
tADti ltuCO HIS IhuShb Jun "hOitopAiS
lessons regarding currency, and not the
least among those lessons is that so long
as a nation keeps up international COM
munication in commerce and trade that
such Il thing as a home currency is chimer-
zeal; that a currency which is free from
the disturbing influences of foreign trade
is the worst possible kind of a currency
so long rs any international cOmmunica-
fto, ip liant m Hama nn1 fnpninp tFnla
cannot be disconnected except by doing
away with the latter altogether, and the
absurdity of the United States doing away
with its foreign trade is only equalled by
the scheme to do away with the medium
of exchange by which alone that trade
can be conducted.
The currency question invariably sue
ceeds a war; with the adjustment of the
finances after a struggle, some scheme for
getting something out of nothing is sure
to arise, and though it is but the creature
of a day, it is a vigorous one, and usually
delays the natural settlement of affairs.
just at the present time the G~reenback-
ers, delivered from their own folly, may
prOtitably spend their cOnvalescence in
watching the struggles of other nations
to bolster up a paper currency. And
pitiable but c~ommendable are the efforts
of the Spanish government to Cuba in
trying to make their paper dollar worth
fifty cents. And they are likely to sue
coed; for having finished a war which re-
suited in the abolition Of slavery, they
are now engaged in the commendabIe
business of bringing their finances back to
their normal condition. OF course it will
be hard work, and somebody must suffer,
but it is to be hoped that they will escape
the humiliating spectacle which has
been witnessed in this country since the
war, of intelligent men openly denying
the truth of the old Latin saying: er
nihil0 Mill fit.