Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1883-03-08

is? Did you ever think how dangerous
how unfair and how disastrous to tn,
general public bad currency may be
A good currency, like good horse
has and must have good qualities. l
either lack any of the requisite gooC
qualities, they lack that much of good
ness. a horse should be sound, gentle
strong and active, and if it does no
have these requisites, it is not good; il
might be strong aud active and yet moi
be gentle, or it might be gentle, sounc
and active, and yet not strong; it might
have any three of these good qualities
and yet, lacking the fourth, it woulC
not be Il good horse.
SO it is with money To be really
good, it must have not merely u few
but all of the requisite good qualities
Let us now consider what qualities are
desirable and necessary to q good cur
rency.
The requisites of really good cur
rcncy or money are Convenience
security; safety; and economy,
The people need y convenient cur.
rcncy; it should not be bulky, or hard
TO handle, or difficult to move about.
We can think of no more convenient
material for money than paper in the
form of bills. These are much more
convenient than either gold or silver.
No money can be good if not secure.
1t must possess the solidity that will
give entire confidence in its stability
otherwise il will be distrusted, deprc-
ciated and not good
The national bank notes have the
necessary qualities of convenience and
security. They pass current anywhere
in our broad land, and if no other
qualities were essential to Il good cur
rCncv, the bank notes would never be
aSsailCd. 1t must be said, however,
that heretofore the people have seemed
to think, and great majority still
seem 10 think that the only things to
be considered in currency are its con.
venience and security. As long as the
currency is secure and convenient, the
people are inclined to ask no questions
and little realize the oppressive power
which the manipulators of the cur
rcncy supply may exercise.
/ Our circulating medium should not
only be convenient and secure but it
should be safe; that is, it should be OF
such nature that it cannot be used as
an engine of oppression against the in
tcrcsts of the people; it should be 50
safe that it can always be found on
duty and not at times be seen skulking
off 10 Canada and other foreign cOun-
tries as gold and silver did during the
war; its nature should not be such that
its supply can be monopolized by a few
who may corner it as they see the
opportunity to squeeze the earnings of
others into their own Golfers.
Prices are governed by the volume OF
currency. The value of money, like
the value of every other commodity,
depends upon the supply Of it and the
demand for it, and whoever can con-
troll the volume of money can control
the prices of commodities. Whoever
can control the prices of commodities,
can dictate to the extent of his control
both the buying and selling prices,
They can buy at low prices and sell at
high prices; then after selling at high
price, they can contract the volume of
currency and buy again at low price.
So the people aIe actually forced in
all their business transactions, to "bet
on another mans game" and the cur
rency manipulatorS are absolutely sure
to win.
70 Illustrate: Suppose one man
named Smith has full power to expand
and contract the volume OF currency
and that under u certain volume OF
currency certain farm is worth So,
600. Smith now greatly contracts the
volume of currency, the value of the
farm goes down in the market value
corrcspondngly, and Smith buys il for
say three or four thousand dollars.
After getting the farm, Smith expands
thc volume Of currency, the market
value of the farm correSpondingly in
crcases, all at his own will, and after
awhile Smith sells it for seven or eight
thousand dollars. After selling, he
can again contract the volume of cur
rency, and down goes the price
Of the farm which Smith again
purchases Mt the low price, and
then expanding the currency, again
selling and so continuing. Notice too,
that when he buys, the purchase
money goes to expand the currency
thus tending to favor his sale for the
higher figures, and when he sells the
money he receives contracts the cur
rencv to that extent, thus favoring his
next purchase at lower figure. Thus
with Smith, it is "all turkey and no
buzzard,n while with those with whom
he deals, it is: "heads, Smith wins;
tails, the others lose"
TO be sure no one man has the power
to expand and contract the volume of
currency to this extent, yet the national
: banks, by their combinations and as
sociations, do have this power and
have never been slow to exercise it
, when it would serve their purpose.
From this we conclude that a cur
: rcncy, the volume of which may be
controlled by Il small class of men
, with power to cause prices of property
J to lluctuate at their pleasure, is not
safe, though it may be both convenient
and perfectly secure; and this element
of danger is the greatest objection to
the present national banking system.
This lack of safety is also a great OBJ
lection to the use of gold and silver as
money, for the supply is so various at
different times (and sometimes alto
gether gomez that it is unsafe to de-
pend upon them entirely, or even to
depend upon them as basis for paper
currency.
Afourth requisite of a good currency
is that it shall be economical. This is
another objection to both the precious
metals and bank notes, for when gold
and silver are in use as money, it is SC
much actual capital taken from soms
useful employment, and if a substitute
can be found that is as good in all other
respects and at the same time be more
economical, that substitute should be
used as money and gold and silver, OIL
the labor spent in their production,
could be employed in some beneficial
work, such as the digging of canals,
building railroads, factories, and the
, like.
National bank notes are noteconom'
ical because bonds, that draw interest
from the people, must be deposited as
security, and if United States bonds
are good security for a currency, then