The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1884-03-08
The Currency.


The Washington Post Is sound on the
currency question. It says truly enough
that let Congress do what Il win the value
Of "paper money" viii always depend
on the prospects Of It's convertibility into
real money, and all the congresses and
courts on earth cannot change this con-
dition.
II mere fat OF Government could have
made real money out Of blank paper the
Confederate States Government would have
made Confederate notes as good as gold.
In the North in 1863 greenbacks sold
down to forty cents in the dollar, though
legal tender for all dues aud debts, private
and public. whyt Because there was IN
the minds OF the northern people doubt
as TO whether tho United States Govern
ment would ever be able 10 redeem them
i'm cold and silver coin. When country
gets into trouble and goes to war, aud be-
gins 10 borrow money, and issues bonds by
millions. knowing not how many millions
OF such bonds it will he necessary for it to
put out, It's tressuy-uotes or greenbacSs
or any other kind Of misunderstanding
Obligation that Il can employ must fall
as IFS bonds fall. This is, so to
speak. a law OF Nature, and its ope-
ration cannot be suspended. There
fore, the currency Of country ought not
10 consist OF promises TO pay money issued
by lis Government. II ought to consist OF
gold and silver coins and Of paper money
issued by persons or corporations whose
credit is moi likely 10 be affected by state
OF war. Gold and silver coins always
stand up for themselves. They possess ac-
tual value. They are often weighed, not
counted. when any large number OF them
are paid out. a war between the United
Stotes and powerful nation would soon
take the concert out OF the Greenbackers,
aud teach them lesson they sadly need.
We have a pamphlet in which it is pro-
posed to substitute for the present green
backs a currency consisting Of treasury
notes based upon gold and silver bullion
70 be deposited in the United States Trea-
sury. This scheme is most plausible one. !
II would be free from the objection to SILL |
yer coins; which is that they are not worth |
their face value. The bullion, whether !
gold or silver, would be receipted for at ITS
real value, and these certificates would con- |
stitute the currency OF the country. There !
seems TO be little reason TO doubt that the !
Government would be able in short time /
to supply with these certificates the place !
OF all the greenbacks, II the latter should !
be Withdrawn from circulation. The same |
objection applies to these certificates, 1
however. that applies to the greenbacks-
namely, that in time Of war they would /
deoreciate. This might be, not because
the credit OF the Government would fall,
but because the Government would be
sorely tempted to appropriate to its own
use the gold and silver bullion deposited
in lis Treasury.
Mr.. BLAND, OF Missouri, says Of the sill
yer dollar that the Government only guar
sntees Is per cent. Of its face value, the
public guaranteeing the rest. He means
that the silver In a dollar is worth eighty
five cents without the Government stamp.
The die adds fifteen cents to its value. To
use Nj. BLAND's illustration, the Govern
ment guarantees one hundred cents Of the
face value OF every greenback, and yet,
strange TO say, the monometalIists are
not at all afraid OF greenbacks, nor
that this "wsrst cur
rency" win drive the "best" out
Of the country. Certainly the silver
dollar and the gold dollar are worth eX- ]
sctly the same at the custom-houses. They
are both equal to the same thiEg-that is,
they are both equal TO the dollar owing to
the Govefnment-and therefore ought TO
be equal to one another. How many gold
dollars 1t will be necessary to have in this
In order that the custom-houses
may be able TO keep the silver dollar at par !
with the gold dollar, we cannot say. An {
able article in the Westminster ReUieto on {
this point Git appeared some time ago. has
caused much comment and much reflection
among thinking men.
We would have the silver dollar contain
metal enough to make it as nearly as posi-
bic OF the same value as the gold dollar;
but whilst waiting for this to be done, we
shall have no hand in creating any such
panic as the crazy monOmetallists have
been predicting almost every month for
The last six years.