Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-09-23
Unfortunate illustration,

subject which. he undertakes to discuss.
His first article appeared last Sunday.
In it we notice an unfortunate illustra-
GEOGRAPHICALLY unfortunate in that
il was addressed to a southern commu-
nifty.
In illustrating one portion OF his
argument, Mr.. GEORGE SAYS it is clear
that q note issued by the Government
is as good as one based upon . bond OF
the same Government. The southern
people, as we have intimated, learned
from experience during the war be-
tween the States that the notes Of the
banks were a better currency than the
notes of the Confederate Government.
These bank notes, it is true, were not
based upon Government bonds. But if
this were attempted to be used as
on argument on the other side, it would
be replied that the facts showed that if
the notes had been based upon Govern
ment bonds they would have been still
less valuable than they were. For as the
| bank notes were worth under the cir
cumstances that did exist two, three,
four, five, and sometimes ten times as
much as the Confederate notes, it is
clear case that if they had been based
solely upon Government bonds they
could not possibly have been worth as
much as they were. And this is just
as true of the national-bank notes as it
was of the bank notes issued in the
Confederate States during the war be-
tween the States. The bank notes must
be better currency for several reasons
First, the bank notes are doubly Sc
cured. They are secured by Govern
ment bonds and by the assets of the
bank in addition.
Secondly, the banks would not for
years feel "a war between the United
States and England, or France, or Rus
sis, or Spain. Their credit could not be
affected by such a war, except in so far
as their interests were identified with
those Of the Government. The Govern
ment's credit, on the other hand, would
begin to sink as soon as it began to
issue new bonds without knowing how
many millions or hundreds of millions
of them it might be compelled to
put out. Not so with the banks.
Their credit would be unimpaired.
If the Government bonds should fall 10
per cent, the bonds would still sell for
enough to redeem the bank notes at
par. If 20 per cent, the bank itself
would surely be good for the additional
10 per cent, and therefore the bank
notes would still be at par.
Thirdly, if the Government bonds
fell in price, any notes issued by the
same Government would decrease in
value. We think this proposition is
selfevident.
Mr.. GEORGE assumes that all the
States 10 the Union were benefited by
the formation Of that union because
they trade freely with one another.
We shall not argue the point; but we
will say that the opinion is not entirely
unfounded that if Virginia had never
gone into the Union, she would have
continued to be as she was up to the
Revolution, the leading State Tor
colony in commerce. Foreign goods
would have come directly to this State
instead Of through the custom-house in
New York. However, this is not our
subject at present.
We congratulate our Charleston con-
temporary upon its enterprise in Sc
curing MIR. GEORGE as contributor.
We shall read his articles with plea
sure. But our good friend must not
expect us to be converted by their
perusal to the belief that it is to the
interest Of the people Of the Pacific
States or Of any other of the United
States to allow Chinese cheap labor"
TO pauperize American labor. AS Pro-
fessor PATTEN says in his new book,
such persons as the Chinese can pay as
rent larger proportion of what their
labor produces because they live on
next to nothing. Americans cannot
compete with such people, but must
surrender the field to them or make
them surrender it.