Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1886-12-09
AMERICAN IN 1856

I(J1. EngilSN, ffencn, spanish, ana
German coins of various and uncertain
value. passed from hand To hand. Be
side the Rincpcnces and fourpence-ha'-
pennies, there were bits and half-bits,
pistareenS picayunes, and fps. Of gold
pieces there were tho Johannes. or joe,
the dOubloon, the moidore. and pistole,
with English and French guineas, carol
ins, dUcats, and chequins. OF coppers
there were English pence and half
pence and French sous; and pennies
were issued at local mints in Vermont,
Massachusetts, Connecticut New Jer-
sey, and Pennsylvania. The English
shilling had everywhere degenerated in
value, but differently in different To-
callties; and among silver pieces the
Spanish dollar, from Louisiana and
Cuba, had begun to supersede it as a
measure Of value. In New England the
shilling had sunk from nearly one-fourth
to one-siNth of n dollar; in New York
to one-eighth; in North Carolina to one
tenth. 1t was partly for this reason that
in desiring national coinage the more
uniform dollar was adopted as the unit
At the same time the decimal system of
division was adopted instead of the
cumbrous English system. and the re-
suit was our present admirably simple
currency, which we owe to Gouverneur
Mcrris, aided as to some points by
Thomas jefferson. During the period
of the confederation, the chaotic state
ct the currency was n serious obstacle to
trade, and it afforded endless opportut-
mites for fraud and extortion. Clipping
and counterfeiting were carried TO such
1engths that every moderately cautious
person, in taking paymentin in hard cash,
felt it necessary to keep r small pair of
scales beside him and carefully weigh
each coin, after narrowly scrutinizing
its stamp and deciphering its legend.
In view of all these complicated i'm
pediments to business on the morrow OF
long and costly war, it was not strange
that the whole country was in some
measure pauperized. 1t is questionable
if the war debt could have been paid
even under more efficient system of
government. The cost of the war, esti-
mated in cash, had been about $170,-
100000; and probably not more than
$30,0O0,000 of this ever got paid in any
shape. The reputation was wholesale
because there was really no money to
be had. The people were somewhat in
the condition of Mr.. Harold Skimpole.
In many parts of the country, by the
year 1856, the payment of taxes had
come to be regarded as an amiable CO.
centricity. At one moment early in
1882, there was not single dollar in
the treasury. That the government knd
in any way been able to finish the war,
after the downfall of its paper money,
was due to the gigantic efforts of one
great man,-Robert Morris, of Penn
sylvania. This statesman was born in
England. but he had come to Philadel-
phia in his boyhood, and had amassed
an enormous fortune, which he devoted
without stint to the service of his adopt
ed country. Though opposed to the
Declaration of Independence as rash and
premature, he had, nevertheless, signed
his name to thGt document, and scarcely
any one had contributed more to the
success of the war. 1t was he who sup
piled the money which enabled Wash
ington to complete the great campaign
of Trenton and Princeton. In 1881 he
was made superintendent of finance,
and by dint of every imaginable device
of hard pressed ingenuity he contrived
to support the brilliant work which be-
gan at the Cowpens and ended at York
town. He established the Bank of North
America as an instrument by which
government loans might be negotiated.
Sometimes his methods were such as
doctors call heroic, as when he made
sudden drafts upon our ministers in
Europe after the manner already de-
scribed. In every dire emergency he
was Washington's chief reliance, and
in his devotion to the common veal he
drew upon his private resources until
he became poor; and in later years
for shame be it said-an ungrateful
nation allowed one of its noblest and
most disinterested champions to LAM
guish in debtors prison. It was of
Ill omen for the fortunes of the weak
and disorderly confederation that IN
1884, after three years of herculean
struggle with impossibilities, this stout
heart and sagacious head could no
longer weather the storm. The task of
creating wealth out of nothing had be-
come too arduous and too thankless to
be endured. Robert Morris resigned
his place, and it was taken by con-
gressional committee of finance, under
whose management the disorders only
hurried to crisis.
By 1886, under the universal depres-
and and want of confidence. all trade
had well-nigh stopped, and political
quackery, with its cheap and dirty rem
edies, had full control of the field. In
the very face of miseries. so plainly
traccable to the deadly paper currency.
lit may seem strange that people should
NOW have begun to clamor for Il renewal
'ot the experiment which had worked SO
much evil. Yet so it was. As starving
men are said to dream of dainty ban
4uets, so now craze for fictitious wealth
in the shape of paper money ran like an
epidemic through the country. There
was Barmecide feast of economic va
carries; only now it was the several
States that sought to apply the remedy,
each in its own way. And when we
have threaded tho maze Of this rash leg
islation, we shall the better understand
that clause in our federal constitution
which forbds the making of laws inn
pairing the obligation of contracts. The
events of 1856 impressed upon mems
minds more forclbly than ever the
wretched and dlsorlerly condition of
the country, and went fur toward call
ing into existence the needful popular
sentiment in favor of I'm Overruling CEN