The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-05-14
Cheap Money and Plenty of IT,

The speech of Senator Jones on the silver
question wildly recalls the days of financial
depression that succeeded the flush times of
the war when there suddenly rose up party
which proclaimed that all that was neces-
sary to bring back the booming times of the
war period was government stamp and
printing press. Cheap money and plenty
of it was their paDacea for all the ills the
body polite was suffering from; and they
argued their case with so much plausibility
that their views took captive very consid-
cradle part of the American people. Senator
Jones's panacea for present ills is much the
same, though the money is not to be quite so
cheap, and he is willing to consent, though
reluctantly, to some limit upon its album
dance. But the idea underlying both plans
Is the same, and it is not an idea that can be
commended for its honesty. The Western
farmer is in debt to the Eastern capitalist,
says Senator Jones in effect, and the debt is
pressing him seriously. His debt is expressed
in dollars, but all dollars are not alike The
greenDach dollar in war time, ior instance,
was worth only hair 40 much as the gold
dollar, but as it was legal tender in paw.
ment of all debts, the man who had Dor
rowed gold before the war could pay off this
gold in greenbacks. So while he returned
the same number Of dollars that he had
borrowed they were dollars worth only half
as much: that is to say, they would buy only
half as much bread or clothing, and pay for
only half as much labor. Now Senator
Jones's plan seems to be to bring about the
same favorable conditions for the debtor,
though in less degree, by coming an album
dance OF silver dollars, as existed during the
war by reason of the financial uncertainty
produced by the war and legislation incident
thereto. Senator Jones processes to think,
to be sure, that silver dollar coined in the
abundance he proposes will keep itself on
par with gold, but ii is difficult to see how
he can believe that and at the same time be-
Ileve that these dollars will aid the farmer to
pay off his debts. If the silver dollar is to
be no cheaper than the gold dollar, that is to
say If 1t is to represent the same number of
days work, the same number of bushels of
corn or wheat, it is not easy to see how the
farmer is going to get any more of them
than he now gets Of gold dollars. The coin
age OF these dollars is not assuredly going TO
increase the fertility of his land or augmen t
Its yield. He will have no more corn and
wheat to exchange for them than he has
now to exchange for the gold dollar. But if
the new. dollar is to be cheaper, that is If its
representative value is to be less in the
estimation of the public, then it is easy to
see how the Western farmer who is in debt
will reap advantage from it, for of course
he will get more of them for his wheat
and corn, while they willlgo just as far in
paying off his debts as a gold dollar.
Apparently the coinage of silver dol
lars can only assist the debtor class when
that coinage is abundant enough to depreci-
ate the representative value of these dollars.
Should they remain on par with gold 1t is diff
hcult to see how the debtor class will reap any
benefit from it. To expect therefore that they
VIII remain on par with the gold dollar and
and at the same time to expect that they will
make 1t easier for the debtor class to pay off
Ihelr debt Is, 1t seems to us, inconsistent.
But to cheaper our currency to help the
Western farmers to pay off their debts would
in the long run work great evil to the whole
community, and the Western farmer would
by no means escape. He would gain some
temporary advantage, but when the return to
a sound currency began, as it inevitably
must sooner or later, then he would find the
debts he had contracted during the period of
imitation constantly growing more bur
densome. and his property constant
ly shrinking in value; and when
he got back again to a sound basis he
would probably find that his advantage by
reason of cheap and abundant silver dollars
had been only temporary and that the net
result had been loss instead of gain. A de-
preciated currency may bring a temporary
advantage to certain classes, but in the long
run 1t is sure to prove curse to everybody.