Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-08-26
WEDNESDAY. D.. AUGUST Is. 1891.
Financial Heresies.

AAOst StCcs
The author Of the following letter "a a
highly-intclligen gentleman. yet he seems
70 have been in some way convinced that
promise to redeem q note Is rs good as
money. He asserts that irredeemable
greenbacks or Treasury notes can by law
be made to serve the same purposes rs gold
and silver, and Is evidently surprised that
We should hold @ different opinion. He has
mistaken the point. Gold and silver arc
real money. and are used among other pur-
poses 10 redeem paper currency and thus
to impart recognized value to 1t which
otherwise II would not have. Greenbacks
cannot DO used for that purpose, being
themselves useful currency only in 80 far
a. they ore redeemable. Gold and silver
need NO redemption. They stand upon
their own merits; but greenbacks must DO
redeemablo by somebody or they are no
more than so much waste paper.
As long as peace prevails greenbacks are
likely 20 be AS good as bank notes, but tho
moment the tocsin of war 10 sounded and
the Government has to borrow few hun
bred millions Of dollars. bank notes will
be considered better than Treasury notes,
because the former will not only be based
upon Government securities. but will have
in addition thereto all the property of the
banks to keep them at par with gold.
There was Il time, about 1854, when the
notes OF Virginia banks were worth, We
suppose, twice as much as Confederate
Treasury notes. Nevertheless, redeemable
greenbacks will answer our purposes. IL
Is TO fiat greenbacks that we object-full
legal-tender notes as they are called. These
nobody ever promises 10 redeem.
The DIsPArcH believes-we might say
knows-that if the Government should
issue two millions of greenbacks receiva-
bic for all dues. public and private, these
greenbacks would at once depreciate in
value. Their purchasing power would
probably be rs to 30 per cent. less than the
purchasing power of silver and gold. In
1864 hundred dollars of greenbscks were
worth only forty dollars in gold or silver
The United States Government once in
creased the volume of paper currency by
some millions of dollars, but found that
the larger amount of greenbacks would
not buy as many goods as the smaller
amount previously in circulation. In
word, paper currency is not money
currency, and cannot by law be made to
serve the same purposes as gold and silver.
II will answer till 1.-THE preaching breaks"
and no longer.
"A. B" is misled by words. A thing
that has intrinsic value has il because
there is a community to whom it is valu-
able. Where there il nobody living and
nobody can live. nothing has intrinsic
value. A man on a desert island would
not regard diamonds. or gold. or silver. or
o thousand other things as having intrin-
sic value. Certainly irredeemable green
backs would there have no intrinsic value,
and A. Is. would not try to get them off
the island. but would be strongly tempted
TO bear of as much gold as possible. This
old illustration of the occupant of adesert
island Is not good one. 1t begs the ques-
ton.
We answer one of A. BIS queries by 81 ing
that gold and silver have always possessed
value. so far Us we know. They are not
redeemable IN the sense in which Treasury
notes are redeemable. They are every
where convertible into commodities.
Greenback are not. The United States
greenbacks must be redeemed in gold or
silver before it can be converted into CON-
modities everywhere in the world.
The letter of "A. B." is as follows:
Financial Queries.
To the Editor of the Dispatch:
In last weeks issue you cay: ave cannot
'abear' the fiat-greon hackers. We 10 not like
70 pen a sentence which seems TO countonance
the horesy that irredeemablc greenbacks or
Treasury notes can by Law he made TO serve the
same purposes as the precious metals, gold and
silver"
Does the DISPATCH allude In the above 70 the
present issue OF greentacks7 1t certainly ap-
plies 10 them. The DISPATCH IL In favor Of tho
national banks; Is 1t opposed 10 greenback
money? Greenbacks are irredeomable,r and
are made by law TO serve the same purposes as
tho precious metals" and do serve tho same pur-
poses with two exceptions: import duties and
interest on the puollc debt. Are they nat money
IN the meaning Of the DIsrATcuf They are GER
tAinly as good as gold and silver, Notwithstanding
they arc irredeemabie," and are made nsoasy
By law. Does the DISPATCH believe that II tho
Government should issue f,cS biiions of green-
backs, made receivable for all dues, public and
private, they would not DO as good as gold and
silver while the annual taxes levied by the Gov
eminent amount 70 one fourth that sum? Does
not the DISPATCH know that the chiof value Of gold
and silver II ertrinsic and not intrinsic, and that
Il attaches " these metals because Of the demand
for them rs money metals, and that II they
should cease TO be so used the world over they
would ut once lose this vauef Does not the
DlpfATcH kaow that In the last analysis nothing
can have an intrinsic value except those things
which are necessary TO the support Of life, or at
least minister 70 mans well belngf II tho Dis
PATCH were alone upon an island Of tho sea with
. grip-sack full Of gold and was hungry would
al OF Il be worth a loaf Of bread? II naked and
cold would II be "precious"? All its Intrinsic
value would etil be there and yet 1t would be Of
no usc. Now, suppose this same gripsack was
nlled with sub Treasury products, how now, Mr..
Edkorf Docs It not appear, then, that all
money, gold and silver included, derives Its
value from its con sertibility into real intrinsic
vaiucs-Sub- Treasury products, for instance7
Thcse questions are being ask cd by millions Of
people who desire y true answer 20 them. VIII
the DUPA1cH assist IN the solution Assertions,
hard names, and f1d!cule win not do. Tho peo-
pie know she real meaning In Wail-strcet par
lance Of "hercsy." dishonest dollar" SIRE
deemsbie money" &C., aud they also recollect
Ne position and predictions Of the grea, nnan.
cless On tho remonetirstion Of silver and how
shs rcsuis proved that these wise men, so-caI,ed.
we're either fools or knavcs, ana that the plain
people were right.
Long live "hay-seed statesmanship tho
ststesmsnship OF farmers Washington and JEFF
Sefson-for Of such h the political Kingdom of
Heaven Away With the statesmsnship Of beam
soup and chIttcrlings. II has led us 70 Gchcnnu
o. thsrcsboutA ABB.
eocpAn, Va, August IL. 1894.
Tho Force Bill.
Tho southern people need not flatter
thsmsslvss that the Republicans have
\ IA nfoncd THAR s,nyoosa IN an M 4bo fovca