The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1891-08-06
A Dangerous Scheme.

IdnC UnaI tile statesmen OF THIS country,
have been heretofore and are now called
upon to consider Few, if any, have
mastered it to their own satisfaction,
and SO reduced the science to exact
methods and operations as to defy i'm
provement. 1t is a question that in
wolves the credit and integrity Of the
government. as well as the business
stability and welfare of the people. 1t
is interviewer with our foreign trade re
lations as well as domestic currency,
and is the one subject that students of
political economy are ever engaged on,
without evolving perfect system No
nation, probably, has ever reached
conclusion on this question, which has
yielded more beneficial results, than
the financial system of the United States.
Under it we have grown in wealth and
solid prosperity, unparalleled IN the
history of nations, and today, present
material conditions without an equal on
the globe Our national banking sys-
TEN is probably the most perfect code OF
laws that was ever enacted and has work
edout more salutary results than any 9th
er ever devised 1t is an elastic system
that adapts itself to the wants of trade,
expanding with the increase of business
and contracting as the conditions OF
trade may necessitate. 1t gives the
people all absolutely safe currency,-a
medium of exchange that is OF equal
value in all parts of the country, and
based upon the recognized standard OF
the world-passing current at 100 cents
in the dollar in foreign countries as well
as our own. In this it widely differs
from the irregular and disjointed cur
rency that prevailed before it was
adopted, when State banks furnished the
circulating medium, which deprecated
in ratio as it passed from the bank OF
issue. and was at discount when it
passed beyond State limits. 1t has given
stability to trade in every department
of endeavor and impaired confidence to
the laborer and capitalist, in the values
his enterprise has earned. The financial
condition of no other people on the
globe is as solvent and satisfactory, and
no where has the material development
of country been so marvelously stlmu-
lated. under the influence of monetary
legislation, as in the United States
The system is the result of the most pa
tient research OF our wisest statesmen
tested by the successful experience of
over a quarter of a century, and giving
back to the people benefits that have
been vouchsafed to no other nation.
There can be no permanent. enduring
prosperity to nation or to individuals,
unless the medium of trade rests upon
solid conditions, where the basis is not
affected by every change in political re-
iations, or varying conditions of busi>
ness, ralnified throughout the country
Not only this. but all business, impll-
eating the affairs of the nation and
he people as units, must have tor It's
standard of value, that which is. recog-
riiZed in other civilized countries, and
TO which all international transactions
should be adjusted. We, as a nation,
cannot defy the experience of the world,
and inaugurate financial system or
policy which finds no precedent Ill this
or any other country, and runs coun-
ter to the experience OF every other
people, except where disaster and ruin
have followed expedients, resorted to
to cause sporadic prosperity, where
there were no values, and give medium
of exchange based upon legislative fiat.
al III VI, MT
iects ever suggested under an enlight-
ened government, that of the Alliance
sub-treasury scheme, is the widest and
most extravaganza. 1t is proposed, II
the extravagant proposition announced
by the speakers of that organization III
Virginia and elsewhere is carried out,
to abolish national banks, and dispense
with national bank currency, based up
on government bonds, and substitute
therefore h e Alliance sub-treasury
scheme, by which loans by the. govern
ment upon farm mortgages are to be
made at and per cent. The proJec>
tors of this scheme denounce the whole
financial system of the government;
brand those who by industry, frugalIty
and sagacity have accumulated fortunes,
as robbers and plutocrats; would tear
down the fiscal fabric, upon which the
vast business of the nation is predicated.
and by which the country has advanced
to a degree of wealth. prosperity and
power without a rival among the ma
lions of the earth, and substitute there
for fbic y,ronocod StrI,-traaC1lru cvSfpru
without regard to a standard of value,
and the relations of the government to
other countries, or to any other recog-
nized policy of any know solvent nation.
These modern crusaders of destruction
cannot have faith in their own method
and remedies. They cannot have, if
they have the least comprehension of
the demands of trade, the wants of
government or the interests of the peo-
pie. They have never studied finance,
yet undertake to instruct the people in
this intricate and vital subject. indiffer-
ent to the research of students, the exs
perience of nations and the reason of
common sense. They are seeking to de-
Jude the farmers by picturing a flow of
money to be had for the asking and Sc
ducing the unsuspecting and unwary
by the assurance that abundant pros
perity may be had if only the govern
ment would scatter broadcast engraved
paper with no recognized basis of value,
and no standard to regulate its pur-
chasing power. IL these financial edu-
Gators are not luny themselves, they
must know that their scheme will prove
impracticable and only bring ruin upon
the very class they want to serve. They
must know this. if they know anything,
and hence we are forced TO the conclu-
sion, that it is political office and power
they are after. The success of such
arrant demagogues as PETER and Simp-
son in Kansas, has stirred the ambition
of like aspirants in Virginia and else
where, who pretending to plead for the
interests and welfare of the farmer,
mean, in the end, the political promo
ton of themselves.