The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1891-01-06

t1oie is best appreciated by considering
the vast volume Of the int nal business
of the country, and the fl. quency cf
exCh 1nge as compared with the foreign
business, whose volume is easily ascer-
tanned and is mainly settled by the.
products Of the country, only q small
percentage of foreign busineass being
transacted through the medium of gold
and silver. 1t is the int nal commerce
that should receive our first C )nsideration,
and this system of land security is equal
for this purpose to inexhsustible mines of
gold and silver.
Outside the jurisdiction of this country
coins, gold and silver, are but com
modltles, as wheat and other products,
which we send abroad. For our gold and
silver money is not sent abroad as legal
tender, but as a commodity which will be
thrown into the scales and weighed just
as wheat corn, beet, mutton or any other
product. But ever if our coined gold
and silver were a legal teuder in foreign
countries, compared to the amount needed
for u home transactions, or even to
the agricultural and other products which
we send abroad, it would be comparatively
insignificant.
The matter of immediate and over
shadowing Importance t. US is to supply
our own industrial wants. For this
purpose we must have more money,
money based upon perfect and unlimited
security.
Henry Clay said:
anything the government will receive in
payment for public dues is money and good
money, no matter what it's form may be.
No government can ,ford o issue
money except upon a valuable considera-
ton. The value of government paper is
it. quality as legal tender, and the pro-
posed bill would strengthen this paper Off
the credit Of a government of 81, OO0,O 600
of people, with all our vast resources, is
not perfect) by the particular sect ity
which the government would hold for its
return at the expiration of the time fixed
by the loan.
The principle of our government loan
bonds, which, while entirely good as
between the banker and the government,
does not strengthen the security of the
billholder, which rests at least upon the
authority of the government. Bank of
England notes are at par, anC sometimes
above par, in almost every part Of Europe,
yet the Bank of England is a private
Institution owned by individuals, and its
bills are not national (.nd, of course, are
not legal tender outside Of Greet Britain)
A 95 Bank of England note is as valuable
in any part of Europe as 95 in go d coin,
yet a Bank of England note cannot be as
good as would be a note issued by the
government, for the reason that a pat
can never be equal to the whole.
That here is something radically wrong
in the present system of finances of all
countries, is evinced by the fact that gov
ernments- practically the owners of all a
nations property, possessing the right If
taxation and sustained by the en- ire peo-
pIe-constantly borrow money from their
private citizens to supply their al
II IS true that, during our last war, gov
eminent paper fell below the par value Of
gold, but that is an extreme case to quote,
as the war. threatened the stability of the
government itself; moreover, our gov
eminent Disseminated againsi it's own
paper by refusing to accept it as a legal
tender, thus first discrediting it by estab
fishing a distinction between two kinds
of money that bore its stamp
I remember that while l was Governor
of California, in 1868, the legislature
passed what was known as the specific
contract act, which provided that parties
might specify between themselves what
kind of money they would receive in pay
ment of debts. I wrote a message Veto
ing the bill, taking the general ground
that it was III duty to support our gov
eminent in it's extremity, and that n of
the ways to do this was to take its money
at par and pay it cut accordingly; but
before my message went to the legisla-
ture the news came that the government
was discriminating between its paper and
gold in paying its employees at the navy
yard at Mare Island.
I realized at once that if the govern
ment was TINS discriminating it was USE
less for me t. attemot to sustain its paper
money. l accordingly tore up my veto
message and signed the bill. which was in
itself fair as betw zen individuals, as it
provided only for carrying out a contract
according to agreement. When at that
time we needed gold for purchases abroad
I believed, 1 believe still. that the gov
eminent could, by issuing It's bonds for
gold needed, have maintained its paper at
par within its own jurisdiction.
The scheme of this bill is to supply an
ample amount of money for al business
purposes. I have mentioned lands as
security because they appear to be the
best and most certain of all security, and
are sufficient to furnish all the money that
is needed. The people, I think, will
have more c 0nfidence in a financial meas
ure> that it new and radical if it has at
present land only for a basis. "
The rate of interest on these loans on
real estate s fixed at 2 per cent. in The
bill, but in time may be reduced as expe-
rience shall teach. AS / have remarked
on a former &C ;asion, money should only
be considered as an important tool in the
production and exchange of commodities.
1t is a tool universally needed, and has no
other value except as a commodity, and
the latter has nothing to do with its money
value. Fortunate indeed are a people that
have an unbounded supply Of such i'm