The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1892-03-09
"Ciyis" Replies to Col. keitt's Last Finan-
t.ial Panacea.

any cIdUOldle Iepiy w ll'N l.'.7I tiI
scheme of our friend OF the Enoree
Reservation. 1t is beautiful as drea1h, ,
but unfortunately Is only Il dream, with
no practical value whatever. II gov
eminent could make value by its mere
fiat, why should it not make Us all
millionaires at once and be done with
il? Why keep us plodding along year
after year, from youth to old age; labor
ing hard for bare living when it has
it in its power, by the liberal Use OF a
printing press and a little paper TO
make us all rich? But unfortunately
for our sage;s beautiful dream. govern
ments have no such power to create
value, as the history of all such schemes
clearly proves. If our ancient Greek
friend, Aristotle, ever claimed such
power for government as we are IT.
formed he did, he was mistaken, That
is all. | might pit against the errone-
Gus ideas of this ancient philosopher,
such high authority as that of John
Locke, England's greatest philosopher,
or that Of Adam Lenith, the father OF
the science Of political economy. But
| prefer coming down to our own time,
and citing the authority of one whose
name will stand high in history, along
side the Neckers and Says and Glad
stones as a fnancia! authority. Our
avn greatest tjnancier, Hon. Hugh
McCri!och, says:
Gold and silver coins alone are
money; they are money because by
common consent Vt the nations they
have been So declared, and from
time immenorial have been so useo,
and because they possess 1nt1has'c fCe'"s.
They are something more tn"n meas
ure OF value; tney are precious nleIaia,
costing what they represent as lllo"es
in the labor required |" ou'alh thenl'
Coined money, therefore, a"pehos !"r
its value not apo" me 0"fI'or,W u|''c"
stamps it, Jut upOn the qndnltty o. pure
metal lrAich it contains. NO yOrcfN-
noent can gire to its COINS q Tedl ro'"c
echich Mey do not possess as "tet"(S."
This is authority of much greater
value than that Of our ancient Trend
Aristotle, who lived before the science
Of finance was Known. WHAT we are
accustomed to call paper money Is
not, strictly speaklng' money AZ a'l'
but is only SUBSTITUTE lor ilolle!' Il
mere promise 10 pay money. ~ -
very convenient SUBSTITUTE IL IS rue
and as such there can De no o"Ject'oh
to it, provided, always, 1t IS oaseo on
real money, and ITS redemption III resi M
money or demand IS mace sulIlGienI'H
secure. The late Johh Jay hnoA'
whose recent death can harGiy oe re-
garded otherwise than pubic ca!afn-
ity, says: The attributes or perfect
system of paper currency III THIS or any
other country are: l, safety: :, eiaS-
ticity; 3, convertlbiiity; +, uniformity:
The greatest and most important or
these is safety" can see none or
these in our sage's proposition, ana least
of all. safety. The oonds OF our 9tate
are now stanolhs al ohlE ~ W,
the hundreo "heh we nave d. n"n o"tiMe' nn,'
debt OF only niue ever g 'p,'.0,nJD. ,h"t aon.
What would they stano nnG az 9on i, 'iiao us"'
were increased 10 o+o,ooo,G'o' d. Is p,U.
posed! Ana what "ouiu "!leuCf
based on these nOnus oe Woftn' bo'ue
Of the State OF Virginia are no" Woltn
less than oO on the hunureo' W liaI
would they be worth II increased III
like proportion, and what would cur
rency based on them be Worth: ne
State OF MISSISSIPPI mas no cIeuit oL
account OF rePudlatlon oe!",e d orrac,, vnu ~",,
w laI mooiu ue ~ f,;and vonr w.
be worth: no, my lllenu' e' Soui ~, piI r.
poseu curlencs Mlli iot los aU "y ar.a,;c;t,. i,
"oulu iave hel.ne! 2'tls; :tn;.,.
conVertlhlllty'. nor uiiilol.i'!lY'
Our sage claims that hls plan Is ah
entirely new one. In this, TOO, ne Is
quite mistaken. 1t may have, ana L
admit does have, certain features IN 1t
not exactly like any other scheme L
know Of. But in the main 1t IS very
similar to all the fiat money schemes
that have so often brought financial
disaster on countries and peoples. L
have recently read very interesting
history Of the famous ds@gnttS 0r10
manddts in France, by Hon. Andrew
d. White, of Cornell University which
I would respectfully commend to our
friends attention. In that he would
find how remarkably similar his plan
is in its essential features to that IA
NOUS financial swindle, which brought
such wholesale ruin on France at the
clOoe vi IlIC last SSli''i y 'AH' i'''
Thiers, the great historian ana safes
man. has characterized as the twin evil
with the guillotine of the French revo-
luton.
lust one other point OF our sage's ar
ticle / will uotice briefly. He insists
that there ar. only two real parties in
the country,-the ';oppressed' and the
"oppressors, ,''-the 'people" on the one
side and the owners OF "metalllc mo-
ney" on the other: Inc latter he
says, "are doing all they can 10 reduce
the people to sertdom and slavery.
If did not know our sage so well as
do, and were | not convinced OF DIS
sincerity and .patriotlc mo'lvcs'
should set this down as the ravlnSs OF
an arrant demagogue. l 90 not enter
tain, and am glad not to entertain,
so low an opinion of the species
TO which I belong, as to think that the
mere obtaining of certain amount OF
money so changes a mans character as
to make him an enemy OF his fellow
man, and seek ''tC reduce him to serf-
dom and slavery" My own expert
ence, my observation, and my kn"wl-
edge of the good deeds of wealthy men