Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-04
TORRENTS OF SILVER
Unable to Aid the Western Farmer
Under Any Circumstances.
MATTHEW MARSHALL'S THEORIES
On the Subject Of the Right Of Any Ameri-
can to Run in Debt.
FALLACY OF THE GROWING DEMAND


ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DISPATCH,
NEW YORK, July 3.-'The Right to Rur
in Debt" is the subject of Matthew Mar
shall's article for tO-morrow's Su's which i!
as follows:
| When the Democratic Convention at Chi
cago followed the example of their Republi
| can opponents at Minneapolis and adopted =
resolution virtually declaring against the
unrestricted coinage of silver, congratu.
| lated myself that this silver question was
| out of politics, and that for the next few
| years we should hear of it only from the
orists and essay writer's 1t appears, how
ever, that large number OF our western and
| southwestern fellow citizens are not content
| with this disposition Of the subject. and, un-
| der the name OF the Peoples party, have de-
termined to put in the field Presidential
| candidate upon free silver platform. They
| don't expect to elect him, but they claim
that they can carry enough States to prevent
a choice Of a President by the Electoral Col
| lege, and thus throw the election into the
| House of Representatives where they will
be able to secure the success OF man favor-
| able to their views.
1t was probably because of this movement
| that the Democrats in the Senate insisted on
| Friday on passing the silver coinage bill. So
| far as lay in their power they have notified
| the friends Of free silver that the Demo
| cratic party is not committed to the declara-
| ton of the Chicago Convention: and they
have thus revived O controversy which ap-
peared to have been settled.
Not Much of q disappointment.
After the many years of discussion which
! we have had of the advantages and dis
advantages of an abundant silver currency,
it was not expected that the Peoples party
should be able to advance any new ideas
upon the subject, and it is no dfsappoint-
ment therefore, that they merely retterate
what has been said in favor OF cheap money
over and over again already. Still. In read
ing their st. Louis platform, ] have been
struck with a rather increased prominence
in it of an idea which lay at the foundation
of the old Greenbrck party, and which has
been the staple of much currency expansion
talk ever since. 1t is that the volume OF the
currency should be sufficient to meet what
is called the requirements of business, and
should increase with the increase of popula-
tion, so as always to furnish certain
amount per capita.
The party is supported in this demand by
the ProhiDitionists, who agree with them in
declaring that our currency Is at present in
sufficient in volume. and needs to be In
creased. The difference Is that the Peoples
party want the increase to come from an un-
limited coinage OF silver dollars, whereas
the Prohibitionists, like the old Greenback-
paper by the Government. Both parties
tacitly assume, and some OF their spokesmen
openly declare that their object is to relieve
the financial distress of those sections OF the
country where ready money Is scarce, and
where, in consequence OF the scarcity,
would-be borrowers are unable to obtain it.
What they mean by "the requirements OF
business is the requirements Of men who
have debts which they cannot pay and
especially Of those who would like to run in
debt but cannot, because nobody will accept
them as debtors.
Absurd II not Wicked Talk.
This same idea find frequently expressed
in the speeches. OF the silver advocates in
Congress and elsewhere. The condition Of
men who desire to borrow money, but who
cannot find creditors who will lend it to
them, is pictured in the darkest colors.
That loans should go begging in Wall street
at per cent per annum, while the Western
farmers and Southwestern planters cannot
borrow at g. 10, and even II per cent per
annum. is declared to be proof positive that
our financial system is wrong and tmpera-
lively requires reformation.
Senator Stanford even goes so far as to ask
that the Government shall step in, and by
lending money at per cent per annum clap
mortgages upon all the farms in the country
which remain uneucumbered. General Ben
jamin F. Butler, it was, l think, who said
that ga national debt is national bless
ing" and now private debt is to be exalted
to the same bad eminence.
need hardly say that to my old-fashioned
way OF thinking this sort of talk seems not
only absurd but wicked. was brought up
to look upon running rum IN aeIs as "a an m evni 20
in my time goods were bought and sold, as
they are now, on credit. and the buyer gave
for them his notes. which the sellers in turn
indorsed and got discounted. Both thus ran
regularly in debt, the one for the goods
and the other for money with which to buy
more goods, but both were accounted bad
their property in such a shape that they
could turn 1t into enough money to pay
their debts at very short notice.
Loans Wanted for an Indefinite Time.
The man who was always Shining
around to get means to carry on his busi-
ness fell into discredit, and he who needed
neither to give notes nor get his bills re-
ceivable discounted was looked upon as be-
ing in a very enviaDle position. Unless
am misinformed, the would-be borrowers at
the West and Southwest want not loans for
a short period, or such as they are prepared
to pay or at any time by the sale OF per-
sonal property, but loans to run for an in
definite time or during their own good
improvements on farms or town lots, or TO |
build factories, or to go into other enter |
prises in which they have locked up their |
own means and all the additional means |
they could procure elsewhere. These men,
being all in the same impecunious
condition, cannot assist one another. East |
ern capitalists will not, and they vainly i'm |
agine that the Government might, could |
and should do it,
Others again, are not in debt now but see |
ing the many opportunities which q new |
presents for the profitable employ |
ment of capital, are crazy to borrow for the |
purpose of the easy terms which prevail /
here at the East and they feel it to be great
that nobody will accommodate |
them. These, too, foolishly fancy that if the |
would add by coming silver or
by printing paper some hundreds OF mill
ions of dollars to the currency of the |
it would become so plenty that |
capitalists would be unable to lend |
their capital at home and would therefore |
be more willing to lend it at the West and |