The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1893-10-04
dicted, which depends on the human
will. that the inferior pieces would re-


main in the only market in which
they could fetch the same price as the
superior pieces, and that the superior
pieces would take some form or fly to
some place in which some advantage
could be derived "from their superior
ity." In a note, the first writer who
noticed the fact where good money
and bad money are thrown into circu
lation together the bad money drives
out the good money, was Aristop-
homes. q [ presume every intelligent
man remembers the time when bad
greenbacks drove good money out un-
til 81 in gold was worth 81. 40 tos1.50,
and even more of greenbacks when a
sack Of salt, now worth 70 cents, was
worth from $40 down to $3.50; when
it took from 20 to 379 cents to buy a
yard Of calico; sugar 20 to 25 cents
per pound, and an ordinary cotton
rope at Is cents per pound.
"The politicians Of that age, how
ever, generally overlooked these very
obvious considerations. They mar
yelled exceedingly that everybody
should be so perverse as to use light
money in preference to good money.
In other words, they marvelled that
mob .dy chose to pay twelve ounces Of
silver when ten would serve the turn.
How apropose to the American politi-
clan Of to-day
As fast as the government coined
good money to circulate with the bad
the good melted away, and he says
that ''in the receipts and payments Of
the exchequer the milled money did
not exceed ten shillings in a hundred
pounds" ga writer of that age men
tions the case of merchant who, in
the sum Of thirty-6ve pounds, receiv-
ed only single half crown in milled
silver" Again he says: 'It may be
doubted whether all the misery which
had been inflicted on the English ma
tion in quarter Of a century by bad
kings, bad ministers, bad parliaments
and bad judges was equal to the mis-
cry caused in single year by bad
crowns and bad shillings," and after
drawing the picture Of industry that
had pervaded the realm, says: "But
when the great instrument of ex-
change became thoroughly deranged,
all trade and all industry were smitten
as with a palsey. The evil was felt
daily and hourly in almost every place
and by almost every class in the dairy
and on the threshing floor, by the an.
vii and by the loom, on the billows of
the ocean and in the depths of the
mine. Nothing could be purchased
without dispute. Over every coun-
ter there was wrangling from morning
to night" "The simple and
careless were pillaged without mercy
by extortioners, whose demands grew
even more rapidly than the money
shrank." "The laborer found that
the bit of metal which, when he re-
ceived it. was called shilling would
hardly, when he wanted to purchase a
pot of beer or loaf Of rye bread, 60
as far as six pence.
And such is the picture we have OF
cheap money circulating with bad.
Yet do men cry out, make us money ]
What pity there are not philosophers
like John Locke and Sir Isaac New
ton, and statesmen like Somers and
Matgue to show the Americans the
dearness Of the lessons of Englishmen.
That lesson was sufficient. The ge-
MUS Of her philosophers put her cur
rency on a basis which time only
strengthens, and has made England so
powerful as nation. Whatever seas
Of politics her ambitious politicians
may desire to explore, they do not
tinker with their currency while the
6dgety, nervous American politician
thinks he was born to tinker with the
currency. The other lesson was learn
ed nearer home. The State Of Michi-
gan was the field Of operations. AS
before stated, Judge Cooleyis author
| ity and cites US to the lessons. 1t is
also clearly set forth in a handbook
of cheap money issued by the Century
Company.
In 1897 Michigan became State,
thing the Legislature did was to es-
tablish banking law, under which
ten or more freeholders of any County
might organize themselves into a cor
poration for the transaction of bank
ing business. Ten per cent. in specie
was required to be paid in when sub
scriptions to the stock were made and
twenty per cent. additional specie
when the bank commenced busines.
"For further security Of the notes
which the banks were authorized to
issue as currency, the stockholders
were to give first mortgages on real es-
tate, to be estimated at it's cash value
by at least three County officers, the
mortgages to be filed with the Auditor
General Of the State. That no undue
advantage should be taken Of any
body, bank commissioner was to su-
perintend the organization Of the
banks and to attest the legality of
their actions, and upon his attestation
the Auditor General was to deliver to
the banks circulating notes amounting
to two and half times the capital
certified as having been paid in. This
looked perfectly fair, very much like
the modern sub-treasury idea of cir
culating certificates for the money
value of cotton, &c., deposited in the
various sub-treasuries.
Then, as now, the popular cry was
to break down "odious monopolies. "
Free competition all around ! To stop
the special privileges of some banks !
Give everybody an equal start for the
pursuit of wealth Upon the author
ity of Judge Cooley "wild lands that
had been recently bought of the gov
ernment at one dollar and twenty-five
cents an acre were now valued at ten
or twenty times that amount, and lots
in villages that still existed only on
paper had worth for banking pur-
poses only limited by the conscience
of the officer who was to take the Sc
curities.
1t is stated that everybody who was
in debt, and everybody who saw an