The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1894-11-25

The following editorial article from the
New York journal OF Commerce 10 iuii
Of sound sense:
T,o Currency Question Must be Set
nod M an questions of pubic pohcy
that come BEFORE ii people IoI set ~ a
the most important IS lhe queatG G,,.,.r
sound currency. All taxes are t pui
some and some taxes are more D"i afIo
some than others. and there Is "iue
dald here for Improvement IN pilhcIplea
and methods. But human e@pei ~
ancient and modern, jhe"s that I'm
muulties may prouuce ana cons ulie' wy
and sell and get again, accumulate ma
ferial mental and moral possessloLsi
under systems OF burdens9ihe' uhJuon 60
even unequal taxation. BUT IND Iiv pi, n1r-
ence between SOUND ana Hhsoui lro, ou',
rency is the difference between CoIIiilISiCc
and gambling, between business anu sPeO
ulaticn. During the war ana ioI s SON,
years thereafter we hdu wv iieSnran,
real values. The result was the regular
speculation in gold, specuIat loh III w. tne
currency of the country, the lntTouu i tio ,
Of a speculative element INTO an Dusilie %;
This one of the greatest mistortunes OF
war. more destructive OF property lndn
an army trampng through an enemy
country, the advocates Oh cheap iiO"''
seek 10 Te-eStaDllSn. ,.. -. go
ME who understand the elementary prlh-
ciples Of finance and commercial PIos
nerity. people who believe that human
experience always and everywhere Is
e@for Guide than the airy creations or
brains ill-stocked with facts, not TOO Wen
balanced in their proportions, anu IN
tanned by discipline and systematic WHoie-
eone exercise have been TOO apdthellc'
Eor years they have been trying TO see
how much they could yield 10 the people
who derive their information from sootn-
savers and wise women, ana MaHatIIas'
until nv the concession of the Sherman
silver purchase bill they brought upon the
| country a disaster from which II has not
| vet succeeded in extr1cating itsen, ana
| brought the Treasury to the verge OF
suspending- specie-par specie-payinehts.
| That injurious law which sent over
/ $3.50 100000 of gold to Europe ana re-
| placed it with over ST0W'We OF SILVER
| paper was repealed in paroXysih OF
| fear. but the men who fled panic-stricken
| TO their holes last year are now coming
| out and staggering around with the
| same demands that they made TOUR years
| ago when the Sherman law was offered
| to them In the hope or buying peace as
| Rome bought peace from the Goths and
| Perhaps the danger of direct free coin
| age legislation is not great, but the dan
| ger that the enemies of the public com
| mercial peace will perpetuate the present
| injurious uncertainty or eXtort some new
| compromise from men who know what is
| right but are timid about fighting for 1t
is a very present and very pressing
| danger The Reform Club Of this city
/ has started none too soon on cam
| paign of education, ora and printed,
| against a kind of financial anarchism that
| is getting to be more destructive than
/ a foreign war would be. IT is imperative
| that every business man and every com
| mercai organization should join heartily
| in this war of independence from the
| mounte-banks. When the Congress that
/ has Just been elected meets the country
| will have survived the Civil War more
| than thirty years, and yet it is still
| f1oundering around in that financial mo
| rass its only excuse for entering which
| was the military necessity which knows
| no law, statute, moral or economic.
| The war of arms ended nearly thirty
| years ago; shall the war Of currency last
| any longer? If the friends of honest
| money do not arouse themselves and set
| tie this question Alright the enemies of
| public and private credit will succeed I'm
| their purposes of destruction. VIII the
| intelligent business men of the United
| States devote themselves now, individual
/ ly and in their organizations, to two pur-
| poses-the cultivation Of sound public
sentiment in their localities, and the
| conviction in the minds of the politicians
| that the property interests of this coun-
! try will not tolerate any more financial
| qudckery?
| Why should people who have some
| thing to lose allow themselves to be
dominated by the AIRY creations of
| brains dn-stocked with facts, not too
| well balanced in their proportions, and
untamed by discipline and systematic
| wholesome exercise?
We had the best currency system when
| the war came on that the world ever
| saw. There was but one money-coin--
| but one tender for debt-coin. The States
| chartered banks upon such conditions as
| they chose TO require and then issued all
| the notes which their neighborhoods re-
| quired. Everybody then had all the cur
| rency that his business required; there
were no great fortunes, but prosperity
was universal. and all men prospered.
| Why should we not go back to sys-
| TEN which brought the country so much
| prosperity, rather than experiment with
the AIRY creations Of brains ill-stocked
with facts. not TOO well balanced in their
| proportions, and untamed by discipline
| and wholesome exercise?'