The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-03-06
PENNSyL VAN|A PAPER MONEY
THE GREAT PROSPERITY II
CAUSED.
Its Abolition Brought on the Revo.
luton of 1875.
The Nation Born of Struggle
Against Hard Money.

He IOlIOWluB is from recent dfUl-
Gle by Hon. John Davis, M. c., of
Kansas, one of the ablest statesmen
in the Union:
"The currency of Pennsylvania was
both a success and failure, and de-
serves special attention. 1t succeeded
as long as it possessed the quality Of
legal tender. 1t failed when the Brit
ish government forbade it having
that quality. Its use was compelled
by the absence of coin, which had
been drawn away by the British
trade. Coin money, being an export
able article, was always fugitive in
those colonial days. 1t could not be
relied on as basis for non-legal pa
per. Having no coin, Pennsylvania
adopted legal tender paper in 1923.
1t came to an end through an act of
the British parliament depriving it of
the quality of legal tender. Being
called before committee of Parlia-
ment, DR.. Franklin described the
Pennsylvania money system as fol-
lows:
Pennsylvania, before it made any
paper money, was totally stripped of
it's gold and silver, though it had
from time to time. like the neighbor-
ing colonies, agreed to take gold and
silver coins at higher nominal values,
in hopes Of drawing money into and
retaining it for the internal use of
the province. During that weak
practice, silver got up by degrees to
IS. Cd. per ounce-long before paper
money was made. The difficulties for
want Of cash were accordingly very
great, the chief part of the trade be-
ing carried on by the extremely incon-
venient method of barter, when, in
1928, paper money was first made
there Gn Pennsylvania, which gave
new life to business, promoted greatly
the settlement of the new lands (hy
lending small sums to beginners, on
easy interest, to be paid by Install
ments) whereby the province has so
greatly increased in inhabitants that
the export from thence hither Ito
England) is now more than tenfold
WndU IL Unen was.
Governor Pownall, colonial Cover nor
Of Massachusetts,, discussing the sub
ject in hand, said:
II will venture to say that there
never was wiser or better measure
never one calculated to serve the in
terests of an increasing country; that
there never was measure more
steadily pursued or more faithfully
executed for forty years together
than the loan Office in Pennsylvania,
founded and administered by the as
sembly of tnat province"
Rev. John Twells, Of London, an
able English writer, speaking of the
American colonial finances. said:
"This was the monetary system un-
der which the American colonists
prospered to such an extent that
Burke said of them: Nothing in the
history Of the world is like their pro-
gress.' 1t was wise and beneficial
system, and it's effects were most con-
ducive to the happiness of the people.
Take the case of a family, indus trious
and enterprising, driven by persecu-
tion or misfortune to seek a refuge in
the wilds of the New World. With
their scanty means they purchase a
tract Of land. Many years of hard la
Dor, privation, and anxiety would
have been necessary to bring that
family into a state Of decent COM
potency, had they been req uired to
purchase gold and silver by labor and
by the produce Of labor, before they
could effect the improvements Of
their property But half the value Of
his land was advanced to the head of
the family in notes, which circulated
as money. With these notes he could
hire labor and purchase implements
of husbandry and cattle; and thus,
where without these notes one acre
could be cleared, cultivated, and
stocked in year, ten would, by the
assistance OF the paper money ad-
vanced, be reclaimed from the forest
and rendered productive. Thus hope
entered the dwelling of the poor emf
grant.
''Ten years found him with the
whole of his debt to the government
discharged, the proprietor of happy
home And the kind hand Of paternal
government was stretched out still,
to advance him again one-half the in
creased value Of his land. and thus en-
able him to clear more of the forests,
and to settle his children in new
homes Such was the system by
which "a set of miserable outcasts'
were converted, in short space Of
time, into happy, contented, and pros
porous colOniSts.
''In an evil hour the British govern
ment took away from America its rep
resentative money commanded that
no more paper bills of credit should
be issued, and those out should
cease to be legal tender, and collected
the taxes in hard silver. This was in
1913. Now mark the consequences.
This contraction of tue circulating
medium paralyzed all the industrial
colonies: the most severe distress was
brought home to every family; discOn-
tent was urged on to desperation, till,
at last human nature, as DR.. John
son phrases it, arose and asserted its
rights. -
This is truthful and fair descrip.
tion of the money which served the
people in time Of need, when coin had
| fled beyond the sea, or was locked uL
in the misers till. It will be OBJ
served that it rested entirely on the
quality of legal tender, and 1T remain
ed good and sound until that quality
| was withdrawn by the British govern
| mept on purpose to destroy it, ano
| thus to render the colony dependen
for money on the usurers of England
The Pennsylvania currency did no,
depe nd on the land for it's value, az
some suppose. The lands were merely
e. II. 1