New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-09-14
vIRGINIA'S TOBACCO MONEY
A BATTLE BETWEEN THE STANDARDS
FOUGHT $50 YEARS AGO.

To The Editor of The Tribune.
SIR: Some generations back witnessed very
ser. ,us times in Virginia consequent upon pau
o.;. srorts To set up and maintain a purely
American currency. which, however WIN reo~-
loss nerversity. persisted in upseting all theore'
-, .osor;rs, eagerly accepted "a demonstrate
,ns how IL could be kept at par by legislative oe-
-, IA tho task been one within the province
~ oratorv and the statute book there can De no
o.,,o,, hut that success would have crowned the
a,,a,on+ Then as now many honest-mindeo
orsors wore firmly convinced that law could Gre
90 volue and sustain the legal value so created
rairst the markets of the world. and. II single
colony bv law placed an arbitrary value upon
something declared by statute to be leeai 'enoe'
end a medium Of exchange such value couio ne
maintained in the teeth of the natural law Oh sup
nIv and demand Thus. faith In nat money Is ho
novelty in America. Then, as now 'he oa''ie
was waCed under the guise of upholdins cheap
or money "the peoples money, as against 'ne
.hest money" which was only the money OIL en-
shaving putocrats. and sturdy efforts were put
forth to establish the ability OF Americans u
create and keep at par their own money WITHOUT
the consent Of foreign nations. Then' as now
hoa,ed anneals were made to the passions and
prejudices OF the industrious masses 10 array
themselves against graspng money class and
ia riOtlCallN 10
fathers, and. If necessary. cut loose from foreign
markets by trampng under foot the laws Oh uaue
and nature in order to establish as monetary
truth the ability of an American legislature 10
mako a constantly lessening fraction the equal OF
tho whole All this occurred some 200 years ago
IN "Ole Virginny" and while reading the ancient
Colonial statutes one is surprised by the STRIKING
similarity between what then occurred ana what
now is being advocated.
GROWING MONEY.
Beinc few in numbers and like the apostles
without either gold or silver. the settlers or VIZ
sinia decided TO establish for themselves legal
fender for debt and medium or commercial eN-
changes They decided to grow their money anu
So secure constant and elastic quantity equai-
ling at all times the demands OF an expanding
volume Of trade instead of depending as did less
enlightened countries upon mines which might
at any time give out and. by ending the supply OF
money contract the currency and lower Vaiues'
Now. every one must allow that 1t Is easier 10
grow than il is TO mine money. and II cheapness
and redundancy constitute an ideal currency no
ns,ter nlan could have been hit upon. SO, on
Iuv Al 1910. the first Virginian Assembly en-
scted a law constituting tobacco-a native prod
not easy cultivated-to be the legal tender In the
Colony and fixing its price at the Government
s,orehouse answering to the mint OF present
times namely the "beste" should pass current
eat three shillings and the seconde sorte At Is a.
tho nounde" for the payment of taxes tthes. debts
and goods and also for wives shipped from Eng
land and rated at 40 pounds OF tobacco per
head Seemingly. free and unlimited planting Oh
tobacco promised to make all as prosperous as IL
il declared now free and unlimited coinage OF
silver will No planter in debt or needing VIE
or niger" had couse for anxiety lie only mao
10 look across his fields TO observe how SOIL ana
sun were cooperating to supply him Win a
plenitude Of "cheap money" while he INDUCED
in the pleasure of mourning debt so easily PAID
His money grew fast as weeds, and ne couid
not prevent himself from amassing wealth he
had merely to plant and watch Heaven multiply
his stock Of money.
For a while the Colony being sparsely settled
and the money crop therefore. limited there was
no difficulty with the currency. and 1t looked as
II Virginia had solved the problem of money 10y
lust letting it grow up Topsy-lke. Whenever
a planter needed anything to purchase he Simply
had to pluck some Of his money, take 1t TO the
Government storehouse and there exchange IL
for certificate of deposit of so many pounds at
the legal value-just as till recently. silver own
ers could deposit silver in the Treasury and OBJ
tain certificates to serve as money AS the Gov
eminent stood ready to buy at fixed legal rates
ell tobacco offered. there could he no DOUBT re-
spectng the firmness of the market, or best OF
all stability of price. for. as it was assumed 10
ono uould sell tobacco for less than he knew the
Government was bound by law to pay. nus
assured of steady and profitable market every
body devoted himself TO creating an unlimited
demand upon the Colonial Treasury by growing
end rendering 1t all the tobacco possible in order
ol rrp
TINKERING BECOMES NECESSARY.
After a while however 1t came about that. fol
some cause or other. the monetary pollcy OF
Virginia needed mendins. Notwithstanding the
Government pledge to accept tobacco at nxeo
ratio and thereby keep up the p';ce as well as
the quantity Of money, a divergence began &c
anpear between the Government. or mint, price
and that OF the market In fact, in the markets
Of the world, the price OF tobacco was Iaiiihe
and az q consequence, Virginian currency was
becoming so cheap to threaten the prosperity
of money growers-just as now the cheapenine
Of silver is making silver mining ass piohtaps
Had the Virginian colonsts possessed the Wis
dom of this age they would have divineo That
nerbaps the true way to restore the Lrlco OF
tobacco would have been to increase me cLitlNa'
ton and throw more upon the market 3ut the
early Virginians were hard -heade1 duil-"lttco
Englishmen, who had not been long enough ir
the New World TO shake OFF the letters OF an Ole
and crusted civilization even the Ten Com
mandments-or rather some of thein--and inuoc'
irinate themselves with new ideas, %hich II mol
the perfection Of wisdom. are, certainly, o:ieild
and defiant Of all past experience. Accordingly
they did not surmse how increased produ. non
would have proved "cure-all" for their cur
rency problems. To the contrary, they assumed
that a Limitation of the supply co-ordndtine
with an increase of the demand would enhance
the price. In their day. whatever " may De now
this was considered horse sense At any rate
the virginian legislators acted upon the theory
that overproduction lessened the price, ano Sc
~o..od Iaw forbddiu.s any one in tlls