The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-07-29

were $50. The number of farms and
buildings there is increased in proportion
to the number Of people; and the goods ex-
ported to them from England in 1850, be-
fore the restraint took place, was near five
times as much as before they had paper
money.
Pennsylvania, before it made any paper
money, was totally stripped Of it's gold and
silver, though they had from time to time,
like the neighboring 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 prov
fnce. During that weak practice, silver got
up by degrees to IS. Cd. per ounce-lOng be-
fore paper money was made. The diff
culties for want of cash were accordingly
very great, the chief part Of the trade being
carried on by the extremely inconvenient
method of barter, when in 1928, paper
money was first made there Tin Pennsyl-
vania), which gave new life.
'It seems hard, therefore, to draw all
their real money from them and then re-
fuse them the poor privilege of using paper
instead. The English bank
bills being payable in cash upon sight by
the drawer is, indeed, a circumstance that
cannot attend the colony bills, for the rea-
son just above mentioned, their bullion be-
ing drawn from them by the British trade;
but the legal tender being substituted in it's
place Is rather greater advantage to the
possessor, since he need not be at any
trouble going to particular bank or bank
er to demand the money'-Frankl:n's
Works, 1909, vol w., pages SO to 81.
Mr.. G. is especially severe on the old
continental currency. OF course he thinks
and says it failed. That Is not strictly true.
1t did not fail, but it died for liberty, as
thousands Of patriotic men died, that lib
erty might live. The currency died. It
was drowned in the last ditch, overwhelmed
by the floods Of counterfeits sent over
from London. But while dying it carried
the country through five of the most peril
Gus years of the war, and Albert Gallatin
afterwards declared that "it cannot be de-
med that it saved the country" That was
not failure.
Mr.. c. admits that there was no other
means of carrying on the war. That being
true, then without the much derided Con-
tinental currency American liberty could
never have been born.
But it gradually died, at the rate of 20
per cent per annum. Who bore the loss?
Each holder of the notes. His loss was his
tax in support of the war This tax was in
proportion to the sums held; or, IN proper
ton to the wealth of the holder. Hence
the tax was just one. To what amount
was that tax? Precisely the face of the
notes in circulation. No more, no less.
The notes were not borrowed. There was
no interest paid; and there was no debtsin-
Cured by their use. What was the cost of
the currency to the government? The
printing of the notes only. Hence, finan-
c.a,ly, it was the cheapest war measure we
ever had and its burdens were the most
evenly distributed.
Mr.. C. seems to have special hatred
toward all of the best moneys. He even
fights the treasury notes that saved the
country in 1912, when coin and bank cur
rency utterly failed to meet the emergen-
cies OF the times. He. also levies war on
the greenback that preserved the country
from ACKNOWLEDGMENT in the sixties. In
this ne agrees with Va.andingham, the
leader of the Northern copperheads. They
agree especially in opposition to the legal
tender quality of the notes. Speaking Of
the legal tender notes of 1862, Valandig-
ham SAID:
''Cheap IN materials, easy of issue, work
ed by steam, signed by machinery, there
will be no end to the legion Of paper devils
which shall pour forth from the loins of the
secretary"
Va,andignam insisted that the notes were
not money and would not circulate as
currency, though you should send them
forth bearing ten times the image and
superscription--the fair face and form Of
Abraham Lincoln, now President and
Caesar OF the American Republic. >
Spaulding's History, PIP. 53-4.
But, Mr.. Editor, in mercy to your space,
cannot pursue the subject further.
will close by presenting in opposition to
Mr.. C.s position the statement of Eng
lands great historian, S.r. Archibald Ali
son, as to paper money in America. Mr.
Alison says:
"Thus America, albeit splendidly fur
nished by al the blessings Of nature, night
have been chained to slow progress, and
at length slumbered on with population
doubling, like Europe, in 500 years, were
It not for one discovery which supplied all
deficiencies, and kept it abreast of destiny.
This discovery was paper currency. This
powerful agent for good or for evil was
never more required, and has nowhere pro-
duced more important effects than in the
United States OF America. It 8 histori
cally known that the establishment Of their
independence, Ike the successful issue Of
the war of Rome with Carthage, and Great
Britain with Napoleon, was mainly owing
to the paper bearing forced circulation,
which was plentifully issued by the ;nsur-