The Irish standard., 1896-10-24
SOUND MONEY.
A Former Secretary of the Treasury
Throws Some Light.

The Penny Press is indebted to Judge
VIM. F. Penfeld, of Sanborn county, S.
D., for the following, showing the atti-
tude of Hugh. McCulloch, the United
States secretary Of the treasury, under
Lincoln, johnson and Arthur, found in
MIR. McCulloch's book, 'Men and Meas
u,es of Half a Century," in 1883, page
l19: lin
although the double standard existed
in the United States, the metallic cur
rency of the country chiefly and through
out the west exclusively, from the time
the bank was organized in 1884, to the
discovery of gold in California in 1913,
| was silver The capital Of the bank was
paid I'D in Spanish and Mexican dollars,
and it's reserve continued to be in this
coin until it was sold for gold at prem
:um of about per cent on Mexican dol
lars and per cent on Spanish. ] HAD
BEEN A BANKER FOR, FOURTEEN
YEARS BEFORE I HANDLED OR SAW
A DOLLAR IN GOLD, EXCEPT THE
lO-THALER PIECES WHICH WE'RE
BROUGHT INTO THIS COUNTRY BY
GERMAN IMMIGRANTS. II Prof. Sum-
mer had been a banker at any time prior
to 184S he would not have gone so wide
of the mark as he did in saying in the
1885 June number of the North American
Review: We do not want or need silver
as a circulating medium, and shall not
abandon it, because we never had it, WE
DID HAVE 1T, and sooner or later we
shall HAVE TT AGAIN, and without it's
being degraded. We are not prepared
| the world is not preparation the de-
nronetizaticn Of silver, nor can this pre-
paration be brought about without the
! wiping out of avery large part of public
and private Gebts. Debts contracted
when both metals are used as money
would be burden too heavy to be borne
! when measured by a single standard
He quotes the following from a speech
at Fort Wayne, Ind, in 1865:
by common consent OF the nations
gold and silver are the only true measures
! Of value They are the necessary regu~
1ators of trade I have no more doubt
that these metals were prepared by the
Almighty for this very purpose than l
have that Iron and coal We're prepared
for the purposes for which they are used.
I favor a well-secured convertible paper
currency-llo other can to any extent
be proper substitute for CON-
On pages 249 and $50 he quotes from
his report of1866. After arguing against
an irredeemable and depreciating paper
currency, his aversion, he says:
Every different from this IS that grad
ual, healthy and general advance of pric-
es which Is the effect of the increase of
the precious metals. The coin which is
obtained in the gold and silver producing
districts, following The course Of trade
and in obedience to it's laws soon finds
it's way to other countries and become s
part of the common stock of the ma
tions, which, Increasing in amount by
the regular product Of the mines, and in
activity by the growing demands Of COM
merce, advances the price of labor and
commodities throughout the commercial
world. Thus the products Of the Ameri-
can, Australian and Russian mines tend
first to advance prices in their respective
localities, but the operation Of trade soon
distributes these products and enterpris-
es everywhere feel and respond to the
increase of the universal measure Of wall
ues. All this lis healthful because slow,
permanent and universal. The coin pro-
duced in any country will be retained
there no longer; than Its productions and
sales keep the balance of trade in its ia
vor. AS soon as 1t becomes cheaper (if
this word can be properly used in regard
to the standard Of yalue) in this country
in which tits produced, than in other
accessible countries (adding interest, the
cost of transpor tation, duties and other
necessary expenses than in that In which
it is produced, Eor when, it is required to
pay balances to other countries, it flows
to them by a law as regular and as certain
as grav1itation Hence, although the prec-
ious metals are produced in considerable
quantities in but a few countries, they
affect the prices ID ALL" ia 5s5 Il