The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1896-09-10

die Can Only lie Perpctrated Oncs-Ths
Cost of Living Increasing While the Par.
shasing Power of the Dollar Steadily
Decreases.
Much interest Is taken by Canadians In
The progress of the silver campaign In
the United States Here, rs there, some
81 MS are gollbugs, some for silver. A
year or two ago The Globe dealt with the
paper money question which agitated Can.
ada when Canada belonged to France. IL
may Ie worth while TO explain the silver
question which arose about the same time,
a. 30 throw. ], sht upon the merits of the
controversy among our nciShbors.
New France, ns Canada was then called,
had very little specie money. As in other
new countries. men were thrown hacl;
upOn barter. In order II establish .
standard ~ value of some sort wheat in
1852 was made loyal tender In payment of
all debts ut the rate " four lvrcs the
bushcl. Beaver skins were made legal
tender nj the current price, whatever 10
might be, and 50, in 1874. were deer skins,
the skin of the Canadian original. Tho
door and beaver skin, varied In value, OF
course with the success or failure of the
catch aud were pcrplexing lncause a
fuotua.ing currency.
Wheat at four liyrcs was not so bad, be.
cause Il remained Mt or about that price
tor many years. But IL was impossible to
transport any large quantity of 1t in those
days without trouble and delay. The set
slor within few miles Of Quebec or Three
Rivers could tnke load to town In his
boat or sleigh and exchange 1t for cloth
ing or powder and shot but it was not
easy to employ 1t ms a medium of exchange
elsewhere
The hard or specie money in vogue
"rinPing money" as the French coll it
consisted Of miscellaneous lot Of coins
Among others there was the French louis
dor ,gold,ns the name denotes; tho llvre, or
franc, worth twenty cents Of our present
Canadian money; the 500 or sou, worth
cont; the lizard, worth y quarter Of n soc.
The livrc was silver, the others copper
The king in 1870 authorized the Com
pagnic dies Indcs Occidentales to issue this
coinage to the amount of 100000 francs
throughout his majesty possessions. 1t
aad been found that specie money had
habit of leaving the colony. The mer-
chants exported il in payment Of their ac-
counts in France To keep 1t In tho col
ony the king ordered that IL should DO
ovcrvalucd 81 long as IL circulated there.
Thus the French silver crown, worth
three livrcs in France, was to he legal ten
a. IL.
three donicrs, was TO pass for six. and so
on.
Wo may be sure thcro was IA job at the
Bottom of the undertaking. In that ago
kings and princes often rosortcd TO such
means Of cheating their subjects. The
subject In Canada took u lond of wood 10
the royal warehouse or to the agents of
the trading monopoly, and parted with 1t,
nS he believed for crown worth four
livrcs In money Of France" But whom
hc went To buy an axe or u coat, tho mer-
chant who imported everything from
France, reckoned the crown as worth only
three livrcs, It's value in France. He had
~ accept IL ~ legal tender for four but
that did not prevent him from marking
~
worth but three, II was for his exploits
IN hcccing tho people in this way by issu-
ing clipped and Ovcrvalued money that
King Philippe lie Bel, nicknamod the
Couer, was placed by Dante in hell.
The overvaluing in New France deceived
nobody but the settler, and hc soon had
hs eyes opened by the Storckeeper MOI
dtt ~ Inpn tho ennain ,,n,n,, Ia, 4, u,
Wht happened was this; II flowed as
'scforc the Golfers Of the merchants, who
accepted ), not at its fictitious value, but
10Y increasing their priccs) at its value In
money oi France" and shipped Ii In the
iall To franc, to pay their bills. Then
: sharp follows In France began to send out
a4gpei ana 'swutcd" coins, such AS
hyrcs worth only flt,acn socs and crowns
whlce would scarcely pass Mt all, TO profit
by the generalization.
rms light money got 10 he such nul.
sance that tho sovereign fconncll met and
abolished the generalization In the hope of
checking Its inflow. Traffic with the En-.
glish and DAtch colonies to tho south was
prohibited, nevertheless the English and
Dutch traders carried it on surreptitiously.
and found II more profitable to pay for
Frsnfb beaver skins In light reals and
piastres than In honest goods. Commerce
within the colony was greatly hampered
by the uncertainty Of the value of this
Light foreign money. 1t was not legal
tender, one was not obliged to take 1t, and
In 1853 the Quebec merchants refused to
accept it at any figure, whersupon the
council ordered that 1t should circulate at
its bullion value with slight addition.
To effect this 1t was necessary to weigh
and stamp the coins. Holders were obliged
30 take them 20 u court appointed for the
purpose and to pay six deniers for the
weighing and stamping Of each piastre,
demi-piastre, quart and demi-qusrt, be-
sides losing the difference between the
new and tho old value.
Things had got into such q meas over
che attempt to give specie money nst
value that In despair the people turned to
-.