New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-09-14


the currency of the country do without the
money Of foreign exchange and be free from me
business methods OF mankind generally ,ne vi :
ginians decided to still further reduce tne pr
duction and relieve the market ny hihi'ins VI.
supply Accordingly. in 1880. a law was aoop'
ed for the destruction Of all poor TOBACCO anu
one half Of the good.
ALL LAW INEFFECTUAL
Strange as it may seem. these laws were as
Intellectual as the others. Tobacco persis'eu III
falling Not having profound nnanc'eIs' I'm"
some Of the present day. to prove It to them by
oratory diaectics and metaphysics, THESE SIN,
pie minded colonlsts had no suspicion that poss'-
h,v gold and silver had appreciated as the con-
sequence Of being demonetzed and displaced III
Virginia nv the tobacco currency. In pardonable
Ignorance of monetary laws. only very recently
discovered they attributed the fall or TOBACCO III
value To increased production. None the less
new notions began to force themselves into the
Viryinian mind and lead 1t to suspect that' per :
hans after all the law of supply ana deihaiiu
WAS not wholly the cause of the nuctuatloh III
their money For some time past merchants anu
dealers had Disseminated against the money vi
the land and exercised the common-ia" rish' "
contract for payment in silver money eN"'"'
as at the present time men, becoming app e"en
sive contract for payment in gold hsteao vi '"
ver or any other money. at the option OF the
debtor OF course. to tolerate the continuance
| of such discrimination against the Colonial money
would have been to dscredit 1t and also dlihihish
tho demand for tobacco as legal tender ana
medium of exchange So, anticipating the Ch'-
caso Convention by pa years, Virgnians con-
cluded that the tap root of their currency per-
plexities was the liberty of contract, ana there-
Zorro its adjustment would end their troubles
with the tobacco currency. Accordingly III
1912 II was enacted that all money debts maze
since the 26th day Of March. or hereafter sna
he made shall not be pleadable or recoNerapie
in any court of justice under this Government
In fine tobacco should be the sole legal ,ehder
and medium of payment in Virginia, and con-
tracts calling for payment in specie or anything
else than tobacco should be VOID. AS VIII ne
seen If il were possible by legislation 10 compei
a free and unlimited demand for native prod-
not to serve as money and by so doing give 1t
an artificial value. this law ought to have proved
effectual Yet nevertheless laws to restrict
production and producers and TINS last law tie
prjce persisted in falling. until in 16lo 1t reached
1l5d a pound. a decline of % per cent In SIX
years. 1870
obviously all these laws failed for very
simple reason. AS population poured into the
colony the number Of planters rapidly IN
creased and. though each was restricted as 10 ms
production of cheap money. the aegresa,.e
production OF all greatly exceeded that when the
humber Of planters was smaller. The effect of
these laws had been to bring into play the
desrotic rule of the law of supply ard demand
and because thereof. persistenty to depress the
price or in other words. to initiate the currency
and so deprecate its value. ,
Events proved too powerful for the Virginians
In 1856 the liberty of contract was restored
and contracts for payment in silver were le-
CALLED. In short, Virginians SURRENDERED 10
natural law, and recognized that not 'n ne
legal-tender function. nor legal declaration Oh
value nor patriotic contempt for the word
could vest tobacco with value IN excess OF that
of the market. Here again they appear TO nave
ANTICIPATED in wisdom quite NUMBER OF pou-
erns.
ANOTHER FUTILE EXPERIMENT.
While these things were happening south OF
the Potomac they were having experience on
the northern bank Maryland also. had selected
tobacco as the Colonial currency and legal ten
der In 1866 treaty was made between VIZ
ginia North Carolina and Maryland to suspend
planting for one year because, to quote from
the treaty, 1.-The quantity or tobacco mace III
this country has become so great that all mar
kets have become glutted with 1t, ana the value
is SO low At that time tavernkeepers charged
10 pounds of tobacco money for meal, and
1G for a nights lodging; pound Of refined
| sugar was worth 1G pounds, and gallon OF
| Madeira 100 pounds of tobacco. Since 1915 TO-
| bacco had fallen 81 per cent In purchasing
| value Thee was a superabundance or tobacco
money but il had such little value that every
| body was money poor" occasionally, ana 10
supplement legislative endeavors TO contract
the currency, whole communities, threatened
with ruin by redundant currency, con-
|
! storehouses and destroyed the tobacco on hand
| and tore up the money sproutinF H. the feids'
Cheap money was resolving society into chaos.
| Later Maryland made desperate EFFORT u
| drive out the best money'-that OF silver
bugs"-and force return to the "cneaper ana
| Colonial money. There, as earlier In virginia
merchants and traders had discredited the Co
| lonal currency by stipulating for payment In
| silver After reciting the evils so caused, the
Legislature enacted that all debts might De paid
| In tobacco and. II so paid. should be reduced
| one-fourth and then IL proceeded to tear up Dy
| the roots the common-law liberty or contract Tor
| IL declared null and void all Judgments bonus
| and mortgages bills of exchange. notes or other
| securities Of any kind for the payment OF money
| thus anticipating Bryan, Altgeld and lllmai
and their school by lob years; Of course ihe
| when paid in tobacco. and annnllins all future
| contracts not payable; to create free ana
unlimited demand for tobacco currency In the
| belief that thereby the price would advance. and
| its growers be correspondingly enriched, what
| ever might become of the wage-earner, the
money lender the exporter or the iinpol'ss -,
without either Of whom existence in Maryland OF
anywhere else for that matter, would be misera-
| BILE.
! MARYLAND legislation respecting tobacco money
| is not difficult to discover. The ability 10 pro
| duce cheap money by the simple process or al
lowing it to grow SO stimulated cua,iVa'on a.
production. by Cutting the market lhcessanuS
| forced the price down. ,,.
| that such also, was the effect upon silver pro-
| duction Of the Bland and Sherman sllVer-pur'
| chasing laws, and that free and unlimited coin
! age of silver Except by international agree
| ment) would in the end, come to the same rate
as did the tobacco currency Of Virginia anc
| Marvland-oratory and cheap logic to the con
trary notwithstanding. o,o,e
Brooklyn, Sept 9. 1896
| FREE-sILvER FARMERS IN THIS STATE.
| To the Editor Of The Tribune
| Sir: have just been up through Jenersor