Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1896-09-09

Cost OF Living Increasing While tho Pur
| chasing Power Of the Dollar Steadily
Decreases.
Much interest IL taken by Capndians In
| the progress of the silver campaign In
the United States. Here, as there. somt
| Of us arc goldbugs, some for silver. A
ycar or two ago The Globe dealt with the
paper money question which agitated Can
ada when Canada belonged to France 1t
riay be worth while to explain the silver
question which arose about the SAM time
as il throws light upon the merits Of the
controversy among our noighDors.
New France. as Canada was then called,
had very little specie money. As In other
new countries. men We're thrown back
upon barter. In order to establish a
standard of value of some sort wheat in
1859 was made legal tender In payment of
all debts at the rate Of four livrcs the
bushcl. Beaver skins were made legal
tender Mt the current prico, whatever II
might be, and so, in 1874 were deer skins,
the skin Of the Canadian original. The
deer ana beaver skins varied In value, Of
catch, and were pcrplexing because n
luctunting currency.
Wheat Mt four livrcs was not so had, be-
cause IL remained Mt or about that prico
for many years. But 1t was impossible to
transport any large quantity Of it in those
days without trouble and delay. The set
tier within u few miles of Quebec or Three
Rivers could take load to town in his
boat or sleigh and exchange It for cloth
ing or powder and shot. but 1t WAS not
easy to employ 1t rs medium Of exchange
elsewhere
The hard or specie money In vogue
ringing money" rs the French call 1t
consisted Of miscellaneous lot Of coins
Among others there was tho French louis
dor, gold AS the name denotes; the livrc, or
franc, wor :, 'wcuty cents OF our present
Canadian II: ,ley; The soc or sou, worth
n cent the l:::rd, worth n quarter Of u see.
The livrc was silver, tho othors copper.
The king IN 1870 authorized the Gem
pagnic ccs lndeS Occident.lcs TO issue this
coinage to the amount OF 10000 francs
throughout hii niajosty's possessions. 1t
had Lccn found that specie money had
n habi. Of leaving she colony. The incr-
chants exported IL in payment Of their ac-
counts in Franco. To keep it IN the col
Ony the king ordered that 1t should be
ovcrva,ucd SD long as it circulated there.
Thus the French silver crown, worth
three livres In France, was to be legal ten
der for four In Canada; the lard, worth
three den!ers was TO pass fer GiI. and SO
on.
We may bo sure there was n Job ct the
l o:tom of the I'M :cryaluiny. In that age
kings aud princes often rcsortcd to such
means OF cheating their subjects. The
subject in Canada took Il load OF wood to
the royal warehouse or TO ,he agents Of
the trading monopoly, Gn,; parted with II,
as he believed. for n crown worth four
livrcs in money % France" But when
he went to bug M axe or 4 coat, tho mer-
chant, who imported everything from
France, rcckoncd the crown Gs worth only
three livrcs, its value in France. He had
to accept it rs legal tender for four. but
that cid not prevent him froE, marking
up his price SO rs to make II IN reality
worth but three. 1t WAS for his exploits
IN fleeing the people in this way b. issu-
ing clipped ard ovcrvalued money that
King Philippe lc Bel, nickna:ned the
Couer, was placed by Dante in hell.
Tho overvnluing in New France deceived
nobody but the settler. and he soon had
his eyes opened by the storckeeper MOI
did it keep che specie money In tho country.
What happened was this: 1t flowed as
before to the Golfers OF the merchants, who
accepted 1t. not u. its fictitious value, but
(by increasing their prices) ut It's value In
'mOney of France" and shipped it in the
fall TO France to pray their bills. Then
sharp fellows in France began to send out
clipped and ''swcated" coins, such rs
livres worth only fifteen soes and crowns
which would scarcely pass at all, to profit
by the generalization.
This light money got to be such nui-
snnce that the sovereign scouncil met and
abolished the generalization in the hope Of
checking its inflow. Traffic with the En-
glish and Dutch colonies to the south was
prohibited, nevertheless the English and
Dutch traders carried it on surreptitiously,
and found 1t more profitable to pay for
French beaver skins in light reals and
piastres than in honest goods. Commerce
within the colony was greatly hampered
by tho uncertainty Of tho value OF this
light foreign money. 1t was not loyal
in 1853 the Quebec merchants refused to
accept it ut any figure, whcreupon the
council ordered that it should circulate at
its bullion value with slight addition.
To effect this it WAS necessary to weigh
and stamp the coins. Holders were obliged
to take them to a court appointed for the
purpose and to pay six deniers for tho
weighing and stamping of each piastre,
demi- -piastre, quart and demi-quart, be-
new and the old value.
Things had got into such d mess over
the attempt to give specie money a fiat
value that In despair the people turned to
card money. 1t will be remembered that
the card money circulated at its face value
% long as 1t was convertible into bills
drawn on the French treasury and 90 long
rs the bills were promptly paid. When.
however, owing to reckless financing and
the drain Of war, France could no longer
take up the bills, the Canadian holders Of
cards wore nearly beggsred. Toward the
end of the French regime the intendant
was allowed to issue paper money known
as ordonuances as he saw f1t.
The ordonnances were not convertible
Into anything except as circumstances
permitted, and circulated at q heavy dis
count from the start When England took
possession tho card money and ortion-
nanccs held in the colony amounted, face
value, to no less than Al, 100000 francs or
about SIC, 100000 for 5000 people. Hero
vas a Cheap and abundant currency"
with q vengeance The bank note circula- |
ton in Canada today. for q population of
5. 100000, is about go, ,0OO, 600 But 1t is
that New France lost more |
by that Cheap money experience than |