Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-10-24
CHEAP

NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. aHsE&fs3%1 &SAfS% k-& E341sns3Gf
Fifty years ago this country was in the throes q
! dispute ovet the kind and quantity of money which
should be used in the transaction of its business.
Three hundred million dollars in irredeemable' paper
currency had been issued during the war. While
the issue Of the war was1in doubt the market value
|of that currency was low. # took about three dol
liars in gretnbacks to buy one dollar in, gold, With
the Strengthening Of the credittof the country the
valueso of the greenback advanced, until presently the
paper currency was on a par with gold. It oas much
easier to print paper dollars than it was to dig gold
out of the ground and stamp it into coins. Why
mot abandon the use Of gold and make all money of
paper?
Such a plan was seriously proposed, and it re
|ceived a great deal Of support. Many people have
mo money at all, and few have as much as they de-
sire. A plan which promised much money for little
effort had its attractions. Accordingly, it was pro
posed to get the government printing presses at
work, and print greenbacks as desired, these green
backs to be issued by the government in payment
for goods purchased and services rendered, and to
|be legal tender for all debts, public and private.
Then, whenever the supply of money in the treasury
ran low, instead of levying more taxes, it would be
necessary only to print more money. By printing
plenty of money a goodly supply could be kept in
circulation. Wages would advance, farm products
would bring better prices, and it would be easier
~ pay Ou muCDtcuucSS. F..,. .. "-.f 'w..
Men who opposed this plan were denounced as
enemies of the poor man, whose interests, it was
maintained, would be promoted by increasing the
supply of money. The plan was not adopted, and
the country remained OH a hard money basis, with
the exception that from time to time concessions
legislation giving silver a larger and more import
amt place in the monetary system.
The demand for cheap money again reached a
climax in 1896 when it was the chief issue in the
presidential campaign. Again the country seemed
destined to be swept into the maelstrom. Political
parties were divided on the issue. The free silver
element dominated the Democratic organization
and there was enough free silver sentiment in the
Republican party to prevent a positive stand by that
party for a long time. The free silver issue was
essentially the greenback issue repeated. The diff
ference was, that the greenbackers demanded that
money be made without intrinsic value, while the
free silver advocates demanded that through the
operation of coinage a fictitious value be placed or
silver. Again the counsels of wisdom prevailed, and
the country, through congressional action, presently
declared itself unequivocally for the single GOLD
standard.
The demand for free money, or>for cheap money
is merely a part of the demand which has found
expression from time to time in all ages, that the
government create prosperity out of the air. Wheth.
|er expressed in the demand for an. irredeemable
paper currency, for a cheap metal currency, or for
legislation to insure high wages, good prices for
lprOQuctS, or satisfactory returns tor BUSINESS, the
attitude of those making the demand is the same
They proceed upon the assumption that there is
some sort of omnipotence in government, some In
herent power which enables government to create
wealth and which ignores completely the fact tina,
wealth, no matter in what form is the result of days
labor, and that before a government can distribute
wealth it must collect it from those who have pro
duced it.
Probably the world will learn something from
its present experiences with cheap money. All oil
the larger countries in continental Europe have fol.
lowed the course which the advocates of the green.
back and of free silver urged that this country fol-
low. They have cheapened the currency by multi
plying it. Never before in the history of the world
was money as plentiful as it is today in Europe-or
as nearly worthless. Rubles, francs, marks, kroner
and lire have been printed in appalling quantities
And the restitution of the people is proportioned
with almost uncanny accuracy to the liberality with
which money has been made:
We in America are fortunate in having before
us a conspicuous illustration in the experience o
other people of some of the perils which we have
escaped. And yet the curse has not been confined tc
the countries where it originated, for it has helped
to deprive the solvent and partially solvent countries
of their foreign markets, and has produced a state Of
international bankruptcy from which it will take
the world a long time to recover.
LYMAN ABBOTT
Few men have played a finer part in the history
lot their time than has DR.. Lyman Abbott, who has
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