Year: 1865

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THE CAUSE OF DULL TIMEs.-some of the Call
ifornia and Nevada newspapers attribute the
dull times now prevalent on the Pacific coast to
an obstinate adherence to d metallic currency,
and they contend that in order to secure more
prosperous times the States should repeal their
specific contract laws and leave the coin and
paper currency to circulate upon an equal foot
ing, so far as legislative action is concerned
But really, there is no obstacle in the way of
the paper currency now, for it has perfectly
free circulation, and any is at liberty to deal
with the paper money that prefers it. The pa
per money is not and probably never will be as
popular gold and silver cOin,. for it huctuates
in value. If what purports to be one dollar in
greenbacks would always be equal to one dollar
in gold, then people would have as much conf
dence in the one kind of currency as the other;
but unfortunately the greenback that assumes
to be dollar in value, is sometimes worth one
sum and then another, and never reaches the
worth of gold dollar. When a man wishes to
lay up a sum of money for future use, he lays it
up in coin for he knows that when he shall need it
It will be worth as much as it was when he put
ii away, whereas if he should lay up the sum in
greenbacks, that money mightbe at low figure
when he should desire to use it, In view of
these facts it is not surprising that our people
manifest decided preference for the genuine
jingling dollars and it would be surprising if
they should not make this distinction. In the
Al l.
silver boarded away, and the masses are forced
to use greenbacks, as it is the only money kept
in general circulation. In the Pacific States
and Territories the people are more favored, for
here the gold and silver mines, constantly yield
ing up their treasures, keep metallic currency
in general use; but if by any possibility our
mines should give out, the coin would at once
be boarded and greenbacks would at once be-
come the general circulating medium, as is now
the case in the Atlantic States, and then it
would be as uncommon to see a gold $40 piece
here as it is there now. It is not the popularity
of the greenback currency, as some believe,
that makes its circulation so universal in the
States east of the mountains, but it is rather its





rency; and thus the meaner currency is circula-
ted, while the other from its greater stability
and value is held in reserve or boarded away.
Spectators keep it locked in their Golfers, deal
ing it out gently whenver an opportunity offers
20 get good premium on it by so doing.


Il seems 10 as that the dull times complained
of is attributable to other causes than the mat
ter of currency or the financial policy of the Pa
cifc coast. The closing up of the great war
which has overshadowed the country during the
four years past has already begun to show its
depressing effects The disbanded armies are
no longer furnishing great market for supplies
and all the material incident to a state of war
The troops have returned to their former homes
and are minging with the laboring and produ-
cling classes of the country, and the consequence
is that the producers have multiplied while the
non-producing consumers have proportionally
diminished. The effect is financial depres-
sion with labor cheapening and traffic falling
off, with dull, hard times steadily and ineyita-
bly, approaching and bearing down upon all por-
tions of the country north, south, east and

west. If the mines of the Pacific coast are fail
ing, then that is an additional cause for dull
times here; but there is no evidence yet we be-
lieve that the yield of the mines in the aggre-
gate is falling Off So that upon the whole the
conclusion forces itself upon US shat the dali
tImesAre not occasioned by either matters per-
saining 20 the currency or the failing of mining
interests bat that this condition of things is the
legitimate result of the termination of the war
Between the North and South. Those who
are disposed to view this depression in the prop
CT light will not be so venturesome with their
ready means as formerly and will by using a
certain amount of economy readily adapt them
selves to dull times. But STILL let times be ever
SO dull, and on this coast where we have sound
metallic currency, the people must necessarily be
more prosperous and less embarrassed than
their far-off fellow citizens to the eastward,