A Depreciated Currency

As an evidonoo that good can come out of Nazareth we quote one of Prof. Newcomb's " lessons " on monoy, as given to the public through the colnmng of Harper't Weekly. It may be studied with profit by such politicians as imagine that a promise to pay is a real dollar, and that tho greenback issue of the Government may be inilated at wil] without a destruotion of all commeroial values. It is LESSON VII. At this stage the reader may ask, what harm if the currency does depreoiate 't What difference whother it takes two or two dozen paper dollars to buy a pair of sboes, so long as they pass current ? To answer this question f ully would require me to write a whole book. The history of mankind for the last two centuries is full of exatnples showing that a deprociated currency is the greatest source of injury to the business of a nation, being scarcely less than a national oalamity. A brief summary of the most obvious evils is all we now have time for. 1. Feople are oonstautly bargaining foi the sale of their goods or their services in exchange for a certain number of dollars, to be paid them at soine fu ture time. Salaried men and laborera engage themselves by the day, the inonth, or the year. Koonoinical people put moaey in the savings bank, to be repaid, perhaps, at the end of many years. All these arrangements urn made under the belief that the do lars you are going to receive will bu; you, on the average, as many of tb mea&g of living as they will now. ! you are to be paid in gold dollars, yo may be morally oertain that your ex pectations in this respect will be fu iilled, beoause the experience of man kind in all ages has shown that the pur chasing power of gold is never sub jee to great and rapid fluctuations. Kut you are to be paid in paper dollars, n man knows what they will buy. Th laborar will find, week after week, tha prices rise so fast hia wages will bu; less and less for his family. If the po icy is once adopted to issue all the pa per dollars that may be required b; oommerce, it is not only possible, bi highly probable, that thirty of them would not, twenty yearg henoe, buy square inoal. See scale of prices i Hayti, for example, where this polic; has been adopted. What does the pre posed paper money bond ainount to '( J will say that the United States will pa; the bearer one hundred dollars. Wha does this mean, on the new plan ? Sim ply this : On demand the United States promise i print and stamp for the bearer one hundrec paper dollars, and doet hereby guárante that the said popers hall be called dollar and received as tuch, ever y wtere in th country. If the United States also guárante that these dollars should buy soine apee ified portions of the necessaries of li] - forty pounds of flour, or eight pounc of beef, for example - the promise migh amount to something, But when a reason and all experience show that th paper dollars will probobly loae nearly all power of purchasing, who will agree to take thora 'i Is it right for the go vernmeut to adopt a policy which will end in the bitter deception of all its citizens who do not know the differeuoe between gold and paper dollars ' 2. The second evil of depreciating paper is, that it necessarily euriches speculators at the expense of the rest of the community. The sharp speoulator is no thoorist. He Itnow exactly what the effect of depreciating paper is, and take advautage of it. He buys goods on oredit, and holds them umil thoir prioes riso, then solls them, and pays off his debt with a part of the procoeds, pocketing the balanoe as profits of the operatioa. Of course great business uctivity is thus produced. The manufacturar hires operativos at present prices, well knowing that the goods they produce will riso on his hands so as to yield him a handsome prophet. The operativos receive their pay in depreciated dollars, and are the real sufforers. 3. The third evil is, that extra vaganoe is fostered. Sudden fortunea are made by speculation, while no oue really feels any poorer. The salaried man fiuds it hard to make both ends uieet ; but, as he gets his usual incooie he must not cotnplain of the high prices. Property of all kinds rising ïu pnce, propertyholders are at first vory much pleased Thoy do not clearly see that the riae ia due to the tact that the dollars by whiüh the value is estimated are worth lesa than before. They are much in the position of a man who, having a handful of gold dollars, Bhould be furnished with a pair of spectaoles which made erery dollar look like an eagle, and who, therefore thinkg he has suddenly increased his wealth ten times. Of courso, if he is a good-natured man, he spends some of his surplus in giving a foiist to all his friends, and this is done by so many that we have almost an era of evtravagancn. Of oourse this extravaganoe has to be bitterly paid for. All this is little more than history in brief. If the reader requiies furtber detail, he must read the financial history of the Freuoh Bevolution, of the American colonies and our Kevolution, and of business and gold speculation during the early years of our oivil war. The fourth evil of depreciating ourrency is, that it aggravates the very evil which it is designated to prevent, not only by making the rate of interest high, but making it almost impossible to borrow money on any tonus whataver. This may soera paradoxical, but it is a f act wall proved by the ence of those uafortunate people who have been attracted by the song of tb paper tnoney airen. There ase two reaj sbns for this effect üue is that owing to the enoriuous nominal priceg to which all pooHa roount undnr a system if depreciatod paper money, mure mony is required to trttnsact the business of the country juut in proportion as more is iiwued. When everythiug costs twioe whftt ït uow does, you must take twico as muoh inonoy iu your pookitt whon you go on a journey to make a purchase ; and you would, frm this cause alone, fiad money just as scarce as before. If your wife wants two or three hundred dollars every time she goes shopping, you need a larga pilo of money. But the principal reason is, that the constant rise iu prices stimulates borrowing tbr the purpose of speoulation, aa just explained. When a large number of people are anxious to borrow all the money that can be had, and williugto pay a high rate of interest for it, money to borrow must be scarce. When everyone is anxious to buy, and wants to borrow all the moneo he eau get to buy with, a coinpetition must of oourse send up the rate of interest. Whon reason and history unite in showing such serious evils as the result of depreciating currency, and no fruits but such as turn to bitter ashes in the mouth, wbat shall we say to those ignorant or visionary men who promise a millennium under a paper money system, telling you that there shall be no more punios aud no more scarcity of money?