The Project Gutenberg EBook of A New Banking System, by Lysander Spooner This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: A New Banking System The Needful Capital for Rebuilding the Burnt District Author: Lysander Spooner Release Date: November 1, 2010 [EBook #34187] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A NEW BANKING SYSTEM *** Produced by Curtis Weyant and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) A NEW BANKING SYSTEM: THE NEEDFUL CAPITAL FOR REBUILDING THE BURNT DISTRICT. By LYSANDER SPOONER. BOSTON: SOLD BY A. WILLIAMS & CO. 135 WASHINGTON STREET. 1873. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873. BY LYSANDER SPOONER, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. Printed by WARREN RICHARDSON, 112 Washington St CONTENTS. PAGE CHAPTER I.—A New Banking System, 5 CHAPTER II.—Specie Payments, 12 CHAPTER III.—No Inflation of Prices, 21 [Pg 3] CHAPTER IV.—Security of the System, 35 CHAPTER V.—The System as a Credit System, 41 CHAPTER VI.—Amount of Currency Needed, 48 CHAPTER VII.—Importance of the System to Massachusetts, 59 CHAPTER VIII.—The True Character of the "National" System, 70 CHAPTER IX.—Amasa Walker's Opinion of the Author's System, 75 THE READER WILL UNDERSTAND THAT THE IDEAS PRESENTED IN THE FOLLOWING PAGES ADMIT OF A MUCH MORE THOROUGH DEMONSTRATION THAN CAN BE GIVEN IN SO SMALL A SPACE. SUCH DEMONSTRATION, IF IT SHOULD be necessary, the author hopes to give at a future time. Boston, March, 1873. CHAPTER I. A NEW BANKING SYSTEM. UNDER THE BANKING SYSTEM—AN OUTLINE OF WHICH IS HEREAFTER GIVEN—THE REAL ESTATE OF BOSTON ALONE—TAKEN AT ONLY THREE-FOURTHS ITS VALUE, AS ESTIMATED BY THE STATE VALUATION [A]—IS CAPABLE OF FURNISHING THREE HUNDRED MILLIONS OF DOLLARS of loanable capital. Under the same system, the real estate of Massachusetts—taken at only three-fourths its estimated value[B]—is capable of furnishing seven hundred and fifty millions of loanable capital. THE REAL ESTATE OF THE COMMONWEALTH, THEREFORE, IS CAPABLE OF FURNISHING AN AMOUNT OF LOANABLE CAPITAL MORE THAN TWELVE TIMES AS GREAT AS THAT OF ALL THE " National" BANKS IN THE STATE [C]; MORE THAN TWICE AS GREAT AS THAT OF ALL THE "NATIONAL" banks of the whole United States ($353,917,470); and equal to the entire amount ($750,000,000, or thereabouts) both of greenback and "National" bank currency of the United States. IT IS CAPABLE OF FURNISHING LOANABLE CAPITAL EQUAL TO ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR EVERY MALE AND FEMALE PERSON, OF SIXTEEN years of age and upwards, within the Commonwealth; or two thousand five hundred dollars for every male adult. IT WOULD SCARCELY BE EXTRAVAGANT TO SAY THAT IT IS CAPABLE OF FURNISHING AMPLE CAPITAL FOR EVERY DESERVING ENTERPRISE, AND EVERY DESERVING MAN AND WOMAN, WITHIN THE STATE; AND ALSO FOR ALL SUCH OTHER ENTERPRISES IN OTHER PARTS OF THE UNITED States, and in foreign commerce, as Massachusetts men might desire to engage in. UNLESS THE SAME SYSTEM, OR SOME EQUIVALENT ONE, SHOULD BE ADOPTED IN OTHER STATES, THE CAPITAL THUS FURNISHED IN THIS State, could be loaned at high interest at the West and the South. IF ADOPTED HERE EARLIER THAN IN OTHER STATES, IT WOULD ENABLE THE CITIZENS OF THIS STATE TO ACT AS PIONEERS IN THE MOST lucrative enterprises that are to be found in other parts of the country. All this capital is now lying dead, so far as being loaned is concerned. All this capital can be loaned in the form of currency, if so much can be used. ALL THE PROFITS OF BANKING, UNDER THIS SYSTEM, WOULD BE CLEAR PROFITS, INASMUCH AS THE USE OF THE REAL ESTATE AS BANKING capital, would not interfere at all with its use for other purposes. THE USE OF THIS REAL ESTATE AS BANKING CAPITAL WOULD BREAK UP ALL MONOPOLIES IN BANKING, AND IN ALL OTHER BUSINESS DEPENDING UPON BANK LOANS. IT WOULD DIFFUSE CREDIT MUCH MORE WIDELY THAN IT HAS EVER BEEN DIFFUSED. IT WOULD REDUCE INTEREST TO THE LOWEST RATES TO WHICH FREE COMPETITION COULD REDUCE IT. IT WOULD GIVE IMMENSE ACTIVITY AND POWER TO INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISE. IT WOULD MULTIPLY MACHINERY, AND DO FAR MORE TO INCREASE PRODUCTION THAN ANY OTHER SYSTEM OF CREDIT AND CURRENCY THAT HAS EVER BEEN INVENTED. AND BEING FURNISHED AT LOW RATES OF INTEREST, WOULD secure to producers a much larger share of the proceeds of their labor, than they now receive. ALL THIS CAPITAL CAN BE BROUGHT INTO USE AS FAST AS THE TITLES TO REAL ESTATE CAN BE ASCERTAINED, AND THE NECESSARY PAPERS BE printed. LEGALLY, THE SYSTEM (AS THE AUTHOR CLAIMS, AND IS PREPARED TO ESTABLISH) STANDS UPON THE SAME PRINCIPLE AS A PATENTED MACHINE; AND IS, THEREFORE, ALREADY LEGALIZED BY CONGRESS; AND CANNOT, UNLESS BY A BREACH OF THE PUBLIC FAITH, ANY MORE be prohibited, or taxed, either by Congress or this State, than can the use of a patented machine. [Pg 4] [Pg 5] [Pg 6] [Pg 7] EVERY DOLLAR OF THE CURRENCY FURNISHED BY THIS SYSTEM WOULD HAVE THE SAME VALUE IN THE MARKET AS A DOLLAR OF GOLD; OR SO nearly the same value that the difference would be a matter of no appreciable importance. THE SYSTEM WOULD, THEREFORE, RESTORE SPECIE PAYMENTS AT ONCE, BY FURNISHING A GREAT AMOUNT OF CURRENCY, THAT WOULD BE equal in value to specie. THE SYSTEM WOULD NOT INFLATE PRICES ABOVE THEIR TRUE AND NATURAL VALUE, RELATIVELY TO SPECIE; FOR NO POSSIBLE AMOUNT OF PAPER CURRENCY, EVERY DOLLAR OF WHICH IS EQUAL IN VALUE TO SPECIE, can INFLATE PRICES ABOVE THEIR TRUE AND NATURAL VALUE, relatively to specie. WHENEVER, IF EVER, THE PAPER SHOULD NOT BUY AS MUCH IN THE MARKET AS SPECIE, IT WOULD BE RETURNED TO THE BANKS FOR REDEMPTION, AND THUS TAKEN OUT OF CIRCULATION. SO THAT NO MORE COULD BE KEPT IN CIRCULATION THAN SHOULD BE NECESSARY FOR the purchase and sale of property at specie prices. THE SYSTEM WOULD NOT TEND TO DRIVE SPECIE OUT OF THE COUNTRY; ALTHOUGH VERY LITTLE OF IT WOULD BE NEEDED BY THE BANKS. IT WOULD RATHER TEND TO BRING SPECIE INTO THE COUNTRY, BECAUSE IT WOULD IMMENSELY INCREASE OUR PRODUCTION. WE SHOULD, THEREFORE, HAVE MUCH MORE TO SELL, AND MUCH LESS TO BUY. THIS WOULD ALWAYS GIVE A BALANCE IN OUR FAVOR, WHICH WOULD have to be paid in specie. IT IS, HOWEVER, A MATTER OF NO PRACTICAL IMPORTANCE WHETHER THE SYSTEM WOULD BRING SPECIE INTO THE COUNTRY, OR DRIVE IT OUT; FOR THE VOLUME AND VALUE OF THE CURRENCY WOULD BE SUBSTANTIALLY UNAFFECTED EITHER BY THE INFLUX OR EFFLUX OF SPECIE. CONSEQUENTLY INDUSTRY, TRADE, AND PRICES WOULD BE UNDISTURBED EITHER BY THE PRESENCE OR ABSENCE OF SPECIE. THE CURRENCY WOULD REPRESENT PROPERTY THAT COULD NOT BE EXPORTED; THAT WOULD ALWAYS BE HERE; THAT WOULD ALWAYS HAVE A VALUE AS FIXED AND WELL KNOWN AS THAT OF SPECIE; THAT WOULD ALWAYS BE MANY TIMES MORE ABUNDANT THAN SPECIE CAN EVER BE; AND THAT COULD ALWAYS BE DELIVERED (IN THE ABSENCE OF SPECIE) IN REDEMPTION OF THE CURRENCY. THESE ATTRIBUTES OF THE currency would render all financial contractions, revulsions, and disorders forever impossible. The following is AN OUTLINE OF THE SYSTEM. The principle of the system is that the currency shall represent an invested dollar, instead of a specie dollar. THE CURRENCY WILL, THEREFORE, BE REDEEMABLE BY AN invested DOLLAR, EXCEPT WHEN REDEEMED BY SPECIE, OR BY BEING received in payment of debts due the banks. THE BEST CAPITAL WILL PROBABLY BE MORTGAGES AND RAILROADS; AND THESE WILL VERY LIKELY BE THE ONLY CAPITAL WHICH IT WILL EVER be expedient to use. INASMUCH AS RAILROADS COULD NOT BE USED AS CAPITAL, WITHOUT A MODIFICATION OF THEIR PRESENT CHARTERS, MORTGAGES ARE probably the best capital that is immediately available. SUPPOSING MORTGAGES TO BE THE CAPITAL, THEY WILL BE PUT INTO JOINT STOCK, HELD BY TRUSTEES, AND DIVIDED INTO SHARES OF ONE hundred dollars each. This stock may be called the PRODUCTIVE STOCK, and will be entitled to the dividends. The dividends will consist of the interest on the mortgages, and the profits of banking. THE INTEREST ON THE MORTGAGES SHOULD BE SO HIGH—SAY SIX OR SEVEN PER CENT—AS TO MAKE THE PRODUCTIVE STOCK WORTH ordinarily par of specie in the market, independently of the profits of banking. ANOTHER KIND OF STOCK, WHICH MAY BE CALLED Circulating Stock, WILL BE CREATED, precisely equal in amount to the PRODUCTIVE STOCK, and divided into shares of one dollar each. THIS Circulating Stock WILL BE REPRESENTED BY CERTIFICATES, SCRIP, OR BILLS, OF VARIOUS DENOMINATIONS, LIKE OUR PRESENT bank bills—that is, representing one, two, three, five, ten, or more shares, of one dollar each. THESE CERTIFICATES, SCRIP, OR BILLS OF THE Circulating Stock, WILL BE ISSUED FOR CIRCULATION AS CURRENCY, AS OUR BANK BILLS are now. IN LAW, THIS Circulating Stock WILL BE IN THE NATURE OF A LIEN ON THE PRODUCTIVE STOCK. IT WILL BE ENTITLED TO NO DIVIDENDS. ITS VALUE WILL CONSIST, first, IN ITS TITLE TO BE RECEIVED IN PAYMENT OF ALL DUES TO THE BANK; second, IN ITS TITLE TO BE REDEEMED, EITHER IN SPECIE ON DEMAND, OR IN SPECIE, WITH INTEREST FROM THE TIME OF DEMAND, BEFORE ANY DIVIDENDS CAN BE MADE TO THE BANKERS; AND, third, IN ITS TITLE, WHEN NOT REDEEMED WITH SPECIE, TO BE REDEEMED (IN SUMS OF ONE hundred dollars each) by a transfer of a corresponding amount of the capital itself; that is, of the PRODUCTIVE STOCK. THE HOLDERS OF THE Circulating Stock ARE, THEREFORE, SURE, first, TO BE ABLE TO USE IT (IF THEY HAVE OCCASION TO DO SO) IN PAYMENT OF THEIR DUES TO THE BANK; second, TO GET, IN EXCHANGE FOR IT, EITHER SPECIE ON DEMAND, OR SPECIE, WITH INTEREST FROM THE TIME OF DEMAND; OR, third, A SHARE OF THE CAPITAL ITSELF, THE PRODUCTIVE STOCK; A STOCK WORTH PAR OF SPECIE IN the market, and as merchantable as a share of railroad stock, or government stock, or any other stock whatever is now. WHENEVER PRODUCTIVE STOCK SHALL HAVE BEEN TRANSFERRED IN REDEMPTION OF Circulating Stock, IT (THE PRODUCTIVE [Pg 8] [Pg 9] [Pg 10] STOCK) MAY BE ITSELF REDEEMED, OR BOUGHT BACK, AT PLEASURE, BY THE BANKERS, ON THEIR PAYING ITS FACE IN SPECIE, WITH INTEREST (OR DIVIDENDS) FROM THE TIME OF THE TRANSFER; AND must BE SO BOUGHT BACK, BEFORE ANY DIVIDENDS CAN BE PAID TO the original bankers. THE FULFILMENT OF ALL THESE OBLIGATIONS, ON THE PART OF THE BANK, IS SECURED BY THE FACT THAT THE CAPITAL AND ALL THE RESOURCES OF THE BANK ARE IN THE HANDS OF TRUSTEES, WHO ARE LEGALLY BOUND—BEFORE MAKING ANY DIVIDENDS TO THE BANKERS—TO REDEEM ALL PAPER IN THE MANNER MENTIONED; AND ALSO TO BUY BACK ALL PRODUCTIVE STOCK THAT SHALL HAVE BEEN TRANSFERRED in redemption of the circulation. SUCH ARE THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF THE SYSTEM. THE DETAILS ARE TOO NUMEROUS TO BE GIVEN HERE. THEY WILL BE FOUND IN THE "Articles of Association of a Mortgage Stock Banking Company," which the author has drawn up and copyrighted. CHAPTER II. SPECIE PAYMENTS. ALTHOUGH THE BANKS, UNDER THIS SYSTEM, MAKE NO ABSOLUTE PROMISE TO PAY SPECIE on demand, THE SYSTEM NEVERTHELESS AFFORDS A MUCH BETTER practical GUARANTY FOR SPECIE PAYMENTS, THAN THE OLD SPECIE PAYING SYSTEM (SO CALLED); AND FOR these reasons, viz: 1. THE BANKS WOULD BE SO UNIVERSALLY SOLVENT, AND SO UNIVERSALLY KNOWN TO BE SOLVENT, THAT NO RUNS WOULD EVER BE MADE UPON THEM FOR SPECIE, THROUGH FEAR OF THEIR INSOLVENCY. THEY COULD, THEREFORE, MAINTAIN SPECIE PAYMENTS WITH MUCH LESS amounts of specie, than the old specie paying banks (so called) could do. 2. AS THERE WOULD BE NO FEARS OF THE INSOLVENCY OF THE BANKS, AND AS THE PAPER WOULD BE MORE CONVENIENT THAN SPECIE FOR PURPOSES OF TRADE, BILLS WOULD RARELY BE PRESENTED FOR REDEMPTION—OTHERWISE THAN IN PAYMENT OF DEBTS DUE THE BANKS—EXCEPT IN THOSE CASES WHERE THE HOLDERS DESIRED TO INVEST THEIR MONEY; AND WOULD THEREFORE prefer A TRANSFER OF PRODUCTIVE STOCK, TO A PAYMENT IN SPECIE. IF THEY WANTED SPECIE FOR EXPORTATION, THEY WOULD BUY IT IN THE MARKET (WITH THE BILLS), AS THEY WOULD ANY OTHER COMMODITIES FOR EXPORT. [D] IT WOULD, THEREFORE, USUALLY BE ONLY WHEN THEY WANTED AN INVESTMENT, AND COULD FIND NONE SO GOOD AS THE PRODUCTIVE STOCK, THAT THEY WOULD RETURN THEIR BILLS FOR REDEMPTION. AND THEN THEY WOULD RETURN THEM, NOT REALLY FOR THE PURPOSE OF HAVING THEM REDEEMED WITH SPECIE, BUT IN THE HOPE OF getting a transfer of PRODUCTIVE STOCK, and holding it awhile, and drawing interest on it. 3. THE BANKS WOULD PROBABLY FIND IT FOR THEIR INTEREST, AS PROMOTING THE CIRCULATION OF THEIR BILLS, TO PAY, AT ALL TIMES, SUCH small amounts of specie, as the public convenience might require. 4. If there should be any suspensions of specie payments, they would be only temporary ones, by here and there a bank SEPARATELY, AND NOT BY ALL THE BANKS SIMULTANEOUSLY, AS UNDER THE SO CALLED SPECIE PAYING SYSTEM. NO GENERAL PUBLIC inconvenience would therefore ever be felt from that cause. 5. If the banks should rarely, or never, pay specie on demand, that fact would bring no discredit upon their bills, and be NO OBSTACLE TO THEIR CIRCULATION AT PAR WITH SPECIE. IT WOULD BE KNOWN THAT—UNLESS BAD NOTES HAD BEEN DISCOUNTED—ALL THE BILLS ISSUED BY THE BANKS, WOULD BE WANTED TO PAY THE DEBTS DUE THE BANKS. THIS WOULD ORDINARILY BE SUFFICIENT, OF ITSELF, TO KEEP THE BILLS AT PAR WITH SPECIE. IT WOULD ALSO BE KNOWN THAT, IF SPECIE WERE NOT PAID on demand, IT WOULD EITHER BE PAID AFTERWARDS, WITH INTEREST FROM THE TIME OF DEMAND; OR PRODUCTIVE STOCK, EQUAL IN VALUE TO SPECIE IN THE MARKET, WOULD BE TRANSFERRED IN REDEMPTION OF THE BILLS. THE BILLS, THEREFORE, WOULD NEVER DEPRECIATE IN CONSEQUENCE OF specie not being paid on demand; nor would any contraction of the currency ever be occasioned on that account. FOR THE REASONS NOW GIVEN, THE SYSTEM IS PRACTICALLY THE BEST SPECIE PAYING SYSTEM THAT WAS EVER INVENTED. THAT IS TO SAY, IT WOULD REQUIRE LESS SPECIE TO WORK IT; AND ALSO LESS TO KEEP ITS BILLS ALWAYS AT PAR WITH SPECIE. IN PROPORTION TO THE AMOUNT OF CURRENCY IT WOULD FURNISH, IT WOULD NOT REQUIRE SO MUCH AS ONE DOLLAR IN SPECIE, WHERE THE SO CALLED SPECIE PAYING SYSTEM WOULD REQUIRE A HUNDRED. IT WOULD ALSO, BY IMMENSELY INCREASING OUR PRODUCTION AND EXPORTS, DO FAR more than any other system, towards bringing specie into the country, and preventing its exportation. IF IT SHOULD BE CHARGED THAT THE SYSTEM SUPPLIES NO SPECIE FOR exportation; THE ANSWER IS, THAT IT IS REALLY NO PART OF THE LEGITIMATE BUSINESS OF A BANK TO FURNISH SPECIE FOR EXPORTATION. ITS LEGITIMATE BUSINESS IS SIMPLY TO FURNISH CREDIT AND CURRENCY FOR HOME INDUSTRY AND TRADE. AND IT CAN NEVER FURNISH THESE CONSTANTLY, AND IN ADEQUATE AMOUNTS, UNLESS IT CAN BE FREED FROM THE OBLIGATION TO SUPPLY SPECIE ON DEMAND FOR EXPORTATION. SPECIE SHOULD, THEREFORE, ALWAYS BE MERELY AN ARTICLE OF MERCHANDISE IN THE MARKET, LIKE ANY OTHER; AND SHOULD HAVE NO SPECIAL—OR, AT LEAST, NO IMPORTANT—CONNECTION WITH THE BUSINESS OF BANKING, EXCEPT AS FURNISHING THE MEASURE OF VALUE. IF A PAPER CURRENCY IS MADE PAYABLE IN SPECIE, on demand, VERY LITTLE OF IT CAN EVER BE ISSUED, OR KEPT IN CIRCULATION; AND THAT LITTLE WILL BE SO IRREGULAR AND INCONSTANT IN AMOUNT AS TO CAUSE CONTINUAL AND IRREMEDIABLE DERANGEMENTS. BUT IF A PAPER CURRENCY, INSTEAD OF PROMISING TO PAY SPECIE on demand, PROMISES ONLY AN ALTERNATIVE REDEMPTION, VIZ: SPECIE ON DEMAND, OR SPECIE WITH INTEREST FROM THE TIME OF DEMAND, OR OTHER MERCHANTABLE PROPERTY OF EQUAL MARKET VALUE WITH SPECIE—IT CAN THEN BE ISSUED TO AN AMOUNT EQUAL TO SUCH PROPERTY; AND YET KEEP ITS PROMISES TO THE LETTER. IT CAN, THEREFORE, FURNISH ALL THE CREDIT AND CURRENCY THAT CAN BE NEEDED; OR AT LEAST MANY TIMES MORE THAN THE SO CALLED SPECIE PAYING SYSTEM EVER DID, OR EVER CAN, FURNISH. AND [Pg 11] [Pg 12] [Pg 13] [Pg 14] [Pg 15] THEN THE INTEREST, INDUSTRY AND TRADE OF A NATION WILL NEVER BE DISTURBED BY THE EXPORTATION OF SPECIE. AND YET THE standard of value will always be maintained. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SYSTEM HERE PROPOSED, AND THE SO CALLED SPECIE PAYING SYSTEM—IN RESPECT TO THEIR RESPECTIVE CAPACITIES FOR FURNISHING CREDIT AND CURRENCY, AND AT THE SAME TIME FULFILLING THEIR CONTRACTS TO THE LETTER—IS AS fifty to one, at the least, in favor of the former; probably much more than that. THUS UNDER THE SYSTEM NOW PROPOSED, THE REAL ESTATE AND RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES, AT THEIR PRESENT VALUES, ARE CAPABLE OF FURNISHING TWENTY THOUSAND MILLIONS ($20,000,000,000) OF PAPER CURRENCY; AND FURNISHING IT CONSTANTLY, AND WITHOUT FLUCTUATION, AND EVERY DOLLAR OF IT WILL HAVE AN EQUAL MARKET VALUE WITH GOLD. THE CONTRACTS OR CERTIFICATES COMPRISING IT, CAN ALWAYS BE FULFILLED TO THE LETTER; THAT IS, THE CAPITAL ITSELF, (THE PRODUCTIVE STOCK,) REPRESENTED BY THESE CERTIFICATES, CAN ALWAYS BE DELIVERED, on demand, IN REDEMPTION OF THE CERTIFICATES, IF THE BANKS SHOULD BE UNABLE to redeem in specie. ON THE OTHER HAND, IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE TO HAVE SO MUCH AS FOUR HUNDRED MILLIONS, ($400,000,000)—ONE FIFTIETH OF THE AMOUNT BEFORE MENTIONED—OF SO CALLED SPECIE PAYING PAPER CURRENCY; THAT IS, A PAPER PROMISING TO PAY SPECIE on demand; and constantly able to fulfil its obligations. IT IS OF NO APPRECIABLE IMPORTANCE THAT A PAPER CURRENCY SHOULD BE PAYABLE on demand WITH SPECIE. IT IS SUFFICIENT, IF IT BE PAYABLE according to its terms, if only those terms are convenient and acceptable. FOR THEN THE VALUE OF THE CURRENCY WILL BE KNOWN, and its contracts will be fulfilled to the letter. AND WHEN THESE CONTRACTS ARE FULFILLED TO THE LETTER, THEN, to all practical purposes, specie payments are maintained. WHEN, FOR EXAMPLE, A MAN PROMISES TO PAY WHEAT, EITHER ON DEMAND, OR AT A TIME SPECIFIED, AND HE FULFILS THAT CONTRACT TO THE LETTER, that, to all practical purposes, is specie payments; AS MUCH SO AS IF THE PROMISE AND PAYMENT HAD BEEN MADE IN COIN. IT IS, THEREFORE, THE SPECIFIC AND LITERAL FULFILMENT OF CONTRACTS, THAT CONSTITUTES SPECIE PAYMENTS; AND NOT THE PARTICULAR KIND OF PROPERTY THAT IS PROMISED AND PAID. The great secret, then, of having an abundant paper currency, and yet maintaining all the while specie payments, consists IN HAVING THE PAPER REPRESENT PROPERTY—LIKE REAL ESTATE, FOR EXAMPLE—THAT EXISTS IN LARGE AMOUNTS, AND CAN ALWAYS BE DELIVERED, ON DEMAND, IN REDEMPTION OF THE PAPER; AND ALSO IN HAVING THIS PAPER ISSUED BY THE PERSONS WHO ACTUALLY OWN the property represented by it, and who can be compelled BY LAW TO DELIVER IT IN REDEMPTION OF THE PAPER. AND THE GREAT SECRET—IF IT BE A SECRET—OF HAVING ONLY A SCANTY CURRENCY, AND OF not HAVING SPECIE PAYMENTS, CONSISTS IN HAVING THE PAPER ISSUED BY A GOVERNMENT THAT CANNOT FULFIL ITS CONTRACTS, AND HAS NO INTENTION OF FULFILLING THEM; AND BY BANKS THAT ARE not even required to fulfil them. It is somewhat remarkable that after ten years experiment, we have not yet learned these apparently self-evident truths. THE PALPABLE FACT IS THAT THE ADVOCATES OF THE PRESENT "NATIONAL" CURRENCY SYSTEM,—THAT IS, THE STOCKHOLDERS IN THE PRESENT "NATIONAL" BANKS,— do not wish for specie payments. THEY WISH ONLY TO MAINTAIN, IN THEIR OWN HANDS, A MONOPOLY OF BANKING, AND, AS FAR AS POSSIBLE ALSO, A MONOPOLY OF ALL BUSINESS DEPENDING UPON BANK LOANS. THEY WISH, THEREFORE, TO KEEP THE VOLUME OF THE CURRENCY DOWN TO ITS PRESENT AMOUNT. AS AN EXCUSE FOR THIS, THEY PROFESS A GREAT DESIRE FOR SPECIE PAYMENTS; AND AT THE SAME TIME PRACTICE THE IMPOSTURE OF DECLARING THAT SPECIE PAYMENTS WILL BE impossible, if the amount of the currency be increased. BUT ALL THIS IS SHEER FALSEHOOD AND FRAUD. IT IS, OF COURSE, IMPOSSIBLE TO HAVE SPECIE PAYMENTS, SO LONG AS THE ONLY CURRENCY ISSUED IS ISSUED BY A GOVERNMENT THAT HAS NOTHING TO REDEEM WITH, AND HAS NO INTENTION OF REDEEMING; AND BY BANKS THAT ARE NOT EVEN REQUIRED TO REDEEM. BUT THERE IS NO OBSTACLE TO OUR HAVING TWENTY TIMES AS MUCH CURRENCY AS WE NOW HAVE, AND YET HAVING SPECIE PAYMENTS—OR THE LITERAL FULFILMENT OF CONTRACTS—IF WE WILL BUT SUFFER THE BUSINESS OF BANKING TO GO INTO THE HANDS OF THOSE WHO HAVE PROPERTY WITH WHICH TO REDEEM, AND CAN BE COMPELLED BY LAW TO redeem. IT IS WITH GOVERNMENT PAPER, AND BANK PAPER, AS IT IS WITH THE PAPER OF PRIVATE PERSONS; THAT IS, IT IS WORTH JUST WHAT CAN BE DELIVERED IN REDEMPTION OF IT, AND NO MORE. WE ALL UNDERSTAND THAT THE NOTES OF THE ASTORS, AND STEWARTS, AND VANDERBILTS, THOUGH ISSUED BY MILLIONS, AND TENS OF MILLIONS, ARE REALLY WORTH THEIR NOMINAL VALUES. AND WHY? SOLELY BECAUSE THE MAKERS OF THEM HAVE THE PROPERTY WITH WHICH TO REDEEM THEM IN FULL, AND CAN BE MADE TO REDEEM THEM IN FULL. WE ALSO ALL UNDERSTAND THAT THE NOTES OF SAM JONES, AND JIM SMITH, AND BILL NOKES, THOUGH ISSUED FOR ONLY FIVE DOLLARS, ARE NOT WORTH TWO CENTS ON THE DOLLAR. AND WHY? SOLELY BECAUSE THEY HAVE NOTHING TO PAY WITH; AND CANNOT BE made to pay. SUPPOSE, NOW, THAT THESE NOTES OF SAM JONES, AND JIM SMITH, AND BILL NOKES, FOR FIVE DOLLARS, WERE THE ONLY CURRENCY ALLOWED BY LAW; AND THAT THEY WERE WORTH IN THE MARKET BUT TWO CENTS ON THE DOLLAR. AND SUPPOSE THAT THE FEW HOLDERS OF THESE NOTES, WISHING TO MAKE THE MOST OF THEM, AT THE EXPENSE OF THE RIGHTS OF EVERYBODY ELSE, SHOULD KEEP UP A CONSTANT HOWL FOR SPECIE PAYMENTS; AND SHOULD PROTEST AGAINST ANY ISSUE OF THE NOTES OF THE ASTORS, THE STEWARTS, AND THE VANDERBILTS, UPON THE GROUND THAT SUCH ISSUE WOULD INFLATE THE CURRENCY, AND POSTPONE SPECIE PAYMENTS! WHAT WOULD WE THINK OF MEN CAPABLE OF UTTERING SUCH AB SURDITIES? WOULD WE IN CHARITY TO THEIR WEAKNESS, CALL THEM IDIOTS? OR WOULD WE IN JUSTICE TO THEIR VILLAINY, DENOUNCE THEM AS IMPOSTORS AND CHEATS OF THE MOST TRANSCENDENT AND AMAZING IMPUDENCE? AND WHAT WOULD WE THINK OF THE WITS OF FORTY MILLIONS OF PEOPLE, WHO COULD BE DUPED BY SUCH preposterous falsehoods? [Pg 16] [Pg 17] [Pg 18] [Pg 19] AND YET THIS IS SCARCELY AN EXAGGERATED PICTURE OF THE FRAUD THAT HAS BEEN PRACTICED UPON THE PEOPLE FOR THE LAST TEN YEARS. A FEW MEN HAVE SECURED TO THEMSELVES THE MONOPOLY OF A FEW IRREDEEMABLE NOTES; AND NOT WISHING TO HAVE ANY COMPETITION, EITHER IN THE BUSINESS OF BANKING, OR IN ANY BUSINESS DEPENDING UPON BANK LOANS, THEY CRY OUT FOR SPECIE PAYMENTS; AND DECLARE THAT NO solvent OR redeemable NOTES MUST BE PUT INTO CIRCULATION, IN COMPETITION WITH THEIR insolvent and irredeemable ones, lest the currency be inflated, and specie payments be postponed! AND THIS IMPOSTURE IS LIKELY TO BE PALMED OFF UPON THE PEOPLE IN THE FUTURE, AS IT HAS BEEN IN THE PAST, IF THEY ARE SUCH dunces as to permit it to be done. IT IS PERFECTLY EVIDENT, THEN, THAT SPECIE PAYMENTS—OR THE LITERAL FULFILMENT OF CONTRACTS—DOES NOT DEPEND AT ALL UPON THE AMOUNT OF PAPER IN CIRCULATION AS CURRENCY; BUT SOLELY UPON THE FACT WHETHER, ON THE ONE HAND, IT BE ISSUED BY THOSE WHO HAVE PROPERTY WITH WHICH TO REDEEM IT, AND CAN BE MADE TO REDEEM IT; OR WHETHER, ON THE OTHER HAND, IT BE ISSUED BY those who cannot redeem it, and cannot be made to redeem it. WHEN THE PEOPLE SHALL UNDERSTAND THESE SIMPLE, MANIFEST TRUTHS, THEY WILL SOON PUT AN END TO THE MONOPOLY, EXTORTION, fraud, and tyranny of the existing "National" system. THE "NATIONAL" SYSTEM, SO CALLED, IS, IN REALITY, NO NATIONAL SYSTEM AT ALL; EXCEPT IN THE MERE FACTS THAT IT IS CALLED THE NATIONAL SYSTEM, AND WAS ESTABLISHED BY THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. IT IS, IN TRUTH, ONLY A PRIVATE SYSTEM; A MERE PRIVILEGE CONFERRED UPON A FEW, TO ENABLE THEM TO CONTROL PRICES, PROPERTY, AND LABOR; AND THUS TO SWINDLE, PLUNDER, AND OPPRESS all the rest of the people. CHAPTER III. NO INFLATION OF PRICES. SECTION 1. IN REALITY THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN INFLATION OF PRICES, RELATIVELY TO GOLD. THERE IS SUCH A THING AS A DEPRECIATED PAPER CURRENCY. THAT IS TO SAY, THERE IS SUCH A THING AS A PAPER CURRENCY, THAT IS CALLED BY THE SAME NAMES AS GOLD—TO WIT, MONEY, DOLLARS, &C.—BUT THAT CANNOT BE REDEEMED IN FULL; AND THEREFORE HAS NOT THE SAME VALUE AS GOLD. SUCH A CURRENCY DOES NOT CIRCULATE AT ITS NOMINAL, BUT ONLY AT ITS REAL, VALUE. AND WHEN SUCH A CURRENCY IS IN CIRCULATION, AND PRICES ARE MEASURED BY IT, INSTEAD OF GOLD, THEY ARE SAID TO BE INFLATED, RELATIVELY TO GOLD. BUT, IN REALITY, THE PRICES OF PROPERTY ARE NOT THEREBY INFLATED AT ALL RELATIVELY TO GOLD. IT IS ONLY THE MEASURING OF PRICES BY A CURRENCY, THAT IS CALLED BY THE SAME NAMES AS GOLD, BUT THAT IS REALLY INFERIOR IN VALUE TO GOLD, THAT CAUSES THE apparent, not real, INFLATION OF PRICES, relatively to gold. TO MEASURE PRICES BY A CURRENCY THAT IS CALLED BY THE SAME NAMES AS GOLD, BUT THAT IS REALLY INFERIOR IN VALUE TO GOLD, AND THEN—BECAUSE THOSE PRICES ARE NOMINALLY HIGHER THAN GOLD PRICES—TO SAY THAT THEY ARE INFLATED, RELATIVELY TO GOLD, IS A perfect absurdity. IF WE WERE TO CALL A FOOT MEASURE A YARD, AND WERE THEN TO SAY THAT ALL CLOTH MEASURED BY IT BECAME THEREBY STRETCHED TO THREE TIMES ITS LENGTH, RELATIVELY TO A TRUE YARD-STICK, WE SHOULD SIMPLY MAKE OURSELVES RIDICULOUS. WE SHOULD NOT THEREBY prove that the foot measure had really stretched the cloth, but only that it had taxed our brains beyond their capacity. IT IS ONLY IRREDEEMABLE PAPER—IRREDEEMABLE IN WHOLE OR IN PART,—THAT EVER appears TO INFLATE PRICES, RELATIVELY TO GOLD. BUT THAT IT REALLY CAUSES NO INFLATION OF PRICES, RELATIVELY TO GOLD, IS PROVED BY THE FACT THAT IT NO MORE INFLATES THE PRICES OF OTHER PROPERTY, THAN IT DOES THE PRICE OF GOLD ITSELF. THUS WE SAY THAT IRREDEEMABLE PAPER, THAT IS WORTH BUT FIFTY CENTS ON THE DOLLAR, INFLATES THE PRICES OF COMMODITIES IN GENERAL TO TWICE THEIR REAL VALUE. BY THIS WE MEAN, THAT THEY ARE INFLATED TO TWICE THEIR VALUE RELATIVELY TO GOLD. AND WHY DO WE SAY THIS? SOLELY BECAUSE IT TAKES TWICE AS MANY OF THESE IRREDEEMABLE PAPER DOLLARS TO BUY ANY COMMODITY,—A BARREL OF FLOUR FOR EXAMPLE,—AS IT WOULD IF THE PAPER WERE EQUAL IN VALUE TO GOLD. BUT IT ALSO TAKES TWICE AS MANY OF THESE IRREDEEMABLE PAPER DOLLARS TO BUY GOLD ITSELF, AS IT WOULD IF THE PAPER WERE EQUAL IN VALUE TO GOLD. THERE IS, THEREFORE, JUST AS MUCH REASON FOR SAYING THAT THE PAPER INFLATES THE PRICE OF GOLD, AS THERE IS FOR SAYING THAT IT INFLATES THE PRICE OF FLOUR. IT INFLATES NEITHER. IT IS, ITSELF, WORTH BUT FIFTY CENTS ON THE DOLLAR; AND IT, THEREFORE, TAKES TWICE AS MUCH OF IT TO BUY EITHER FLOUR OR GOLD, AS IT WOULD IF THE PAPER WERE OF EQUAL VALUE with gold. THE VALUE OF THE COINS—IN ANY NATION THAT IS OPEN TO FREE COMMERCE WITH THE REST OF THE WORLD—IS FIXED BY THEIR VALUE IN THE MARKETS OF THE WORLD; AND CAN NEITHER BE REDUCED BELOW THAT VALUE, IN THAT NATION, BY ANY POSSIBLE AMOUNT OF PAPER CURRENCY, NOR RAISED ABOVE THAT VALUE, BY THE ENTIRE DISUSE OF A PAPER CURRENCY. ANY INCREASE OF THE CURRENCY, THEREFORE, BY MEANS OF PAPER REPRESENTING OTHER PROPERTY THAN THE COINS—BUT HAVING AN EQUAL VALUE WITH THE COINS—IS AN ABSOLUTE bona fide INCREASE OF THE CURRENCY TO THAT EXTENT; AND NOT A MERE DEPRECIATION OF IT, AS SO MANY ARE IN THE HABIT OF asserting. PRACTICALLY AND COMMERCIALLY SPEAKING, A DOLLAR IS NOT NECESSARILY A SPECIFIC THING, MADE OF SILVER, OR GOLD, OR ANY OTHER SINGLE METAL, OR SUBSTANCE. It is only such a quantum of market value as exists in a given piece of silver or gold. [Pg 20] [Pg 21] [Pg 22] [Pg 23] AND IT IS THE SAME QUANTUM OF VALUE, WHETHER IT EXIST IN GOLD, SILVER, HOUSES, LANDS, CATTLE, HORSES, WOOL, COTTON, WHEAT, iron, coal, or any other commodity that men desire for use, and buy and sell in the market. EVERY DOLLAR'S WORTH OF VENDIBLE PROPERTY IN THE WORLD IS EQUAL IN VALUE TO A DOLLAR IN GOLD. AND IF IT WERE POSSIBLE THAT EVERY DOLLAR'S WORTH OF SUCH PROPERTY, IN THE WORLD, COULD BE REPRESENTED, IN THE MARKET, BY A CONTRACT ON PAPER, PROMISING TO DELIVER IT ON DEMAND; AND IF EVERY DOLLAR'S WORTH COULD BE DELIVERED ON DEMAND, IN REDEMPTION OF THE PAPER THAT REPRESENTED IT, THE WORLD COULD THEN HAVE AN AMOUNT OF CURRENCY EQUAL TO THE ENTIRE PROPERTY OF THE WORLD. AND YET CLEARLY EVERY DOLLAR OF PAPER WOULD BE EQUAL IN VALUE TO A DOLLAR OF GOLD; SPECIE PAYMENTS—OR THE LITERAL FULFILMENT OF CONTRACTS—COULD FOREVER BE MAINTAINED; AND YET THERE COULD BE NO INFLATION OF PRICES, RELATIVELY TO GOLD. SUCH A CURRENCY WOULD NO MORE INFLATE THE PRICE OF ONE THING, THAN OF ANOTHER. IT WOULD AS MUCH INFLATE THE PRICE OF GOLD, AS OF ANY THING ELSE. GOLD WOULD STAND AT ITS TRUE AND NATURAL VALUE AS A METAL; AND ALL OTHER THINGS WOULD ALSO STAND AT THEIR TRUE AND natural values, for their respective uses. ON THIS PRINCIPLE, IF EVERY DOLLAR'S WORTH OF VENDIBLE PROPERTY IN THE UNITED STATES COULD BE REPRESENTED BY A PAPER CURRENCY; AND IF THE PROPERTY COULD ALL BE DELIVERED ON DEMAND, IN REDEMPTION OF THE PAPER, SUCH A CURRENCY WOULD NOT INFLATE THE PRICES OF PROPERTY AT ALL, RELATIVELY TO GOLD. GOLD WOULD STILL STAND AT ITS TRUE AND NATURAL VALUE AS A METAL, OR AT ITS VALUE IN THE MARKETS OF THE WORLD. AND ALL THE PROPERTY REPRESENTED BY THE PAPER, WOULD SIMPLY BE MEASURED BY THE gold, and would stand at its true and natural value, relatively to the gold. WE COULD THEN HAVE SOME THIRTY THOUSAND MILLIONS ($30,000,000,) OF PAPER CURRENCY,—TAKING OUR PROPERTY AT ITS PRESENT VALUATION. AND YET EVERY DOLLAR OF IT WOULD BE EQUAL TO A DOLLAR OF GOLD; AND THERE COULD EVIDENTLY BE NO INFLATION OF PRICES, RELATIVELY TO GOLD. NO MORE OF THE CURRENCY COULD BE KEPT IN CIRCULATION, THAN SHOULD BE NECESSARY OR convenient for the purchase and sale of property at specie prices. IT IS PROBABLY NOT PRACTICABLE TO REPRESENT THE ENTIRE PROPERTY OF THE COUNTRY BY SUCH CONTRACTS ON PAPER AS WOULD BE CONVENIENT AND ACCEPTABLE AS A CURRENCY. THIS IS ESPECIALLY TRUE OF THE personal PROPERTY; ALTHOUGH LARGE PORTIONS EVEN OF THIS ARE BEING CONSTANTLY REPRESENTED BY SUCH CONTRACTS AS BANK NOTES, PRIVATE PROMISSORY NOTES, CHECKS, DRAFTS, AND BILLS OF EXCHANGE; ALL OF WHICH ARE IN THE NATURE OF CURRENCY; THAT IS, THEY SERVE FOR THE TIME AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR SPECIE; although some of them do not acquire any extensive, or even general, circulation. But that it is perfectly practicable to represent nearly all the real estate of the country—including the railroads—by such CONTRACTS ON PAPER AS WILL BE PERFECTLY CONVENIENT AND ACCEPTABLE AS A CURRENCY; AND THAT EVERY DOLLAR OF IT CAN BE KEPT always at par with specie throughout the entire country—that all this is perfectly practicable, the author offers the system already presented in proof. SECTION 2. TO SUSTAIN THEIR THEORY, THAT AN ABUNDANT PAPER CURRENCY—THOUGH EQUAL IN VALUE TO GOLD—INFLATES PRICES, RELATIVELY TO GOLD, ITS ADVOCATES ASSERT THAT, for the time being, THE PAPER DEPRECIATES THE GOLD ITSELF BELOW ITS TRUE VALUE; OR AT LEAST BELOW THAT VALUE WHICH IT HAD BEFORE THE PAPER WAS INTRODUCED. BUT THIS IS AN IMPOSSIBILITY; FOR IN A COUNTRY OPEN TO FREE COMMERCE WITH THE REST OF THE WORLD, GOLD MUST ALWAYS HAVE THE SAME VALUE THAT IT HAS IN THE MARKETS OF THE WORLD; NEITHER MORE, NOR LESS. NO POSSIBLE AMOUNT OF PAPER CAN REDUCE IT BELOW THAT VALUE; AS HAS BEEN ABUNDANTLY DEMONSTRATED IN THIS COUNTRY FOR THE LAST TEN YEARS. NEITHER CAN ANY POSSIBLE AMOUNT OF PAPER CURRENCY REDUCE GOLD BELOW ITS ONLY TRUE AND NATURAL VALUE, VIZ.: ITS VALUE AS A METAL, FOR USES IN THE ARTS. THE PAPER CANNOT REDUCE THE GOLD BELOW THIS VALUE, BECAUSE THE PAPER DOES NOT COME AT ALL IN COMPETITION WITH IT FOR THOSE USES. WE CANNOT MAKE A watch, a spoon, or a necklace, out of the paper; and therefore the paper cannot compete with the gold for these uses. THAT GOLD AND SILVER NOW HAVE, AND CAN BE MADE TO HAVE, NO HIGHER VALUE, AS A CURRENCY, THAN THEY HAVE AS METALS FOR USES IN THE ARTS, IS PROVED BY THE FACT THAT DOUBTLESS NOT MORE THAN ONE TENTH, AND VERY LIKELY NOT MORE THAN A TWENTIETH, OF ALL THE GOLD AND SILVER IN THE WORLD (OUT OF THE MINES), IS IN CIRCULATION AS CURRENCY. IN ASIA, WHERE THESE METALS HAVE BEEN ACCUMULATING FROM TIME IMMEMORIAL, AND WHITHER ALL THE GOLD AND SILVER OF EUROPE AND AMERICA—EXCEPT WHAT IS CAUGHT UP, AND CONVERTED INTO PLATE, JEWELRY, &C.—IS NOW GOING, AND HAS BEEN GOING FOR THE LAST TWO THOUSAND YEARS, VERY LITTLE IS IN CIRCULATION AS MONEY. FOR THE COMMON TRAFFIC OF THE PEOPLE, COINS MADE OF COARSER METALS, SHELLS, AND OTHER THINGS OF LITTLE VALUE, ARE THE ONLY CURRENCY. IT IS ONLY FOR THE LARGER COMMERCIAL TRANSACTIONS, THAT GOLD AND SILVER ARE USED AT ALL AS A CURRENCY. THE GREAT BULK OF THESE METALS ARE USED FOR PLATE, JEWELRY, FOR EMBELLISHING TEMPLES AND palaces. Large amounts are also hoarded. BUT THAT GOLD AND SILVER COINS NOW STAND, AND THAT THEY CAN BE MADE TO STAND, AS CURRENCY, ONLY AT THEIR TRUE AND NATURAL VALUES AS METALS, FOR USES IN THE ARTS; AND THAT NEITHER THE USE, NOR DISUSE, OF ANY POSSIBLE AMOUNT OF PAPER CURRENCY, IN ANY ONE COUNTRY—THE UNITED STATES, FOR EXAMPLE—CAN SENSIBLY AFFECT THEIR VALUES IN THAT COUNTRY, OR RAISE THEM ABOVE, OR REDUCE THEM BELOW, THEIR VALUES IN THE MARKETS OF THE WORLD, THE AUTHOR HOPES TO DEMONSTRATE MORE FULLY AT A FUTURE time, if it should be necessary to do so. SECTION 3. ANOTHER ARGUMENT—OR RATHER ASSERTION—OF THOSE WHO SAY THAT ANY INCREASE OF THE CURRENCY, BY MEANS OF PAPER— THOUGH THE PAPER BE EQUAL IN VALUE TO GOLD—DEPRECIATES THE VALUE OF THE GOLD, OR INFLATES PRICES RELATIVELY TO GOLD, IS THIS: THEY ASSERT THAT, WHERE NO OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES INTERVENE TO AFFECT THE PRICES OF PARTICULAR COMMODITIES, SUCH INCREASE OF [Pg 24] [Pg 25] [Pg 26] [Pg 27] THE CURRENCY RAISES THE PRICES OF all KINDS OF PROPERTY—RELATIVELY TO GOLD—IN A DEGREE PRECISELY CORRESPONDING WITH THE increase of the currency. THIS IS THE UNIVERSAL ASSERTION OF THOSE WHO OPPOSE A solvent PAPER CURRENCY; OR A PAPER CURRENCY THAT IS EQUAL IN VALUE to gold. BUT THE ASSERTION ITSELF IS WHOLLY untrue. IT IS WHOLLY untrue THAT AN ABUNDANT PAPER CURRENCY—THAT IS EQUAL IN VALUE TO GOLD—RAISES THE PRICES OF all COMMODITIES—RELATIVELY TO GOLD—IN A PROPORTION CORRESPONDING TO THE INCREASE OF THE currency. Instead of doing so, it causes a rise only in agricultural commodities, and real estate; while it causes a great fall in the prices of manufactures generally. THUS THE INCREASED CURRENCY PRODUCES a directly opposite effect UPON THE PRICES OF AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES AND REAL estate, on the one hand, and upon manufactures, on the other. The reasons are these: AGRICULTURE REQUIRES BUT VERY FEW EXCHANGES, AND CAN, THEREFORE, BE CARRIED ON WITH VERY LITTLE MONEY. MANUFACTURES, ON the other hand, require a great many exchanges, and can, therefore, be carried on (except in a very feeble way), only by the aid of a great deal of money. THE CONSEQUENCE IS, THAT THE PEOPLE OF ALL THOSE NATIONS, THAT HAVE BUT LITTLE MONEY, ARE ENGAGED MOSTLY IN AGRICULTURE. VERY FEW OF THEM ARE MANUFACTURERS. BEING MOSTLY ENGAGED IN AGRICULTURE, EACH ONE PRODUCING THE SAME COMMODITIES WITH NEARLY ALL THE OTHERS; AND EACH ONE PRODUCING ALL HE WANTS FOR HIS OWN CONSUMPTION, THERE IS NO MARKET, OR VERY LITTLE market, for agricultural commodities; and such commodities, consequently, bear only a very small price. MANUFACTURED COMMODITIES, ON THE OTHER HAND, ARE VERY SCARCE AND DEAR, FOR THE SOLE REASON THAT SO FEW PERSONS ARE engaged in producing them. But let there be an increase of currency, and laborers at once leave agriculture, and become manufacturers. AS MANUFACTURED COMMODITIES USUALLY BRING MUCH HIGHER PRICES THAN AGRICULTURAL, IN PROPORTION TO THE LABOR IT COSTS TO PRODUCE THEM, MEN USUALLY LEAVE AGRICULTURE, AND GO INTO MANUFACTURING, TO THE FULL EXTENT THE INCREASED CURRENCY WILL allow. THE CONSEQUENCE IS THAT, UNDER AN ABUNDANT CURRENCY, MANUFACTURES BECOME VARIOUS, ABUNDANT, AND CHEAP; WHERE before they were scarce and dear. BUT WHILE, ON THE ONE HAND, MANUFACTURES ARE THUS BECOMING VARIOUS, ABUNDANT, AND CHEAP, AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES, ON THE OTHER HAND, ARE RISING: AND WHY? NOT BECAUSE THE CURRENCY IS DEPRECIATED, BUT SIMPLY BECAUSE SO MANY PERSONS, WHO BEFORE—UNDER A SCANTY CURRENCY—WERE ENGAGED IN AGRICULTURE, AND PRODUCED ALL THE AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES THEY NEEDED, AND PERHAPS MORE THAN THEY NEEDED, FOR THEIR OWN CONSUMPTION, HAVING NOW LEFT AGRICULTURE, AND BECOME manufacturers, have become purchasers and consumers, instead of producers, of agricultural commodities. HERE THE SAME CAUSE—ABUNDANT CURRENCY—THAT HAS OCCASIONED A rise IN THE PRICES OF AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES, HAS PRODUCED A directly opposite effect UPON MANUFACTURES. IT HAS MADE THE LATTER VARIOUS, ABUNDANT, AND CHEAP; WHERE before they were scarce and dear. ON THE OTHER HAND, WHEN THE CURRENCY CONTRACTS, MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY IS IN A GREAT DEGREE STOPPED; AND THE PERSONS ENGAGED IN IT ARE DRIVEN TO AGRICULTURE AS THEIR ONLY MEANS OF SUSTAINING LIFE. THE CONSEQUENCE IS, THAT MANUFACTURED COMMODITIES BECOME SCARCE AND DEAR, FROM NON-PRODUCTION. AT THE SAME TIME, AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES BECOME superabundant and cheap, from over-production and want of a market. THUS AN ABUNDANT CURRENCY, AND A SCANTY CURRENCY, PRODUCE DIRECTLY OPPOSITE EFFECTS UPON THE PRICES OF AGRICULTURAL commodities, on the one hand, and manufactures, on the other. THE abundant CURRENCY MAKES MANUFACTURES VARIOUS, ABUNDANT, AND CHEAP, FROM INCREASED PRODUCTION; WHILE IT RAISES THE PRICES OF AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES, BY WITHDRAWING LABORERS FROM THE PRODUCTION OF THEM, AND ALSO BY CREATING A body of purchasers and consumers, to wit, the manufacturers. ON THE OTHER HAND, A scanty CURRENCY DRIVES MEN FROM MANUFACTURES INTO AGRICULTURE, AND THUS CAUSES MANUFACTURES TO BECOME SCARCE AND DEAR, FROM NON-PRODUCTION; AND, AT THE SAME TIME, CAUSES AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES TO FALL IN PRICE, from over-production, and want of a market. BUT WHETHER, ON THE ONE HAND, AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES ARE RISING, AND MANUFACTURED COMMODITIES ARE FALLING, UNDER AN ABUNDANT CURRENCY; OR WHETHER, ON THE OTHER HAND, MANUFACTURED COMMODITIES ARE RISING, AND AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES are falling, under a scanty currency, the value of the currency itself, dollar for dollar, remains the same in both cases. THE VALUE OF THE CURRENCY, IN EITHER OF THESE CASES; IS FIXED, NOT AT ALL BY THE AMOUNT IN CIRCULATION, BUT BY ITS VALUE RELATIVELY TO GOLD. AND THE VALUE OF GOLD, IN ANY PARTICULAR COUNTRY, IS FIXED BY ITS VALUE AS A METAL, AND ITS VALUE IN THE markets of the world; and not at all by any greater or less quantity of paper that may be in circulation in that country. SECTION 4. [Pg 28] [Pg 29] [Pg 30] [Pg 31] BUT IT IS NOT ALONE AGRICULTURAL products THAT RISE IN PRICE UNDER AN ABUNDANT CURRENCY. REAL ESTATE ALSO, OF ALL KINDS— AGRICULTURAL, MANUFACTURING, AND COMMERCIAL—RISES UNDER AN ABUNDANT CURRENCY, AND FALLS UNDER A SCANTY CURRENCY. THE reasons are these: Agricultural REAL ESTATE RISES UNDER AN ABUNDANT CURRENCY, BECAUSE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS RISE UNDER SUCH A CURRENCY, AS ALREADY EXPLAINED. Manufacturing REAL ESTATE RISES UNDER AN ABUNDANT CURRENCY, SIMPLY BECAUSE—MONEY BEING THE GREAT INSTRUMENTALITY OF MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY—THAT INDUSTRY IS ACTIVE AND PROFITABLE UNDER AN ABUNDANT CURRENCY. Commercial REAL ESTATE RISES UNDER AN ABUNDANT CURRENCY, BECAUSE, UNDER SUCH A CURRENCY, COMMERCE, THE EXCHANGE AND DISTRIBUTION OF AGRICULTURAL AND MANUFACTURED COMMODITIES, IS ACTIVE AND PROFITABLE. Railroads, ALSO, RISE UNDER AN abundant currency, because, under such a currency, the transportation of freight and passengers is increased. ON THE OTHER HAND, ALL KINDS OF REAL ESTATE FALL IN PRICE UNDER A SCANTY CURRENCY, FOR THESE REASONS, TO WIT: AGRICULTURAL REAL ESTATE FALLS, BECAUSE, MANUFACTURES HAVING BEEN IN A GREAT MEASURE STOPPED, AND THE MANUFACTURERS DRIVEN INTO AGRICULTURE, THERE IS LITTLE MARKET FOR AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS, AND THOSE PRODUCTS BRING ONLY A SMALL PRICE. MANUFACTURING REAL ESTATE FALLS, BECAUSE, MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY HAVING BECOME IMPOSSIBLE FOR LACK OF MONEY, MANUFACTURING REAL ESTATE IS LYING DEAD, OR UNPRODUCTIVE. COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE FALLS, BECAUSE COMMERCE, THE EXCHANGE AND DISTRIBUTION OF AGRICULTURAL AND MANUFACTURED COMMODITIES, HAS CEASED. RAILROADS FALL IN PRICE, BECAUSE, OWING TO THE SUSPENSION OF manufactures and commerce, there is little transportation of either freight or passengers. THUS IT WILL BE SEEN THAT AN ABUNDANT CURRENCY CREATES A GREAT RISE IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS, AND IN ALL KINDS OF REAL ESTATE —AGRICULTURAL, MANUFACTURING, AND COMMERCIAL, (INCLUDING RAILROADS); AND, AT THE SAME TIME, CAUSES MANUFACTURED COMMODITIES TO BECOME VARIOUS, ABUNDANT, AND CHEAP. WHILE, ON THE OTHER HAND, A SCANTY CURRENCY CAUSES AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES, AND ALL KINDS OF REAL ESTATE, TO FALL IN PRICE; AND, AT THE SAME TIME, MAKES MANUFACTURED COMMODITIES scarce and dear. IT IS A PARTICULARLY NOTICEABLE FACT, THAT THOSE WHO CLAIM THAT AN ABUNDANT PAPER CURRENCY INFLATES THE PRICES OF all COMMODITIES, RELATIVELY TO GOLD, NEVER FIND IT CONVENIENT TO SPEAK OF THE VARIETY, ABUNDANCE, AND CHEAPNESS OF MANUFACTURES, THAT EXIST UNDER AN ABUNDANT CURRENCY; BUT ONLY OF THE HIGH PRICES OF AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES, AND REAL estate. THE WHOLE SUBJECT OF PRICES—A SUBJECT THAT IS VERY LITTLE UNDERSTOOD, AND THAT HAS BEEN FOREVER MISREPRESENTED, IN ORDER TO JUSTIFY RESTRAINTS UPON THE CURRENCY, AND KEEP IT IN A FEW HANDS—DESERVES A MORE EXTENSIVE DISCUSSION; BUT THE SPECIAL PURPOSES OF THIS PAMPHLET DO NOT ADMIT OF IT HERE. BUT ENOUGH HAS PROBABLY NOW BEEN SAID, TO SHOW THAT THE GREAT CHANGES THAT TAKE PLACE IN PRICES, UNDER AN ABUNDANT CURRENCY, ON THE ONE HAND, AND A SCANTY CURRENCY, ON THE OTHER, ARE NOT OCCASIONED AT ALL BY ANY CHANGE IN THE VALUE OF THE CURRENCY ITSELF—DOLLAR FOR DOLLAR—PROVIDED THE currency be equal in value to coin. ENOUGH, ALSO, IT IS HOPED, HAS BEEN SAID, TO SHOW TO ALL HOLDERS OF EITHER AGRICULTURAL, MANUFACTURING, OR COMMERCIAL REAL estate (including railroads), that the greater or less value of their property depends almost wholly upon the abundance or SCARCITY OF CURRENCY; AND THAT, INASMUCH AS, UNDER THE SYSTEM PROPOSED, THEY HAVE THE POWER, IN THEIR OWN HANDS, OF CREATING PROBABLY ALL THE CURRENCY THAT CAN POSSIBLY BE USED IN MANUFACTURES AND COMMERCE, THEY HAVE NO ONE BUT THEMSELVES TO BLAME, IF THEY SUFFER THE VALUE OF THEIR PROPERTY TO BE DESTROYED BY ANY SUCH NARROW AND TYRANNICAL systems of currency and credit as those that now prevail, or those that have always heretofore prevailed. BY USING THEIR REAL ESTATE AS BANKING CAPITAL, THEY CAN NOT ONLY GET AN INCOME FROM IT, IN THE SHAPE OF INTEREST ON MONEY, BUT BY SUPPLYING CAPITAL TO MECHANICS AND MERCHANTS, THEY CREATE A LARGE CLASS WHO WILL PAY HIGH PRICES FOR AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS, AND HIGH PRICES AND RENTS FOR MANUFACTURING AND COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE; AND WHO WILL ALSO SUPPLY THEM, IN return, with manufactured commodities of the greatest variety, abundance, and cheapness. IT IS, THEREFORE, MERE SUICIDE FOR THE HOLDERS OF REAL ESTATE, WHO HAVE THE POWER OF SUPPLYING AN INDEFINITE AMOUNT OF capital for mechanics and merchants—and who can make themselves and everybody else rich by supplying it—to suffer THAT POWER TO BE USURPED BY ANY SUCH SMALL BODY OF MEN AS THOSE WHO NOW MONOPOLIZE IT, THROUGH MERE FAVORITISM, corruption, and tyranny, on the part of the government, and not because they have any claim to it. CHAPTER IV. SECURITY OF THE SYSTEM. SUPPOSING THE PROPERTY MORTGAGED TO BE AMPLE, THE SYSTEM, AS A SYSTEM, IS ABSOLUTELY SECURE. THE CURRENCY WOULD BE ABSOLUTELY INCAPABLE OF INSOLVENCY; FOR THERE COULD NEVER BE A DOLLAR OF THE CURRENCY IN CIRCULATION, WITHOUT A DOLLAR OF capital (Productive Stock) in bank, which must be transferred in redemption of it, unless redemption be made in specie. THE CAPITAL alone, BE IT OBSERVED—INDEPENDENTLY OF THE NOTES DISCOUNTED—MUST ALWAYS BE SUFFICIENT TO REDEEM THE ENTIRE CIRCULATION; FOR THE CIRCULATION CAN NEVER EXCEED THE CAPITAL (PRODUCTIVE STOCK). BUT THE NOTES DISCOUNTED ARE ALSO HOLDEN BY THE TRUSTEES, AND THE PROCEEDS OF THEM MUST BE APPLIED TO THE REDEMPTION OF THE CIRCULATION. SUPPOSING, THEREFORE, THE CAPITAL TO BE SUFFICIENT, AND THE NOTES DISCOUNTED TO BE SOLVENT, THE REDEMPTION OF THE CIRCULATION IS DOUBLY [Pg 32] [Pg 33] [Pg 34] [Pg 35] secured. What guarantee, then, have the public, for the sufficiency of the mortgages? They have these, viz.: 1. THE MORTGAGES, COMPOSING THE CAPITAL OF A BANK, WILL BE MATTERS OF PUBLIC RECORD, AND EVERYBODY, in the neighborhood, WILL HAVE THE MEANS OF JUDGING FOR HIMSELF OF THE SUFFICIENCY OF THE PROPERTY HOLDEN. IF THE PROPERTY SHOULD BE INSUFFICIENT, THE BANK WOULD BE DISCREDITED AT ONCE; FOR THE ABUNDANCE OF SOLVENT CURRENCY WOULD BE SO GREAT, that no one would have any inducement to take that which was insolvent or doubtful. 2. BY THE ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION, ALL THE MORTGAGES THAT MAKE UP THE CAPITAL OF A BANK, ARE MADE MUTUALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR EACH OTHER; BECAUSE, IF ANY ONE MORTGAGE PROVES INSUFFICIENT, NO DIVIDEND CAN AFTERWARDS BE PAID TO ANY OF THE BANKERS (MORTGAGORS), UNTIL THAT DEFICIENCY SHALL HAVE BEEN MADE GOOD BY THE COMPANY. THE EFFECT OF THIS PROVISION WILL BE, TO MAKE ALL THE FOUNDERS OF A BANK LOOK CAREFULLY TO THE SUFFICIENCY OF EACH OTHER'S MORTGAGES; BECAUSE NO MAN WILL BE WILLING TO PUT IN A GOOD MORTGAGE OF HIS OWN, ON EQUAL TERMS WITH A BAD MORTGAGE OF ANOTHER MAN'S, WHEN HE KNOWS THAT HIS OWN MORTGAGE WILL HAVE TO CONTRIBUTE TO MAKING GOOD ANY DEFICIENCY OF THE OTHER. THE RESULT WILL BE, THAT THE mortgages, that go to make up the capital of any one bank, will be either all good, or all bad. If they are all good, THE SOLVENCY OF THE BANK WILL BE APPARENT TO ALL in the vicinity; AND THE CREDIT OF THE BANK WILL AT ONCE BE ESTABLISHED at home. IF THE MORTGAGES ARE all bad, THAT FACT, ALSO, WILL BE APPARENT TO EVERYBODY in the vicinity, AND THE BANK IS AT once discredited at home. FROM THE FOREGOING CONSIDERATIONS, IT IS EVIDENT THAT NOTHING IS EASIER THAN FOR A good BANK TO ESTABLISH ITS CREDIT, at home; AND THAT NOTHING IS MORE CERTAIN THAN THAT A bad BANK WOULD BE DISCREDITED, at home, FROM THE OUTSET, AND COULD get no circulation at all. IT IS ALSO EVIDENT THAT A BANK, THAT HAS NO CREDIT AT HOME, COULD GET NONE ABROAD. THERE IS, THEREFORE, NO DANGER OF THE public being swindled by bad banks. A BANK THAT IS WELL FOUNDED, AND THAT HAS ESTABLISHED ITS CREDIT AT HOME, HAS SO MANY WAYS OF ESTABLISHING ITS CREDIT ABROAD, THAT THERE IS NO NEED THAT THEY BE ALL SPECIFIED HERE. THE MODE THAT SEEMS MOST LIKELY TO BE ADOPTED, IS THE following, viz.: WHEN THE CAPITAL SHALL CONSIST OF MORTGAGES, IT WILL BE VERY EASY FOR ALL THE BANKS, IN ANY ONE STATE, TO MAKE THEIR solvency known to each other. THERE WOULD BE SO MANY BANKS, THAT SOME system WOULD NATURALLY BE ADOPTED FOR THIS purpose. PERHAPS THIS SYSTEM WOULD BE, THAT A STANDING COMMITTEE, APPOINTED BY THE BANKS, WOULD BE ESTABLISHED IN EACH STATE, TO WHOM EACH BANK IN THE STATE WOULD BE REQUIRED TO PRODUCE SATISFACTORY EVIDENCE OF ITS SOLVENCY, BEFORE ITS BILLS should be received by the other banks of the State. When the banks, or any considerable number of the banks, of any particular State—Massachusetts, for instance,—shall HAVE MADE THEMSELVES SO FAR ACQUAINTED WITH EACH OTHER'S SOLVENCY, AS TO BE READY TO RECEIVE EACH OTHER'S BILLS, THEY WILL BE READY TO MAKE A STILL FURTHER ARRANGEMENT FOR THEIR MUTUAL BENEFIT, VIZ: TO UNITE IN ESTABLISHING ONE GENERAL AGENCY IN BOSTON, ANOTHER IN NEW YORK, AND OTHERS IN PHILADELPHIA, BALTIMORE, CINCINNATI, CHICAGO, ST. LOUIS, NEW ORLEANS, SAN FRANCISCO, &C., &C., WHERE THE BILLS OF ALL THESE MASSACHUSETTS BANKS WOULD BE REDEEMED, EITHER FROM A COMMON FUND CONTRIBUTED FOR THE PURPOSE, OR IN SUCH OTHER WAY AS MIGHT BE FOUND BEST. AND THUS THE BILLS OF ALL THE Massachusetts banks would be placed at par at all the great commercial points. EACH BANK, BELONGING TO THE ASSOCIATION, MIGHT PRINT ON THE BACK OF ITS BILLS, " Redeemable at the Massachusetts Agencies in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, &c." IN THIS WAY, ALL THE BANKS OF EACH STATE MIGHT UNITE TO ESTABLISH A JOINT AGENCY IN EVERY LARGE CITY, THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY, FOR THE REDEMPTION OF ALL THEIR BILLS. IN DOING SO, THEY WOULD NOT ONLY CERTIFY, BUT MAKE THEMSELVES RESPONSIBLE FOR, THE solvency of each other's bills. THE BANKS MIGHT SAFELY MAKE permanent ARRANGEMENTS OF THIS KIND WITH EACH OTHER; BECAUSE THE permanent SOLVENCY of all the banks might be relied on. THE PERMANENT SOLVENCY OF ALL THE BANKS MIGHT BE RELIED ON, BECAUSE, UNDER THIS SYSTEM, A BANK (WHOSE CAPITAL CONSISTS OF MORTGAGES), ONCE SOLVENT, IS NECESSARILY FOREVER SOLVENT, UNLESS IN CONTINGENCIES SO UTTERLY IMPROBABLE AS NOT TO NEED TO BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT. IN FACT, IN THE ORDINARY COURSE OF THINGS, EVERY BANK WOULD BE GROWING MORE AND MORE SOLVENT; BECAUSE, IN THE ORDINARY COURSE OF THINGS, THE MORTGAGED PROPERTY WOULD BE CONSTANTLY RISING IN VALUE, AS THE WEALTH AND population of the country should increase. The exceptions to this rule would be so rare as to be unworthy of notice. There is, therefore, no difficulty in putting the currency, furnished by each State, at par throughout the United States. AT THE GENERAL AGENCIES, IN THE GREAT CITIES, THE REDEMPTION WOULD, DOUBTLESS, so far as necessary, BE MADE IN SPECIE, on demand; BECAUSE, AT SUCH POINTS, ESPECIALLY IN CITIES ON THE SEA-BOARD, THERE WOULD ALWAYS BE AN ABUNDANCE OF SPECIE IN THE MARKET AS MERCHANDISE; AND IT WOULD, THEREFORE, BE BOTH FOR THE CONVENIENCE AND INTEREST OF THE BANKS TO REDEEM IN SPECIE, ON DEMAND, RATHER THAN TRANSFER A PORTION OF THEIR CAPITAL, AND THEN PAY INTEREST ON THAT CAPITAL UNTIL IT should be redeemed, or bought back, with specie. [Pg 36] [Pg 37] [Pg 38] [Pg 39] OFTEN, HOWEVER,...