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Show I ; - - - ( OKE TRADE IN MONEY. I The American financial and money i 1 questions do not appear to have been j finally ectlled by the late election. 1 Sir. Hayes' elevation to tlio preai- ' dency was believed te bo satisfactory ! to the gold standard men, as opposed ' by the Jones bi-metallic faction, ! j which favora the rcinonetization f j ! silver in illimitable quantities, as well ' as by the advocates of the greenback, , pure and simple. Secretary Sher j man, whoso hobby is epecio, i. , i yold resumption, is working away at 1 this idea, and promises by Borne 1 I method not yet wll defined to redeem ' I the entire issue of national currency j by lho 1st of January, 1870. It in j Tery doubtful whether Ibis feat can j bo accomplished without unnecessary , j expense and peril to all productive j interestd ; and it ia not impossible ' that the next congress may stop in to repeal or modify the act under wuicti .': I the gold dollar is nominally to replace i ' , the paper dollar. The controversy in , 1 tho meantime on tho merits of the i money question continues without cessation. The advocates of the bidkIo gold standard are still earnest in tho eouueiation of what they term a ! standard doma of political economy, j that legitimate mouy can safely hu ! formed of nothing uavo the most val uable metal, gold, which is the atan dard of the leading commercial nations, ond that American pros pority cannot be restored until all currency, savo that redeemable i gold on domaud, is withdrawn. On ! the oihar hand, tho advocates of the greenback contend that tho govern-j govern-j rneut alone should issue the currency in greenbacks in amount equal to the requirement! of business. This currency cur-rency should bo interchangeable with : national bonds, or certificates. The i people will ask for no more money than the necessities of biiBinesi domaud. do-maud. It ia insisted that our circulating circu-lating medium per capita is less than England, France or Germany, while wo really require a larger amount. They tell us that tho hard limes and the panic resultod from tho contraction contrac-tion of the currency. There are almost aa many opinions in regard to tho proper financial policy lor tho government as theie are statesmen, financiers and newspaper news-paper editors, and they vary eo,widely that it would be difficult to fiud a ' common basis of accord upon this 1 important subject. One of the latest t and most plauhible arguments which has been put forth is found in a paper ; furnished by Lyeandor Spoonct to the Radical Review. It presents an ' Original schemo for tho consideration ol financiers. It starts out by terming term-ing the great battlo in Ohio in 1S75 for more money a ridiculous contest, and gota on to show that the 3.05 in-1 terconvertible bond scheme, instead of furnishing a permanent aud suth- eieut currency, 'would have deprived us of the oue we now have, without furnishing any subatitute at all." Our greenbacks now remain iu circulation circu-lation because they are not convertible convert-ible into bonds. Onoe so converted i , it would not be for tho interest of the holders to reconvert them into cur- rency. Thus by this process we ! should soon have no money at all in circulation. Mr. Spoouer shows that neither party to the Ohio contest kuew anything about the real nature of the proposed plan. The writer proceeds to demonstrate Borne of the popular fallacies pertaining pertain-ing to money. In this work, while riddling tho greenback theory, he also appears to thoroughly demolish the idea upon which our government has been conducting con-ducting the national finances since the war. He conteuds that the attempt to prohibit all but a Biugle description of money for the purpose of railing the value ol that kind oi money ia in the nature of a swindle upon the public. It i only saying' that by the prohibition of all other meney, the holder of one dollar will be enabled to oxtort in exchange for ; it, ten, a hundred, thousand, or a t million titaea aioro of oilier men's j property than the money is worth. A government that grants this privilege to a certain ciais becomes an instiu-meut instiu-meut iu the hands of extortionists lor accomp'ishiug the purposes they have in view. "Any privileged money," ya the writer, "whether issued by a government or by individuals, is necessarily a diihonost money, just as a privileged man ij necessarily a dia-honest dia-honest man. Our national banking system ia set down as a fraud, in that while it claims to provide a system of free banking it prescribes rules and conditions which deprive the pcop'e of the riht to use the capiul they hwo. and gives lho monopoly of money to a certain favored fa-vored class. Tue writer continues: IWIiapn, afW wo nh all tn.ro been in-MiUeH in-MiUeH and impuvenatiud by a f m m'rc hic'i cheat 4 tlio ",p. -co i ay merit" cli.:..t, Um '-lionr;el Minil-y" eh -tit, th I "in o bunking" fhri.it, and Hl ythor j nhij-t to wLidi tho government Lm rvs.'rt.'ij, for lho oim purpose of iiiiiinttiNiiiv that mmiop )ly rnuri.-y tB 1 which lho lu,t hdmini.-tnainn r-li.:d f.r ilrt -upp rt, and which iliy pro.unt a-l-l mnii-trntion is -.vi b-ntly dmcrniiimd to maifittin, wo miiy fjoi.cludo thai it ia' uium lor iho iCNpo ft k-i th" matter of mrjnoy intj thtiir own htndi, und aert i.tio right to providu thi-ir iiWn monny, in tln-ir own vy, friM i" all dic'.ation or luti'rf.Tfcnco of th- (t"V(!r-.mcrjl.. j IVrliFips wo may conclurlo that the id pa j or P'ovkmok lho peoplo with money by lruniiMli(iK a 1 in-.ry csctpt such us tho' K'tvyvi iiitiit ii-r:f may tp.jcially prcvi'le, or licont-ft. 'h jn.. i fl4 ahrur'l, prtrpU'rom ' and tyrnnnicul a-, wouhl b tho idta of lirnvidinpr liio pi'ojilo willi food, clothing orahii ir, hy pn.hipiiii K ull loud, cloihing oraliiiUer, oxcojit such as thu pivurnraout iUo;f miiy sptxially provide or licunso. The remedy and cure which Mr. Hpooner would prtscribo for tho gov-urmnent gov-urmnent money monopoly that creates cre-ates an individual money monopoly, ia tho protection by tho government of each and every man who has anything any-thing deserving the name of money, or that men may choose to call money, in his right to sell or lend it to any and every other man who may choose to accept it as money. To fit a limit ou money, the writer contends, con-tends, is to fix a limit on indujtry. Mr. Spooner's financial specific may be termed "free trade in money," or free banking, and there is something worthy of reflection in the theory. |