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^   WEEKLY JOURNAL   OF  THE FABM,  HOME,  AND   GARDEN.
Vol. Yin.
INDIANAPOLIS, SATURDAY, NOV. 8, 1873.
No. 10.
INDIANA FARMER,
(Formerly North-Western Farmer.)
0SLY AGRICULTURAL PAPER IN INDIAKA.
Devotes a Department to the interests of the
Order of the Patrons of Husbandry.
Organ of Indiana State Board of Agriculture.
Endorsed by Indiana Horticultural Society, Indiana
Short-Horn Breeders' Convention, and many
County and District Societies.
J. O. KINGSBURY A BRO., Publisheri.
OFFICE, PTo. 4, Journal XSuliainsr,
INDIANAPOLIS, IND.
Subscription Tbbjcs.—12.00 j to clubs of four or
more, tl.75 each.
Advertising, Terms : Ordinary pages 15 centa per
line,nonpareil measure, first insertion; extra charge
for special location; special notices, 20 cents.
The Financial Situation.
Address of James Buchanan, Esq., at a
called meeting of the business men of
Indianapolis, Saturday evening, Nov. 1.
Ur. Buchanan said—
Mr. President and Gentlemen: I beg
your indulgence for a few moments; I desire
to answer some remarks that have been
mnde here to-night that I think'erroneous,
and to offer a few suggestions upon the
subject under consideration.
' To arrive at proper conclusions, in relation to any matter, it is of the first importance to know that the premises are true
from which we draw our conclusions.
The necessity of first inquiring as to the
truth of the proposition was forcibly impressed npon my mind, some years since,
by bearing an anecdote of Benjamin Franklin. He gave a debating clnb this question
to solve, Why is it, when you take a vessel
even full of water and pnt a dead fish in it,
the water will run over, and if you put a
'ire fish in, it wont run over. The club
debated it for a long time, but could not
arrive at a satisfactory solution. He then
told them, their first inquiry shonld have
been, was it true ? And if they had thus inquired, they would have soon found tbe
truth to be lhat the water wonld run over
the same whether the fish was dead or alive.
Now, we have been told to-night, that
this financial crisis must needs have come,
because oi the large volume of paper money in existence, which, it is said, has largely
depreciated * tbat the large issue of paper
many had stimulated prices and business until an unhealthy point bad been reached, and
a curtailment became necessary, until we
got back to a gold standard and specie basis
where we were before the war.
I ask is it not true that the market value
of gold and greenbacks have been within
two cents of being'the same'thing during
this panic ? Oold was $1.06 and greenbacks
$1.04. And is it not also true that all the
gold that was demanded could be had at
that price, while the greenbacks could not
be obtained ? Now if my statements are
the real facts, is it not clear that it is error
to charge that the volume of currency, and
the depreciation thereof, have brought the
troubles the business of the country is now
laboring under; and is it not also true that
we are now within two cents of the gold
standard, that is pointed to as the golden
Mecca of our financial pilgrims? For if
tbe purchasing, (or to speak more truly,)
the paying power of the greenback is equal
to-that of the gold coin, is it not too clear
for discussion that your condition would be
the same, no matter which you held? The
trouble Ls you have neither, and the reason
you hav-e it not, is, the volume is too small
to supply the demand, and not because it
is depreciated, for in point of fact it is
not depreciated. The truth is, the entire
paper issue of the nation is at par, and a
portion of it is at a premium. This being
true, it is a fearful mistake to say tbat the
volume and character of our circulating
medium must bear the blame of the present
disturbance. So far as the character of
the circulation is concerned, this panic does
not arise from it as an inciting cause, and
it would have been all the same if everydollar
of our circulation had been gold. And so
far as the volume of it is concerned, it has
in no way contributed to this crisis, for in
the midst of the crisis the demand for it is
increasing, the snpply is deficient, and business languishes lor the want of more of it.
The reverse of this would be true if it was
redundant. The volume of money has not
been too great atany time; in proof of this
statement, I refer to the fact that the ruling
rates of interest everywhere have been above
ten percent, whereas, if money was abundant it would command a less price. ForSthe
law of supply and demand is as applicable
to money as any thing else in the commercial world, if you but give it a chance to
regulate itself according to that law. In
London, when money is scarce, they raise
the rate of interest, that causes a flow of it
to that market from the surrounding provinces, and when it becomes abundant the
rate of interest decreases. This will always
be true, if a sufficient supply can be had,
but if it is not in existence then it can not
be commanded or regulated by that law.
Neither can it be done if the amount is
limited to any fixed sum that shall circulate,
I care not whether the limit is narrow or
large. For whenever you attempt to regulate it by any other law, you throw irtia
disturbing element, as we shall see more
fully presently.
We are told that the halcyon days of finances were on the gold basis we had before
the war. Let us see. It is claimed that
gold W the standard and basis of something.
Now you may assume anything as a basis
you please, and construct your proposition
accordingly; but that gold is the foundation of all values and as permanent and unchangeable as the eternal hills, I most respectfully deny. Gold, per se is not money.
It is merely a precious metal. No one can-
make a lawfnl tender with a gold bar,* or
gold dust from the mine. It becomes money only after it goes into the mint, and. is
there mixed in certain proportions, with
certain alloys in is smelted together and
stamped according to the standard prescribed by the law. Then, and not until then
does it become money. It is then a representative, representing the idea embodied
in the law; and all the force and effect it
has as money, it gets from the law that
creates it; and the Greenback has the same
parent—and is by that same power, endowed with the same qualities, and is in every
sense its equal before the law, except in the
one particular, of paying duties upon imports- :':-.,'-■
Money is a circulating medium and is
valuable for tbe one purpose only, that is of
facilitating' exchanges among mankind, in
our own and other nations. But each nation by the lawsjthereof erects its own standard and prescribes the value of its' own and
other coins by that standard. - A Gold Eagle of the United States coin is not of the
same value in England or France that it is
in the United States.. Nor do the coins of
other nations rank with ours under the
law of this country. . Each has by their several enactments favored their own issue.
Now, I admit, that if you can get a sufficient quantity of the gold metal to make
the needed, volume oi circulating
medium, it would be preferable for the one