THE DEBASEMENT OF COINAGES. 589 



had a rational conception of what national credit is, this considera- 

 tion alone would give the agitators pause. When nearly two hun- 

 dred years ago England was struggling to restore order to her finances, 

 William III. pressed upon the House of Commons the importance of 

 taking care of the public credit, and assured them that it could 

 only be preserved by keeping sacred the maxim that " they shall 

 never be losers who trust to a parliamentary security." Our national 

 credit has rapidly advanced to the very first rank, and with upright 

 dealing can easily be maintained there. It would not be necessary 

 to perfect a great deal of the kind of legislation that is now being 

 urged to put it on a level with the credit of Spain, or the defaulting 

 states of South America. 



There is a prevailing misconception as to where the gains and 

 losses arising from the proposed change will fall. 



A depreciated coinage will diminish the revenue of the Govern- 

 ment by a far greater amount than will be saved in the payment of 

 the bonds, so that the burden of taxes cannot be lightened in that 

 way. It will cripple all institutions of learning and of charity that 

 are maintained by endowments; it will tithe the assets of all the 

 savings-banks and life-insurance companies ; it will curtail the trust 

 funds of widows and orphans, no matter in what form they may be 

 held ; it will defraud the frugal and prudent wholesale, for the benefit 

 of the improvident and reckless. Relatively, the loss will fall heavi- 

 est on those who are too poor to get in debt, who work for wages or 

 a salary. Those of the bond-holders to whom the now familiar term 

 of " money-sharks" will in any degree apply will be found quite com- 

 petent to take care of themselves. They live in the money-centres of 

 the world ; their finger is on the arteries of commerce, and they can 

 watch the pulsations and guard against the perturbations ; in the un- 

 settled condition of things which would attend such a change, they 

 will be best able, because in the best position, to hedge against their 

 losses. Prices will, of course, adjust themselves to the new standard, 

 but the adjustment will not be so sharp and rapid or exact as to 

 cause the loss to fall just where it is intended it shall fall. The 

 " sharks," we may be sure, will get from under, and the brunt of the 

 suffering will strike just where it does in most cases upon the poor, 

 the ill-informed, the unready. 



Of the ability of this nation to pay its debts in full, there is not 

 the slightest question, and it is essentially dishonest for a debtor to 

 compound at 90 cents when he can pay 100 ; but, if it be determined 

 that it is necessary and right for the Government and other debtors to 

 make such a composition if it can be shown that it is a step dictated 

 by a sincere desire to execute fair and impartial justice we shall still 

 be as much entitled as ever to object to its being done by reducing 

 the standard of money. It is an attempt to accomplish by mean and 

 paltry subterfuge that which, if done at all, should be done in a manly 



