State Convention—Interconvertible Notes. 229 
all inflation arguments the injurious effects are exaggerated and all 
compensating benefits are ignored. There is a given addition, say 
12 per cent., on the volume of the currency, to be provided for in 
the payment of the aggregate indebtedness. But if the date of re¬ 
sumption be fixed at some future day, then the change will be 
steady and gradual, and being all the while in one direction and its 
amount constantly known, it could b^ arranged for to a great ex¬ 
tent in advance—discounted so to speak. If the present act be ad¬ 
hered to, it would bo at about the rate of one-third of one per cent, 
per month. This, it is true, is quite an item. It is 4 per cent, per 
annum. But the benefits to be conferred upon all classes, debtor 
as well as creditor, are so great as to be very cheaply purchased at 
that price. The truth of this assertion can be demonstrated. 
The theorem just stated that “every change in the value of 
money does some injury to society,” applies, it must be observed, 
to small and rapid fluctuations equally with larger and slower ones. 
We pick up a morning paper and see that gold has risen or fallen 
one-half percent., or one or two per cent., as the case may be. We 
read the statement with indifference, and if we give the matter any 
thought at all, we are apt, most of us, to think that it is some¬ 
thing that concerns the community at large very little; that its 
effects are principally confined to gamblers on the stock or gold 
board, who neither need nor deserve the sympathy of men engaged 
in legitimate pursuits. But this is a most superficial view. All 
importations, which are paid for, of course, in gold, and all home 
products which come into competition with foreign goods, are di¬ 
rectly affected by the changes in gold. Whenever any decided 
change occurs the prices of the commodities are at once modified 
accordingly—heavy, low-priced staples following very closely, 
lighter and more expensive goods much less so. But to follow all 
the minor, daih r fluctuations, would so encumber and complicate 
the details of trade, that it is simply out of the question, a id it is 
not attempted; instead, there is added to the price of the goods a 
margin, over and above what would else be satisfactory as a sort of 
guaranty against the loss likely to arise from these changes, and, 
like all guaranty charges, it is large enough to cover all probable 
loss and leave a profit. It may very well be that not every impor¬ 
ter and manufacturer distinctly recognizes this element and fixes 
this charge with mathematical exactness; it would be better for the 
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