233 
State Convention—Interconvertible Notes. 
greenbacks together. The gap between them exists; it was made 
at the expense of the creditor class arid when bridged—if it is 
bridged—it must be at the expense of the debtor class, no matter 
by what method it is done. And in the interest of that class it can¬ 
not be done too speedily, for it will insure benefits that will far out¬ 
weigh the cost. 
The phenomena of finance are amendable to the inexorable law 
which holds throughout the universe—work cannot be done with¬ 
out expenditure of force—there is no sort of maneuvering by which 
something can be had for nothing. And every man who under¬ 
takes to demonstrate—as some do—that the margin between gold 
and greenbacks, can be wiped out without costing anybody any¬ 
thing—indeed giving everybod} r something to boot—should be con¬ 
signed without hesitation to that limbo which is set apart for cir- 
cle-squarers and inventors of perpetual motion. 
But to be rhetorical and eloquent, to indulge in illogical infer¬ 
ence and inconsequent assumption, has ever been the prerogative of 
the upholders of an irredeemable currencjL The brain of the opium- 
eater teems with pictures for winch no coloring is too glowing, no 
language too florid. For him, time and space are annihilated and 
all laws,suspended; he rises superior to sublunary things, he scales 
the dizziest hights with ease, and floats heavenward on clouds of 
pearl and opal, free from the vulgar trammels of gravitation. And 
in like manner when a man becomes capable of believing that he- 
can bestow intrinsic worth upon a paper currency—when he yields; 
to the fascination of the idea that irredeemable printed tokens can 
be so manipulated as to be better than gold—superior to the law of 
supply and demand—exempt from the dangers of misuse—competent 
to cure all the economical evils of society—there is no vagary too 
wild for him to adopt. It is a mania that has at intervals possessed 
the minds of men throughout the history of modem civilizations 
and wherever it has obtained sway, its rule has been marked by 
anarchy and ruin. Its latest phase is the 
“ LEGAL-TENDER INTERCONVERTIBLE-NOTE SCHEME,” 
and were it not for its immense capacity for mischief, the deplor¬ 
able effects of which would visit all alike, the worst fate which its 
bitterest opponent could wish would be to see the flimsy, tatterde¬ 
malion proposition, exposed for a few years to the merciless criti¬ 
cism of natural laws! 
