Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

J^OLUMBIA. SatAday Morning, Sept. 30,1866. , Sta.ndaurds ot Value. A somewhat desultory debate re? cently, in . the Convention, involving the money standards of value in the South, at sundry periods during the last four years of nfr, exhibits rather the ambiguities than makes cle^tr and elucidates the difficulties ofthe sub? ject-? The brokers, money-dealers and merchants have" a short mode ofs disposing of these matters, which thc statesman and jurist will be careful not to emulate.- The subject is one of great nicety, and, without proper standards of judgment, must only lead *to confusion in the popular mind, and errors in_ thc judgments of thc Courts. We have need to begin with leading ide-;* on auy subjects of snch novelty. The leading idea must, if possible, grasp in limine, the'central principle of the question. When banks' slap specie payments, <j<>ld and silver cease to be thc proper standard of jjalne for any other commodities. The stoppage of their use for such pur? poses, by the banks, at once elevates them to an artificial value. They j cease to be standards regidating other values, and become, of themselves, articles of trade, subject to all the caprices of tlje market. Men, having ulterior objects, alarmed by war, or engaged in speculation, will have them at any prices. .They are hoard? ed, and, like silver plate, dive incon? tinently ont of sight. What non? sense, then, to insist upon them as of fixed, determined value, because of their intrinsic qualities, which, in ordinary times, constitute them a standard. .As a necessary cs? n sequence of this extraordinary and artificial ap? preciation of the value of this pre? cious metal, is the inevitable depre? ciation, in value, of all the substituted currencies. You are neither to re? cognize gold, silver nor Confederate money as standards by which to esti? mate tho value of anything, for the simple reason that they themselves are vagu? in value, their merit rising or falling with a_ the caprices of war, all the fancies of the multi? tude, and' all the new n?cessities arising from th? fluctuation of general events. A success of your army,, to ? day, will raise the valne of your paper ^.urrency, and diminish that of gold; a reverse of fortune, to-morrow, changes this relation, and the gold rises and the curr_ncy becomes de? pressed. To what standard, then, will you refer, by which to establish, at another period, what should be the ruling value, of an article which you sold on a credit, at the time, of I these fluctuations of your ordinary money standard? 'Waiving allconsi- ! deration of articles of foreign export, such as salt, iron,- ?_c. , . you ' have clearly to resort to the old domestic principles, sm known through the laws of exchange and barter. In the ordinary intercourse of society, dur * ing tho hist two years, you had a practical exposition of it in ?the good sense of the people, who, disregard? ing the gold and silver which they could not get, and the currency which could procure them nothing, resorted to the primitive mode of exchanging their commodities, according to the value by which they were severally known ?interior to the war. Thus, the farmer gave his bushel of corn, priced at one dollar, for eight pounds of bacon, which usually brought . twelve and a half cents per pound. Eigh .'pounds of bacon were given for the gallon of whiskey, or apple brandy, which formerly had averaged ono dellar, lake exchanges wer? made of all other articles of domestic production, and about these things there nedi be very little difficulty, if you will at once reject the considera? tion of the precious metals and of the paper currency, which, as we have shown, have no fixed character, and lack in that permanence of value, ?which, in ordinary times, made them .proper standards for the estimation of the prices in all other commodities. The exceptional cases are those of foreign production; such as we have mentioned-say salt and iron. The import of these, involves" the neces? sity of new charges, increased by the vast expense of freight, in? volved in the absence of any security from insurance and the great peril in? curred in the transportation. During the war, all imported artiales ranged 1 at prices which had no parallel iu pacific perioils. It was not so wl'-h j domestic article's. The necessities of j the country, the pressure of the laws, j-the natural social influences, made ? neighbors less exacting in their dc ! rnands; and while nails, iron, salt and rn?iny other articles of foreign origin ranged at prices from fonr to six thousand per cent, on the old prices, corn commanded but from four to fourteen dollars, as 'against a single dollar iu ordinary times. Cotton* at a late period in the war, say during January of the ryesent year, sold at Si.25 in currency.* Suppose this cot? ton now to be rated at the artificial value in gold at that period, its value would not exceed one cent per pound. Would it be just, or right, or reason? able, to adopt such a standard, when, at no period during the war did cot? ton sell for less tlian seven and eight cents, and when, prior to the war, il would command ten or twelve cent* in any%narket in the "world. How can the?consciences of?men reconcile themselves to a judgment of thii kind based on such a standard, at th? expense of all propriety and honesty, especially when the same cotton, thui disposed of at $1.25 in the currency, brought forty-five to fifty cents ir .sterling at Nassau? You are simply ti deduct from this latter prie e th< extiaordinary expenses of freight ano shipment, and -what remains will Show you thc true value of the article at the time in all parts of the world The true ruling will be to find out, ir respect to all articles 'of doniestit production, what were the averagt prices ruling for the three years pre ceding the war, and thus determin? ?what should be the estimate of valut in respect to the same articles sole during the war. Of course, there ari numerous cases having an exceptions character, and these* should be deter mined upon their own merits, accord in.r to the peculiar circumstance operating in each case. The variet of these cases, and the novelty of th circumstances, seem to be suggestiv of the necessity of a special court fe the adjudication of all such cases, t which court should be accorded certain equitable jurisdiction. Som? thing of this kind will be needful, justice is designed to be done to a 'parties, in regard to sales and coi tracts, aa credit, made of all dome: tic articles during the progress of tl war; and the standards of judj?mei for such a court, having the equity . relation? always in its eyes, must 1 found in the peculiar conditions i j each several case. To insist upc any arbitrary standard, for a perk j so totally unfixed in its conditions, i which change was of every day o j curre?ce, hud all affairs were < anomalous character, would be simp I absurd ana illogical, as well as unjuf Above all, nothing could be ino I absurd than a reference to spec j values, when specieitself was subjo j to a most extraordinary value ai I demand ; was itself au article j trade, and had been repudiated as standard of value by thy banks tho selves, in their ref us?l to redeem th< own paper in it. The standards human judgment, in auch mattel and at such times, are nat to be reg Ia tod by money markets, or the usi rules which prevail among them, Ordinary periods. Philosophic stat manship must set aside preceden especially when the trading establh ments have set aside their own IP;? : and we hold it to be a mere impej , i . nence that men should .insist upon a ^gojd and silver basis or standard, ?when they,,themselves refuse tore deem in either, and -when no curreacy that is known is acknowledged to rep? resent either. It is only by a refer? ence to the old sywSem of relative values among the commodities of a country, as compared with .each other, and illustrated by the daily barter and exchange among neighbors, as con? stituting the just'and proper stand? ards by which to determine the claims of all conflicting parties. Gold and silver, the invention of society as standards, set -iside by society itself as standards, ara not the authorities which should govern in the consider? ation of this subject. Tho period assigned for the election of members to Congress is so exceed? ingly, short, that candidates will enjoy but little opportunity of discoursing to the people from the stump. This will tend greatly to embarrass those candidates who build rather upon the appetites than the tastes of the people-, rather upon the demands of the belly than the brain. There vi? be something good in this; and while the people will lose something in thc way of oral instruction, they will, af the same time, escape much wrong doctrine, bad grammar, and very vil? lainous speechifying. Thei? taste* may possibly improve in the absence of in-constituted teachers. In th? ^present large size of our Congres sional Districts, and in the prospect of their increasing size in futur* years, it will become a physical in? possibility with candidates to take tin stump at every election precinct. _h< result will be that they will be com pelled to approach the proposed con stituents through the press. Manj good results will grow from this ne cessity. Writing for the press is i severer ordeal than tepeakirig to tin people. It will be incumbent 01 candidates to prove themselves, no .only men of sense, but tolerabb gram marians. This will improve th? qualities, of style and thinking of th.? party writing. He will be more sera puions in what he says, and more so licitous in his manner of saying it He will have to read a book occasion ally, study a document, scrutinizo i law, and perhaps get an occasiona lesson in ancient history, if not ii that of his own country. At al events, he must improve somewhat ii orthography. Bad spelling, make bad pronunciation, and, curing th? one, the speaker will be apt to im prove in the other respect. Briefly the necessity of transferring himscl from the stump to the press, will prfi bably eure a great many of the mos villainous defects in the training pronunciation, tone, manner, gram mar and spelling of -fenators am orators. Nor will the effect be c less important consideration to th people. Instead of lazily listening t bad harangues, the citizen will b compelled to take his newspaper, an will thus obtain the improved uttei anees of his political oracle an teacher. He will then, indeed, con mune with many besides, and di? cover that his immediate represent! tiv es is not, as ho now supposes, a universal genius. He himself wi improve in reading, writing, spellinj in tone and sentiment, tinder a diffe ent class of teachers; and will di cover that a roar does not real] represent an idea, or a squeak a sci timent, or a howl and growl an opii ion. And it will be some increase i his satisfaction, that .he can discov the signific&tion of a sentence, wit! out witnessing that painful sawii and slashing of the atmosphere, which the wretched right arm of tl speaker is so commonly subjected, the straits of the orator, strnggiii ? in pursuit of the reluctant word thought. In all respects, there mu be improvement. I_ess ear-splittin air-sawing, murder of the kinj , English, and horrid rhetoric in whi. the sound and fury are necessary to prevent the detection of . the sense, or rather the want of it. Stump speak? ing has too much kept our people from reading. They were too easily satisfied to have the labor of thought taken from their own minds, and to use their oracle's tongues in place of their own eyes. The substitution of j tho press for the stump will be the inevitable and profitable residt of . the enlargement of our Congressional District, in the improvement equally of politicians- and people. " There is very little in the radicalism of Massachusetts to admire, but the grim persistency with which they deny Benjamin F. Butler access to their official pastures. Those merci? less old Puritans of the Republican school tolerate tho restless Butler's presence in their nominating conven? tions, and they let hir^ exhibit his apostacy in speeches of a most fero? cious and detestable character-but that is all. The consistent, honest Massachusetts Republieans,like Dana, Quincy, Andrews & Co., jdeal with the former advocate for tho Presidency of Mr. Jefferson Davis as the Merchant of Venice did with Shylock. They tolerate his presence on the political "Rialto," but when Butler makes a frantic dash at some office which would give him an honorable position, they slam the door in his face and say, "You , will do to make, stump speeches, General Butler, but the offices of Massachusetts ar? for better men than you." They have chained Butler to the oar of the splendidly decorated galley in which "Col. Bul? lock," their candidate for Governor, 1 sits clothed in purple and linen. And tha,frightful efforts of the late Military Governor of Louisiana to "come up a little higher," are very diverting. . They remind us, in their ludicrous want of success, of the attempts of a sea-turtle to right himself when he has been turned upon his back. There is a lively movement of four huge fin-like feet, a most hideous protrusion of head and neck-but nothing comes of it, and the turtle remains in a most uncomfortable po? sition until he is converted into soup and steaks. If Butler had have fought half as hard to take Fort Fisher as he did to carry the nominating conven? tion at Worcester, the other day, a younger New England General would not have accomplished what the "no? ble Verres" declared to be impossible. CONFEDERATES IN MEXICO.-Private legers from Mexico tell us of tho ar? rival in Mexico City of large num? bers of Confederate officers. Among them are Gen. Jack Magruder, Gen. Sterling Price, Stephens, lato chief engineer in Lee's army; Gov. Trus? ten Polk, Gov. Allen, of Louisiana, Gov. Isham G. Harris, of Tennessee, Judge Perkins, of Louisiana, Gen. Leadbetter, Gen' Wilcox, Judge Wat? kins, Col. Semmes, Col. Anglade, Col. Dennis, Major Kimmell, Major Mordecai, Captains Carroll, Wood, Cage, Adams, of Missouri, Moore, of Alabama, Thompson, of Joe John? ston's staff, and Gregory. Lieuten? ant Maury has ?>een appointed to the Observatory in Mexico. Gen. Ste? phens has charge of the San Luis Potoso railroad. Messrs. S. Barron and H. Meade, of Morgan's staff, a*hd G. A. Bordiert, late of the steamer Stonewall Jackson, have applied for lands to settle on permanently. Gen. Shelby and his command have re? mained in tho Northern departments of Mexico; and the belief in Mexico City was that they will be accepted into the French service. [New York Journal. THE COTTON LOAN.-A letter from Secretary Seward to Minister Adams has been made public, which, in gen? eral terms, sets forth that the United States has never and never v ill as? sume any of the debts contracted by the Confederates. . This is in' con? sequence of tho late ruling by the British Viee-Chancellttr, in a suit in which the United States,waa a party, that we aro bound to assume aud pay the Confederate cotton loan. Mr. Seward has directed Mr. Adams to repudiate this decision, and, if neces? sary, to bring the matter to the notice of Earl Russell. The United Staies will insist on its claim to the restora? tion of cotton held by the English merchants as security for their ad? vances to the "Confederacy." Paris lived for some days upon the tale of the wondrous spider, who stole the gentleman's shirt button, and it was so good an imitation of a fly in enamel, that the spider only disco? vered the cheat when, by dint of great labor, he had carried it to his web, and found it too hard to crack. Local Items. "Cotton Clanks" and permita-indispen? sable to all penjons purchasing or shipping cotton-can be obtained at this office. We are indebted to Thos.Flanigan,Esq., for copies of the New York Herald, of the 23d. Also, to Mr. F. Eugene Durbeo for Charleston papers^ of the 28th. We have been requested to ?tate that there will be no service in thc Catholic Church, to-morrow, earlier than 10 o'clock. THE CAPTURE AND DESTJITJCTKHT OF THE CIT? or COLUMBIA, 8. C.-Originally Pub? lished in flie Columbia P.honix-.Rem'sed and Corrected by the Author.-About the middle of October, tho above work will be issued from the press of the Columbia Phoenix-printed with new type and on fine paper. Persons desiring copies aro re? quested to give their nam.es as carly as possible. Single copies will bc furnished at $1. Thc trade supplied at a discount. NEW Music.-We are indebted to Messrs. Townsend Ss North for copies, of thc follow? ing pieces of new music: "The Maid of Serento''-one of the serjes of Musical Echoes-by C. Everest; "The Little Mis? chievous Schottische," by Frank Drayton; "The Song of All Songs," by Stephen C. Foster;" and "TheDream"-one of Jenny Lind's favorite airs. We|,mcrely give the titles of thc pieces, not having had time to test their merits, but from the reputation of some of the composers, there ia hardly a doubt but that the pieces will "take." Messrs. T. & N. inform us that they have on hand a large assortment of new music, musical instruction books, etc., and aro prepared to fill orders for pieces not em? braced in their catalogue. Wo beg to urge upon our fellow-citizens the call this day made by Council for a public meeting, to decide upon what should be done in relation to the establishment of a public market. We have a few sugges? tions to belade on this subject, which wc may as well utter in this place. A public market should not be in close propinquity to the great thoroughfare of trade, nor on the central and main street. While it should be located as conveniently as possi? ble to serve the purposes of the citizens at large, it is no such pleasant or proper ob? ject in the public eyes or nostrils, as to occupy a too conspicuous place in the walks of the public. A market between Assem? bly and Gates streets might be as conve? niently located for the benefit of the public as at the former site, and a lot for tho pur? pose may, we think, be obtained at a less price than the city property may be sold for, now lying on Main street-an admira? ble lot-where thc former market stood. We recommend that thejmarket stalls shall be so constiucted as to give an ample hall above stairs for public meetings, and for the use of exhibitions in general. It may be made an excellent source of revenue to the city._ KEW A?YEBTISEMEHTS.-Attention is call? ed to tho following advertisements, which ar? published for the first time this morn? ing: . D. D. Fenley-Mare Stolen. Thomas C. Veal-Architect, Ac. Townsend & North-Wagon for Sale. " " -New Music, Ac. S. Olin Talley-Commercial Agent, Ac. Nomination of Col. Farrow for Congress. Mrs. S. J. Cotchett-Fall Hats. James G. Gibbes-jfTown Meeting. Coffin A Bavenel-Carriages and Mules. Jacob Levin-Desirable Residence. Wm. Martin-Executor^ Notice. Meeting of Columbia Medical Society. Durbec A Walter-Furniture- Ac. F. B. Orchard A Co.-Otard Brandy. Court Common Pleas-Jurors Excused, -t-<.? A "CATHOLIC PKIEST FTJTE??.-Father Cummings, a Catholic priest residing in Louisiana, Missouri, was arrested a few days since, taken before Judge Bragg, of the Pike Cjgcuit Court, and sentenced to pay a tine of $500, for persisting in preaching without taking the constitutional oath. Har? ing refused to pay the fine, and declined to permit his friends to pay it for him, tho Reverend Father is confined in the county jail. His case will probably be brought before the Supreme Court for a final de? cision. STAND FROM UNDEB.-At the wool grower's banquet, in Philadelphia, on Wednesday, Congressman William D. Kelly "let off' the following: "Yes, let the British hon shelter itself under the wings of the bhtck eagle of Austria, while it sports with fche lily of France, and-entwines itself in the flags of every European power, uid I will draw the mile and a half of urcdMried iron-clads and iron craft be?m the black channel of League [aland, and confront them ali." A writer in the Washington Chroni? cle, understands "it is the expressed >pinion of heads of bureaus that, as i whole, the employment of women n the department? is a failure." Pura them out, cfcrtainly; they have io votes.