ERRATA. On page 17, third line, read " transitoriness " lor " tranai- torieas." On page 25, lines 5 and 6, read '' the sous of Mars.'' On page 35, line 23, the comma should he omitted after the word "for." On page 86, first and second lines, the words "actively" and "tacitly" are typographically incorrect. On pages 75, 93, 104 and 121, the word "crisis" should be in the plural. THK YANKO-SEQUOR DISQUISITIONS UPON SEVERAL THINGS IN AMERICA. A WORK IN FIVE BOOKS. BOOK FOURTH. DISCOURSES AXD SKETCHES UPON THE WAYS TO ARRIVE AT THE DEAIONETIZATION OF GOLD AND SILVER IN AAIERICA, AND THE ESTABLISHAIENT OF PRIVATE B.ANKS UNDER THE CONTROL OF A NATTONAT. GOVERNWIENT. BY A YANKEE TRADEK. M. R. PILON, NEW YORK. K. "f Entered according to act of Congresss, in the year 1874, by Martin Rbgul Pilon, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 0 Metropolitan Printing Establishment, Herald Building, Broadway & Ann St. TABLE OF CONTENTS. BOOK IV. CHAPTER FIRST.—Announcing to (Sold an attack upon its majesty. CHAPTER SECOND. —^Let seekers seek about valuation of precious metals. CHAPTER THIRD;—Questioning the merits'of gold and silver. A substi¬ tute must be found for them for currency. CHAPTER FOURTH.—Consideration upon substitutes for precious metals for the manufactory ot coins. CHAPER FIFTH.—A discourse to panegyrize the humble copper cent. CHAPTER SIXTH.—^Examining what money is, and whether it is a mer¬ chandise or a tool in the hands of those who operate with that measurer. Enquiring about the effects of the abundance of it. CHAPTER SEVENTH. —Considerations upon abundance and scarcity of money, with a bow to inflation. CHAPTER EIGHTH.—Dissertations upon banks and banking transactions. CHAPTER NINTH.—Iron money. Considerations upon the ways to prevent the work of counterfeiters. CHAPTER TENTH.—How to put iron money in circulation. CHAPTER ELEVENTH.—A discussion on finances and banks, dedicated to women. CHAPTER TWELFTH.—Disquisitions upon the capacity of man for making innovations that do not creep into him without his being conscious of the change working in his good self, and considerations upon banking. CHAPTER THIRTEENTH.—Panegyric of individual's bank, with banker of illimited responsibility. 447769 THE YANEO-SEQUOR, OR DISQUISITIONS UPON SEVERAL THINGS IN AMERICA. A "Work in Five Books. BOOK I. Narrations about things in Mexico. Views upon the policy of the United States with Spanish-America as to the Monroe Doctrine, and contemplation upon the effects of State Rights. BOOK II. Survey on several matter's of the American Union and 3Iexico, regarding^ their republican systems and the abolition of monocracy, including Presi¬ dency in republics, and also comparisons on their respective social, indus¬ trial and political economies. BOOK III. Considerations upon Free Trade, Balance of Trade, and the valuations of commodities for a Fair Trade. BOOK IV. Discourses and Sketches upoff the ways to an-ive at the demonetization of gold and silver in America, and the establishment of Private Banks under control of a National Government. BOOK V. An Essay on the History of Mexico, from the time of the conquest of the Aztec Empire to the present days; with dissertations upon climates, pro¬ ductions, and roads of that country. By A YANKEE TRADER PREFACE. The Yanko-Sequor is the title of a somewhat bulky work, mitten mostly upon the Mexican Eepubhc, and principally as compared to the United States regarding government, republicanism and economical concerns. In giving in succession to the American nation the dif¬ ferent books of the work, the author has been guided by the belief that the other parts may form presentable volumes that can be submitted separately to the generality of our people. The fractions of the Yanko-Sequor are not curtailed books, and, unlike novels, need not absolutely one another to make of each a finished work. Although linked to one another in some way, each book is complete for the questions it intends to bring to the examination of the reader. To a number of persons one subject is interesting, while to other men another is the preferable. ^Narrations about things in Mexico can have interest for fewer readers than disquisition upon money and antagonism to free trade, and to these few one may offer, separately, the peneillings upon the actual state of affairs in that country> "which is to be turned into a necropolis by the deprivation of vcurrency, by the effects of low wages to working men, by ^lack work, and by the way that federation works there. In all this there is what ought to be noted by us to correct our jiotions about the State Eights Doctrine, and that other 6 \ called the Monroe's, and also for calling forth ideas that lead ns to muse deeply upon the abolition of that sort of mono¬ cracy, called with great modesty the Presidency of a republic. Time must cause our actual political leaders in finance and election tactics to become played out. Among the enlightened future generations it will appear strange, indeed, that an Executive branch of a Government had the faculty to veto the doings of a Legislative Power, composed of two chambers, instead of having to obey them forthwith. We have it so because in the British Constitution it was observed that the King has power,of giving or withholding his assent to proposed laws ; but kings, according to statutes, are lords by Divine right, and this implies inspired science, and kings must have a weapon to- defend hereditary privilege and the mess allowed to it in good old times. , For still fewer readers there can be interest in a matter, such as the book that is an essay upon the history of Mexico,, and a laconic one besides, although embracing the time irom the conquest by Hernan Cortez to the present. In it we kept only to the noting about the principal events, avoiding as far as possible to mention numerous personages and enter into the details of the frequent civil wars of that countr}'. CHAPTER FIRST. ANNOUNCING TO GOLD AN ATTACK UPON ITS MAJESTY. # ERSONS who entertain the wide-spread opinion that money is essentially nothing else than a disguised merchandise, and must forever remain so, ought to give a farther examination into the subject, taking care by proceed¬ ing, first, to consider well about the so-named paper money, and observe carefully, if their conclusion will not arrive at indicating that positively the paper is not money; it is only a promise, hence it is credit asked and obtained by the issuer of the scrip. Then, in order to reason correctly, paper money must be kept out of the question; but only tempo¬ rarily, as it is by itself a well-deserved entity in its sphere. Examining one of the qualities of money, it is found out that it is a merchandise having great value in a small bulk; and this quaUly proceeds from the difficulty there is for the obtainment of gold and silver in the raw state, that is, before they are mint¬ ed. It is evident that if these metals could be obtained easily in large quantities, all men would have their hands at gathering them for sending to the mints, to be assayed and stamped for their own use, because it is a right possessed by everybody in aU countries. 8 To be sure, everywhere anybody has that right of causing precious metals to be manufactured into legal coin for his account, and having that sort of goods, one goes forth to seek who will buy it from him for other goods he desires, and when it is, for instance, cotton that he wants, the cotton buys his gold. The generality of men say it is the gold that buys the cotton, and not the cotton that buys the gold. If both are merchandises, any one can think for himself which is the one that buys the other. When two different merchandises are exchanged one for another, some men say that neither of them buy nor sell, but they barter mutually. Then, those men, without being con¬ scious, deny the quality of merchandise to coin, notwith¬ standing that in their treatises on Political Economy they say that coined ihoney is merchandise. Other men in greater number, forming an immense majority all over the world, and who do not read any matter about Political Econ¬ omy, think that money is a tool for performing exchanges; because money is a consideration admissible for its equiva¬ lent consideration that is asked for. Essentially money is not much of a merchandise; it is much of a measurer, an'^ the prime quality of measurer that gold and silver coins have, is the best of their qualities; because the other, making of them merchandise, is of little account since they are both worthless commodities. In advising, as we do, in the whole course of this book, that coin be made of base metal, but with much elaborate and costly workmanship upon it, some may think it an erroneous suggestion, since in all things economy should prevail. The costly and elaborate workmanship is to make up for the difference in class, and also for the short quantity of 9 metal; first of all, it is honesty that must prevail universally, otherwise society could have no right to castigate rogues. A real money must cost as much as the thing it pretends to have in exchange; this is the alleged condition of the gold and silver pigs of metals stamped in all mints, for account of whom it may concern. The new metallic money that we write about wiH be a thorough good- faith measurer, and it is what civilization needs for its mercantile transactions. , The deep-rooted prejudices that exist among the multitude regarcTing the intrinsic value of gold and silver, is a matter of much difficulty to reason with ; when, saying at first that gold is trash, aU hearers must turn round abruptly to scan the strange fellow who dares to utter jokes at such a respected stuff. It is only by reiterated conversations that one can begin to draw attention, in order to induce a spirit of investi¬ gation to be directed to the circumstances of the precious metals. Credit is an institution that shall forever exist; it is based upon a foundation that shall be as strong in future as at present, if not stronger. Paper money is credit, and the in¬ dispensable regulator of paper money is coin that has cost adequately to the value enounced by its superscription. With this regulator acting upon paper money it causes it to become a most beneficent institution for society; this very circum¬ stance advocates for the creation of the new metallic money that we recommend to the consideration of statesmen and of the other citizens that delegate the chosen men to law-making. In aU countries it is precisely necessary to convince the masses as to the soundness of any doctrine for obtaining lasting popularity to it. Sowing, growing, ripening, reaping cannot be obtained all at once. It is preposterous for politi- 10 dans to assume, even in convention assembled, tbat forever their own minds must be reasoning for their constituency, which is expected to be led on blindly by the utterances of the esquires who do not think; it is worth while that they themselves should be directed by vox jpopuU instead of being its leaders. Even when politicians understand fullj a matter, if their constituents do not, the impending risk is that other politi¬ cians left out of place take to agitating for coming in place ; offering to undo what their predecessors have done, and their agitations operating upon the mind of voters, who do not understand the reasons for an adopted course, produce the effect of changing what should not be changed. PoHticians do not always aim at changing only what to them appear obnoxious; often their desire is forces him to have no other alternative than to raise the price of his silver, and to pretend giving only half the quantity he heretofore gave for the other things that he heretofore asked in exchange; and not succeeding in this, he has to stop work¬ ing at the mine. He might go to the gold monger and tell him that hereafter only eight ounces of silver shall be given for an ounce of gold. If those that mine for gold find out that their business is not such a paying one as it is generally supposed, 16 and that they should also give a lesser quantity than what they give now for other things that they need have in ex¬ change, the two miners might come to the conclusion that it ' is better to give up the business and embark in some other trade that procures more comfort to the men who bestow their exertions on it. Unless, indeed, the good public should consent to receive only half as much the quantity of gold and silver that it pretends now for every thing, settling the matter by saying that gold and silver have a price much enhanced, and half an ounce of either is as worthy now as one ounce was in previous times. When one of our mechanics, of approved abdity, says that one-fifth of an ounce of gold, or three ounces of silver must be tendered to him as pay for his day's work, the substance of his meaning is, that he should obtain for his work the wherewithal to live comfortably ; he is thereat fully sustained by reason and by equity. His meaning is not, that in an ab¬ solute manner he must have that weight of precious metal; because, if with half that weight he could live as comfortably as with the full weight, he would not stop to cavU. Precious metals have been considered the suitable stuffs for representing a general measure in commercial worths ; well then, the intellect ofi man ought to exercise itself in finding out what quantity of gold and what quantity of silver ought to be taken to be the symbol of a day's work, even if the metals hereafter should be used only for ornamental purposes. It seems that it.ought to be the quantity, that the miners who work to get the metal, can obtain and earn of it in a day on an average. Leaving aside transitory circumstances, which, considering working men, indicate that the wants of a European are not equal to the wants of an American, we can take it for granted 17 that ever where the same quantity of exertions, the same quantity of food and raiment can be counted upon; then a man is a man for all that. When transitoriess shall have ended, a day's work will be a day's work everywhere, and with the same remuneration for a living. We have to let out the bold hint that gold and silver miners ought to maintain their rights, and cause coins to be made smaller for the same value that they now represent. It would be an advantage enabling all men to carry more riches in their pockets, without being broken down by fatigue. Giving less precious metal than heretofore for the same ■consideration will not be a new thing. Let us call quicksilver a precious metal, a hundred years ago the same consideration could obtain two or three times the weight of quicksilver that it now can. Leaving precious metals to their future destiny of com¬ manding proportionately to their bulk, much or little com¬ modity, we proceed to consider what mystery there is in them for being so blindly cherished, and upon what reason is based their value relatively to each other; both are scarce, and afford scanty products to miners working for them, and therefore men ought to ponder in order to find the proper substitute for manufacturing their metallic money with, in quantity, as society needs. CHAPTER THIRD. QUESTIONlNa THE MERITS OP GOLD AND SILVER AND THEIR: RELATIVE VALUE—A SUBSTITUTE MUST BE FOUND FOR THEM FOR CURRENCY. E write, trying to convince that a change in the stuff for money is urgent in a nation that wants to count upon a sufficiency; but it is of metallic money that we speak ofj because bank note or paper money is only.an auxiliary that must repose upon the metallic currency that the banks hold to pay their notes when the holders need coins. We must proceed, now, to inquire into the nature of the precious metals and become acquainted with theiti, and the mystery of their immense value relatively to themselves and to other metals, and, also, to all other things, and we will become conscious if they are what they are boasted to be. By saying immense value, we do not impugn the price they cost—we all know how costly they are. After knowing weU, surmises may be indulged in; also, enquiries about the strength of our suggestions for giving substitutes to gold and silver. About gold, the substitute exist already: it is the bank note. If we can find substitutes for them, we will not have to turn anxiously round to see if the boys are at the mines, al- 19 ways producing sufficiently of the fine thing, as if it were the indespen sable wheat to feed us, or iron to help in raising thck wheat. The production of the fine thing in great quantity at pay¬ ing prices is extremely problematical, and its wearing out is positive; so the time must come when it must be left alto¬ gether for the use of the smiths. Gold, platinum and silver, are excessively inalterable, and articles made of them are exempt from rust, and keep clean without any attention being given to them. Vegetable juices and acids have* no effect upon them ; but, chloric, nitric acid and alkalies, do alter them. They are susceptible of high polish, and of acquiring a high brilliancy; in this respect, however, steel is their equal. For some uses they are of the utmost value, and cannot.be superseded by alloys; but these uses are very limited and proportionate to the scarcity of them. Some who extoll the high value of gold and silver say that they are liighly useful in medicine. Gold, decomposed, and forming part of the oxide, iodide, chloride and cyanuret of gold, is given in the smallest quantity imaginable—say a small fraction of one grain daily: more would act as a most virulent poison. The preparations of silver used in medicines are in the same cases—the one most consumed is the nitrate. For the want of the whole world as medicines, twenty men working at the mines would' produce much more than sufficient of both metals. Another of the good qualities of gold and silver, according to some, is their great specific gravity. Very likely, this is a defect, instead of being a good quality. K, to their compact¬ ness for admitting polish, and to their virtues for resisting to 20 acids, they were lighter than almninnin—even as light as cork—it would, perhaps, be better. For household furniture, such as spoons, forks and other articles of gold and silver wrought into plates, we know that mixtures of nickel, tin, zinc, copper, or the alloy, spoken of by Berzelius, of zinc, copper and steel, or the one known as Manheim gold, can produce utensils as fine looking and as shiny as if made of pure silver and gold. These articles of alloy require constant care to keep them clean and free from oxidation; whereas, with the articles made of precious metals, the advantage is that, almost, no care is needed. But, gold and silver are soft metals, and much more apt to be worn away by friction than is generally believed, and when articles made of them are not mixed with a small quan¬ tity of copper they are not more durable than those made of pure copper, tin or zinc: as a matter of course, not taking into account the disadvantage of these last metals in presence of oxygen and acids generally. Platinum, gold and silver are very useful, and, with reason, they are called perfect metals, or precious metals. All three posssess nearly the same good qualities; and, about the two last ones, which are the most abundant, theie is not much reason in saying that jine is worth fifteen times as much as the other. No one can see any rational foundation for such an apprizement. Why is it not that one is only three times better than the other ? Why must it be fifteen times ? Can it be owing to the negligence of commercial people to look to the matter? When one says that one pound of silk should be worth ten times as much as one pound of ordinary wool, and a pound of this wool should be worth twice or three times as much as a pound of cotton wool, it is taken into consideration the 21 cost of production of. these commodities; and, as to silk, its actual price may not be seated upon very solid foundations, since that in great many countries uninhabited now silk can be raised very cheaply. For general usefulness for all purposes of civihzation, and for giving to men the supremacy over the dangerous wild beasts that could destroy him, and make prey of him for their food, iron is above gold, silver, diamonds and everything alike; and, yet, one pound of silver in our country, in actual times, is worth over four hundred pounds of iron, and one pound of gold is worth about six thousand pounds of iron. In Europe, the difference is greater yet. Considering that gold and silver are the raw materials for the fabrication of money, the purchasing power of the latter is as yet very potent; but, it remains to be proved if the work for obtain¬ ing one pound of gold is. equal to the work for obtaining six thousand pounds of iron. It is saying much in asserting that one metal is six thou¬ sand times better than another. Future generations will enquire why is it so much. The assertion looks like the say¬ ings of those who are accustomed to exaggerate. Why is it not only one thousand times better, instead of six thousand times ? The different value between the two is enormous, and yet, if we take bulk into account, it makes it two-fold. Let us remember, that in maintaining that one metal is six thousand times better than another, that we maintain, no doubt, a fallacy, and fallacies will out. It is true that one of the metals is very scarce and the other very abundant; that one requires great labor to obtain it and the other less; but, one is only moderately useful and the other is indispensable and excessively useful. 22 As to the use of gold and silver for monej'—as it is possi¬ ble, by hand work, to make other metals equally suitable— it may or may not be of extremely long duration. Owing to the style of writing of political economists, we grope in the dark about the meaning of the words token, money, currency, merchandise. They consider it is wealth, and, yet, we see they dread that too much of it may create perturbations in a country. However, the generality of men do not understand the thing as political economists do. "With these, money is only a merchandise; they say too much of it may cause a glut; they consider it, with gold and silver bars and gold and siUver plates as all alike; and, per¬ haps, all as material for gold and silver smiths to make new wares of. With the multitude, gold and silver bars and plates are merchandise like copper bars and tin bars. But, money is a metallic certificate, bearing the stamp of the sovereign, to guarantee that it will be taken by all for so much; and, for that much, all the subjects are willing to take it, to facili¬ tate their mutual exchanges. They do not even enquire who took the metal to the mint to have it coined or where it comes from. The vulgar never stops to enquire if the coin given to him in payment is made of »thing extremel}' rare and extremely costly and fit to circulate universally: he looks only to see if it is not a counterfeit. . He who stops to enquire about the merchandise quality of the thing is the money changer, who sells it to the smith. The money changers have a calling that, in society, has the same usefulness as that of the augurs of ancient Eome: they may pass away without leaving a vacancy in the world. The vulgar or noble multitude want to be sure that what he receives for his time or his acquired commodities is a thing 23 that will be received bj his companions for as much as he re¬ ceived it when, from them, he calls for time and commodities that he needs; and, the state guaranteeing, according to his belief, that it shall be so, the contract is complete between giver and receiver, and the labors and transactions of a nation go ahead thereby. Said labors and transactions can never be hampered by any balance of commerce when there is a domestic currency that the vulgar take to: because, with the aid of such currency, a commercial crisis, when it happens, is mitigated, and cannot bring a disastrous sudden stop in every "branch of affairs, as when every one has to rush along as a vender and no money is found in the hands of buyers. To counteract the so-named adverse balances of trade, an adequate quantity of domestic metallic currency, even deemed inferior to gold and unfit for exportation, is desirable, to prevent the frequently renewed commercial panics to attain to great proportions; doubtless, that domestic money can keep the internal affairs agoing. With time, people shall go on judging for themselves, and learn to prefer the productions of home manufacture to the foreign; because, it is by importing too much of useless for¬ eign commodities and wasting them, as we frequently do by burning them in the warehouses, that we make ourselves poorer. If, instead of burning them at the expense of the insurers, we knew how to husband them, we would be better off. The great point is to consume only according to our means to pay with the commodities that we produce. In¬ cluded in those commodities, we produce the gold and silver bars, but not the coined money that should remain at home to facilitate our exchanges, because money is the tool for such purpose. 24 A nation situated as we are, with the highest wages to pay for labor, should be guided toward creating vitality in itself; draw its revenue from its own productions, principally, and not count upon the coming of a distant nation to trade with it, in order to infuse vitality in its finances. In general, trade between nations, unless the expenses for carrying are very moderate, should be respectively to the amount of a little bulk for each person. The nearer the consumption to the spot of production the better; because, transportation is, sometimes, as costly as production. Transportation allied to buying and selling are the two in¬ dustries that constitute commerce. Commerce is an unpro¬ ductive operation, and enhances the price of the thing brought to the reach of the consumer. It is, without ques¬ tion, a legitimate and useful calling to supply the wants of some; and, although unproductive, it is indispensable, and,, also, well deserving. Now it is in its second period. Its first one was less bright. It began in a rude and nefarious manner among the nations of remote antiquity. Much of it was the dealing in slaves. It did not consist, then, in going fairly exchanging one thing for another: it was allied to pirating—that is, the str