The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1862-11-29
Me.hVhile / new Idis,ribo,ioo - ,be n,oa, -.

MeAnWnfie q new INSTITUTION OF the prodro,.
Of future labor is taking place, under which
while the nation is becoming poor, the trader,
becoming rich; and herein 10 the reason ,hs
there Is no danger of an early commercial con-
vulsion. For the last few months America h.
and has imported munitions of war and the ~
legations of their own indebtedness The Ist,er
process is tantamount 70 paying off creditors
and is Significant Of becoming rich rather thar
poor. At the end Of the war it will be diF.ren,
Then the pSper money must be turned into gold
and silver, the counters must be redeemed Ana
the commercial disasters will develop them
selves at intervals for years afterward snch
was the dssonment in England in 1917 1910
and / s25; in the United States in ls4O, isII
and 1912, and similar story is being WORKED
out at this very time in Austria, owing to Tia
wise determination Of Government to return Il
possible, 70 system of cash payments.
I Notwithstanding our endesvors to do Justice
10 the financial and monetary policy Of the Ped.
eral Government, we can not go 60 far az 70
say that il has been the wisest which theor,
could recommend. II, as some assert, Congress-
const.tutonally had the power Of making la.,
for regulating the commerce, and, BY implic,-
ton, the money Of the country, the be.,s,
course would surely have been, not to exnsnd
the paper currency, but to improve and esrhIe
that which already existed. This might have
been effected BY laws to make it, at the worst
stationary in quantity, and then, either by The
failure Of the poorest of the banks, or by the
increasing transactions of the times the bsnt
notes might, and probably would, gradually have
risen in value to parity With gold and silver
By collateral legislation the banks might have
required, under some arrangement beneficial to
the nation % we'll 40 to themselves, to place ae
curity with the Government as a guarantee of
the ultimate security of the note -holdsr. And
to pay tax for their privilege of issue. Doubt.
less they would have eontended that they had a
vested right in the profits of the issues created
by their industry AID commercial resources, and
the banking interest may be so represented in
the Legislature as to render the subject most
difficult to deal with. But, in the presence Of
good faith and good reason, difficulties give way
at last. In 1882 the West Indian planters con.
tended that they had vested right in the pro-
perty of their slaves, but their claim was obliged
to yield to the force Of public opinion. In 1874
again the same sort of vested right in the paper
issues of the country, although not entirely re-
linquisbed, was very considerably modified
But the most obvious and most unsccountable
mistake on the part Of the Federal Government
is their hesitation to impose taxes on account
of the war expenses. The attack on Fort Sum.
ter on the 18th of April, 1851, vas the frst
overt act of secession, so that year and half
has nearly passed without any perception of
tax on the part of the American people, yet the
cost of the war ia admitted to have reached one
hundred and sixty millions sterling The only
provision for this vast and progressive expen-
diture has been what may be called the con6s-
cation to State purposes of all Tie n oney of the
country, which is distinctly the property of the
people. Then comes the question how the sixty
millions of Government paper have provided for
the hundred and sixty millions expended. Is it
not more than probable that the paper, which
we know has been returning to the Treasury ra-
pidly, has been converted into the six per cent.
stock as arranged, and has then been reissued
In that case the Government is in possession of
an unlimited power Of borrowing, and though
Congress may soon put stop to extravaganza
80 unbounded, the damage done may prove ire.
trievable. With every allowance made for the
novelty and difficulty of the situation, the poll.
cy Of Mr.. Lincoln and bis Ministers can not be
wholly justified by any of the rules Of S.aecraft
to which the most advanced European Govern
ments are nov, for the public interests and
credit, content to be subservient |.'