The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1863-09-05

Governments, the compensation of ain. ei-
Their In military or civil life, at wages es-
tablished on the old basis of a sound chr
rency, has diminished and Is daily dimin-
ishing in real exchangeable value, to a
sum for which the actual necess aries of life
can not be purchased. They feel the mis-
cry and generally know not its law. =
The capitalist lends his money to the
Government, and finds at his first half
yearly dividend he receives in payment
Treasury notes, not worth one third in
money what they were when he made the
loan. Yet the Government wonders why
people viii not buy its bonds. Investments
IN gold for the last six months have been
the safest and among the best in the Con-
federate States. They have paid one hun.
dred per cent on the original investment.
in Treasury notes. Can say more to ex
pose the boundless folly Of our present
financial system? The history Of the cur
rency of our enemies since the beginning
of this war is humiliating to us. Neither
| had foreign credits; both had powerful and
established State Governments to back
them. We were united in favor of the war.
they were divided. They have kept twice
the men in the field that we have upon
half the money, and paid their soldier bet
ter than we have. Their Treasury notes
sell at discount of less than thirty per
cent; ours at more than one thousand! The
reason is solely that their Government has
better understood and more firmly adhered
to the true principles of currency than ours.
In all else we had the advantage. 1 have
endeavored to point out the main difficulty
in our financial policy; and have, to the
best of my judgment; traced it to its true
source-eXcess in currency-not national
debility.
l have labored to illustrate the disastrous
effect on prices of this excess; and here /
wish to be clearly understood. / do not
say that currency is the sole element in the
price of corn, or of any other commodity,
but do affirm that it is one of its main ele-
ments. always present, ever active, and,
other things being equal, that the price of
commodities must everywhere rise or fall
in proportion to the increase or 'dimuni-
ton Of the money which circulates them
Suppose am mistaken in the application
of this principle to the present circumstan-
ces; suppose, as many able and excellent
men do firmly hold, that from our peculiar
circumstances gold and silver are not now
timer the true standard of value or the
true test of the depreciation of our curren-
cy. What then? L will not deny the
truth, but / will waive it, in Difference to
honest patriots seeking the same end-the
public good-but I viii not waive the ter
rible truth, as plain as the midday sun,
that by any and every standard which any
intelligent man can apply, and at velocity
rapid and daily increasing, our currency is
depreciating, dying, and, without our most
vigorous efforts, must soon pass away
This depreciation of the currency, there
fore, whatever may be its regulation, or by
whatever standard you may test its amt,
is our monster evil.
The mischief is still within our power,
and we may still remedy it, if we have the
wisdom, frmness and courage which the
ricic \ dc ,,,x-D nd
ence. We must do it; we have no alterna-
tive which freemen should consider; any
settlement with those miserable miscreants
on our northern border, short of eternal
separation and independence, would be the
contamination of all evils which even the
power of God could intiict on us in this
world. Therefore, whatever may be the
cost in wealth of return to sound curren-
cy, we must pay the penalty of our past
folly-and pay it now. This depreciation
of currency having been shown to have re-
suited chiefly from the excessive issue Of
treasury notes, we can only correct this
evil by stoppinginstantly any further issue
under any pretense whatever, and by re-
ducing as rapidly as possible our present
outstanding issues. 1t requires large COM
prehensive and efficient measures for their
continual reduction, until they shall rise in
value and approximate as nearly as our
circumstances will allow, to the standard
Taxation and loans are the only means
of attaining this result-taxations, compre-
hensive, simple, rigid, and equal. The
present tax law does not possess these
qualities-it is partial, unequal, and CON-
pick; fosters vulgar prejudices, and will
gather an abundant harvest of frauds and
perjuries. The tax in kind principle is
subject to many grave objections. This
mode of taxation should never be resorted
to when the currency is redundant, but
with all of its faults may be a necessary
evil whenever there is a great deficiency in
the circulating medium. The execution Of
such law is necessarily difficult, irrita-
fraud. But certainly in our present condi-
ton the war cannot be carried on and the
currency sustained by taxation alone: we
must resort to loans. / am not in the least
discouraged by the i'll success of the Gov
eminent lately, in funding its treasury
notes. Treasury notes arein great excess;
the holders are anxiously hunting for safe
and profitable investment for them. The
Government is perfectly able to supply
that want; heretofore it has not done So
We must issue new bonds with principle
and interest payable in gold and silver, or
their equivalent, and adopt measures to
make such payment certain. This can be
the revenue to the new bond-holders, ade-
quate to the payment of both principal and
interest as each may fall due, coupled with
clear provisions that their taxes shall be
until the mortgages are paid,
and that these taxes shall only be paid i'm
gold and silver or the coupons of the bonds
for which they are pledged.
By making the provision for our bonds
ample at the beginning, so that no future
legislation shall be necessary to preserve
the public faith, we give the public credit
or the best possible security for his money
which we are able to offer. The overthrow
of Government will be his only danger,
that cannot be provided against We great
ly lessen the chances Of reputation, be-
cause in this case it would require the d.
rect concurrence of the Executive and both
branches Of Congress to defeat thesecurity;
whereas, in the case Of bonds charged on
the general revenue, it may be defeGsed by
the Executive or either branch of Congress
even the nom action Of either would be
fatal to it. What are called the cotton
loan bonds, though they have but one OF
these principles engrafted upon them, to