Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1864-07-20
BALTIMORE.


What has become of the legal tendersl Every
one knows by this time, that there is a stringen
CIV i'm the money market At first there was
calling in of temporary loans by the banks. and
those who live by the use of the capital which is
lover" from Gay TO day. found themselves cut
of on every side and forced TO suspend their OPP
erations. Then regular banking facilities were
contracted, and the first class spectators began
to be pinched. and were compelled to sell off Il
portion of their securities. After that the ira
ders were reached and produce was brought up
on the market to meet the emergency. Debts
we're more difficult of collection; small bills were
laid over for a more convenient season. and
plethOric purses were gradually depleted, until
even the fashionable belle, just ready for New
port or Saratoga, found her plans menaced by
the common trouble. and startled her friends
from their well bred summer languor BY an ener-
getic protest against the presence of want so
easily supplied How does it happen that money
is 80 scarce, when il has been stamped by the
printing press, aud thus produced by the ream
without even the trouble of a signature
Let us consider When the war broke out
there were IN the States now affected by our eur
rency, nearly one hundred and forty millions of
bank notes, and about as much more of specie,
used Is money. although One-ihird of the latter
at rest i'm the banks seldom disturbed. The
total of this mixed currency NAV be set down,
lars. Specie has now ceased to circulate "a
money OF State bank notes there are little
over one hundred and sixty millions of National
bank notes about thirty millions: of greenbacks
about four hundred and fifty millions; of the in
terestbearing legal tenders, intended for circu
lation, about two hundred millions, and of frac-
tiOnal currency about twenty-one millions, max
ing total of eight hundred and sixty million
dollars.
What has become OF this immense volume of
money! In this city there said 10 be in the
banks only about ten millions of greerbacks,
and forty millions of the FIVE per cent notes, all
legal tenders. In Philadelphia the banks report
but eleven millions of legal tender, and the
other banks through the country hold but a
moderate accumulation of these Government
issues Where are the remainder? Part OF
them. undoubtedly, in the pockets of the people,
added to the ordinary supplies thus carried in
consequence of the prevalent high prices. Every
man who has money to spend is obliged to take
for his daily twice or three times al much as
formerly to effect the same result All travellers
must more than double their nominal resources
before they leave home; and everywhere the
movement, dependent upon the actual delivery of
money, requires a much larger volume. This of
itself would absorb over two hundred million
dollars of the paper money There would still
remain, however. over FIVE hundred millions to
be accounted for as available for the purposes of
trade What has become of itg
Perhaps some o. our readers will smile when
We tell them that in our opinion it is boarded
There can be no doubt of the fact Large sums
be traced to the interior where they disappear
from view. They are not deposited in bank
They not passed from hand TO hand. increas-
ing the volume in motion. They melt out of
sight a. the summer rain sinks in the thirsty
earth What, this currency, so denounced for its
redundancy. 80 deprecated because irredeemable
actually hosrdedy 1t is even go. Is il because
its value rests on the faith of the Government
promise, This cannot be; for the National bank
notes are based on National stocks, and they are
not boarded II is simply because they are, as
far as legislation can make them. legal tender.
Every man who has a debt TO pay, or fears that
he may have such obligation. lays by the
ready means of discharging il. Repeal the legal
tender clause. or prove IL TO be unconstitutional.
aud these boards would quickly reappesr, and the
market he glutted with them
There j. very clear reason why the people
throughout the interior have been enabled to in
dulge in this propensity. They have contributed
very little To the public treasury yet in the
way either OF taxation or public loans. The In
ternal Revenue Bill has been farce thus far
IN its application To the country towns. IL was
never designed 10 bear heavily upon the rural
districts. but Il has fallen short even of what il
intended There is Justice IN the distinc
lions which il adopts Take tue income tax as
an example We know town of over three
hundred thrifty families where bat one person.
has 4 reputed income of SIX hundred jolars the
rest thus escaping any tax; aud yet they all live
ia comfort The whole income tax from that
town will be eight dollars, and that comes from
the clergyman. We know poor clerk in this
city whose salary for 1868 was sixteen hundred
dollars, and who will thus have TO paw from the
earnings OF that year. when the additional assess
ment l. collected. eighty dollars as an income
tax. He alone pays ten times as much Of this
tax a. that whole town. Three hundred such
clerks and there are many more here. will paw
almost as much income tax as the entire county
in which that above town il located.
Wed not meat 10 say that country man
whose Income Is only six hundred dollars should
pay much tax. because he lives more cemfor-
5ls upon that SUN. as city clerk who earns six
teen hundred But we do not see Why. if there
are one million men earning less than six hun
dred and one hundred thousand earning more. the
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