Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1864-04-21
NATIONAL. INTELLIGENCER.
PREMIUM ON GOLD.

The present premium upon gold, as com parea
viii ,be naner currency Of the country, Is ieil
by all to be the most alarming Pof'en' o '"' r.
litical situation. !.
Notwithstanding tho diminished amount u
limited States notes in circulation, ana lhe
ouod,,oI vy;tbdrawa from use as currency OF IN
,orest hearing United States notes made legal
tender for their face the price of gold has continued
. ADVANCE. This effect, in the opinion OF the
Secretary of the Treasury, as officially communl-
Gated to Mr.. Fesscnden, the chairman OF the
Senate Committee on Finance, " can be attributed
only to one or two causes, and is probably due In
part to each-frst to the increase of notes OF locaf
banks and, secondly, to the efforts ofspeculators
Accordingly, the Secretary of the Treasury
some time ago submitted TO the Senate Committee
on Finance the project of bill intended as
remedy for the first evil, and on the lzth Instant
he submitted to its consideration bill intended
as remedy for the second In support OF each
he wrote as follows:
!. The frat bill if it become law, will have, doubt
not the most salutsry consequence he eheos VI ne
ua.ona will probably be immed ate thoueh perhaps
NOT Of such permanent Importance, ASK LOT Doln
candid consideration aud if approved the favorable acon
of ngress. ;,h
ar botb o tn, 40 measures adequate remedies Tor imam
ca disorders Nothing short of taxation OF
the amount Of our current expenditures ahu
of those expenditures to the lowest point copatoe WIN
efficiency will ensure financial success to the oVenmeht
And without military all measures viii ail
The value of these recommendations resides al
together, we think, in the suggestion that !" no
thing short of taxation to the extent proposed
a.
country and that without speedy litary sue
cesses" portending the probable early suppression
Of the insurrection g all measures" for temporarily
bolstering up the credit of the Government on Its
present financial basis g must fail" 10 thus ex-
tent we entirely concur with the Secretary. But
we are not so clear in our mind as to either the
richtfulness or the expediency of the legislation
he invokes to prevent speculation IN the price OF
gold, even though he limits his expectations of
its salutary consequences by combining them, as h :
does, to brief period of time. Mr.. Chase indi-
Gates his dstrust of this species of legislation when
he says that he does not regard it as an adequate
remedy for financial disorders" and that its effect
if" probably" Immediate, will not be of "per-
manent importance" We do not believe that it
will have any bcnefcent effect whatever IN arrest
ing the causes which lie at the basis of our fuan-
cial disorders The continued depreciation IN the
price of Treasury notes, as compared with gold
simply measures the decline of popular confidence
in the capacity of the Government to redeem It's
paper promises to pay" Taxation and military
success. will revive this dropping credit. Any
specifics in the shape OF penal legislation designed
to counteryai the normal operation of natural
causes, will but hasten the decay for which they
are prescribed as remedies. Panics are not to be
arrested by panic cries or panic threats.