The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1864-10-18
TIE FINANCIAL PROSPECT Or
TIE CONFEDE ERA CY-LETTE'R
FROM THE SECRETARY or
THE TREASURY

1HE IKE1SURf.
Secretary Trenholm has written a let
ter to the commissioners to fix prices for
four of the States Of the Confederacy,
which will be read with interest and,
VIC hope, profit The chief cause of the
depreciation of the currency is the dis
trust Of Government securities and the
Secretary undertakes to show that this
distrust is without reasonable founda-
ton. He says:
"The entire public debt, funded and unfundel,
was on the lst Of July last, about SI,25U, 900 O00-
The expenses from the lst of July to the 3ls; ofD
cember estimated At about s325 900 900, making
aggregate of 81, ,jIj 900 900
In this amount is included $3.50 GOO 900 of >0Hr
per cent. bonds TO b. issued in place Of a like
| amount OF old currency funded under the act Of
February IL, 1864 {; but Il considerable portion of
this will be returned into the Treasury under
the Tax Act or i'll other words, the whole sum pro-
duced by the taxation of the present year will be
applicable to the reduction OF this aggregate of
Sl,5I5,u00,9o0. Let a liberal allowance, however
be made for opposite contingencies and let the debt
OH the lst of january, 1865, be set down III round
numbers at st,5 ,oaoOJe; let the war be supposed
TO continue, and Ill lis progress add s5g0, ,0o00 900
moro t. the National debt, making the aggregate
finally $4,000 ,000. This would entail upo! us
an annual interest OF t4U, ,043,tJ3.
why should our ability To bear this btirthcn b.
doubted Before this wlr it Was alleged .,nd, i'll
my opinion, with great trI;' that a sum fully as
great as this was annually paid in tribute to the
Northern States. Why should it not be paid with
equal case 10 our own government by whom 1t will
te returned to us III the payment Of interest
"It may be supposed by some that the magnitude
OF the debt III proportion to our property, may lead
to general insolvency and bankruptcy Let Us
anime the grounds Ot this possible apprehension.
II d planter, whose property before the war wts
worth sl0oo 900, sell during It's progress wheat, corn,
etc, to the value OF suo tju aud take Government
bonds for the amount, how does ii incur the risk OF
being ruined And what is true OF one citizen i'll
this respect, or OF one class, Is equally true OF the
whole community.
"The alarm must arise from inattcntion to the
lmportan. consideration that selling to the
Government, year by year, Only the surplus of our
annual productions.
may be made oppressive, the following transac-
ton will show The Government paid, Oh one oc-
ctsion S5ooOC0 for certain supplies, and the party
who received this sum bought with it. from To-
rcigneT, Sl5O00 III gold, deliverable in England
With the S3Uo,000 thus obtained the foreigner then
bought an equal amount Of Government bonds,
bearing seven per cent per urmum interest.
" IL follows that, at the enA of this war; Tor 81 800
thus acquired by the citizen, the Government Will
owe debt OF S3U0,opU
The citizen will receive annually 81 Qia in
tereat the Government will pay annually S!i %"
Had he, on the contrary, bought the bonds himself
the 81 ,o'AD annually PAID hy the Government
would have been received BY one Of its citizens,
and the country, as ii whole would have. been
neither richer nOg poorer. would earnestly iul-
press upon your consideration that, wItn traced
through all their various ranlliCationa, tins Is at
last the uniform result Of every III which sup
plies are sold to the GoVerinent and property OF
any description Is bought with the money to .hG
exclusion Of Government securities.
1T should be borne III mind thai We have
commercial class in this country; that the banks
have limited capital Of about Soo, O0o and, be
yond this sum- have no power TO purchase Govern
meAt bonds. The great mass OF our citizens, then,
OF every class, combine and take Cover Bntnt
securities, and nothing else, III exchange t0r fr.a
sury notes, or the public debt must iutalbly 90
abroad Theic Is no single class Of citizens
who have the power to purchase and hold 3ij00.-
Uo0,oou VI bonds. The question: then, - between
public debt being taken by entire p0ulttiuII
all clas5es, BY foreigners Ill the manner and
the teln9 already Indicated. Judging from present
Indications, there will difficulty iii finding plIr-
clasers Tor our bonds among those who sending
them abroad. Shall they be allowed to go abroad /!
There he no escape from tho ultimate payment
of the debt; if held by foreigners, could not
evdlc 1t if We would il held by people, VIC
would not II We could; and under no circumstances,
| trust, would a suggestion So disIonorhbie he
grayely entertained.
The expenditures ,lcpenL, iii a great degree,
upon the prices you shall fix to YOU alone have
Congress conided the powex of exercising any
troll over this question. And through YOU may those
engaged III furnishing supplies to tho Government,
and for the payment OF whom the pahlic debt Is
created, most easily and naturally ltaru how much
better they served when your moderation III
restraining the public expenditures confines within
more prudent limits tlo mortgage upon your estates,
and With how much greater safety they may them
selves become the purchasers ot these mortgages
than permit them to pass into the hands Of foreign
ers.
"The whole question, complicated 1t may at
first appear, Is perfectly simple and lies nut
she'll Congress has ordered the following expoudi-
lures 10 be made, namely:
For pay OF the army .......... + 5 75,o0000O
For clothing, shoes material, transport
portation, &c .... l25, 900 900
For provisions for the army ...... 100 900 900
S300,0 900
They have directed these expenditures to be
paid for III Treasury notes ana i'll certificates of
dcbtednesS bearing per cent. interest and tlCt
from taxation and for the security and ultimate
| redemption of the Treasury Notes they have pro-
| vided non-taxable SIX per cent bonds, which they
| direct me To sell for Treasury notes.
II we suppose the purchases to have been made
ana the community to he possession the $500
uoUUoO OF Treasury notes, the next question Is, VIII
| they pass them about from hand to hand III
change for property at eXtTavagant prices until they
gradually fail into the hands OF foreigners and
| exchanged by them for Confederate bonds, or will
| every citizen take the Government bonds himself
| have endedyored to prove that true interest
consists III following the Latter course"