The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-07-27
WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 1864.
THE NEW NATIONAL LOAN.

Mr.. FEssENDEN having failed to come TO
satisfactory terms with the New York banks,
has appealed to the people 10 lend him the
two hundred millions Of money which he tells
them are needed TO meet the necessities of
the Treasury. His predecessor, Mr.. CHASE,
was eminently successful in like invocations,
and It Is not surprising that the same mode of
sustaining the national credit should be ad
hered n, In default of one that Is better, or
equally as good
The Secretary of the Treasury evidently
entertains a very confident faith in the dspo-
sition, as well as the ability, Of the people to
loan the whole amount required; and the rea-
sons on which he bases that trust are GER
tainly sound and cogent enough to justify all
his expectations of carrying through to a
favorable issue the first financial measure OF
his administration Of the department Of which
he has assumed the control
BE starts out with the proposition that the
people have abundant ability to supply all the
money that Is necessary to answer the present
demand. In that presumption he certainly
Is fully warranted. No man can for a moment
doubt that there Is available wealth enough
In the hands of a comparatively small portion
ofthe business community in the North to
furnish the Federal exchequer with ten times
the sum that Mr.. FEssENDEN now calls for.
This then being established, our Minister of
Finance goes step further, and contends that
the best, because the most secure and advan-
tageous, investment that individuals and cor
porntions can make Of their spare money is
that which he proposes. And on this head he
Argues, with great force and good sense, that
II the Government is preserved in the end, its
securities will be certainly redeemed to the
uttermost farthing and that If It is not main
taIned against the efforts of the Rebels to de-
stroy it, then no securities or investments of
any kind, whether public or private, will be
worth anything Hence the inference is fairly
drawn, that the people should cheerfully lend
the Government all the funds that they can
invest at interest, for the sake of securing not
only what they loan, but what they reserve.
In giving expression to this obviously sound
principle of policy as regards the disposition
Ofprivate means with view to both safeCy
and profit, Mr.. FEssENDEN says:-
"This Is not the time for any lover of his coun-
"try to inquire as to the state of the money mar
" ket, or ask whether he can so invest his surplus
capital as to yield him larger return. No
"return and no profit can be desirable, If fol-
" lowed by national dissolution or national dis
grace. Present profit thus acquired Is but the
"precursor of future and speedy destruction
No investment can be SO surely profitable as
that which tends to insure the national exist
ence. am encouraged in the belief that by
the recent legislation of Congress our finances
may soon be placed upon a sounder and more
stable footing The present deranged condition
Of the currency is imputable in grea; degree, to
disturbances arising from the withdrawal Of
necessary checks often inevitable in time of
war, when the expenditure must largely exceed
any possible supply of coin. The opportunities
thus prese nted TO acquire, sudden wealth have
led 70 vicious speculation, consequent increase
of prices, and violent fluctuations"
The reader will doubtless observe that in
the above passage the Secretary of the Trea-
sury more than intimates a hope that our
currency may be restored within q reasonable
period TO a specie basis, as well as his purpose
to exert all his powers and influence, as the
financial minister of the nation, to bring abou
that most desirable event at the earliest pos
sible moment.
But he can do nothing In his high and I'm
portant Office either to supply the fiscal want
Of the Government In this momentous crisi
of its fortunes, or to improve the flnancia
condition Of the country, unless the peopl,
respond with due alacrity and liberality t
the appeal he has made to their patriotism a
well as their interest. The loan is popularizeC
by reducing the minimum of subscription Il
it to fifty dollars and as 1t is put by that pro
vision, In the power of almost every loya
citizen to contribute towards the support o
the Government in its present fearful neces
sity, all should rush forward to its relief