The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1865-09-21
RepOr! Of The Secretary Of the Treasury.

The Secretary of the Treasury makes a
favorable report Of tue finances The to-
tai amount Of the Debt is 81 757, $50, 571.
an increase during the past month ofS295-
000--nore than should have been, but not
as much as we dreaded from the nature Of
the reports III what are called financial cir
cles The interest on tie Debt has decreas-
ed % I,000 and making an allowance f,I
this we find that we owe bat 500, $50 more
than did on the first of August. It il
very comfortable to get away from the DAT
iy millions that were spent i'll the beginning
Of the year; and although we think it was
in the power of the government by econo-
my III war pageantry and so on to have re
duced tina amou9t Of expenses to the
amount OF receipts, we shall make no spec
ial complaint now, but hope for better
result in October The reduction of the
legal tender notes is proceeding gradually
81, 087 600 being Withdrawn. This reduc
ton Of currncy, Improperly made, is wise.
1t need not suddenly embarrass commerce
1t shows that we are IN the road to re
trenchment and specie payments The
legal tender was war measure, and does
not suit times of peace. 1t gives the Gov
ernment too much influence in the finances
of a nation. The power to Withdraw or
issue hundreds of millions of currency is
the power to create a monetary panic III
day, and no Secretary of the Treasury,
however good or great should have it in his
keeping. 1t is therefore, with peculiar
pleasure that we notice the gradual reduc-
ton, and we trust that with the return OF
peace, the increase of labor and capital, aud
the speedy development Of Southern re-
sources, we shall be able to retire our whole
legal tender currency, and have specie and
the National Bank circulation. Legal ten
der belongs to the period Of armies aud ships
of war; and the sooner we are through with
it the better.
We see it stated that part of this sa-
wing in interest and reduction of curren-
cy has been accomplished by recalling all
compound-interest bearing notes of All ear
" issue, returned to the Treasury in the or
binary course of business, and replacing
them by issuing notes of later dates The
interest of the recalled notes ouId thus be
saved Mr. Mccullough does not tell US
whether the saving of 1921, 600 was accom-
plished in this way or not. 1t is questi on
whether it would not be good policy for the
Secretary to save interest by this method.
The conlpouRd-interest bearing notes only
serve as temporary currency For the first
year of their issue they float about at par,
but afterward become absorbed by shrew
investors. The issues of 1863and 1864 are
fast passing out of sight, and when they
mature the currency will be measureaby
reduced. To replace these notes by new
issues, or to recall them prematurely, if OBJ
tainable at par, with the view Of saving the
interest. may be economy but not sagaci ty;
it is make-shift policy. We merely car
nv the burden Of an inf 4ted currency, and
throw additional obligation into the fiscal
year 1859 1t is not wisdom to put any
more burdens upon that year. We shall
have the Seven-Phirties to pay and, other
securities of short date, and to carry the in
terest bearing notes into that year or even
d portion, 10y new issues, is to initiate the
currency by throwing these now dormant
notes into circulation, and make the burden
of 1869 more difficult to bear.
The policy which we hope to see adopt
ed is in the first place, redemption of cur
rency and extinction of legal tender, and in
the second place, the transfer Of the short
and heavy interest loans into a long, con
solidated loan, bearing four or five per cent.
AS we contract the currency, let us estab-