The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-04-17

mately connecWd Win the adjustment OF our
national finances and system of currency, and
! will press upon us for an early solution.
Our public men ano the people ought to begin
| TO educate themselves about this important mat
| ter, At present they are ignorant. Their ideas
! are very crude and limited. Under a former
and very different state OF things anterior to
| the war, we dritted along smoothly because we
| had no great national debt, and our immense
| productions of cotton, gold, and other things,
| drained from us annually, made us easy and
| supplied us with luxurles from abroad. But
great revolution has taken place in our inan-
| cial and monetary situation. It is necessary
now to have a sound and wellestablished sys.
| tenn. If we do not we shall be more than ever
tributary to Europe, and the lablrng classes of
this country will be brought to level with those
of The Old World. f
We have only to look at the crude notions on
finance which Mr. Chase, when Secretary of the
Treasury, exhibited, which even Mr.. McCulloch,
who was one of the Treasury officials with Mr.
Chase, and who inaugurated our present system,
exhibits, and which most of our public men
evince, to understand how much this country
has to learn, and how necessary 1t Is that we set
about educating ourselves. A man may be a
very good lawyer or banker and yet be ignorant
on the subject of national finances. The conse-
quence of not understanding the subject pro-
perry has been that we commenced wrong when
change was forced upon us by the war, have
been going wrong since, and ought at once to
begin upon sound basis.
1t is true we have not felt the evils of this mis-.
chievous policy very much up to the present
time, because the immense production of the
precious metals and the two or three hundred
millions worth OF cotton that has come out of
the South since the war closed have kept us
going swimmingly along; but we must feel it un-
less there be change. Imagine what condi-
ton we should have been In If we had not had
these two to three hundred millions worth of
cotton, which has been equal to so much gold;
equal, in iact, to five years production of the
California mines. Imagine this, and then it will
be perceived what crisis the mischievous fnan-
clal policy of MIR. Chase would have brought
upon u.s. But we cannot drift on much longer
without great danger. We must have radical
and sound change.
The evils most to be feared, If the present state
OF things should be continued, would be from
the accumulation and absorption OF the wealth
of the country in the hands of che few, from
monopolies, from the power Of the iundholders
over the labor and productions of the country
and over the Government ITSELF and from the
inevitable tendency to make the rich richer and
the poor poorer. England, before the great
European war against France and Napoleon
had three hundred and fifty thousand landed
proprietors. Now there are but forty 1--we thou
sand. Thus wealth has accumulated in the hands
OF the lew, while pauperism has increased in
fearful degree. This is the natural consequence
of an enormous debt in the hands OF iundholders
who by this power have enriched themselves
while the laboring classes have been reduced to
the lowest point of subsistence or to pauperism.
That is one side of the alternative Let us
look on the other; let us take France Tor exam
pie. This country contracted an enormous
debt also during the revolutionary wars, but
of reputation, and. of course, by terrible sui
terng; but IN part also by condscatng the lands
OF the rich. There were eighty thousand landed
proprietors in France before the Revolution;
now there are four millions five hundred thou
sand Thus different results have been pro.
duced in the two countries, but both at
tended with unparalleled evils. France
passed through streams of blood, long
periods o. unexampled suffering, national dis
honor anu loss OF liberty; England ended in per-
petuating an enormous debt that rests like an
incubus upon the industry OF the country, with
vast and oppressive moneply of wealth in the
hands OF the iundhol0ers, and with more wide.
spread and deep-seated pauperism than ever eX-
listed in any civilized country. Let us avoid the
fate OF both France and England IN this respect.
But unless we be careful, we shall not Having
vast and virgin country, with wonderful natu-
raj resources, may help us to stave off the evil,
but it will come for all that unless we avoid the
errors of France and England, and change our
| present financial policy
The frat step taken should be to legislate the
so-called national banks out of existence within
a reasonable time. They constitute an immense
moneyed monopoly of the fundholders that can
control the resources and business OF the coun.
try for the advantage Of the few, and will have
the power of controlling the Government itself.
such stupendous mistake as the creation of
these banks was never committed before by any
men calling themselves statesmen. Admitting
that their circulation will amount to only three
hundred Millions the amount prescribed by the
present law, they will make about forty-6ve
millions of dollars year out of the public. That
is, they make seven per cent on the bonds de-
posted, and about eight per cent. on the profits
OF their circulation, including interest and dis
count They pay the Government or the peo.
ple nothing for the privilege of this circulation
Even the Bank of England, with all its advan-
tages to the Government, pays the Government
q handsome percentage for its circulation
| There never was greater fraud upon the peo-
| pie than these national banks. They are danger
| Gus at the same time. The profits on this crcu-
lation alone, placed at compound interest
| would liquidate the entire national debt in
| about forty years. The next step should be to
| consolidate the whole debt, and make a uniform
and reduced rate of interest sinking fund
| looking to the extinguishment of the debt in
! forty or fifty years, should also be established.
| This would give stability and confidence and
would tighten the burdens of the people.
The greenback legal tenders ought to be the
| currency of the country, the same as Bank of
| England notes are in Great Britain. There
should be central establishment at the com.
! mercial metropolis similar to the Bank of Eng
| land, over which the Government should have
| proper control, and all bank notes, if there
| should be others in circulation ought to be re-
/ deemed In legal tenders. 1t is impossible to go
into the details OF such measures here, but they
are practicable, necessary to save us from the
evils we are running into, and are sound In
| principle. If we would avoid the evils of vast
moneyed oligarchy, which great national debt
| tends to create through the fundholders, we
| should begin at once to provide against it.
We see what has been the result in England
| the absorption of all the wealth of the country
| in the hands of q few, and the depression of the
| laborng masses to the lowest degree. We see
The same tendency in France now, notwith-
| standing the immense number of landed pro-
| pIietors there The number of these are be-
| coming less every year by the same absorbing
| pIocess-the poor becoming poorer, and the
| rich richer. 1t has been and still s so in every
country with q great national debt Let us