The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1866-12-08

4
prosperity. The Louisville Democrat, for
Instance. thinks that the finances are welt
managed alleging 'that the payment OF
tteo hundred millions Of debt In tho past
year shows u !" aud takes special comfort
from the rejection. that the Radicals would
never have allowed this, "ifthcir whole at
tention had not been occupied by Niger
nigger, Niger! That and the cotton tax,
because the latter Is unjust 20 section,
has kept them busy. Let us hope that
during the session of Congress they viii
devote themselves 10 impeachlng the Prcsi-
dent and African schemes to sufficient eN--
tent for them TO leave finances alone"
In this hope the Democrat has already
found mistake. The first day Of the scs-
sion was distinguished by movement to
seize and hold, In Radical hands and con
troll the whole revenue system, It's work
ings and resources, OF the comtry-pro-
posing to make that spcndld chnrlatam.
SALMON y. CHAsE, the "lIead Center to
manage the entire monicd welfare OF the
people.
But, outside of any mere partisan view
of the matter, probably it may be whole
some and instructive--we feel that II will
he suggestiye--to consider some OF the mr.
guments used by the Secretary Of the Treas
ury to bring about return to specie pan
'aeafs. lie assumes that the reduction Of
the currency should he accomplished nv
the withdrawal OF United States legal-teh-
der notes. instead of the notes of the ma
tional banks. He starts out with the as
Sumption that the national bamk currency
is permanent feature of our finances. and
the legal-tender issues Of the Government
n mere temporary eXpedlent rrsorted to Ia
II sudden emergency, which should now I've
withdrawn. Here We avail ourselves OIL
the arguments of the Chicago Times. to
present u bold view Of what may he the rc-
suits Of such policy. It says
Without entering upon the discussion Of
the relative merits OF legal tenders and ma
tiOnal bank notes. We wish to Indicate n |
vital point which II seems strange should |
have been overlooked. When the Govern |
meni retlres the legnl-tcnder notes, IN what !
will the national banks redeem their issues |
They will dO one of two things. They |
will either close their doors. and, refusing |
to redeem their notes, allow them to be pre- |
Scnted to the Treasurer of the United Statps |
for rcdcmptiOn--in which ease the Govern |
ment would be- obliged to have gold enough |
to redeem Its own iegal-tendcr notes. |
which on November ! amounted to $500. |
0O0,O00, exclusive of cOmpounds,-o Ii |
would he required to have gold enough to |
redeem also the S300000,0OO of national |
bank notes, grand total of nearly 500 |
0O0,00O.
II the national banks lid not close their
doors and force their bill-hOlders 20 look /
To the United States for the redemption OF |
their notes, they would commence to retire |
their own notes and hoard up lrgal-tender
notes in place of all notes outstanding.
This they would do in order to avoid the
necessity OF rcdeeming their outstanding
notes in gold, This would render the work
of contraction so sudden and sDa,modic
that the material interests ot the country
would be completely prostrated. The ma
tional banks have II circulation OF $780,
O0O,0OO, and these notes, or legal-tender
notes to an equal amount. would be i'm
mediately retired by the banks. They have
also some S73G,0O0,0O0 of deposits, a large
proportion OF which would be withdrawn
In the general uneaSiness for the safety of
the banks and would bc under the neces-
sity OF increasing their reserve TWENTY-FIVE
per cent. of this amount, in order to place
themselves In the position to meet the de-
uluih0 w lltlI utpositpfs' ~ WOulu nC n |
struggle of life or death with the banks In
which the instincts OF self-preservatlon
would require them to withdraw S300UDO,-
900 to provide for their circulation, and
SlSlOOO,ON more IN provide for their de-
poslt-,--in all SiSI,0O0,0 0IN which would
leave In actual circulation aud available for
commercial purposes only some S200OOO.-
600, all the rest being locked up Ia the
hanks. II the banks could not lock up this
amount of money, they would 90 to the
wall.
Not only this but u new disturbing ele-
ment would be introduced into our curren-
cy matters. National bank notes would be
at discount from legal tenders, and we
would then have In the first place, gold.
In the second place, legal-tender notes worth
seventy cents In gold In the the third place
national bank notes worth seventy-nye
cents In legal-tender notes, or about fifty-
three cents in gold. This would not tend
to simplify commercial transactions. In
short. to start from the point indicated by
the Secretary would overwhelm US with
ruin aud disorder. Contraction from this
commencement Is impossible. Ii must com.
mence with the national bauk notes first
aud the whole national banking system
must be criT Ped or destroyed befole
contraction will be possible. The
cannot hope to successfully pllrl-
fy the currency and yet retain the fountain
from which has come its most serious de-
engagements. The root OF our currency dis
orders must be eNtirpated first, and then
the branches will wither.
Surratt,
In slightly reviewing the circumstances