Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-01-03
coutrnctlon Of Currenc,.

From the National IDtelligencer.l
At the threshold Of the session, the House
Of Representatives promptly seconded the
views of the Secretary of the Treasury in re-
lation to a contraction of the currency.
They adopted the following resolution by an
almost unanimous vote:
Resolred That this House cordially concurs in
the views Ofthe Secretary Of the Treasury IN re-
lation TO the necessity Of the contraction OF the
currency, with a view to as early resumption oil
specie payments as the business interests OF the
country will permit, and We hereby pledge coop
peratiye action TO that end as speedily as pos
sible.
The resolution gave great satisfaction, as
we learn through the press and many other
sources, 10 all prudent brokers and mer-
chants and TO all solvent urn of business,
and to the entire mass Of consumers, to
whom the high and advancing prices Of all
the necessar1es of life, caused by an inflated
and irredeemable paper currency, have be
come intolerable. As we read this pledge
viii oh is thus solemnly given to the country
and il must be read in the light in which
the Secretary has himself presented his re
commendation-the House binds itself alb
solutely, and without any condition, to mes-
sures for the contraction Of the currency.
"The first thing TO be DONE" says the Sec
retary. ais 10 establish the policy of con-
traction" and this the House has pledged
itself TO adopt. The mode recommended Is
very plain and plausible-an absorption Of
the legal tenders, both the compound inter
est notes and the United States notes.
1t will not be necessary, the Secretary
thinks. to retire more than one or two hun
millions in order to check some of the great
evils of the imitation.
.lataa
traction as a raeans of an early resumption
of specie payments There can be no re-
sumption without previous contraction. But
the amount of reduction required TO bring
up the currency to a specie standard cannot
now he accurately estimated
The withdrawal of two hundred millions
of legal tenders would not do it. 1t is ever
doubted by The Secretary Of the Treasury
whether the three hundred millions of Ma
tional Bank currency, after the Withdrawal
of the legal tenders and Of local bank notes
will not be as large paper circulation as
can be maintained on a specie basis. The
House therefore qualities the pledge of a re
turn to a specie standard, by fixing as tho
time for it a day Gas early as the business
interests of the country will permit"
This is indefinite enough for in tho
opinion of numbers Of persons who claim tC
represent business interests, the time is very
far off before such resumption viii be con
sistent with these interests.
In fact, the time never will come TO many
when resumption can be effected without in
convenience, and the same may be said ever
as to contraction. Large interests in the
country would be ruined even by the reduc
ton of the currency from seven TO five OF
six hundred millions. All speculations based
upon the continuance or increase of the
present initiation would be injured by it
But the evil viii be increased by delay.
Ii win be noticed that initiation is now
productive of its natural consequences in the
increase of frauds, and in the scarcity Of
money, and in the enhancement of the rates
of interest Safe commercial paper in the
West is negotiated at one and a half per cent
a month Banks will command for their
discounts as high a rate of interest as the
usury laws will permit. Much higher rates
are obtained everywhere outside of the banks
A reduction of the currency will make
money more abundant and cheaper, for il
will divert the current of money from specu-
lation into the channels of legitimate bust
ness