Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1867-02-06
NO. 6

lishment would here nearly double bat i
would six years ago, or 81 900 600. ine in-
| terest upon this sum would be ; l49 600 psr
annum /; but the interest of the British es,sb
ishment-S $500 900 at three and haf per
| cents no more than ST 800 Here /
122 500 per anuum in favor of 'he British
manufacturer, sum sufficient for very respect
sble dividends, certainly, a capital OF $780,
0eO Is it any wonder that we have extra
ordinary influx of British z ,od>. or tina, al
Europe last year was swept 10 furnish Amer
can markets
Prior to he war the cost of the labor ex-
pended upon yard Of cotton cloth (6ix64
printing! was nine mills, but nov Il is two cent
and seven mills or three times The amount
A printer in Washington now g-ts twenry-tour
dollars per week and works out eight hours
per day, where he formerly received fourteen
dollars per week and worked hours pe
day and YET BE- will tell you that his candiuon
ard means to support a family have nor Dee
hettered. A ton of English raj road IRON ia
! Wales is sold for TO los. or S27 30 bul
| 1t is estimated that the wages alone paid To
work men in Pennsy lvana to produce ton oi
rails amounts 10 sixty-tiye dollars, and OF this
d careful analysis Shoes $50 2S to be expeud-
ed by them for agricultural productions, In
spite OF the high RACES OF the figures the IA
boser erloys more comforts than formerly
Oar paper currency represents dimensions
| without gravity and its peTpetuzt.on must prove
destructive to both employees and emplos erS.
sm no defender Of the politics OF the Sc
re'ary OF the Treasury. They have been anu
are distasteiul 70 any OF my friends
tie IS not, however,, the first man VINO has
sought distinction in a role for which n was
untitled. The author of BiackSto = Com
mentaries sought parliamentary position t.
Increase his fame, bus there has i only
remembered 6ecause Junius pon--d at MIN
ms '' slow, unmovDg finger al scoTn-" John
Quincy Adams was not always satisfied 10 IN
nigh career OF statesman, but sometime al
tempted poetry, snd . DermOL McMorrogh
was the Result Tae political slus of the Sec
retary are pateni, but accarGIag To Burns "
know not what mas been resisted. Should V,
drive him from position, Is It likely that an
successor would have more of the c)nfds0ct
of the country Ills yeeomme ndatious - far
as | coaceIned, shall not te oondem1e,
because made by him, only scFurlniz5d. /
not thunk II viii be very WIS tor Congress 10
got wrong financial questions because IN.
Secretary happens 10 be fighJ, though wEons
politically. For myself | shati not N IN
mistake OF opposing hun where mY con Gene
assures he il oniy wise and true. e.
though | think he has named a day for tie
resumption of specie payments somewhat ear
iier tnan it viii oe possible to achieve, yet the
una lterable purpose to resume at an early daN
L have no doubt Is sound IN principle, policy
ami morals, and If Congress should taw4rt thIs
i purpose l. will have doomed the county TO
: long years OF suff-riug. More taaa this any
] party which snail undertake seriously to pro
: craslIna.e the day OF our redemption ffom the
evils OF an excessive paper currency, tae "
OF deal living, Will at last be Uverwne!msd DV
its oppopen nts, even though the latter m4y u0t
be aoe at the time TO e2iric7te the eoun ~ =
Strong We are We cannot stforG to take tne
wrong side OF sucl an issue.
On the llth CAV of Nav. 1865, the premium
on gold had fallen TO one hundred ana twenty
eight and a h1it per cent, having fallen fr n
two hundred per cent. in March, and from a
much higher point than that in January with
out producing a perceptlb.e ripple in financial
circles and far less a panic. There were
twenty-seven hundred and thirty-three fail
ures IN 1860 in the United States, smountin :
to sci. rs 473. but IN 1868 ,hsre we're on,
five hundred and t7irty amounting to S17.-
625 600, or about one-fourth part Of the aver
age number and amount. Mortgage, made
ngat, had been hquidstsG- Tue Old system OF
mercantile credits by common cons-at had
been banished. Ghs Scum IN losing ail haa
lost its credit, and trust Ia that direction Was
impossible. Al felt that to pay as you 60 wa
sound policy. The scTipturai Injunction ovSa
no man anything had been piciJly obeyed,
and then was the golden mn, not only for
political reconsruction, but for a return T.
specie payments. Then the capital of The
} country idle and might have been largely
l enlisted into the service OF The county. The
campaign OF paper currency ~ r, aud il
5 waited only to he honor4bly discharged
Useful once, 1t now only an ncum-
: | brauce.
The Western States prior to the var were
largely involved in debt, and thev Tot oaly p.I0
eff an indeb redness of not less than $500 GOO
000, but they became large holders OF Unnec
ates securities, Will means OF bee lmlng still
larger holders. Up to this time neither IN tht
West nor in any other part OF tn country
? have our people asked received the ancjeut
measure of credits. Notwithstanding he dram
{ OF the war the great massess of the people are
tree from debt. Thanks at east, to the Sec
retary of the Treasury for having borne aloft
y the motto of an early resumption of specie pay
menES. This, if no more. has prevented the
country from an indefinite expansion of credits
from plunging headlong into debt +; and never
> IN my opinion, snail We have mere auspiciol-
:. moment to initiate measures for a vigorou,
retirement OF an excess Of our paper cur
rency.
y | wish could believe that the Treasury esti
. mates of the receipts from customs for tae
. years 1S67-6S were not TOO large. but | can
c not and instead OF $40 900 900 if We get
i
= satisfactory 10 the country The capacity o
= the South to consume and pay for immens,
= importations has been vastly overrated, and tht
: lake trade alone probably much exceeds tn,
. entire aggregate OF the southern trade recent,
,e restored. The prompt action SO generally ex
- pected upon the tariff bill now pending in thr
:, Senate, by which the rates of duties would bt
- somewhat increased, FOR time greatly stimu
:! lated imporiatons. and we have had both
~ gut of merchandise and OF rerenua by NJ
means to be anticipated for the coming year.
- 1t is most likely the Secretary of the Treas
- ury has underestmated the amount of UNITED
. States bonds held abroad, aud that instead o
$3.50 900 coo not less than $500 00O,0 900 q
- our national securities so he'd. So long a
y these remain below par abroad they will b.
- held more or less fancy stocks, liable to b
= returned for realization at any moment.
=, they could be made equal 70 par it does no
y seem to me that the holders would part with
- security for which they were receiving six pc
cent. interest in order to accept another n
better at three and half per cent. interest
'h Beyond question when our bonds bring wha
o. they represent, dollar for dollar, new loa
c payable abroad could be negotiated, if it wer
y: desirable, at five per cent. We shall ere lon,
~ demonstrate that it is safer to the Unite
ID States at three and a half per cent. than an
re other nation in the world, out first we mus
le make our present obligations worth their pa
u value in gold at home.
m wish it were true that the stocks of th
L. United States were not to be found at all i
as foreign markets but we are not rich enoug
us to hold al the good things we produce. Is
5a not, however, a source of modification tha
~ Massachusetts, five per cent stock brings mol
Ut in London than United States skies? 6
II that Virginia five per cents brlng only twent