The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-08-20
21s and 900 SOUTH FRONT STREET,

If the bank had simply taken care of its cur.
renCy and banking, private capital and credit
would have done all that was needful, and not
ovefdone 10.
But there is a very simple, obvious, and un-
ernng indicator by which we can at once test
the amount OF pressure which contraction may
cause, and regulate Il accordingly. That is the
rate of interest," We need not 20 back To the
strngeDcy of l848, when money commanded
twelve and eighteen per cent, and yet business
was generally profitable. But surely when
Government Skies and Seven-thirties are
AT a premium, and money can be readily
obtained on call at seven per cent, we
need not talk of excessive stringency nor
fear financial panic. II was great
mistake IN Congress to show such disirust in
our honest experienced, and most cautious
secretary OF the Treasury, as TO limit his with
1raWas OF currency to the paltry sum of
Sa,OOOOO0 month. He ought to be able to
aDsoro all the idle funds, which would other
wlse provoke speculation, whether their amount
Oe iouI millions or forty. Less than this will
not suthce to do the work as 1t ought 10 he
oone. snd more is not needed There would
propaoly De some months when not a dollar
ought TO be withdrawn and If the Secretsrv a.
not competent TO judge OF this he is moi Al
ior MS place. The process must be left 10 MA
olscreuon, or 1t cannot be accomplished at all.
a. many merchants and business men think of
the reduction of currency with vague terror
as hit would utterly ruin them by the stopnape
OF their business and depreciation of their pro
perry TINS Is easily shown to be great mis-
Justice to consumers demands that IL shonld
But this will harm only SPECTATORS not the
leglhmate dealer, who cautiously limits and
measures his purchases by his sales. We re-
member the case OF corn factor in ENGLAND
who passed uninjured through the uneXam
pied panic and decline of fifty per cent in
prices IN lS47, because, from Conscientious
1nWllhngness to take advantage of the
poor, he would buy no faster than he sold,
During steady process of curtailment. snecn
latlon VIII langulsh, as 1t ought to do but ali
the regular and legitimate wants of the COM
munity VIII be supplied as usual, and the mer-
chant VINO avoids debt, confines himself to cash
transactions and buys no faster than he sells.
Will continue to do a profitable business, A
moderate dlminution of the usual amount of
production and importation, and correspond
ing economy OF consumption, will leave eyerV-
body as well off as it found them, and will Law
hrm foundation for future prosperity. The
alternative is one too disastrous to be willingly
contemplated .'1I - %
cess Will naturally fall upon the banks, which
nave hitherto reaped the principal fruits of In.
Hatlon; by the sale OF specie not always right.
IuIly tnelrs, oy the enormous expansion of their
credit and the virtual monopolyof the currency,
these corporations have made, and are majSinr'
profits altogether disproportioned to the earnings
either OF capital or labor. These profits Will
nov now oe most Justly reduced to point consistent
Win tne conultlons OF sound and convertible
currency. As the basis of legal-tenders GRADUALLY
disappears, they will be compelled to curtaiI
tneir deposits, TO redeem, perhaps, portion of
thelr Dank notes, to sell many of the national
securities they now hold, and, in short. To nre.
pare to pay the debts they have so long been
permitted to hold in allegiance. When thew
have thus far made their credit, and the legal
tenders they hold in reserve, so valuable as to
exchange for coin at par, the work will be done.
They will still enjoy the full benefit they have
always had OF the earnings of their capital and
deposits, as well as their credit in the form of
Dank notes, and with these they must be con-
Le0ts ANY DerS16tent attnmnt on fhair q
Prolong. indefinitely the reign of specuIation'
nigh prices. and inconvertible paper, will only
end IN disaster to the nation and destruction to
'HeAnselVes' j. 8. r.