New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1867-01-23
Irv1NcES or TIE COUNTRY.
Yron Our Special Correspondent ,,. r.,, a,


lcmmai in which the country hnds ITSELF
Ifporo be any weight in the statements made ana
,,1o,ents given we must accept the TACT that the
y,snoss of the country is entering upon period OF
5onrossion and trial, which comes Of the Transition
from state of war to a state Of peace. The precise
,ybv and wherefore has been explained AT the
same time we'are left with great debt, on WAlon We
must pay the interest, and with great sum VI ~
deemable paper money ailOat have SHOWN Oi@'
while to a certain extent this paper money mas oooL
auseful investment and indispensable instrument
for the conduct of the war; the exceptional prosperity
of tho industrial interests of the country during anu
,ce that pcriod is in no sense to be imputed 10 H.
hold now that the time has fully come when
tis extensive and demOralizng instrument Oh lraIc
,bouId be set aside and its dispensed Wlth be-
,,,so First tbe necessity for it has passed away
with the war which brought it into being; second
because OF lis mschcvOus influences, when we nave
already briefly depicted; and lastly and above all
Jecapso until il is got out of the way, stability IN
mercantile and financial affairs is impossible so
long ns it lasts the trading and industrial interests OF
Che neonle will be kept aoat and shivering in the
wind or standing on shifting and treacherous founda-
tions. Will continue to be the sport of legislative
conr;ce and the football OF gamblers and spectators
Until Congress retraccs its steps, and removes It's
hand entirely off the money concerns oil the country,
At is impossible to commence the reconstruction Oh
uy stable basis for the future prosperity OF either Its
capital or its industry.
hold that so much rs this if not demonstrated,
j. yet demonstTabe from the views already od-
vanced and intmated. Views clearly defined, not
Yecondite OF difficult of apprehension but capable OF
being considered and judged by every man oil com
mon sense in the country.
So long as the supply of the circulating medium IS
left to the regulation of Congress the Treasury 1t
is in vain to attempt to make any calculations III re-
gard to the future. That supply viii depend on
changing opinions, on extraneous Influences on Sci
fish and defective judgments. This uncertainty Is
necessarily fatal to all sound opinion in regard to the
course of mercantile affairs The manufacturer the
oOricuIturist the ship-owneT, the capitalist, the
5nancer will continue to be, as they now are, auke
embarrassed and baffed and confounded in regapd to
tbe fnture No man in any branch of business is safe
in any calculation he may make. Prudent men Will
make none beyond the necessities of the hour. Up
TO the time of high water in war tide 1t was safe
10 indulge in general calculation on the set OF the
current But now that the tide has turned and no
man can tell whether il viii be the policy of Congress
hereafter to erect dams TO arrest cut sulces to IA
eiIitate the flow of that current how often IL will
change from one policy to the other, it Becomes an
urgent necessity TO get the whole subject OF paper
money ont of Congressional hands and ont of EXecu
tive hands. In a commercial country as, indeed in
every country the laws of commerce are the only
sound guide in regard to the amount of money that
commerce requires. If Government NEEDLESS it only
NEEDLES to make mischief
No legislator. no executive officer, no man IS wise
enough to see the operation, measure the Influence
mark fine bounds or direct the currents Of the trade
and enterprise of great nation like this. And what
no man can do no body of men can do and thus they
have no right to claim to control General laws on
sncb subject may be enacted. Specific provisions,
never.
Without undertaking, therefore to sit in judgment
u,on the opinions of individuals to the amount OF
paper circulation this country requires at the present
1noIacnt. or upon their other theoretical opinions
Youcling the same subject, have a rghtto demand
of our legislators that they acknowledge their inev-
table impcrfections and that they leave matters
beyond their ken and beyond their proper jursdic-
ton TO the natural laws that govern them.
We got into our present dilemma in consequence
of Congress erecting an artificial standard of value
in place of the universal standard We threw down
the inflcxble metallic measure, and we set up this
shifting and vacillating standard OF a government
promise What Congress needs to do is 10 get back
from where it started. 1t needs to repeal the Legal
Tender act This is the direct road, the short cut TO
the only policy upon which the reconstruction Of the
business and industry of the country sound
basis possible Let Congress- then, have done with
flying its paper balloons let it have done with trying
20 measure that variable and indefinite quantity of
promises to pay, requisite for the commercial needs
of this great people. Let it establish the policy of
restoring tho state of things they existed before
the war They should have 30 difficulty IN doing
this The hard-mOney men viii Of course agree to it,
The exPansiOnsts say there is no more paper money
aflOat than the business Of the country requires If
this be true, resOrtng to the metallic standard will
not diminish the quantity. For, with our innumcr
able agencies of supply, the country cannot fail to
get all that is necessary.
So. too those who hold that prices are quite indie
pendent of paper money as was argued at length and
approyngly in the House the other day. They surely
should consent 20 this policy. For if undue sup
ply of paper money does not influence prices then its
dimnltion will not So that all such persons are
logically prccludcd from opposing the metallic
standard. This long hours speech to which refer,
proceeded upon the idea indicated, and also upon
this that it was evident we had none too much
paper afloat, because prices had fallen and were
falling. An answer to which position can be com
prsed in single sentence, and it is this: Paper
money does effect prices but it does not prevent the
laws of supply and demand from operating also
This practical issue Of the repeal of the Legal Ten
der act is not suggested measure necessarily de-
handing instant operation in order to subserve the
most useful purposes. 1t is not necessary it should
he made 20 take effect at once neither tomorrow
nor next day. nor next week. hardly even next year.
though this we shall not say. If bill for the repeal
of the Legal Tender act could be passed with suffi
cient sanctions and guarantees. fixing prospective
but Interchangeable period for it to come into operation,
we might have almost at once many Of the benefits
of resumption of specie payments. Only let the
country understand that the legal standard is to be
restored at some fixed period in the futurc-and
from the hour i should be enacted the business of