New-York tribune., 1868-12-21

|
lion of Dollars per annum, or very nearly
et00 600 per month. OF this amount, at least
nipctvnine hundret7is always were, and must
continue TO be, received by us from subscribers
and advertisers and paid ont to paper-makers'
tyne founders, printers, writers, &c, &C., III the
paner Currency of the country, whatever that
,,o,, bo Onr business could not be DONE ex-
cent ot great cost aud inconvenience, in cur
roncv of sDecic. Should the Government call
in all IFS own issues and suppress those OF
Ranks. we shonld be Obliged to devise some
,,arar substitute not half so advantageous to
,u CONCERNED. And what is true of our busl-
moss il true of most other mems. Abolish or
rrcotlv restrict our Paper Currency, and the
Jobo,ing Class $50 cailed) would be paid III
storc-orlers or other detestable substitutes 1or
money, or would be paid only once year. Wheh
the wears product was sold, instead of each
week ormonth, ms most of them now are.
Now You seem to ignore the fact that most
Of orr Greenbacks and Bank Notes are kept
in perpetual use in performing an important
and necessary service to Industry ana lrace'
This service nOwise results from the 1act thaI
our Currency il iIredeemahle: on the contrary
| il is embarrassed and hampored by that fact'
In Texas, in California, and throughout our
vast Territories, neither Greenbacks nor BANK
| Notes are current-they are simply mcrchaD-
disc, and are seldom seen. Let us resume, ana
Notwithstanding equal in value to Gold,
and being far more convenient Tor cheap anu
safe transmisson-would inevitably come into
use there TO forty times their present amount
Men would send us s., SO, -, $40 ana S|o
Greenbacks for TRIBCNES who do not now
send ANYTHING, because they have no paper
money and will not risk the Transmission OF
sprcie. Every hour, after Resumption had be-
come n fixed fact would witness n wider and
stranger demand for Grcenbacks in that west
ern half of our country, where they are now
almost unknown.
Mr.. Morton, can you really believe that we
workers and traders-captains OF industry ana
distributors of wcalth-arc so short sighted anu
foolish as to stop working and trading in order
to run the Treasury dry of gold we, for cx-
ample, pay out nearly all the money we get
in some years, quite all of it-in payments fol
the materials and labor required in our busi-
ness. As the money comes in, 1t Is wanted to
be paid out again. DO you think We shall
withhold it from our paper-makers, our work
men, &C., and run to the Sub Treasury to con
vert it into gold Do we not know that tins
would be to bring all business to a stand
still, our own included Do you suppose men
in business TO be natural foolsH Yet it Is by
us-not by brokers ard gold .gamblers-that
money is kept in circulation. doubt whether
the aggregate money payments OF the United
States are so little as One thousand Millions
per month. Nincty-Dinc of every hundred pay
ont ms fast as they receivc-only the morest
fraction hoard money. Do believe, Mr. Senator
that money is kept ahoat because 1t is needed,
and performs a bcnefcent function, and that
this was the ease before Suspension and will be
after Resumption.
II. Let us suppose the Government to re-
sumo tomorrow, or, if You choose, on the lsi
of January at hand-who will hasten to diam
the Treasury of its Seventy Millions of coin :
Not you and |, certanly-not the great M of
our busy, active workers and tra( 40; Tor, the
money in our hands being row equal to CON-
we have no induccmeri, no motive, 10 do so.
! We shoul1 20 on working and trading, recciv-
inr arL paying out precisely as we now do;
y sending to the Mint or the Treasury for
:, tile coin IA change or to satisfy some other
: j. The fact that our money was Mt par
/ th and would bring coin at will would diyest
us of all desire to exchange II.
/ But there would be a class-I am sure not a
! large nor strong One-who would rush for
coin, either fearing that the Treasury would,
or desirous that it should, be run dry. How
soon. think you, could these gamblers in
! National insolvency raise money enough TO
drain the Treasury Of Seventy Millions' Mind
that every public officer, every pensioner, every
solvent banker, every bondhodcr, every man
in an honest, useful business, every railroad,
every creditor, every one having a salary or
other fixed income, would have q strong per-
sonal interest in the success of the effort to
maintain Specie Payments. Can you imagine
that tho lame ducks of Wall street, the specu-
latOrs in National dishonor, are strong enough
to overcome them
ILL., But do not rely on the Seventy Millions
of coin in the Treasury. / would have them
backed by the income and the credit Of the
| GOvernment-theC Countrywide People | would
forthwith issue an American Consol, and urge
every one who has 800 or over to spare to
invest it therein / believe Consol. payable
expressly in specie, having one hundred years
to run, untaxable and paying interest quar-
tery, could be h0ated ut four per cent: | am
very confident that such Conso drawing
flee per cent. interest could be brought to a
premium and kept there. Say that it stood
barely one per cent above par, the Government
might issue it so fast and so far only as to
meet the run on the Treasury for specie.
This Consol, backing the Seventy Millions of
coin, would give the lame ducks more than
they could digest.
But would arm the Treasury, moreover,
I Nuit IN on
such rate as should be found necessary to