The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-12-24
TREASURER SPINNER.
His Letter on a Return to Specie Pay



The following letter has been written by
General Spinner, Treasurer of the United States
to Hon. David Wilder, for many years Treasurer
OF the State OF Massachusetts,, concerning the
different views which have been presented on
the resumption of specie payments:-
WASHINGTON, Dec. 2l, l868.-Dear Sir:-Your
very kind and suggestive letter of the 10th inst.
has been received. You say that you
have no fear in case of resumption, that specie
would be called for, as experience here for many
years has shown that 1t is not that we need SO
much as paper measured by it, butfounded upon
and representing legitimate mercantile trans
actions in property, which is at all times readily
convertible"
Paper measured by it!"-that is, paper mea-
suIed by sLece. Well, that all sounds very
well, but it is not quite so clear how CONNER
Cial paUer is TO be measured by specie that is
Only imaginary, and which really does not
exist. In any county not in a state of suspen-
sion, II is precisely the actual amount of specie
that such country possesses that constitutes the
measure of the value OF all commercial paper,
and of all the salable commodities OF that
country as well. Coin is to commerce what the
balance wheel is 10 watch or the governor to
a steam engiue-it is a check and q regulator.
II il is no. always the measure of all commOdi.
ties, 1t certainly adj ustS their price aud relaIye
value 10 each Other by its o Wn standard.
An engine without governor" If put in
motion, would run on unchecked from fast to
faster and faster still, TIL at length, by the
force of centrifugal power. its wheels would
burst, and the fragments would fly Off in tan
gents. system OF national or OF commercial
credits that has BOT this gold governor may in
times Of small credits, and with belief that
such a governor does not exist, move on for
time in seeming security. But the unerring
and incxorable law OF commercial adjustment
cannot be long set at naught, and sooner or
later the sure punishment Tor Its violation will
oyerwhelm communities, when, unfortunately,
the innocent and the guilty will suffer alike
1t is TO guard against such commercial disrup-
tions and universal 'burst.ups" that the gold
check is indlspensably necessary.
You go Oh 10 say that you ''belieVe that the
conversion OF all currency Obligations, public
and private into those payable IN specie, at
taIr valuation (say seyenty-dVe cents on the
doaT) would at once put us on sale footinE,
and liherate two buudGed millions OF useless
gold now held by those who are Obliged un-
willingly to use IL in paying duties and interest
on the public debt" You state il as your
opinion that "tbis commutation would not I'M
air the validity of contracts, as we did by sus-
pension, because it would assaTedly give credi-
Tors he same value or purchasing power they
claim, though the number of dollars would be
lels."
Now, if it is right to force by law OF Con.
Press such a commutation scheme to pay
seventy. five per cent. in gold for the par of the
promises of the Government, so that private
debtors may thus pay their creditors then it
would seem to be equally right Tor the Gov
eminent itself 10 pay its de 6ts due its creditors
in the same. Such a compromise would at a
blow strike out one quarter of the entire in
debtedpess OF the country If the Government
should avail llseU OF euCn hn eApeulenC, Jne
national debt would be reduced more than six
hunured million dollars. Would the world
think his honestY The proposition that you
make to apply in the cases OF private
or Individual debts is substantially and
practically the same as that proposed by Gene.
raj Butler Tor the payment Of the public debt.
Yours has the advan' age OF his in thls-it fixes
the value OF the Governments promises to pay
at seyenty.6ve cents on the dollar, while his,
Ms understand 1t, would leave them at an
uncertain amount that would probably in
short tine carry them down TO very low
figure.
Your brave old Commonwealth to-day
presents, through two OF her gifted sons, one in
the Senate and the other IN the House of Re.
presenta ives OF the United States the twoaeX-
iremes of our financial problem. You and |
are not so wide apart as they. The one IS ardent
and earnest in urging that an almost imme iiat0
IesumJtI OF specie payments is necessary to
the countIy's salvation. The other feels equally
sure that 1t would be better for public and pr-
yate interests that specie payments should pe
Indefinitely postponed. The one comes near 10
the belief that 'fhe way to resumption is to re-
sume." It would net bring drowned man to