Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1868-12-16

European debt has been steadily in
creasing. and has now reached suci
magnitude as to be a heavy drain OF
the national resources, and n seriou.
obstacle in the way of a return tC
lspecie payment. They have shaker
the public credit by raising dangerou.
questions in regard to the PAYMENT O
the public debt, in connection witt
high taxes, to the necessity for which
they have largely contributed. They
are preventing ship-building, anC
thereby the restoration of the com
merce which was destroyed by the
war. They are an excuse for, if in.
deed they do not necessitate protective
tariffs, and vet fail by their fiuctuatinl
value to protect the American manu-.
facturer against his competitor. They
are filling the Golfers of the rich, but
by reason of the high prices which
they create and sustain, they are al.
most intolerable to persons of limited
incomes. The language of one of the
greatest men of modern times, so oft
en-, but not too often quoted, is not toe
strong in its descriptions of the in.
| justice and evils of an inconvertible
currency. OF all the contrivances fol
cheating the laboring classes of man.
kind, none has been more effectual
than that which deludes them with
paper money. Ordinary tyranny and
the oppression of high taxation bear
lightly on the happiness of the mass
of the community compared with a
fraudulent currency, and the robberies
committed by deprecated paper. OuI
own history has recorded for our in
structiOn enough, and more than
enough, of the demoralizing tendency,
the injustice, and the intolerable op-
preston on the virtuous and well dis
posed of a degraded paper currency,
authorized, or in any way contracted
by the Government. The experience
of all nations that have tried the ex-
pertinent of inconvertible paper mon
ey has proved the truth of the eloquent
words of Mr.. Webster: flour country
is in a measure prosperous with such
an iGcumbrance, it is because il is so
magnificent in extent, so diversified
in climate, so rich in soil, so abundant
in minerals, with people full of en-
ergy, that even debased currency
can only retard, but not put a stop to,
its progress The Secretary still ad-
heres TO the opinions frequently eX-
pressed by him, that a reduction of
the paper circulation of the country,
until it approached TO the specie stand
ard, was the truest solution of our fl
nancial difficulties; but as this policy
was emphatically condemned by Con-
gress, and as it is now too late to re-
turn to it, he recommends the follow
ing measures as the next best calcu-
lated TO effect the desired result.
Agreements for the payment of coin
seem to be the only ones not contrary
TO general good morals, the perform
ance of which cannot be enforced in
the courts. Coin contracts executed
before the passage of the Legal Tender
Act, as well as those executed since,
are satisfied in all the States except
California, by the payment of the
amounts called for in deprecated
notes. This shackle upon commerce,
this cheek on our national progress,
this restriction on individual rights,
should no longer be continued. If it
be admitted that the condition of the
country during the war, and for a
time after its close, created necessity
for laws and decisions making prom
issOry notes, fiuctuating in value ac-
to the result of battles, of
speculative combination, the mediums
in which contracts should be dis
charged, this necessity no longer ex-
lists. Steps should now be taken to
give stability to business and security
to enterprise and TO this end, specie
to be executed in coin,
should at once be legalized.
EGDnr-6ar,cs ~ anrRl1 M oil
which would be productive of better
results with so little private or public |
Inconvenience. Such a law would |
enable the citizen to DO what the !
government is doing in its receipts for |
customs and in the payment of its
bonded debt; it would merely au-
.hOrize the enforcement of contracts |
entered into. The effect of
such law would be to check the out |
low of specie to other countries by
treating uniformity, for the use of it |
It home to encourage enterprise eX-
ending into the future, by removing
III inequality in regard to the value of
he currency with which they are to
De carried on. Such a law would re-
move a formidable embarrassment in /
,ur foreign trade, would familiarize
,ur people again with specie as the
standard of value, and show how
is the apprehension so
existing that a withdrawal
# deprecated notes or the apprecia-
ion of those notes to par would
produce scarcity of money, by 1
proving that specie payment expelled
rom the country by an inferior
medium will return again
when ii is made the basis of contracts
md is needed in their performance.
Business is now speculative because
he basis is unreliable currency, by
eason of its uncertain future value.
usually plentiful in the
titles, and readily obtained there, at
Ow rates on short time, with ample
it is comparatively scarce
nd dear in the agricultural districts,
where longer loans on commercial
'aper are required. Prudent men
lesitate both to lend and borrow, to
my considerable period, by reason of
heir inability TO determine the value
# the medium in which the loans are ,
o be paid, with currency nowswOrth
evenly cents on the dollar, and
which, within six months may ad-
-ance to eighty or decline to sixty.
5 il strange that the flow is to the |
'usiness centres, where it can be
Oaned on call, leaving the interior
Without proper supplies at reasonable
ates, for moving the crops and con- .
ucting other leading interests ? Is
t strange that in such an unsettled
onditiOn of the country gambling is
live, while enterpriZe halts, trade
and distrust and apprehen-l
ion exist? In regard to the future it :
) not supposed that such a measure
5 is recommended will cure the
evils which now affliet the !
ountry, but it will be a decided ,
in the right direction, and :
he Secretary indulges the hope that !
will receive the early and favorable ,
of Congress. When :
he legal tender acts were issued, by :
eferenee to the debates on their
assage, it will be perceived, that, by
II who advocated them, they were ,
to be temporary only. 1t :
Tas feared that irredeemable gov :
currency in the unfortunate
of the country could not be
aved from great depreciation but by ,
eing made q legal tender; the great ;
act not being sufficiently considered !.
hat even by q provision of this :
the depreciation would not
e prevented, but merely disguised
lence it was declared that they :
hOuld be lawful money and a legal :
ender in payment of all debts, ;
,ublic and private, within the United ;
,tates. exceDt duties on imports and