Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1868-12-18

I
National Finances are in good condi-
| ton, and Mr.. McCulloch believes that
i with proper financial legislation, in the
revision Of the tariff and the modifica-
tions Of certain portions of the internal
revenue laws, the path to specie pay
ment may be reached The funding Of
the public debt he regards as one step
towards resumption. The report shows
that up to date, of the seven thirty
bonds SSS7, ,629, $50 have been funded in
to hve-tWenty six per cent. bonds; of
the first series $299, ,565, 200; second Sc
ries, 1886, ,1SS, 200; third series, SI97, 1915, :
$50. This leaves on the first of Decem-
Der of the outstanding seven-thirty
notes but 81, 2,363, ,150. The compound in
terest notes which become due between
the 10th of June, 1867, and the 10th of
October, 1868, have not all been redeem
ed; but many have been received in ex-
change for the three per cent. eertif-
Gates.
The Secretary estimates the expendi-
lures for the fiscal year ending June 80,
1870, to be $3.50, ,000, 600, though the War
Department, in the event of an Indian
war, viii add many millions to this es-
Innate. Last year the War Department
asked for $25, ,000, 900 for bounties, but it's
estimate this year is less than that
amount, as no more appropriations are
required The report shows that the
annual interest on the public debt is, in
AOnAA L4I4O61Sg gqAEygUQU3UQus anu GS@l
innate for the next fiscal year is but
little in excess of that amount. The es-
Inmates of the Navy Department are
some S15, 100000 less than last year.
The receipts show that the Internal
Revenue for the present fiscal year will
amount to $120, 100000.
The estimated revenue for the next
fiscal year from customs, internal reve-
nue., lands and miscellaneous sources, is
many millions in excess of the expen-
ditures. This year the estimated ex-
cess was but SIS, 100000 The Secretary's
report shows that the public debt has
been reduced during the year from No
vember 1, 1867 to NoYember I, 1868, $780,
624, ,102 50, The report shows an expen-
diture on account Of the public debt of
$3.50, 500, 900, which includes redemp-
tions, conversions, interest on public
debt, &c.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF CURRENCY.
If there is any question in finance or
political economy which can be pro-
nounced settled by argument and trial,
il is that inconyertibIe and deprecated
paper money is injurious to public and
private interests,a positive political and
financial evil, for which there can be
but one justification or excuse-to wit,
a temporary necessity, arising from an
unexpected and pressing emergency,
and it follows, consequently, that such
q
until, without financial shock, it can
be withdrawn or made convertible into
specie. If an irredeemable bank note
circulation is an evidence OF bankrupt
or badly managed banking institutions
which should be deprived of their fran
chises or compelled to husband and
make available their resources in order
that they may be prepared at the earli-
est day practicable to take up their dis
honored obligations, why should not
an irredeemRble government currency
be regarded as an evidence of bad man
agement Of the national finances, if not
national bankruptcy
AMERICAN CURRENCY A DISGRACE TO
TEE NATION.
United States notes, although declared
by law to be lawful money, are never
theless q diShoIiored and diSreputable
currency. The fact that they are legal
tender, possessing such attributes of
money as the statute can give them,
adds nothing to their real value, but
makes them all the more dishonorable
to the government, and subYersiVe Of
good morals. The people are compelled
to take as money what is not money,
and, becoming demOralized by its con-
stRntly changing value, they are in
danger of losing that sense of honor in
their dealings with government and
each other which is necessary for the
4
expect on the part of the people faith
| full fulflmenE of their duties to the
| government as long as the government
/ is false to its own obligations, nor will
those who do not hesitate to de1raud the
public revenue, long continue to be
scrupulous in their private business.
Justiflable and necessary as the mea-
sure was then regarded, it is now appa-
rent that one unfortunate step was ta-
ken when irredeemable promises were
/ 9rsfN
| when they were made valid tender in
payment of debt contracted when spe-
| Gle was the legal as well as the CONNER
cisl standard of value.
LEGAL-TENDER NOTES A TAX.
ors to pay their debts in a currency
largely inferior to that which was alone
recognized as money at the time they
| were incurred, and thus the validity of
contracts was virtually impaired. If
creditors had been compelled by law to
pay into the public treasury fifty per
cent, or ten per cent, or indeed any
portion of the amounts received by
them from their creditors, such a law
would have been condemned as une-
quail and unjust, and yet the effect of it
would have been to lessen to the extent
of the receipts from this source the ne
cessity for other kinds of taxation, and
thus to relieve in some measure the
class unjustly, because unequally, tax
; ed. By the lega1-tender acts, q portion
OF the property Of one class of citizens
was virtually eonhscated for the bene-
| fit of another without an increase there
by of the public revenues, and cOnse-
quently without any compensation tC
, the injured class. There can be nj
. doubt that these acts have tended tC
blunt and deaden the public conscience
and that they are chargeable in M
I oil nit fnn
: which so generally prevails.
. WHAT THEY ARE DOING IN THIS CoUN
TRY,
The economical objections to thest
notes as lawful money stated at length
! in previous reports of the Secretary
d may be thus briefly restated. They in
creased immensely the cost of. the wal
and they have added largely to the ex
i. pense of the government since the res
8 instability in prices and unsteadinesl
J; in trade, and put check upon judicioul
: enterprises. They have driven specie
q from circulation and made it merchan
die. They have sent to foreign coun
tries the products of our mines, and a
the same time our European debt hal
: been steadily increasing, and has nov
reached such magnitude as to be |
heavy draught on the national re
= sources, and a serious obstacle in tn
!. way of a return to specie payments
They have shaken the public credi
by raising dangerous questions in re
gard to the payment of the public deb
/, in connection with high taxes, to tn
, necessity for which they have largel,
contributed. They are preventing ship
building, and thereby the restoration
OF the commerce which was destroyel
by the war. They are an excuse for,
Id indeed they do not necessitate, proteC
> tive tariffs, and yet fail by their huctu
e ating value to protect the America
manufacturer against his foreign com
N petitor. They are filling the Golfers {
n the rich, but by reason of high price
t. which they create and sustain, they az
; almost intolerable to persons of limite
incomes.
e MR.. M'CULLoCH ADHEREs TO ooNTRAC
y TIoN.
The Secretary still adheres to th
opinion so frequently expressed by hiI