The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1868-12-31
She Tiffiu Tribaar.
FINANCIAL,
Greeley's Response to Morton,
r Il 8 u M OPTION.

* Ii y " MI L Il l . m =
Hon. SIR: L was absent from the
City when your speech on the Cur
rency appeared; but l did not the
less read it with joyful appreciation.
To find your great abilities and Just
influence arrayed on the side Of 4
Resumption of Specie Payments wa,
to mo theme of rejoicing. 1t Wa,
not what you said in favor of Re.
Sumption--tbough that was of course
we'll aud forcibly said--but the fact
that you said it which gave me un
slloyed pleasure, For am sure you
will admit that if an Irredccmable
Paper Currency be indeed the bale.
full thing which you bave declared
and l believe it, there should be no
svoidable delay in supersediug it by
q better. We need to differ, then
only as to the practicability Of
prompt Resumption. You think il
cannot be effected; believe it can
be.
1. Let us consider what you say
on that point. Hero it is;
another obstacle to the adoption
Of any plan for returning to specie
payments is the cry that the right
way to resume is to resume at once
1 have labored to find that thi.
means anything but the indefinite
postpouemont of resumption, Every
one must comprehend that the Gov
ernment cannot redeem the green.
back currency without first collect
ing the gold to do it with; that il
cannot return to specie payments by
contraction without taking time tC
contract, with all its attending calam.
tiles; that, in short, there is no pro.
cess by which it can be done, howev
err ruinous, that does not involve
time. If the Government should pay
out the $40 900, 900 surplus gold now
in tho Treasury in the redemption oI
an equal amount Of greenbaoks, the
whole country would know that il
was not prepared to redeem any
more. The geld paid out would moi
pass into circulation, but sink back
into an article Of merchandise, the
balance of the greenback currency
be but little improved, aud the net
result of the operation would simply
be the contraction of the currency to
the extent of $4,000, 900, and the
indefinite postponement Of the re.
demption Of the balance"
Bear with me, Senator while
show you why l think you here il
error:
l. You assume that, il we resume
the Government must "redeem the
Greenback currency" 1 think not
Our Banks have repeatedly resumed
after months and even years of Sus.
pension, and have never been re-
quired thereupon to redeem their
outstanding issues. On the contrary,
the fact of their Rcsump tion has
uniformly precluded all disposition
to exact such redemption. Yet their
notes were not Legal Tender, had
not the Federal Government behind
them, but were the mere promises
the long ialsifed promises-of pri.
vate corporations. Yet we all went
on receiving and paying them out,
without asking for specie to the eI,
tent of one dollar in twenty Of the
notes thus suddenly made rsdeema-
BILE in coin. If you think the people
who have so often shown faith il
and forbearance toward private mon
eyed corporations, would not now
evince at least equal faith in the
Government-that is, in themselves
you have given me no reasons fol
shaving your distrust.
2. Allow me to enforce my views
by 4 familiar illustration. TIL
TRIBUNE establishment is in the re-
oeipt of considerably more than One
Million of Dollars per annum, OIL
very nearly 100000 per month. O
this amount, at least ninety-threC
hundreths always were, and mus
continue to be, received by us frou
subscribers and advertisers and paiC
out to paper. makers, type-founders
printers, writers, &C., &C., in the Pa
per Currency of the country, what
ever that may be. Our business
could not be done, except at grea
cost and inconvenience, in ourren
cy of specie. Should the Govern
ment call in all its own issues anC
suppress those of Banks, We shoulC
be Obliged to devise some paper sub
stitute not half so advantageous t,
all concerned. And what is true o
our business is true Of most othe
mems. Abolish or greatly restric
our Paper Currency, and the Labor
| ing Glass $50 called) would be pait
| in store orders or other detestabl,
substitutes for money, or would b.
paid only once a year, when tn
years product was sold, instead o
each week or month, as most of then
now are.
Now you seem to ignore the fac
that most of our Greenbacks an
Bank notes are kept in perpetual us
in performing an important an
necessary service to Industry an
Trade. This service nowise result
from the fact that our Currency !
irredeemable; on the contrary, it !
embarrassed and hampered by tha
fact. In Texas, in California, an
throughout our vast Territories, mel
ther Greenbacks nor Bank Notes ar
current-they are simply merohan
disc, and are seldom seen. Let u
resume, and Greenbacks-beoomin
equal in value to Gold, and being ia
more convenient for cheap aud SAT
transmissiou-would inevitably com
into use there to forty times thel
present amount. Men would sen