The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-12-08
THE TREASURY.
Annual Report of Secretary McCullOch


from the annual report of Secretary McCul
loch, of the United States Treasury, to be suo
mitled to Congress tomorrow, We clip the fol.
Ifihtfe is any question In finance or political
economy which can De pronounced settled by
argument and trial, 1t Is that inconvertioe aud
depI. cated paper money is Injurious to puUlic
END private interests, positive political and
financial evil, for which there can be bat one
Qualification or excuse to wit: q temporary ne.
cessiiy, arising from an uneXpeci ed and press
ing emergency, and 1T follows consequently
thstsuch circulation should only be Tolerated
until, without financial snock, IL can be with
d)awn made onvertIble into specie.
II an irredeemable bank note circulation is
an evidence of bankrupt or badly managed
RANKING Institutions, which should be de prived
OF lheelr franchises or compelled to husband
and make available thelr resources In order
that that they may be prepared at the earliest
day practicable to lake up their disnonored oo-
legations, why should not not an irredeem able
Government currency be regarded an evi-
Cence OF bad management of the national
finances If not patioual bankruptcy? And
" by should not such, wise and equal revenue
laws be enacted, and sucn economy in the use
OF the public moneys be effected as will enable
the Government either judiciously TO fund or
promptly te redeem its broken promises?
The Secretary still adheres to the opinion so
frequently expressed by him, that q reduction
of lne paper circulation of the country until it
appreciated to the specie standard was the true
solution OF our financial problem. But as this
policy was emphaticaly condemned by Con
gress, and IT is now too late TO return 10 1t, he
Iecomme nds the following measures as the next
best calculated TO effect The desired RESULT
Agreements for the pay menGs of coin seem TO
he The only ones not contrary to good morals
The performance of which cannot be enforced
i'm The Courts. Coin contracts executed before
lhe passage of the legal tender acts, as well as
those executed since, aIe satisfied in all the
States except in California by the payment of
the amounts called for in deprecisted notes.
II IL be admitted that the condition Of the
close created a necessity for laws aud decisions
making promtsSory notes, huctuating IN value
tve sSe S msdu n
conuac should be discharged, tails necessity
no longer exists. steps should now be tax ken
IN give stability to business and security to
enterprise, and TO this end specific contracts TO
be executed In coin should at once be gallzsd.
Perhaps no law could be passed which would
private or public inconvenience. 49,
Such a law would simply enable the citizen
to do what the Government is doing in It's
receipts for customs, and In the payment OF Its
bonded debt-it would merel ~ authorize the
enforcement of contracts voun tarily entered
into according TO their letter. Toe Ell -ct of
such law would be TO check the ou dow OF
specie TO other counties by creating necessity
for the use OF IL AT home, to encourage enter
prises extending into the future by removing
show how groupdess is the apprehension SO
generally existing that q withdrawal OF depre-
ciaied notes on the appreciation OF those notes
to par would produce scarcity OF money by
proving That specie expelled ffom the country
by an inferior circulating medium will return
again when IL is made u basis OF contracts and
is needed in their performance
Business is now necessarily speculative. be-
cause the basis is untrustworCny. Currency,
by reason OF its uncertain iuI ure value although
usually plantiful In the cities aud readily oo-
taiDed there at low rates, on short time, with
ample COllateralS, Is comparatively scarce and
dear in the agricultural districts, where longer
loans on commercial paper are required.
Prudent men hesitate both TO lend or 10 borrow
for any considerable period, by reason of their
inRblily to determine the value OF the medium
in which the loans are to be paid with Gu grency
now worth seventy cents on the dollar aud
which within six mohIhs may advance 10 eighty
or de cline 10 sixty.
Is il strange that the flow is TO the business
centres, where il can be loaned "on call " leav-
ing The interior without proper supplies at
reasonable rates for moving the crops, and con-
ducitng other legitimate business? Is II strange
that in such an unsettled condition of the cur
IEncy gambling Is active, while enterprise
halts trade stagnates and distrust and appre'
henBion exist In regard 10 the future. 1t is not
supposed that such measure as is recon-
mended will cure the financial evils whi lon
t1fiict the country, but IL Will be n decided
movement in the right direction, and the Sec
IetaIy INDUCES the hope that 1t will receive
gress
years hsve been az fol Ows:-For The fiscal year
ending June 80 1866 $40 0i6 65l So; for the fiscal
year ending June 80, 1867, Sl76 Az Sl0SS for the
bscal year ending June 80, 1868 Sl6i 4i3 500 90
While 1t appears from these ngureS That GUS
IONS receipts since the commencement OF the
H. cal y ear 1865 nave been in a revenue point ol
view entirely satisfactory, the question arises
what 90 these large receipts under high tarir
indicate in regard to our foreign trade and OuI
hnsncial relations with foreign nations? L. l.
impossible to ascertain with precision the
amount Of our securities held in Europe.
In addition, then, 10 the stocks referred To
and the individual Indebtedness OF the parLlcu-
lar amount OF which no accurate estimate oan
be made, Europe holds not less than $3.50 900 O0O
Of American securities, on nearly all Of which
Interest, and on the greater part OF which late