Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1869-03-18
The New Secretary of the TreasundrS a
His Financial Views.

p The New Secretary of the TreasundrS
His Financial Views.
From the New York Times.
q As the organizer of the Internal Rev
enue system and its first administrat or
! Mr.. Boutwelfs capacity for one branef
of duty connected with his new offic'
has been to some extent proved. Wit
more recent discussions on financia
topics he has not been prominently
|. identified. He spoke at some length
however, in opposition to Mr.. Garfield;
Loan bill, in March, 1866, and in Jan.
uary of last year introduced resolI
1 tion relating TO interest on bonds: and
from these appearances it is not difficult
to deduce his opinions on material points
fconnected with our financial policy, -
I On the subject BLOOMINGTON, he holds
4 decided opinions. he opposed it il
1856, as measure pregnant with disas-
ter to trade and industry. and wholly
! unwarranted as Il means towards re-
sumptiona He resisted the proposal 10
invest in the Secretary, power TO push
] forward contraction beyond the point
reached in 1855. "H,-F he said, 1.-THE
Secretary of the Treasury should re-
duce the non-bearing interest circula-
tion to the amount of hundred mil
lions, hree.foasths Of the mining and
nldnuf ufdctgi1eg establishments in The
northern portions OF the country tco,sJd
be susI,eHoed."3 With this conviction,
he deprecated d tIfa conierring OF large
discretionary authority upon the Treas
ury, maintaining that il would operate
as a constant menace to business, the
interests of which must necessarily suf-
| fer. The duty of Congress TO define
and limit the financial policy OF the
administration, he urged as clear and
urgent; and he contended that in the
adoption of that course, more reliance
should be placed upon the gradual eff
feet of time and renewed prosperity.
than upanthe arbitrary measures of the
Secretary. What the business of the
country could ear, was the test by
which he would try the merits of poll
cy; and he strehodsly opposed whatever
might operate adversely. He then pre-
fesred practical results 70 theories
defined to unlimited powers; and there
is no reason to apprehend q change in
his opinions.
The bill introduced by Mr.. Hooper
March Is, 1866, received Mr.. Boutwell's
emphatic endorsement, one of its provi-
sions being ''thdtthe public debt shall
not hereafter be Increased by authority
of this or any previous acts of Congress-
A similar provision.is embodied in Mr..
Hooper's measure of last session, which
the hostility of Mr. Sherman for the
time killed. We conclude, then. that
the wholesome prohibition of any in
crease of the geld-bearing debt, which
is hoped for a means of strengthening
the public credit, will receive the sup
port of the new Secretary.
The nearest approach to any actual
plan on the part of Mr. Boutwell, is the
resolution he offered ,(January 81, 1885,
instructing the Committee on Ways and
Means to inquire into the expediency
of providing law as follows ''For
notice, by the Secretary of the Treasury
when the United States coin in the Treas
ury exceeds twenty millions that
he will anticipate payment of the in
interest first falling due Or the bonds
such payment to be subjected toa rebate
of interest at the rate specified in the
bonds For new loan of 500, 900, 900 at
six per cent, the principal and interest
payable in coin the loan to beeonfined
70 the citizens of the United States and
not to be transferable or payable to any
others, and the bonds to be liable TO
be payable, fifty millions on the 1st of
January and and fifty millions on each
succeeding list or January For "a new
loan of 500. .000,0O of four and half
per cent, principal and interest in coin,
and which may be made payable either
at Frankfort or LONDON; the bonds to
be payable, fifty millions on the 1st of
January, 1900. andifto be untaxable,
either by the United States or any State
or municipality that. the shareholders
of five-twenty bonds may exchange
their bonds for the bonds of eithe ofthese
classes, and that the Secretary of the !
Treasury be prohibited from making
sales of gold" ssrcl
''7hot the Secretary Of tie Treasury
be prohibited from making safes of gold, u.
is . propQsitiap as pertinent at this mo-
ment as it was q year ago. The reselu-
tion, however, shows his reliance upon
some funding process as a method of
lessening the public burdens; his con-
of contraction being guar
antee against the embarrassment and !
ruin which would attend the enactment |
of the Sherman Scheme. 4c01Saia 4
On all these points Mr.. Boutvell's re-
corded views harmonizing with the iGeas !
suggested in the Presidents inaugural |
In the division upon Mr.. Schenk's bills |
(Feb.2I as furnished to the newspa-
pers, his name doesnot appear. But the |
whole tenor of his speeches indicates q |
regard for the maintenance
of the national faith. and |
his resolution of January, 1868, is more |
than presumptiye recognition of the |
principle affirmed by the late Congress. !
So far as it is proper to infer a pole y |
from Mr., ,Buotwell,s pas course, wei
may assume that be viii preserve in
violate the rights of the public creditor,
without forgetting the care ana oonsid-
Grafton which are due tethe Interests Of
the country..,s- sg1!f 20 ssa --sr
A Remarkable Innovation. 81. |