The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-01-30


l proposed to accomplish so gigantic an On
! dertaking. One says. "The way to resume
, sDecie payments il to resume" Suppose
the physician should say to the sick man
@The way not to be sick j. to be well, =
+ might not the patient ask bis doctor how an
to get well So, q few years ago, one
may remember that the wav proposed for
the Union armies to get to Richmond was
ION to Richmond;" and | trust may moi
be considered as malicious in calling to
+ mind that our armies found some difficulties
10 carrying out that suggestion, which re-
suited in such disaster that it was to be
hoped those who hlindly advocated it would
never again dogmatize upon any subject the
difficulties Of which they neither appreciated
nor understood.
Another proposition, coming from q
source we much respect, in some other OF
the branches of political science, Is that we
PASS law that specie payments shall be re-
stunned on the hrst day Of July next, but we
are not told how the law is to be executed
II passed. IL was Jocosely said many years
ago, that while an act OF parliament was
fvmnipotent, YET ii could not make ones uu-
ole his aunt. fancy there would be an
equally insuperable difficulty in compelling
BY act of Congress the payment at par Of
100000, 900 Of debts due on demand, when
there are but $l00,000,0 900 capable Of being
used for that purpose.
Another learned, able, aud intelligent
gentleman, for whom we all entertain the
highest regard, in a sneech Of greet power,
supports bill embodying plan for the re-
lief Of our financial difficulties which would
BE- perfect were it not impossible. Stripped
Of the halo thrown around it by his logic
and learning, it proposes that the govern
ment and banks shall return to specie paw
ments by hoareding gold enough with which
70 do it. Granted; but how il the gold to
l be gotS By borrowing simply. For al
Y though the government NAV hoard the gold
| it receives for its duties or imports, vet that
gold is in fact obtained BY Is merchants BY
borrowing 1t with government notes at thir-
ty-ive per cent. discount Whatever iefcit
Of gold to carry out this scheme cannot Dc
obtained by this process is to be borrowed
on the government notes for thirty years,
sold at such rate of discount az foreign
bankers may choose to impose. Now, spe-
Gle payments, if they can be maintained, it
will make all our public debt, with its high
rate OF interest, equal to par, if not at pre-
nium in gold. The fault in the plan seems
70 be that we are not told how many green
backs We must sell at thirtv-6ve per cent.
less on their face, and how many bonds we
must negotiate, at like rate Of discount on
thiry Years, TO place ourselves IL condition
to pay both greenbacks and the bonds, which
We thus sell at par. Dffcrential calculus
might work out the problem, but plain ar
iIhmetic is entirely inadequate to the task
Besides, as upon the best authorities there
are only about fifteen hundred millions Of
specie currency in circulation in all the ma
tinns where our bonds have been or will be
taken as an investment, or, indeed, in the
civilized world, IL we should succeed in lock
ing up $3.50 600, 900 Of that, or twenty per
cent. Of the whole currency Of the world,
should we not make what Ia technical phrase
is known as "corner" on the rest Of man
kind, in comparison with which the late per-
formaDce in that line Of the Erie railroad
and New York bankers would sink into mer-
tied insigniicanoe?
araih, suppose by this ingenious and no
ass of borrowing, we were to return
"a Af salsepeyss--tn .sse the rhyasas
- slspse va inr1ss thsf our sTseal tsSdsss
are dspaeci1ftd, failed papsr.v because not
paid on 6esnsnd--i. q, return to specie pay |
msnts, 70 the state Of currency before the
war, could that condition be maintained?
1t will be remembered that before the war
Nf government received all its dues and
paid all its expenditures in gold and silver
only, amounting to from sixty to seventy
milllens yearly. received and paid out, and
there were in the country, a. il estimated,
some two hundred TO two hundred a. v
millions of specie, exclusive Of what was
boarded. although in 1860 there were but
$s7 900 600 in the banks.
Ii cannot have been forgotten that such
use by the government Of specie to do its
business, say one dollar of four, caused great
financial distress whenever any considerable 4
accumulation Of it fingered in the VA Its Of
the treasury, insOmucb that the Secretary Of
the Treasury, or more than one occasion, !
was implored by the merchants 70 set free
the gold even BY buying United States bonds
at thirty-two per cent premium, which was
done to avert financial crisis. The learn
ed gentleman, upon whose scleme am com
menting, If | understand bin, proposes that
there shall be introduced into the country
for circulation some three hundred and hfty
million dollars, which we may believe to be
a large estimate, exclusive Of the amount
boarded, which, for obvious reasons, is and
will, for long time be greater than before
the war.
The receipts and expenditures OF the gov
ernment must now be annually, say $780,
600, 900, or Q sum quite equal to all the gold
assumed by this plan TO be in the country.
II before the war the use by the government
Of one dollar in four, while it left the other
three for banking purposes, unsettled the
business Of the country, what must be the
effect Of the use by the government under
this plan Of every dollar Of specie in circu-
lation, leaving nothing for commercial
purposes, il We have a currency based on
specie
Time will not permit 70 me Further exam-
ination Of this, and cognate plans, for the
resumption of specie payments. If return
to specie values il the only remedy for our
GnaDoi | evils, when there Is bot one plan,
In my Judgment, by which il can be accom-
plished we must wait and grow to it. By
the industry and economy OF our people By
the Developments Of our resources; by the
enterprise OF our Ousipess by the extension
OF our commerce; by the production of the
precious metals by reducing importations,
the only method By which we can keep spe-
Gle at home BY retrenohment Of the expen-
ses of government, both State and national;
by the REIMBURSEMENT of all hazardous and
doubtful enterprises, we must accumulate
surplus wealth to bring back the $500 ,0O0,-
900 Of our national bonds held abroad, 60
which may be added an equal like amount
Of State and railroad bonds also held there,
and thus stop the annual drain Of rbore than
seventy millions of bullion now sent abroad
year BY year to meet interest alone. When
this il done we may, with wisdom, return TO
specie values and specie payments, without
serious financial disaster and commercial
ruin. But this time will come only when
gold and silver, from the plentitude OF its
production, will have deprecated to our va
lues, not We appreciate them to the present
value Of gold and silver.
But while we wait the effect of our in
crease Of wealth in bringing as back to spe-
cse values, what shall De done to RENE
dv the financial evils from which we