The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-03-08

creditor the benefit Of any doubt, even as 70 I
how certain securities should be paid and
emphatioally declares that every portion of
the debt should be paid in gold, unless other
wise ex xpressy stipulated in the contract. This
will have the effect undoubtedly, Of appreoia-
ting the market value of our Five-twenty
bonds both abroad and at home. He will not
trust any one in public Office who is repu-
diator. He believes that by making this the
policy Of the Government we shall be enabled
ultimately to convert the debt into bonds
bearing less interest than we now pay.
To accomplish this object he deems 1t i'm
portant, however, that there should be a
faithful collection Of the revenue, a strict ao-
oountability to the Treasury for every dollar
collected, and the greatest practical retrench-
ment in expenditures in every department Of
government. These are brave words; and we
have no doubt our new President will use all
his power to carry out the views expressed.
But it will be necessary for Congress to con-
fde in and aid him in the good work. The
Government has been defrauded in the colleo-
tion of the revenue hundred millions year
and the expenditures in these times OF peace
are at least hundred millions more than is
necessary. 1t may be in his power to save all
this by recognizing, in the first place, the
whole machinery Of the Revenue Department
and holding the heads of it responsible; aud, in
the second place, by cutting down the expen-
dltnres OF every branch of the executive gov
eminent. There are a thousand ways in
which he can do this-in the army, in the
navy, in the civil service, and in checking the
extravagant appropriations of Congress- II
is evident he is opposed to further large ap-
propriations for railroads, however valuable
such works may be, till the finances of the
country be restored and we reach a specie
basis; for he intimates that the Government
should give its aid to these only when a dol
lar of obligation to pay shall be no more in
value than the dollar of aid that may be
afforded-that is, the Government should not
lerd its credit in deprecated currency and
then have to pay in gold.
On the subject of reaching specie payments
President Grant takes q sensible and practical
view. He desires to return to specie basis,
but only when 1t can be accomplished without
material detriment to the debtor class or to
the country at large. How the public debt is
to be paid or specie payments resumed is not
30 important, he says, as that plan shoul
be adopted and scquie iesced in. He admits that
legislation on this subject may not be necessary
now, nor even advisable but will be when the
civil law is more fully restored in all parts OF
the country and trade resumes its wonted
channels. The first step, he maintains, is to
see that our PROSTATE commerce be rebuilt and
all industries encouraged as the basis of re-
suming specie payments, restoring the finances,
and paying the debt. This is Just what we
have maintained all along. Specie payments
will come gradually and as insensibly as the
dew falls, when the national finances shall be
placed on a good foundation, Ietrenchment
and economy be practsed, and as the industry
and trade of the country become improved and
developed. Those inexhaustible mines ofpre.
oous metals in the mountains of the Far West
too, which President Grant desgnates oui
"strong box" will be unlocked and contri
butte to bring about at no distant day an abun
dant specie circulation. On the whole Presi.
dent Grant takes a sensible, practical, and
conservative view of the financial situation
and prospects Of the country. All that re-
mains to be done is the application of the
policy he has laid down and the cooperation
of Congress in carrying it out.