The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-11-26
RESUMPTION OF SPECIE PAY
MHNTS.

A srEoIAL despatch from Washington, which
We published in The TELEGRAPH yesterday,
fully confirms the view previously expressed
in these columns in regard to the resumption
of specie payments It states ''on the highest
and most unquestionabls authority" that
''not only does tho Secretary of the Treasury
not favor the immediate resumption of specie
payments, but in his report he will depreoate
any attempt on the part of Congress to force
such policy upon the country" This intel
ligence should 60 far to set at rest the uneasy
feelings that have from time to time been
created by sensational reports Of speedy re-
sumption. 1t is natural that portion of the
statesmen Of the country should look forward
to that end and seek to hasten it; and every
patriotic citizen would much rather see the
paper issues of the Government rated at or
above gold par than below it. But those who
are especially entrusted with the management
of the national finances can never safely
ignore the intimacy of their connection with
the general prosperity of the people, nor pru-
dently attempt experiments of a hazardous
and uncertain nature. AS soon as the Gov
ernment can pay gold for all its obligations,
let it do so. Everything that tends to inn
prove its financial condition in creases its
ability to attain this goal. If it keeps
steadily on in the present path of reducing
the bulk of its indebtedness, increasing
it's revenues and diminishing it's expendi-
lures, the time cannot be far distant when re-
sumption will be entirely practicable. But
let it not be guilty Of the folly of attempting
q task which is at once beyond its own
strength and likely to impose too heavy a
strain upon all the business interests of the
nation. The sick man, when convalescing, can
never tell, in advance, how soon his pristine
vigor will be restored He acts wisely when
he rebuilds his shattered constitution, but
absurdly when he positively promises to en-
gage prematurely in laborious and exhaustive
undertakings which are calculated to cause a
Z relapse worse than the original disease. And
it should never be forgotten that the Govern
mont, in acting on this question, acts not only
for itself but for nearly forty millions of
y people. If it wantonly arrests the progress
Of industry, shuts up manufactures, stag
ns,tes commerce, and prostrates agriculture,
4 Il will at once destroy the sources of its own
revenues and carry desolation to innumerable
Households.
Too many persons are disposed to treat this
fsaestion in cavalier spirit. We are told by
able telegram that an article published in
ihe London Shipping Gazette of yesterday
says, ga return to specie payments could
soon be effected in the United States, and no
debtor class would suffer by it. The South
etn States are generally we'll off for cash, and
Southern buyers are the mainstay of the
rbo
these remarks not only his indifference to
the welfare of a large body of the American
people, but his ignorance of the subject
under discussion. He should have reverted
to the financial history of England during the
long series of wars in which she embarked
during the closing years of the last century.
The British Government ordered a suspension
of specie payments on the 26th of February,
1897, and resumption was not attempted until
May 1, 1623-suspension being thus con-
tinued for period of more than twenty
six years. 1t is part of the financial history
of that period, too, that although prepara-
tions for resumption had gradually been
made for four years previous to 1923, resump-
ton at that late day was disastrous to many
important British interests. In other words
Great Britain only began to prepare for specie
payments four years after the restoration
of peace; and although resumption came four
years after these preparations had been con-
tinued, eight years after the termination of
hostilities, and twenty-six years after suspen-
sion commenced, great misery and financial
distress still prevailed. And yet, the British
writer, with this record before him, announces
that no class in the United States would suffer
from speedy return to specie payments here!
Similar sentiments are occasionally expressed
on this side of the Atlantic, and there is O
readiness to forget the magnitude of the
obligations involved, ana tthe inherent difa-
culties of the proposed task, which
is truly astonishing. The Government
could resume specie payments tomorrow if
tho public were sufficiently well satisfied of
It's readiness and ability to continue them to
abstain from demanding gold But in the
present state of public opinion its Golfers
would be drained of specie in twenty and four
hours beyond the hope of replenishment, and
a second suspension more damaging than the
first would Inevitably ensue. The gold in the
Treasury would scarcely redeem one-third of
the legal-tender notes outstanding, and they
form but tithe of the obligations upon
which gold payments must, sooner or later,
be made.
An essential and indispensable conoomitant
of successful resumption is the absolute re-
storation of public confidence in the ability of
the nation to nav coin for all its matured