Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1869-01-21
K,.ump.ion Or specie Pay n..s..

4 Resumption OF specie Payments.
From Harper's Weekly. @ .-+-
pamphlet with this title has been
issued from the press OF Little, bfoWl
& Co., of Boston, coniainInS hity-eiSu'
pages of printed matter, tile pfOductiol
of Robert Treat Paine, Jun., an historic
al name. AS nearly every public nan
has some plan of Resumption TO present
we hope that Mr.. PaIne's pamphlet
which will doubtless be examined, may
by initiated i'll at least one respect, u
save the eyes of those who are diligently
searching for light. 1t Is printed on
good paper, i'll clear, large type. Mr.
Paine admits that d prompt enforced
contraction of the currency Will cause
distress and panic, u view which he sup
ports with unanswerabie arguments
| nut yet he proposes early day ior
absolute resumption over the whole Un-
ion without mitigation as the lst oi Juiy,
1870, and that, 100, whether the crops of
1869 shall be failure or otherwise. As
we read the production We could hot
help regarding It's reasonings as the iioot
| complete answer to It's own position
| Mr. Paine fixes the whole cost OF re-
sumption at 81, 133,u0O. We are amazed
| that any one VINO has exhibited such
/ familiarity with many .. the laws VI
money and Industry which the paInplI-
let presents should have made so grave
all error. The loss to the deUtOr interest,
wnIcn Is the one TO be mainly affected
| by sudden resumption, Is the difference
between the value or their debts mess-
ured i'll the meagre amount OF the money
| We should then possess, and by the re-
dundant paper issues which now prevail.
Instead of cost OF ouly about twenty
lad l.aa IN rad
millions, and it is this which makes inn
mediate resumption al imposslbiliIy. %
We do not propose TO pIOpound the
Ory, but to state the facts of the situa-
tiOn. There is a mysterious connection
between the price OF every object OF hui
man desire which is the subject OF sale
and the quantity OF money IN circular
tion. Political economists have attempt-
Ell TO prove the relation which ths one
bears To the other, and many rules have
been, 10 their satisfaction, established.
One law which they maintain is this,
that III the proportion ia which you in
crease or diminish the quantity OF loli-
ey III circulation, you Increase or dimiii-
ish, other things being equal, the price
OF property and Its products. There is
| still another law iD which they are
agreed That the proportion which the
money OF country Dears TO the Value
of the whole mass oil Its property is very
small. 1t amounts, according to the
estimate Of some, to about one-fourth or
fifth of the annual yield. ~ sisfif...,
If it be allowed that prices are raise d
or lowered, other things being equal IA
the proportion in which money is in
creased or diminished, what VIII be the
effect of a sudden return TO specie pay
ments? A gold dollar is now worth,
measured by legal tenders, 1861 or there--
about; and assuming that the difference
Is accurately adjusted il would be q fair
inference that the gold price OF icomm0-
dIties and the legal-tender price shOwia
like difference. By returning 10 specie
payments the difference would sdisap-,
pear and the property owned in the Uni-.
ted States would afterward be neasu red
by the improved standard. There are
some peculiar reasons why prices would
not fall to a common level with those of
the residue of the world. BY the Iaritf,
for instance, We prevent direct c0npeti-
ton Oh the part OF foreigners with the
industry of this country, and may MAIN
tain higher prices here than would, be
possible if they were not compelled CO..
pay the duties we levy. In OUTSIDE.
markets, however, We should be unable
10 obtain more for our products than
other nations obtain for theirs of a like
character. We have also the inestliil-
able advantage OF new and rich lands
OF better agricultural machinery; and
superiority in the quality Of much that
is produced by agricultural labor. Ali
other things being equal the general
laws of trade would produce one. come
mon level IN the price OF those objects
of universal desire which commerce eX-
changes. -f y
That fall would take place in the price
of property from topping of the excess,
i'll very nearly the proportion IN which
IT was raised by the expansion, cannot
be doubtful; and while we regard it AS
OF the deepest interest TO the United
states 10 return to specie payments at
the earliest practicable moment, it Is es-
sential To the success of the scheme to
proceed with caution in the tremend-
Gus change which such step would oc-
casiOn. fb i
MIR. Morton estimates the amount of
debt upon which 1t would operate as
eight thousand millions of dollars. Mr. /
Greeley at one thousand millions, over
and above what would instantly be liuui-
dated by offsetting one against another.
1t must be borne in mind that the
Legal-Tender Act operates upon all debts
due by states, couLties, towns, by banks,
savings banks, railroad and insurance
companies, as well as upon the great
mass OF private debts due by mortgage,
notes, and otherwise by private individ-
uais. Mr.. M'Culloch supposes that at
least seventenths of the British popula-
ton are in the constant habit of antici-
pating their incomes; and if this esti-
mate shall be deemed extravagant in
thls country, it may be assumed that
six x-uenLhs at least are In that situation.
Mr.. David A. Wells, in the able PAM
phlet issued in 1854, entitled .Our Bur
dens and our Strength" ," stated his be-
ilef that the total available property of
the United states in 1860 was twenty
thousand millions, although it had beer
officially assessed in that year at only
sixteen thousand one hundred and fifty
nine millions, which SUM included sla-
Yes since made free, valued at nineteen
hundred and thirty-six millions. He |
rated theincrease ofproperty at two mil I
lions per annum, which addea to S2O,- 1
UJ,0OO,Oo0. would make now say twenty
six thousand millions of dollars, as the
present valuation of our taxable proper
ty. Mr.. De Bow estimated our agricul-
tural productions in 1850 at sixteen hum
dred millions. Our manufacturing pro-
ducts for 1855, as stated by Mr.. Erastus
b. Biglow in his able work on the tariff.
was one thousand and nineteen millions
one hundred and six thousand six hum
dred and sixteen dollars, making togeth-
er 81, ,6l9, lO6,6l6. This was the Joint pro-
duct OF the capital and industry of the
country at an early period, and probably
furnish the principal basis for Mr.. Wells's
estimates. tf
we have no means of arriving at the
true amount of the debt; but, in view
OF the bold and speculative spirit of our
people, 1t Is not extravagant to suppose
that the public and private debts of the
State, corporations, and people of the