, 1869-08-06
Tho Contraction Policy.

In the general laudstions showered on the
Secretary of the Treasury for the satisfactory
results exhibited by the financial statement for
the fiscal year ending June 30th, no attention IS
paid to the system of contraction which that
fnnctiouary is steadily pursuing. The New
York EOening Post, which is a warm advocate Of
the contraction policy, and as our readers know,
an influential radical organ, points out in in its
issue of the I'd inst, what the Secretary has ala
ready accomplished in the way of contraction.
The legal tender notes it says have been reduc.
ed $55, ,s79; the fractional currency $4,719,-
500; the three per cent certificates 5000 900.
The whole amount of treasury paper available
for bank reserves, and as the basis of bank cur
rency and deposits is So, ,s35 399 less than it was
four months ago. But this is not all. The cur>
rency in the Treasury has largely increased since
the lst of April. The amount of currency in the
treasury on the first of each month of the four
months was as follows:
April l, S6,sO2, ,62S
May l, 1896, ,564
June l, 1884, ,555
July l, 37O97 .Sl9
This shows diminution in the course of three
months of $50, ,295, l9l. During the same time
the Government has redeemed and finally with>
drawn from circulation S7,lO464l. The whole
extent of the contraction since the lst of April is
S37 1899 1892, or at the rate of Sl2, ,466 GIL per
month"; rate Of sixty miles per hour-a rate,
that if continued, must speedily result in uni.
versal crash.
There can be little doubt that the depression
iE the Spring business, which has been SO gen.
orally felt, is attributable TO this cause High
expectations were entertained by men of all par.
ties of grand business revival as soon as the
new administration came into. Office But no
revival or sign of revival has yet appeared. On
the contrary, the depression has deepened and
gold has been much higher of late than it was
this time last year, in the midst of q season of
intense political excitement. There is not cloud
10 the horizon. The revenue exceeds the ex-
penditures. The public debt has been reduced,
though it is absurd for Secretary Boutwell, or
the new Administration to take the whole credit
for that result. The credit belongs TO the people
to the irrepressible energies of the national
character, which are adding every day to the
national wealth, in spite of all burdens and
drawbacks. Notwithstanding all this, gold is
still up, business is dull and debtors are strait.
e1ed. The West especially is suffering in every
dep ertment of its trade and industry. What
cause can be assigned except the contraction
policy . silently and thoroughly carried out by
the Treas Try Department? Contraction at the
rate of Sl2 100000 is adequate cause, and to
search for a5y other were superfuous.
The Treasury ,s virtually an independent de.
partment of the Government. The President
can of course, appoint the Secretary but this
officer holds SO many Trusts directly from Con-
gress that his responsibility is due for the most
part to the legislative power. But Congress has
in the most emphatic manner p pronounced against
contraction. 1t promptly repeale 1 the bill which
gave authority to Secretary Mccullough, to con-
tract at his discretion provided be did not exceed
four millions a month. After short trial, con-
traction even at that rate was considered uhwise
and fraught with commercial disaster, and the
authority given to the Secretary was res called.
Yet we have Secretary Boutwell,, not only with~
out any authority, but against the express will
OF Congress, contracting at the rate of over Sl2-
OPO,O a month. In asking attention to the
fact and the grave considerations which it in>
wolves, we are not actuated by partisan motive
The matter is not party question-it is a sec.
tional question. The Eastern States are in favor
of contradiction the Western States which
would suffer from contraction, and which are
already suffering from it must needs protest
against Secretary Boutwell's sectional policy
policy in the interest Of the creditor and bond
holder and the same extent adverse to the West.
ern producer.-St. Louis Dispatch.