The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1869-03-16
'rnss $500 per amnu,,s, in adramce.

hundred millions, three-four of the min
ing establishments In the northern DortSons
| of the country tc0uld be Suspendedb With
this conviction, he deprecated the coDlerrine
| of large discretionary authority upon the
| Treasury, maintaining that it would operate
as constant menace to business. the inter
ests of which must necessarily suffer. The
duty of Congress to define and limit the e.
nancial policy of the Administration, be urg-
ed as clear and urgent; and he contended
that in the adoption of that course, more re-
lance should be placed upon the gradual ef-
feet of time and renewed prosperity, than
upon the arbitrary measures of the Secretary.
What the business of the country could bear,
was the test by which he would try the mer-
its of policy; and he stEenuously opposed
whatever might operate adversely. He then
preferred practical results TO theories-defned
TO unlimited powers; and there is no reason
to apprehend change in his opinions.
The bill introduced by Mr.. Hooper March
10, 1861 received Mr.. Boutwell's emphatic
lndorsement, one of its provisions being shat
the pTohe debt shall not hereafter be increGS-
ca Dy authority OF this or any previous acts
OF Congress" A similar provision is embod-
led in MIR. Hooper's measure of last session.
which the hostility of Senator Sherman for
the Time Killed. we conclude, then, that
the wholesome prohibition of any increase
of the golG-bearing debt, which is hoped for
as means OF Strengthening the public credit,
will receive the support of the new Secre-
tary.
The nearest approach to any actual plan
on the part of Mr.. Boutwell, is the resolution
he offered January 27, 1868, instructing the
Committee of Ways and Means to inquire
into the expediency of providing by law as
follows:
For notice, by the Secretary Of the Treas
nry, when the United States coin in the
Treasury exceeds twenty millions that he will
anticipate payment of the interest first fall
ing due on bonds-such payment to be sub
iect to rebate of interest at the rate specified
in the bonds. For new loan of $900O00,00O
at six per cent, the principal and interest pay
able in coin; the loan to be confined to citi
zens in the United States and not to be trans
ferabe or payable to any Others and the bonds
to be liable TO State and local taxation; the
bouds to be payable, fifty millions ON the
first Of January, and fifty millions on each
succeeding first of January. For new loan,
S4 900 900 900 of four and half per cent prin-
eipal and interest payable in coin, and which
may be made payable either at Frankfort or
lions on the first of January, 1900, and to be
untaxable, either by the United States or any
state or municipality; that the shareholders of
hve-twenty bonds may exchange their bonds
for the bonds of either of these classes, and
that the Secretary of the Treasury be prohib-
tied from making sales of gold.
"That the Secretarys.of the Treasury be
| prohibited from making sales of gold,' is
proposition as pertinent at this moment as il
was asyear ago. The resolution, however,
shows his reliance upon some funding pro-
cess as method of lessenlng the public bur-
dens: his condemnation of contraction being
guarantee against the embarrassment and
ruin which would attend the enactment of
the Sherman scheme.
On all these points Mr.. Boutwell's record
ed views harmonise with the ideas suggested
in the Presidents inaugural. in the divis-
ion upon Mr.. Schenck's bill, FEB. "a } as fur
nished to the newspapers, his name does not
appear. But the whole tenor Of his speeches
indicates a scrupulous regard for the mainte-
nance untarnished of the national faith, and
his resolution of January, 1868, is mole than
presumptive recognition of the principle af-
| firmed by the late congress. So far as it is
proper to infer policy from Mr.. BoutwelPs
past course, we may assume that he will pre-
serve inviolate the rights OF the public credit
or, without forgetting the care and consider
alton which are due to the interests Of the
| country.-N. Y. Times.