The New York herald., 1869-02-01

Aluuds every memDcr VI OOuBIooo uOo"e ~
his duty to dabbleiu questions Of currency and
national finance, yet scarcely one knows any |
thing about them. Every one has nostrum |
Of his own 70 cure resl or imaginary evils,
and generally to cure imaginary evils only.
Often those who are most ignorant OF sub |
ject talk the loudest about it-as. for example,
quack doctors, who are Ear more loquacious
aud presumpioM than the skilfnl practitioner.
It Il The same with the financial quaoks in
Congress. General Butler grasps the subject,
as he does most subjects, with greater ability
than his colleagues Some rays of light have
reached bis mind, though he is cropping In com
parative darkness and in an unexplored region
of theory. As to Mr.. Sherman, who has taken
the lead in the Senate On the questions Of cur
rency and hnance, his notions are crude and
inpracticable. He only echoes the old bullion
ist theories and is merely the special pleader
Of the bondholding interest of Jay Cooke aud
the other large bondholders clamor for
resumption Of specie payments In order that
their wealth may be increased thirty to thirty
five per cent. Senator Morton and others are
running after an gnis fasuus without having
the least idea where they are going or the
danger ahead Or the hundred schemes to
reach specie payments and TO place the finances
on good foundation, there is not one that
shows statemanship or is adapted to the pecu-
liar circumstances in which we are placed.
All this arises from the foolish attempts to
ignore or subvert the laws of nature and trade.
There Ia q morbid desire to be doing some
thing where no action is needed and where
the less done would be best. Our financial
doctors are, as we said, like quacks, who
want to be experimenting upon patient at
the risk of his life, and when he would be bet
ter without their nostrums. Mr.. MoCulloch,
who is about the greatest quack of all, tried
his nostrum OF contraction till the country
protested in agony and fear against the fatal
treatment; still he did not learn anything
from experience, but continues to reiterate the
insane cry of son to specie payments" 1t is
80, too, with all the resumption theorists. They
caunot see beyond their noses; they do not
reason; they merely copy the British bullion
lists and repeat over and over again the hack
neyed expressions about hard money and
resumption, without comprehending the his
tory of the disasters which befell England in
the efforts to force specie payments or the con-
sequence of such a policy to ourselves.
This idea of specie payments is delusion.
Strictly speaking, specie payment has never
existed here and docs not exist IN Europe.
There is not specie enough in this country or
IN Ensylaud IN do a txuo,t;ath no ~ rf tLa Inns;
ness. Indeed it Is doubtful If there is gold
and silver enough in the whole country to do
the daily business of New York city alone.
All commercial and trading transactions
are done with paper, except in making
up the little balances. The currency of
the world is paper, in one shape or another,
and must continue to be 80. Sometimes it is
In government legal tenders, as in this country
in part, sometimes in bank notes, as those of
the Bank Of England, or OF our national banks,
aud sometimes in the notes Of individuals or
companies. Specie only serves to represent
and to pay the balances between nations or
business communities II is a sort of clearing
house balance operating In the same manner as
the weekly balances Of bank checks by our New
York Clearing House do. Even then specie is
not often used II Ii enough to know that
there is sufficient for that purpose, or that the
credit of those owing balances is as good as
gold In fact, specie 10 never wanted or called
for when people know it can be had, for it is
far less convenient to handle than paper. And
when there Is a crisis arising from great COM
merciai disasters, from war or from any other
cause, and people demand specie, it can not
be had There never is, as we said, sufficient
in q country TO meet such demand. or
course suspension follows. This has occurred
several times in the United States, and occurs
in other countries as well. We see, then, that
in what are called specie paying times that
state Of things exists simply because paper d
used and coin is not demanded, and that wl,en-
ever coin Is demanded in crisis it cannot be
had, and suspension follows. What folly
then, to talk Of specie payments as the normal
condition Of things. 1t is the greatest delusion.
Why should there be such fuss about specie
payments in this country? The country has
hardly ever been more prosperous, and that
notwithstanding the enormous burden OF debt
and taxation. The farming and planting in
terest, which Ia the foundation of o nations
prosperity, is nourishing and enlarging, while
railroad, mining aud other enterprises are
growing and spreading rapidly. The working
classes generally never had as much surplus
money to deposit in savings banks as is
shown by the returns Of these institutions.
The evils Of paper currency are imaginary;
they exist not in reality. To disturb the cur
rency, to contract IL and to attempt to force
specie payments would bring ruin to the mass
of the community, whila the only people that
might be benefited are the bondholders and
the great capitalists. II is useless talking