The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1869-02-03

and noaetivs zrepndiations unlesathe
President md both Houses of Con-
snfsss should concur n making them
selves parties to the National dishon-
cr-a degradation which we may
safely pronounee impossible. The
ssmi-annuaI payment Of the interest
would thus be made absolutely certain
until the principal sould be paid and
De more remote that day the more
valuable would be the bonds They
y would be the best money securities in
the markets of the world-safer and
expossdto fewer risks than the British
oonsols, and better by their n per
cent excess Of interest
And I would direct the Secretary
IF the Treasury to retain or issue the
rsquisite amount of legal-tender notes
s%Gve notice that he 10 ready to re.
dssrn the whole issue Of 1852, at the
Treasury, on the LIST of May, 1889,
in ieRal-tender notes, OF IN four per
cent forty.Jear bonds, secured as
above. at the option of the creditor;
md to exchange at some convenient
krsiness points IN Europe the forty.
wear bonds for the i've twenties,
whether the latter be payable or not,
making allowance for the excess of in
ferest On the fve-twenties where they
ere not yet payable and leave the
hunds which become payable at . fu-
ture day, and which are not thus ex-
changed, TO be authoritatiyely dealt
with BY q future Congress.
Avoid the absurdity Of a sinking.
fund-the wild u~nreasoned scheme OF
On ingenious visionary, which always
Jhas resulted and always Will result In
nothing. If thsrs be at any time a
surplus in the Treasury, after paying
interest on the debt and meeting the
wants Of Government. it can be made
70 sink the debt by the purchase in
market Of just 20 much in bonds a.
the spare fund will buy; and the in
terest thus saved il quite as available
A the interest that would be made by
leaning It out a. Q sinking fund, and
eenerally it would be IN better hands.
fwould make the loan long, for If
wiz add greatly to the value of the
bonds, making them desirable as Per
manent investments, and if at any
time IN the spring tide OF our prosper
ity We with to pay part of the princi-
nal. we can, as already suggested, go
into the market and purchase. But
that state of things will not arise.
The present generation has enough OF
burden to keep down the interest, and
leave it to our children and grand
children. who will be much richer than
@Aa nrpoinol
In the arrangement proposed, a law
fastening the resumption of specie
payment would, indeed, be ga distur-
hing element" It would probably
render success impossible, by at once
raising the market value of the 5-20's
above the value of the bonds We would
offer In exchange for them, and we
could not command the means, In
gold, to retire them, without borrow
ing at a heavy sacrifice. I would let
the law of trade regulate this for the
present ; as it is much more likely to
be well considered and well adapted
to the condition of the country, than
q law of Congress. In the natural
u of things it will gradually re
duce the difference between currency
and gold, so that specie payment will
resume itself without q violent revul
zion.
You can not make our legaltender
notes equivalent to god by merely
-enacting that they shall be so, or thai
gold shall be given in exchange fol
them. You must provide the gold
with which to redeem them. This you
can not do at present at less than SIX
per cent. on long bonds, 80 low is oul
credit, owing to Jul unsettled financial
condition.
1t il vainly supposed that if you
pass a law for the immediate payment
In gold of our legal-tender notes, the
commercial world will at once consid'
sr them as good as gold, and that they
viii continue to circulate, without
being offered for redemption. 1t Ger
tainly were not safe to restsson this as.
sumption, as it il possible that the
holders of notes may not have full
confidence in the continuing ability oil
the Treasury, and that large holders
will hasten to present their notes, each
anxious lest the stock of gold be ex-
hausted before his notes reach the
Treasury. If such should prove to be
the case, and 1 think it will, express
trains will bring them IN very rapidly
No one ought to be surprised if an
hundred millions be presented in the
first three days after the bill becomes
q law. In 1916, Great Britain,
through her Bank of England, after
twenty-five years suspension, being
flush in gold, tried the experiment in
the like vain hope, and with much
more favorable prospects but the run
for gold was so sudden and so heavy
that Parliament had to interfere hast.
lily, and to save the credit of the bank.
forbid it to redeem its notes. Or
this occasion Nh. Peel, who had advo
Gated the resumption, had the manli
mes. to acknowledge his error, an6
bring in the bill which forbid the bank
to make payment, and which held il
suspended for the next six years; un,
til the law of trade, more potent thar
a law of Parliament or of Congress
interposed and commanded resump
ton.
IF you adopt this mode of adjust
ment there is no danger whatsoever o
an excessive increase of the currency
You viii not have to pay in currency
the half of $50, 900, 00O,. for the sim
pie reason that your four per cent
bonds will be worth more than cur
rency, and will be taken in preference,