The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-03-01

huctuates. 30 docs that OF cotton, hour. and
sales Of gold bS S the Treesurv @
bring he nuoruations within the same limit ami
range that apDly 10 other articles.
Tbls is not the time - discuss this subject in
detail, but It's ,.Ipoiiance viii justify a few
adOllcne,, remarks. One OF the curious, not
profitable, discussions of the day turns upon the
amount of currency per head requisite for the
proper trs rsDsactioD Of business. Here the dnan-
clal doctors widely disagree, their estimates
ranging from SIS to $50 per head. The informa-
tion ,hey bring us IRON England France, aud
other European countries upon this point lie
unsatisfactory aud discrepant. Many reason
upon this topic as If they thought the coat that
fits a lad OF fourteen must needs be large enough
for lin at twenty, 1t Is the desire OF some 10
give the country the very smallest possible
amount of circulating medium. They initiate
penurious parents, who grudRing their children
ana thus starving the development OF both bOoY
and soul, Dlque them elves uDon their economy
A regime Like this is not adapted TO the wants of
young and growing nation. 1t may please
usuTers that the currency should be small IN
amount and hard to get, but the enterprise OF
vigorous pt ople upon a new continent de-
mal da an ample machinery OF circulation.
Conttaotion of the currency has been
tried and emphatically rejected. Those who
urge IL should connect with 1t a reduction in
the rate OF interest upon the puolic debt, and a
scaling down of private debts TO figures com.
mensurate with the appreciation Of the cur.
rency. When Great Britain. vexed by this same
question of resumption after the close OF the
NapoleOnic wars, summoned Mr.. Alexander
Barring before Parllan entary commit ee Tor
the sake Of such suggest )ns rs his great eXpe-
Iience In trade might furnish, that gentleman
stated that the amount of currency In any
country was a matter of small inoortance
when once values had become adjusted thereto.
1t was the interference with IL that gave rise
to trouble. The horror with which some people
regard the greenback would have in it an
element of the ludicrous, were II not that the
fantasies tricks they wish to play with it pro.
duce confusion and distress.
No set of men, whether in Congress or out of
1t, can ever accurately or wisely determine what
amount of currency Is wanted by the country.
The operation OF q Free Bal king law will solve
the problem. Supply and demand would then
assume their just relations to each otner. Our
national bonds furnish an admirable security
for the circulation thus to be issued. Oar
peo pie would cease TO be harassed with fears
for the iminutlon or enlargement of the cur
rency at every session of Congress.
Nor, indeed, Is there anything SO attractive In
the old system OF specie payments as to warrant
great los es by currency contraction or other
wise in our haste TO return to 1t. 1t has never
been in the past anything more than a system
OF connivances. 1t is make.b believe that
specie exists where we know there is little or
none of it. So long as nobody asks for it all is
well; but the hue and cry OF a mob close the
doors OF our banks IN few hours. Nor should
these institutions be severely blamed Tor this.
1t is not in the framework of their organization,
nor in their mode OF business, that they should
De aDle TO meet all Jnelf IlaOlltle9 suddenly on
demaud. 1t is unreasonable to expect they
should be always ready to- redeem at once their
circulation and deposits Can we justly ask it
OF them, when even in specie paying times the
| great bulk of their deposits is received in the
| form of paper money only? Conscious OF the
| false position in which the unreasonable exac
| tions OF the law have placed them,
| the banks have always been seusitivey
| alive to the diminutlon OF their stock
| Of specie through any extraordinary demand.
At such times they have been obliged to retaliate
| upon the community by acurtailment Of accom-
| moda,lons so sudden and severe as to infct a
| degree OF suffering and disaster out OF all pro
| portion to tie comparatively paltry sums o
gold they sought to save. We must, for ouI
| own preservation, cease to impose upon the
banks obligations impossible of fulflment.
| They should not be lett so vulnerable as they
| have been by runs upon them for specie by
| panc'stricken fellow cilizens, or demands upon
| them for 1t from abroad. Heretofore they and
| we have been trem blingly subservient to the
| great mopeyed institutions and capitalists OF
| Europe. Whenever 1t has suited their necessi-
ties or caprice to withdraw from us few
millions IN gold, our whole commercial fabric
| has been shaken TO the centre. Eight times in
sixty four years, says Robert J. Walker has oul
system OF specie payments exploded, causing
general ruin and distress. To struggle back &c
| it with enforced haste and much suffering, only
| to experience eight years later new collapse
Is not q cheering prospect Financial science
| must yield better result than this before any
great eagerness can be excited in the masses O.
| our people for resumption.
Another theme to which your attention has
been aud will be called is the railroad system
OF our country. 1t is said period OF fifty years
was required in Great Britain to mature a per
feet system for the carriage of passengers BY
lines of stages. If this be true OF the British
isles, 1t Is evident that great as has been oul
railroad expansion within the past few years i
is still in its infancy. From East to West WI
have herei iofore mainly laid our rails, and ar,
now spanning the broad continent with them
But 10 the new era into which our country Il
| passing. many n line will run from North "a
South. An iron reticulation will cover th,
entire face of the United States. Step by stel
with its progress viii ar1se questions of grea
Importance TO the welfare and prosperity OF ou
people The greatest freedom in the use ofthes
roads will be necessary. The same car wil
leave any point and travel to any other poia
without obstruction over all connecting links O
road. For the transit OF passengers and freigh
boundary lines Of sister States must be practi
| cally oblterated. No restrictions OF petty o.
local character must be imposed upon the fire.
circulation Of our people and their commo
dites.
There are not a few who think railros
company should simply furnish tracks al,
motive power, and the public have the prefer
eDce against the company In placing freigh
cars on the track. 1t is claimed that our righ
10 use railroad should be as perfect as that W
| exercise upon O common turnpike. We will
not discuss that question here. This aud other
| will have your consideration and expression o
opinion hereafter. You have already given tn
| sanction of your approval to the enactment O
q Free Railroad law by our Legl lature. an
| will always be found on the side of the larges
liberty to the movements OF our domesti
| trade.
Leaving railroads, we may briefly touch upol
| another matter of general interest. An ehor
has been made 10 incorporate the telegraphi
| with the postal service of the United States
| In Justification OF this project, 1t is said tba
| better management and cheaper rates wall b
| secured thereby. The genius OF our institution
/ "a Genera