The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1869-05-21
THE JOURNAI..
OUR FINANCIAL CONDI-
TTON


vas less than 500. 100000 Der annum ne
expenditures were over 500, 600 OOO. and
apiaiy Decreasing. A loan of &4OO 600 .OOO
bad ben voted but before half Of 4 hsd
a subscribed, all the banks in the coun-
sry had been driven into suspension ol
Speci Payments. We were raising regi-
me1ts, buying uniforms, casting cannon,
king small arms, building naFies. and in
curing urheard Of expenses on every side
We must borrow at least $50, ,OOO. 600 Der
month to meet our bills, and nobody had the
coin TO lend us. Plainly, we must submit
TO the necessity of prosecuting the War on a
Paper Currency, or we must give il up and
acknowledge the ConfedeFsey. On full con
sideratiOn, Congress decided-We think
wiaely--to make Treasury paper a Legsl
Tender-in other words, decree a universal
Forced Loan-and fight out the War on a
paper currency. Il vas desperate expedi-
ent-One excused only by its absolute neces-
sity. It's justification inberes in the fact
TINT Il saved the Union.
No one then suggested that an Irredeem-
able Currency was intriusically beuefeent
or desirable. Our case was that Of the en-
hsTTassed debtor who pays clsim at the
erd Of an execution because he has not been
atle 10 pay it before. I" Let US put down
:" The Rebellion, and then we viii reiurn to a
Currency Of specie aud of promises 10 pay
" that are not lies, was the general plea.
OF course, there were those who said we
would never redeem our promises nor pay
Onr rapidly augmenting Debt; but they
were Oopperheads, whose wish was father to
the thought.
Congress left no one in doubt as TO its
view Of the matter, OF Its purpose to main
tain the National Credit aud uphold, SO far
as possible, the National Faith. S.By section
Of the Legal Tender act, it provided that
|. All Duties on Imports should continue
20 be paid in Coin or its full equivalent;
2. The coin 50 collected TO be devoted to
he payment, first Of the interest on the Ma
tional Debt secondly, " to the purchase or
payment Of one per cent per annum Of the
s. entire Debt of the United States -
3 The balance to be paid to the Treasury.
This plan for sustaining the National
Credit during the War and restoring Nation
al sOlvency upon the close Of the War was no
sher-thOught. It was an integral portion Of
the original measure Of Finance which made
Treasury notes a Legal Tender for the
amounts specified on their face. There were
men in Congress who fancied a mere arbitra-
ry decree that Treasury notes should circu-
late as money would suffice but the ma
jOrity knew better. They provided that
those Treasury notes might be funded in
bonds they further provided that the in
terest on the bonds should be regularly IL
quidsted and one per cent. Of The principal
Of the entire Debt annually purchased or paid
of, with the coin collected at our Custom
Houses
For some time past these provisions OF
Law, though never repealed, have been disre-
guided. Secretary McCu.loch-for reasons
best known 70 himselE-though he had coin
10 abundance on hand, did not purchase and
hold one per cent Of the Debt, as the Law
expressly required him 10 d.. Had be done
50, We should have been a ing way further
ON the road to National solveacy than we
are. We have imported far too many goods,
IN part because of the chespness Of our Gov
eminent Skies, which have been sent abroad
II large amounts and sold in the capitals Of
Western Europe at IS to 30 cents on the dol.
ar Had those bonds raBged above par, as
lhey should have done ere this, we should
have exported them less profusely and
bought fewer foreign fabrics with the pro-
ceeds. We are millions poorer than we
should have been had the law been implicit
ly Obeyed.
Mr.. Boutwell,, we rejoice to say, seems to
understand that he is The servant of the law,
not its master. The following official adEeT.
tisement has just appeared:
PURCHASE OF Government BoxBs Pro
posals will be received at this Office until
noon of Wednesday, May -, for the sale to
the Government of one million Of dollars Of
Six per cent. Five-tEenty Bonds; at which
time the bids will=be opened and the awards
declared. Proposals viii state the specific
character Of the Bonds offered, whether reg
Istered or coupon, to which particular class
they belong, as '62s, '64s, '65s (old or new }
'67s, or 6Ss, and may be for any amount
not less than five thousand dollars. The
offers must be for the sale of the Bonds "fat,'
aud each proposal must inclOse a certified
check for i've per cent. of the amount offer
ed. The checks of unaccepted bidders viii
be returned as soon as the result is ascer-
tanned, and those Of others on the following
day, when the Bonds must be delivered, foT
which payment in lawful money will be
made as soon as they can be duly examined
The right is reserved to reject bids adverse
10 the interests OF the Government. By
order of the Secretary of the Treasury,
H. Il. VAN DYcK, Assistant Treasurer.
This is a fair beginning but we trust
il is only a beginning. As the Irishnan
says, " More power TO your elbow :" Our
National credit is blown upon in London.
where desperate effort has Just been made
tj force down the price Of our bonds. The
Bank of England has raised her rate of dis
count The price of our bonds has been
considerably depressed in London, conse-
L., L. :
siderably enhanced. Il is highly probable
that so advantageous an opportunity to buy
bonds with gold viii never again be present.
ed. 1t seems 70 US therefore, that the Sec
retary should this week buy, not One Mil
lion merely, but Twenty Millions, giving the
sellers time to import the bonds from Lon
don if they see fit. If Twenty Millions
were bought this week, aud One Million OF
u,ore weekly thereafter as the state of the
rsarket should dictate, We might hope soon
10 make the resources Of our Government
better appreciated and its credit stand high
er at home and abroad.
The Secretary, we trust, will not ignore
the icct that we are still paying a War rate
of intelest on the bulk of our Debt, and
that the Is Five-Twenties were made such
expressly that they might be fuhded at a
lower rate whenever lenders could be found
We ought soon to be able to fund those Five
Twenties on a long bond in non-taxable
Oonsol, redeemable after fifty years, and
drawing but four per cent. payable quarter
ly. If Mr.. Boutwell's administration of the
Treasury shall be held in honorable remem-
brance, it will be for some such conversion,
whereby the burden of the Debt will be re-
duced nearly third. But to enable him to
float such consol, he must render our bonds
scarcer and scarcer in the market, thus steadi-
ly approaching their price. To this end, we
submit that he should buy up Fifty Millions
of bonds forthwith, glutting the Gold market
and rendering bonds go scarce that those
who have them viii hold on, and those who
have them not, seeing them constantly ap-
preciate, viii be eager 10 possess them. Oi
Ar. BOutwell's integrity, the country has no
doubt, it only remains to be ed of his
capacity and his courage. With such sur
plus and such an income, be ought to put
gold-gamblers and stOck-gamblers under bis
feet, giving tone to the market and liking
the price Of our bonds. His power is great
his opportunity such as no man has enjoyed
since Hamilton; we trust he viii prove
every way equal to his position and its large
requirements, and that his countTymen vii
bless him as the man who reduced the in.
terest Of their Debt from One Hundred anc
Thirty to less than One Hundred Millions
per annum, and thus created the meaus o
paying off the principal in less than half
century.-M 7. Tribune.