The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1870-03-24
What Hinders. Resumption.

Suppose Congress should tomorrow
pass proper Funding bill-as it should
have done two months ago-and, that
thorized to fund any part of the National
Debt at his discretion, should advertise
a new Loan or Consol, Offering to take
either greenbacks or coin in payment OF
subscriptions thereto, who does not see
that this would at once reduce our dl-
verse currehcies to par, or very nearly
so? The greenbacks, being receivable
at par for the new bonds, would be worth
in coin from 95 to 100 cents per dollar,
as the rev Loan or Consol should be
popular and rapidly taken or the con-
trary but all possibility of creating a
disparity between them OF even ten per
cent, would be ''gone where the wood
bine twiueth' henceforth and evermore:.
Suppose, now that Congress- should
make Ma nal Banking FREQ tat is,
should authorize any person or persons to
establish National Bank in any part OF
the Union, and to issue National Bank
notes there from, pr0Utded that each
bank should make deposit of not less
than 500, ,000of the newly authorized
bonds to begin with, on which 1t should
be supplied with three -fourths OF the
amount of the deposit in National Bank
notes, and that all existing banks should
likewise be required to deposit S4 OF the
new Consol for every SO Of their issues,
would not he Consol find an eager
market? q? and why would not the currency
expand or contract SO as precisely
to satisfy the requirements of business,
be the same more or less?
We insist that there is no obstacle to
prevent any persistent Resumption, save
only the prevalent repugnance thereto.
There is no lack of p0aoer-the only lack
is of ,oiH.
Those who assert that the Banks
would break-that failures would be uni
versal, &C., &c.,-impeach the solvency
of our people. We do not. We hold
the great mass of our banks and merch-
ants solvent; if any are not, now is the
time to ascertain aud eliminate them.
Expel the dead flies from the ointment
SO soon as possible.
But in fact ''tha bitterness of death is
| past" We have zone two-thirds of the
way of specie payments since last summer,
and this without the help that good
funding act would have given us. By
sheer force of collecting the revenue and
reducing our debt, this progress has been
made. Our financial ability has been
demonstrated. No one need be assured
that full thirtieth part of the principal
of its debt within the first year of Gen.
Grants administration can pay the resi-
due if it will The interest on that debt
is fnlly FIVE millions of dollars less than 1t
was one year ago. And, now that we
have proved our ability and our honesty,
it is neither necessary nor right that we
should persist in paying SIX per cent per
annum on loans that we have now the
right to redeem. We ought to fund these
| forwith in a long bond at lower rate OF
interest-that is, we ought to put such a
bond on the market, and, so fast as we
| can sell it at par, devote the proceeds to
| the redemption of our Five Twenties.
| And we ought not to diminish essentially
| our income till such redemption shal
have been effected. The power to Fund
| on our own terms is based on our abili-
ty to buy up and cancel some millions
each month, aud on the fact that We ao
| it.
We deeply regret that there has been
| any talk of funding our debt at a higher
rate than four per cent, payable quarter,
| ly in coin. Even though it had cost US
twenty millions to fund five hundred
millions of our fve-twenties in such 9
consol, we hold that it would have been
a great economy to do so. With five
hundred millions so funded in the course
OF 1870, we should have had no Difficult
| ty in funding as much more in 1871
| and an equal amount in 1872. Thai
done, the total interest on our debt, eyer
though one hundred millions of oul
| greenbacks had run into consols, would
| thenceforth be less than one hundred
millions, whereas it is now one hundred
and twenty millions or over. There !:
no parity between the case of the govern
ment steadily reducing its debt eacf
month and one that is seeking to In
crease its debt. Only keep paying, ant
we may make our own terms with lend
ers.
| We ought to have resumed at th'
close of 1865. We we're less in deb
then than we now are, we owe less nov
whether abroad or to each other) thai
r we shall do after three or four year
; more of imitation and non-redemption
The ancient blockhead who waited 70
the river to run out before crossing, wa
type of the financier who would post
pone Resumption till we are ready for it
, The way to get ready is short and simpl
-Resume Nv Y. T'tb,me.