New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-12-07
RENC.NPTiON FUNDING - MIR. SUNNERS
PLAN.

PLAN.
Surpose q nan to have felOn on one OF
Iii, iiIgc, say the third of his left hand-a
very bad one, threatening gaDgren8 or mortl-
iication-you might induce him to hold with
his right hand a sharp fine chisel against the
base of that finger laid OIL block, While
some one else struck the head of the chiScl
with a malict and in trice severed the
,n,udiuc member from the hand, causing 1t
TO tly a rod But ask that very sufferer to
place that very diseased finger, while still
part of al, mortal frame, between the jaws OF
a wise. and screw up with his right hand till
the laws should meet, and no would DO very
likely to decline, with thanks or without as
:Lo case might be.
icrrin is the gi-t of our objection to all
ri IDS for q dual, stcp-by-step advances to
Resumption: they are sure to provoke an op-
u sition which they are not strong enough to
overcome. TO Illustrate:
Gold being ut Il premium OF 10 per cent,
on LEGAL or Grccnback dollar-the dollar that
yoes in trade and pays ordinary dcbts-ls
worth little more than ninety cents III com.
lie who owes $4,000 in currency can pay it
With little less than $4,000 in coin. Now
suppose Resumption effected tomorrow morn
ing, Real Estate, Produce Property of all
kinds. would bo worth Just as much in gold
as how, but One-tlevcnth less in Currency {;
and all debts, not now payable in specie, would
be one-,en:h heavier and harder to pay than
now. while mortgaged premises would BIO less
valuable TO thcir owners than at present
Well: We shcnld all take new departure,
saying: 1--WE arc down to hard-pan ut last.
-. L., 4, tn n
guard against. This house, this farm, this
"pilc OF brick or var1 of lumber, was yes
",c,,lay worth $i1 900: it is to-day worth but
$4,000 and must be valued, held and sold,
accordingly 1t can barely 60 lower" So
we should resume buying and selling, hiring
and lending, building and planting, precisely
as though there had been no Legal-Tender
paper and never cOuld be.
| BIT gradual continuous, long-drawn con-
| tr,c,jon, with intent to resume, is q horse OF
onitc another color. 1t in effect DEGREES that
| all property shall be worth o little less, all
debts be little harder to pay, next month
| than this, and six months hence than three
months. What II damper to enterprise, what
n,ldew to business, this must prove, we
surely need net indicate.
"The way 20 resumption is to resume" This
was trne from the first, and will be to tho last
We might have resumed years ago; we might
resume Tomorrow. The only obstacle is its
cost-that il, tho loss it would inhict on tho
indcltcd--a class SO numerous and powerful.
And the main reason why VIC have not re-
snmcd long ago is just this More people want
Resumption postponed than really desire to
see it fastened. They are free enough to de-
nounce orr shinpaster, cheating. irrcdecmable
Currency: they are not ready to bravo tho
personal sacrifices through which only it can
be raised to par with coin. And those sacri-
fees are not cvaded, they are increased, by
prcferring the prOtracted suffering of gradual
to the sharp agony of instant Resumption.
Now, MFR. Summers plan may be the best for
securing gradual appreciation of our Paper
Currency to Coin yet it will fail, because the
People are averse to such appreciation. Their
objection is TO the thing proposed to be done,
and is fatal to any mode of doing it. They
do not want the times made gradually harder,
but the contrary. A gradual diminutiOn by
REDEMPTION of the volume of our Greenbacks
r;as once well begun under the direction of
Congress, but was soon arrested, because of
popular rcpugnance to the unpleasant cOnse-
QuenCes.
O"r main objection to the Greenback cur
rency is not its iIredcemability but its false
hood. Each printed promise that "The United
Estates will pay" one or more dollars is lie
If it said only. "The United States will receive
ellis note in any payment for lands or
"taxes other than Duties on Imports" that
would be the truth, and, as such, un0bjection-
able. Better still, if each note read, "The
"Unitd States will pay this note on demand
Gin bonds of 500, $1,000, or $1O.OOO-each
"bond drawing interest at the rate of $50 in
"co:n and recoverable into Greenbacks at
the pleasure Of the holder" We should have
currency based Oh truth instead Of lie,
and avoiding some of tho hardshps and perils
to industry and business inscparable from the
requirement that each paper dollar shall be
redeemahle in coin at par whenever the holder
shall sec fit to demand it.
More hereafter.