Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1872-07-18
The Financial Aspect.

SOME of the more thoughtful Greeley
papers are beginning to discover that the
business aspect of the Presidential cam
paign is to assume very large proportions.
The country is now getting along very
well, all things considered, and it requires
cautious management to keep it in this
line. 1t is true we are not on a specie
basis. 1t is equally true that we should
keep looking to and preparing for a re-
sumption of specie payments but to ac-
complish this we must prepare for it.
Unless the conditions are favorable when
the attempt is made to resume specie pay
ments, the attempt will not only fail, but
it will bring untold distress upon the
country.
Mr.. Greeley has assumed to know all
about this specie payment business, and
he has in this, as in all other matters of
political economy, counted as fools those
who presumed to differ with him. Yet
wise men who have made finances a study
know Mr.. Greeley's theory to be concen-
trated foolishness, and in this they are
sustained by the experience of England
No one whose opinion on finances is
worth anything supposes for a moment
that specie payment could be maintained
upon basis of seven hundred mil
lions paper money. Specie payments
| the week, but they could not
be maintained, and it is very clear
| they should not be resumed until the con-
ditions are favorable for their continu-
ance. There are those who believe the
country will in time grow up to the pres
ent volume of paper money, and that re-
sumption can thus be brought about with
out contraction, but nobody contends
that we have yet reached that point. Yet,
Mr.. Greeley's theory is that the Govern
ment can resume any day, and what is
more remarkable is that while he urged
immediate resumption, he also advocated
the sale of gold in the Treasury. He eX-
planned this remarkable inconsistency by
claiming that upon the Secretary of the
| Treasury giving notice that he was ready
to pay specie, nobody would ask for it.
Now, when we consider that the total
amount of gold in the Treasury on the 1st
of June was $91, ,000, 900; that $2S, 500, 900
was borrowed and payable on demand,
and that there was outstanding at that
time $399, 100000 of Government paper
currency-$357,0 900, 900 greenbacks, and
$42, 100000 fractional currency-the alb
surdity of Greeley's proposition is appar
ent. No bank would be safe, in specie
paying time, with less than twenty-five
per cent. of coin to their circulation. Yet
Ine OOFernmenI, WHICH is III one Dredtn
asked to resume, and in another is asked
to sell its gold, has only sixteen per cent.
in specie to its paper obligations.
In the face of these facts, and of Mr.
Greeley's we'll character, it is not
at all surprising that the business men of
the country should think several times be-
fore putting man at the head of the Gov
ernment whose ideas on finances are fool
ishness; who believes he is the perfection
of knowledge, and who acts without re,
! Election, and is too conceited to seek or act
| upon advice.
1t is easy enough to say as one of the
Greeley papers does say, that no one
would be hurt by an immediate resump
ton of specie payment but the debtor
class. This class, however, includes the
mass of the people engaged in industrial
pursuits, and this great body could not be
stricken down without affecting the whole
This would be fun for Greeley, who be
lieves that nobody has a right to be il
| debt, and that any measure that would
hurt them would serve them right, but il
is kind of fun that the people of the
United States would not be able to enjoy
| = (Incln17 Dfj GD-effo