Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1872-07-18
THE CAMPAIGN
The Financial Aspect.
From the Cincinnati Gazette.

u
lev papers are beginning to discover
that the business aspect OF the Presl-
Dental campaign is to assume very
large proportions. The country is
now getting along very well, all things
considered, and 1t requires cautious
management to keep it i'll this
line. 1t is equally true we are not on
a specie basis. lis equally true that
we should keep looking to and prepar-
ing for resumption of specie pay
ment.; but to accomplish this we must
prepare for it. Unless the conditions
are favorable when the attempt is
made to resume specie payments, the
attempt will not only fail, but 1t will
bring untold distress upon the coun-
W,
Mr.. Greeley has assumed to know
all about this specie payment business,
and he has in this, as in all other mat
tiers of political economy, counted as
fools those who presumed to differ with
him. Yet wise men who have made
ii nances a study know Mr.. Greeleys
theory to be concentrated foolishness,
and in this they are sustained by the
experience of England. No one whose
opinion on finances is worth anything
supposes for moment that specie pay
ment could be maintained upon a basis
of seven hundred millions paper
money. Specie payments might be re-
sumed any day in the week. but they
could not be maintained, and it is very
clear they should not be resumed until
the conditions are favorable, for their
continuance. There are those who
believe the country will in time
grow up the present volume of
paper money, and that resumption can
thus be brought about without con
traction, but nobody contends that we
have vet reached that point. Yet, Mr..
Greeley's theory is that the government
can resume any day, and what is more
remarkable is that while he urged I'M
mediate resumption, he also advocated
the sale of gold in the Treasury. He
explained this remarkable inconsistent
cy 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 Treasu-
~ on the 1st of June was S9l, 900, 900
that $2S, 100000 was borrowed and
payable on demand, and that there was
outstanding at that time 800 millions
OF government paper currency 57
millions greenbacks, and AZ millions
fractional currency-the absurdity of
Greeley's proposition is apparent. No
bank would be safe, in specie paying
time, with less than twenty-five per
cent. of coin to their circulation. Yet
the government which in one breath is
asked to resume, and in another is
urged to sell its gold, has only six.
teen per cent, in specie to its paper OBJ
legations.
In the face of these facts and Of Mr..
Greeley's well known character, it is
not at I'll surprising that the business
men of the country should think sever
al times before ruttlng a man at the
head of the government whose ideas on
finances are foollshness who believes
he is the perfection of knowledge, and
who acts without reflection, and is
too conceited to seek or act upon adj
vice
1t is easy enough to say, as one of
the Greeley papers does say, that no
one would be hurt by an immediate re
sumption of specie payment but the
debtor class. This class, however, in
cludes the mass of the people engaged
in industrial pursuits, and this great
body could not be stricken down with
out affecting the whole. This would
be fun for Greeley. who believes that
nobody has a right to be in debt, and
that any measure that would hurt them
would serve them right, but it is "A kind
of fun that the people of the United
States would not be able to enjoy.