The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-01-09

Mr.. Hooper, of Massachusetts,, introduced q
bill in the House of Representatives on Mon
day, and Mr. Buckingham one in the Senate
on Tuesday, to regulate the currency and for
other purposes relative to the circulating me-
dunn and specie payments. The most signif-
cant feature of both bills is that to authorize
the Treasury Department to issue to limited
amount a new class of bonds bearing three
sixty-five per cent interest. We have sug-
gested on several occasions that such class
of bonds, bearing just cent q day interest,
would be most convenient for the public, and
for the commercial portion of it par
ticularly, if these bonds were made
convertible into United States notes and
recoverable at the will Of the holder,
so that the interest ON the bonds, so easily
calculated, should be paid readily and up to
the day of conversion. It is hardly possible
to conceive a more simple and effectual way of
regulating the money market. Any one can
understand what the effect must be. If there
should be q scarcity of currency, or, to use
Wall street expression, q tight money market,
the holders of three sixty-fve bonds would in
stanHy convert them into United States notes
| and receive the interest up to the day of con-
version. If the currency were too abundant
and the market so easy that money would not
be worth three sixty-fve per cent the circu-
lating United States notes would be converted
again into bonds The money market would
regulate itself naturally without the interven-
ton or in spite of the Intervention Of the
| rtv,o <1o Hor 1ro H~O1
Wall street spectators. It must, too, make
money cheap bring down the rate of interest
generally and promote greatly the production
and business OF the country.
The proposition in the bills both of Mr..
Hooper and Mr.. Buckingham is advanced
| cautiously, does not cover clearly the whole
ground, and is mixed up with other PROPOSE
tons not as admissible. Still, the principle of
regulating the currency of giving it a certain
fexibility to meet the exigencies of trade and
to prevent any men or institutions looking up
money-is seen in these bills. This, if we
mistake not, is the entering wedge of most i'm
portant change in the currency and the fnan-
cial affairs of the country Congress may not
be prepared to adopt just yet such a.measure-
may be afraid to approach it even as eau
tiously as Mr.. Hooper and Mr.. Buckingham
have-but it will be hardly possible to put it
off long, It is based on common sense, is
sound in theory and cannot fail to impress
the public as both necessary and useful.
The bill of Mr.. Hooper, which was referred
! to the Committee on Banking and Currency,
is intended ostensibly to convert United
| States notes into coin, or, in other words, to
bring about specie payments. It provides
that on and after May /, 1874 year next
May-the United States notes not bearing in
terest-that is to say, the greenback legal ten
ders-shall be redeemable in coin on presenta-
ton at the Treasury Department or its
branches, and duties on imports may there
after be paid in such notes. OF course,
this would be a return to specie payments alb
solutely, as far as the government is con-
cerned. But the question arises, Would the
, mere assertion of this intention or purpose by
act of Congress have the effect? Seeing thai
the simple declaration is not sufficient, Mr.
Hooper proceeds upon the old theory thai
the United States legal tender notes are in
the way, and that they must be with
drawn in part, at least, in order to
reach specie payments. And here comes
in his proposition for the issue
of three sxty-fve per cent bonds. The
holders of non-interest bearing legal tenders
are to have the privilege of depositing these
notes in the Treasury and Of receiving in their
place certificates bearing three sixty-fve pei
cent interest Nothing, however, is said in
his bill about the reconvertibility of the cerif
Gates or bonds into currency, though we sup
pose he has some latent idea or purpose OF
bringing that about as he has adopted this
! peculiar form of certificate.
The Secretary of the Treasury is to make
his swn rules and regulations in executing the
law, except that the issue of the three sixty
five certificates are to be limited in the aggre-
gate at one time to hundred millions OF
, dollars. This is rather ambiguous, and we
must say it would be fatal mistake to give SO
much discretionary power to the Secretary Of
the Treasury. Everything should be explicitly
determined by law. The Secretary does q
great deal of mischief now through the power
he possesses in tampering with the money
market values and the business of the
country, and under the provisions Of
this bill his power for evil would be
much greater. Then, following up this
idea that the legal tenders are in the way of
returning to specie payments, Mr. Hooper
proposes to authorize the Secretary of the
Treasury to provide coin by issuing new six
per cent bonds to be sold at par for coin to the
amount of two hundred and fifty millions in
order to redeem the greenbacks, thus increas-
ing the interest burden Of the debt fifteen mil
lions year. But, worse still, he proposes to
authorize the Secretary to reissue these re-