The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1873-10-31
SPECIE PAYMENTS.
Gradual Approach 10 the Hard-Pan
Basis-The Policy OF the Republican
Party, and What IL has Accom- iished
I'm this DirectiO

Basis-The Policy OF the Republican
Party, and What 1t has Accom- piished
i'm this Direction.
From the New York Timesl
From the close of the war it has been
the policy of the Government, under its
Republican Administration, to restore
specie payments to the country.
Now that this policy is on the verge
of success, it is not Improbable to look
over the extent of the ground already
travelled, and to note with what steady
and firm courage it has been pursued.
So the country may better measure the
distance yet to be gone over, and nerve
itself for the last and browning effort.
Mr.. Secretary McCulloch, in his able
and lucid report of 1867, states the pub
lie debt of the United States to have
reached its highest point on the 31st of
August, 1865, when it stood at 80, 757,-
$50, 571.43. The October statement of
Mr.. Secretary Richardson states the to-
tai Indebtedness on the 31st of Septem-
Der, 1873, as 50, 1873, 1913, S9S.17. In
is deducted. A total reduction in eight
years of S6lS, S95, 673. 26. The history
of the finances of the world shows no
record of any such remarkable feat as
this. Alone it stands, and will stand to
the honor of the able men who have con-
Quoted the national finances, and an i'm
perishable record of the boundless re-
sources of the country itself and the in
flexible courage of our people.
1t is upon these resources and this
courage that the hope of finish of the
labor in an early return to specie pay
ment is now founded.
A short analysis will show of what the
bebt consisted at the time of its great
est extent, and to what it is now re-
duced.
On the 31st of August, 1865, there
were of
Funded and maured debt. i'll OIL 21l.s9
Seyen-thirty notes .............. $50 900 900. 90
Temporary loans, certificates of in
debtedness, etc ................ 443, 22O, 1916
United States greenbacks and frac-
tonal. Observation-Disclosures. 4o9, 5O5,3ll.5l
s2,s43, 796, 62G.56
Less cash in Treasury minus unpaid
reqmsltlOns.. .................. S,lO7,O5o
Total debt United States. s., 757. G89, 81. 43
On the 31st of September, 1873, there
were of
Funded debt, interest in coin 81, 723 567 100
Funded debt, in lawful money!. l4,OOO,0OO.0O
Certificates of indebtedness. G7s,OOO. 90
Certificates of deposits. 1,250,000.00
Greenbacks and fractional currency. 4O2, 3O9 1874 03
Unpaid interest. Observation-Disclosures. 2,OS3 523. 46
S2199, 2s7. 10
Less cash in Treasury. ...-....... $3.50 389. SO
Total debt United States. s. 1873, 1885, S98.17
The first measure of Mr.. Secretary
McCulloch, on taking charge of the De-
partment, was get rid of the floating
debt, which, i'll it's various forms,
clogged the wheels of the Treasury, by
paying off what was possible and fund
ing the balance. His next, to fund the
general gebt as far as practicable. For
this great measure of converting the
$500, 900, 900 of seven-thirty obligations
into gold bonds he has been as widely
blamed on the one hand as he has been
praised on the other. "But for this
STEP" recent critic has remarked of
him, che might have been called
great finance minister" But this very
measure is the great measure of his ca
reer. BY it he brought American cred
it up to its high standard in the
money markets of the world. Seeing
from the first that the finances of the
United States must be put upon the
same level as those of other
nations, and, aware of the difficulties in
the way of speedy return to specie
payments, he resolved to place the
bonds of the Government ut once upon
that basis. No greater proof of the wis
dom of his policy need be asked than
the favored and firm hold that these OBJ
legations now have among foreign ma
tions-a hold that they could not have
maintained on a currency basis. Salts
fled as the European holder might be
as to the ultimate value of his invest
ment, he looked naturally to a specific
coin interest. This the conversion from
the currency obligation to gold bond
provided.
The next step of the Secretary was a
resolute effort to contract the currency,
and bring it back as far as possible to
its normal state in other words, to re-
duce the circulating medium to the sum
absolutely necessary for the transaction
of the business of the country.
BY reference to the report of Aug.
81, 1865, it will be found that the circu-
lating medium consisted of
United States notes, greenbacks aud
fractional currency. Si59 sos, 81 81
| National bank notes and State bank
issues, report 1865, by Comptrolers
report Oct l. 1865 25O 1872 1880
Total. v.................. IO9G 94, 1881
To this amount must be added the
sum of five per cent. legal-tender notes,
and of certificates of Indebtedness, etc.
shown as above to amount to S443, 800,
lob. Is, in all n sum of 81 > 52, 914, 1872. 81.
This, then, was the circulating medium
of the country at the time of its great.
est expansion by it all prices were
measured.
After the taking in of the various
forms of certificates, all which served
the purposes of currency in one form OF
another, Mr. McCulloch begun to take
in the greenbacks themselves, and con
tinued until in December, 1867, Con
gress formally stopped any further con
traction. From the LIST of August to the
18th November, 1867, the time of his
greatest contraction of greenbacks, the
complaints of the Western country were
unceasing against the policy of the Sec
rotary, and indeed, if there be fault tC
be found with his direction of the finan
ces, it is in that he chung so infexibly
to Il fixed and unyielding policy. He in
sisted uDOn contraction without reparC