The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-12-12

l notes below fxed per eentage of then
? issue, say forty per cent, upon the banks
/ depositing with the treasurer of the
United States an amount of government
, | bonds equal to the amount of notes de-
manded, the banks to forfeit to the gov
} ernment say four per cent. on the inter
est ACQUIRING on the bonds so pledged,
during the time they remain with the
| treasury, as security for the increase OF
/ circulation the bonds so pledged to be
} redeemable by the banks at their pleas
) ure, either in whole or In part, by re-
turning their own bills for cancellation
to an amount equal to the face of the
bonds withdrawn. Iwould further sug-
gest for your consideration the proprie-
ty of authorizing the national banks to
diminish their standing issue at pleas
ure, by returning for cancellation their
own bills, Withdrawing so many United
States bonds as are pledged for the
bills returned.
| FREE BANKNG-sPECE RESERVES.
In view of the great actual contrac-
ton that has taken place in the curren-
cy, and the comparative contraction
constantly going on, due to the in
crease of manufacturers and all the
industries, don't believe that there is
| OOO AuGn VI IL AOH 1O1 O11C uu1ACoG pc
I Rod of the year. Indeed if clearing
clearing houses should be established,
thus forcing redemption, it is ques-
ton for consideration whether banking
should not be made free, retaining all
the safeguards new required to secure
bill holders in any modification of pres
ent laws regulating the national banks;
and as a further step toward paving the
way for resumption of specie payments,
I invite your attention to the consider-a
ton of the propriety of exacting from
| them the retention as part of their re-
serve, either the whole OF. q part of the
gold interest ACQUIRING upon the I onds
pledged as security for their issue. I
have
NOT REFLECTED ENOUGH
| on the bearing this might have in pro-
ducing a scarcity of coin with which to
pay duties on imports, to give it my
positive recommendation, but your at
tention is invited to the subject.
INVERSE CONTRACTION.
During the last four years the cur
rency has been contracted directly by
the withdrawal of three per cent. GER
tifcates, compound interest notes and
7:20 bonds outstanding on the 4th of
March, 1869, all of which took the
place of legal tenders in the bank re-
serves to the extent of $63, 900, 900. |
During the same period there has been |
much larger comparative contraction |
of the currency. The population of |
the country has largely increased. |
More than twenty-five thousand miles |
of railroad have been built, requiring |
the active use OF capital to operate |
them. Millions of acres of land have
b.
capital to move the products. Manu-
factories have multiplied beyond all |
precedent in the same period of time,
equiring capital weekly for the pay
ment of wages and for the purchase of |
material, and probably the largest of
all was thu comparative contraction
arising from the organizing of free
labor in the south. Now every laborer
there receives his wages, and or want
of savings banks the greater part of
such wages is carried in the pocket or
boarded till required for use.
These suggestions are thrown out
for your consideration without any re-
commendation that they shall be
adopted literally, but hoping that the
best method may be arrived at to Sc
cure such an elasticity of the currency
as will keep employed all the industries
of the country, and prevent such an in
fation as will put off indefinitely the
resumption of specie payment, an OBJ
ject devoutly to be wished for by all,
and none more earnestly than the class
of people most directly interested,
those who earn their bread by the
sweat of their brow. The decision of
congress on this subject will have the
hearty support of the executive.
OUR MYTHICAL MARINE.
In previous messages L have called
attention to the decline in American
ship building, and recommend such
of the carrying trade. Stim-
ulated by high rates and abundance of |
freight, the progress for the last year in ,
ship building has been very satisfacto-
nv. There has been an increase of {
about three per cent. in the amount {
in American vessels over ,
the amount of last year. Wi h the re- ]
duced cost of material which has taken {
place, it may reasonably be hoped that s
this change will be maintained and even i
However, as we pay about |
eighty million dollars per annum to
foreign vessels for the transportation of
our surplus products to a market, thus {
the balance of trade against Z
us to this amount, the subject is one I
worthy of your serious consideration. .
CHEAP TRANSPORTATION /
is a subject that has attracted the atten- Y
tion of both producers and consumers r
for the lastfew years and has contributed 9
10, if it has not been the direct cause of, {
the recent panic and stringency. AS q
congress at its last session appointed as g
special committee to investigate this &
whole subject during the vacation and i
report at this session. I have nothing Z
until their report is ready. f
SMALL FAvORS THANKFULLY RECEIVED. c
There is one work, however, of a ma a
;ional character in which the greater 8
portion of the east and west, the north c
md the south are equally interested, to v
which I will invite your attention. The t.
,tate of New York has a canal connect p
ng Lake Erie with tide water on the S
Hudson river. The state of Illinois C
has a similar one connecting Lake r
Michigan with navigable water on the s
illinois river, thus making water COM
nunication inland between the east and b
he west and south. These great arti- \
icial water courses are the property of
he states through which they pass and ?
pay toll to those states. Would it not C
De Wise SbaGoSnauSulp 10 pIouSe buoSo | IL
states that if they will open these canals r
or the passage of large vessels the gov v
srnment will look after and keep in
1avigable condition the great public
highways with which they connect, to-
Wit The oversIough on the Hudson, c
ihe st. Clair fats; and the Illinois and r
Mississippi rivers. This would be t
1ational work and one of great value to s
;he producers of the west and south In G
giving them cheap transportation for I
heir produce to the seaboard, and @
market to the consumers in the east, in c
yiving them cheaper delivery of those i
articles of food which do not find +
'oreign market, and the rices of which, 7
therefore, are not regulated by foreign
demand. The advantages of such a @
work are too obvious for argument. I @
submit the subject to you, therefore, i
without further comment. Q
NAVIGATING THE AMAZON. | q
In attempting to regain out lost COM t
nerce and carrying trade, I have here g
ofore called attention to the states s
GLaGoo na | n