The New York herald., 1873-12-01

| comfnltteu 10 inc gencral p0lcy OF the aumin-
istation, there will be no excuse available for
the dominant party If it shall fail to satisfy the
| American people in its measures upon our
| foreign and domestic affairs. The session
may be prolonged into midsummer, and work
which will extend through several sessions
will we expect be cut out in the Presidents
Message.
The Comptroller OF the Currency ON
tho Panic and tho Circulating
Medium.
Mr.. Knox, in the report he has prepared
for Congress on the operation Of his depart
ment and the monetary affairs of the country
has struck the right note with regard to the
late panic and its causes. ''The money mar
ket," he says, chad become overloaded with
debt, the cost of railroad construction
for the five years past being estimated at
ST., 700, 000, ,O00 or $340 100000 annually
while debt based upon almost every species of
property-State, city, town, manufacturing
corporations and mining companies been
sold in the market. Such bonds and stock
had been disposed of to considerable extent
in foreign markets, and as long as this con-
tinued the sale of similar securities was stimu-
lated and additional amounts offered. When
the sales of such securities could no
longer be effected abroad the bonds of
railroads and other enterprises were forced
upon the homo market until their
negotiation became almost impossible. The
bankers of the city of New York who were
burdened with the load could not respond to
the demands of their creditors. The numer-
GUS holders of similar securities became
alarmed, and the panic soon extended
throughout the country" All this is true;
but it is not the whole truth. Farther on in
the report the Comptroller explains more
fully. He shows that the relations of the
banks with stock operations and speculations
did more to bring about the trouble than any
thing else. "More than one-fourth, and in
many cases one-third,' he says, ''of the bills
receivable of the banks since the late civil war
have consisted of demand loans to brokers and
members of the Stock Board" In other
words, the banks went into the stock k-jobbing
business, indirectly or directly, in their grasp
ing at large profits, and thus damaged the
legitimate business interests of the country.
He adds: -''The quotations of the Stock Board
are known to be frequently fictions of specu-
lation, and yet these fctions control the busi-
ness and commerce of great country" He
calls the attention of Congress to this matter,
and asks if law cannot be enacted to restrain
such an evil
In order to show what we have repeatedly
said in our columns, that there was nothing
in the industrial condition of the country to
cause panic, and that it sprang entirely
from fictitious causes connected with unsub-
stantial speculations and stock gambling, the
Comptroller notices the marketable products
of industry of 1873 over those of 1868, as
based upon the cansus returns. In 1868 they
amounted to s4,O36, 900, 900. In 1873 the
amount was 81, 78s 100000 greater. When
the panic came, he remarks, there were, in
almost every direction, evidences Of pros
perity. Yet the railroad spectators and
stock gamblers, in connection with the banks.
brought upon the country the trouble we are
passing through.
The amount of currency outstanding on
the LIST of November was $3.50, 161, ,239. OF
this there were national bank notes,
$3.50, 332, 1884; legal tenders, $500, 952, ,206 and
fractional currency, s47, ,S76, 149, which was in
excess of that fortnight previous little less
than So, 900, 000 The Treasury and the banks
held $12S, 140,727 Then large allowance
must be made for the currency held by
savings banks trust companies and private
bankers The currency actually afoat and in
the pockets of private individuals could
scarcely have exceeded $500, 10000 Con-
sidering the active enterprise and vast amount
of trade in this country this volume of circu-
lating medium can hardly be more than is
required. The Comptroller makes some useful
suggestions with regard to bank deposits,
savings banks and other matters, and on the
whole the report contains much valuable in
formation and is creditable document