New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-10-03
NOT NOW,
80 good.

NOT NOh.
A fnancier, of authority which we Will not
question, writes THE TRIBUNE concerning our
desire that the President should CAL an extra
session of Congress for the sole purpose OF
taking immediate steps for the resumption oil
specie payments. He says;
"Witb the essential views advanced in your article
can have no quarrel There Is doubt tha we o"Hn'
TO specie payments no doubt tnat the present
currency is bad that panics like the as ana WORSE o
sure TO come till we get back to hardpan In fact l
agree with YOU in the main in your views as 10 specie
payments But first this il not the time for IT, because OF
the general distress growing out OF the panic because OF
the scarcity of gold and the country Is IN no
wise prepared for 1t. And, secondly even 'niS "cro
the time the Government IS not heading mat way
Our friend is doubtless right. This is not
the time for it. Neither will the time ever
come. in the estimation of those who think
this is not it. In word, the people who
write as our friend does are merely repeating
the old story of the candidate III Maine, who
was in favor of the Maine Law but against
its enforcement. They firmly believe In tho
duty of resuming specie payments, but they
are always opposed to the actual resumption
1t is quite true that the Government has not
so much gold as is needed. 1t 1t had not
been so anxious to beat down the price OF
gold thus contributing one of the prime
causes of the panic, and certainly adding one
of its gravest attendant results In the Mn
derance to expOrts) we should have had less
difficulty on that score. But, on the other
hand, we have just such a condition OF things
as political economists have always declared
necessary for a resumption. We have crops
of UNPRECEDENTED abundance for export, and
demand for them in Europe of magnitude
rarely surpassed. We have prices down al
most to a specie standard; we have had the
crash, the suffering, the loss. Now why not
get the possible gain that should follow these
1t is sadly true that the Government is not
heading in the direction of specie payments.
When the President withstood so splendidly
the wild demands made upon him by panic
stricken spectators III this city only week
ago, we had high hopes that the panic might
be utilized. Now, we greatly fear that we
shall have to go through it all again. We
reckon an initiation of our active currency
within the last week of at least S5O,OOO,OOO, a
large part of which must ultimately be made
I'D out of the $44OOO,OO0 reserve. With this
unchanged, we shall soon again see stocks
mounting skyward and the pernicous specu-
lation of the day once more under full head
way. We have had terrible shrinkage in
values, great financial distress, tho wide
spread results of which have not yet
been reckOned or even reported. the
collapse of many fortunes and an almost
fatal check to some great enterprises.
We have been very anxious that in return
for all this the country should be able to
show something. Some time most probably
through just such distress and disasters, we
shall cut down prices so as to attain to specie
payments but this time it may well be feared
that that flower of safety is not to be plucked
from this nettle danger We grfeve to admit
thai our friend seems right iii insisting that the
Government is not heading that way. Would
that public sentiment, guided and invigorated
by fearless press. might induce it to change
its cOuTSc