, 1873-10-23
BOUTWELL, ON PANIC8.

clo pag1nent6t onco INTRODUCED O resolution into
Parliament declaring that "tho notes of tile
| Bank of England aro now and always hayo been
Of oqual value with tho coin Of tho roalm" Not
withdrawing Parliament 6as stupid enough to
adopt his resolution, k.r. vansittart has ovor
alnco boon tho 1aughing-stock Of fnanclors and
statesmen at homo md abroad. Tho extracts
with which We havo boon favored from
Mr. Doutwolps lecture on tsFinanco, "
delivered In Now York Tuesday evening,
Indicate that 10 regards groonbaoks In tho gamo
light that Mr. Vansittart regarded tho dopro-
clased notes Of the Bank Of England. This is
what he must havo meant when ho doolarod
that there is no noed of resuming specie my
meutH, but only ito oqualizo the commercial
value Of tho paper currency Of tho country with
coiu." II this is to DO done in any other way
than By resumiug specie payments, no presume
1t must bo in imitation Of tho VnnBttart policy,
BY 4 resolution Of Oongross! The people who
should, after this, rofuso to sell thoir
property for gold and groonbaclB on
tho ssmo terra would suffer tho witho1ing
penalty Of Afr. Boutwells Indignation. Ho is
willing to concode something, however, to tho
insenaato domandof Romo folks TINT money slall
have fixed value; and 80 hoaays that tho Govern.
mont may somo day rosunc, but that 1t is entiro-
ly impractfcablc for tho banks to do 80. That is
to say, II tho banks redoom tholr notes in legal
tender, as thoy are now required to do, aud Coy
ornmons rcdccms tho 1oga1-tender notes with
coin, 1T would bo impractieablo for the banks to
resume specie paymental In other words,
tlore is somo mysterious and mctaphysi-
cal obataclo which will prevent tlo banks
from sending tho 1cgal topdor. which thoy
hold for. tho redemption Of their owp
notes. to tho Treasury Department at Washing
ton to got coin for thom, as it becomes necessary
Those arc tho words Of wisdom which h1r. Bout
well, tho ex-socretary Of tho Treasury throws out
to the country to aot tho public mind right on
tho subject Of tho National finances aud tho
recent panic.
Mr. Boutwell, thinks that 1t is neyor possible to
say whether the currency ia inflated or not. It
iB, as Dundreary Gays, "ono Of those things
that no fellow can be expected to understand"
His own opinion is, that thore is not enough cur-
ronoy, md he advisea that the Government
printing-machino bo Immediately sot to work to
turn out moro greenbacks. This is precisely tho
sane thing us IT County Poor-Agont, finding
the supply Of soup running short, should issue
moro soup~tickets to tho paupers. Greoubacks
arc Of precisely Of tho same character as SOUP
tickets or milk-tichetH, with the difference that
they arc taken in exchange for greater variety
OF commodities, There arc just as many Of
those Government soup-tickots in tho country as
there eboforeJay Cookies failure, but, as thore
ia not 30 much soup aB waH gonora1Iy supposed,
Mr. Boutwell, thinks TINT tho wloIo thing can
DO romcdied by printing moro tickots. uo docs
not dream TINT tho tickets themselves will over
depraciate. He can fix that by joint resolution.
II, as Mr. Boutwell, says, tho amount Of curroncy
needed by tho country is mnttor Of uncertain
ty, then experiment is tho way to dotor-
mino it. Mr. Boutwolls plan would DO
to flood tho country with greenbaoks, and,
after this Ind boon done, tlore would be no bot
tor meanB for deciding tho question than thoro
is now. II groenbacks wero rcdcemablo in gold.
q Huporabundanco would soon relieve itaelf by
Bonding greonbac4s into tho Treasury for re-
demption. II groonbachs arc not uow plouty
enough, as b1r. Boutwell, beleves thon thoro ia
no possible danger in resumption for tho Gov
ornment would not be called upon to rodeom
single one of thom.
h1r. Boutwell, makes u historical mEtaho In his
effort to explain why tho Trench loan sold at O.
higher rato than our bonds placed upon tho mar
ket about the eamo time. Ho says that the
Trench pcr cent bonds were placod in tho hands
OF banke1s at 50 or 81 cents and sold for 81 or
IS cents, whilo our bonds wore sold at par. Tho
fact Ia TINT all Trench loans aro offered directly
from tho French Treasury, and brokers have
nothing to do with them.
It is not surprising TINT hlr. Boutwell,, rho has
openly expressed Ills conviction that there Ia
no such thing na o scioncoof political economy"
should bogglo over tho "balanco Of trade"
which, ho snys, "haa beon largely against usfor
many yoarH" That is, If wo export to England
81 600 worth OF whoat, aud tits exchanged thoro
for 81, 200 worth Of woolon goods, mud is 40 on
torod OIL tho import returns ut tho Custo,u-
House, tho balance Of trade ls against us. Tho
fact Of tho mattoria, TINT wo have atlo s200prott
OIL the tsado. 1n this respect, tho =" BALANCE Of
trado" has always boon largely againnt England,
and this In precisely why England llaa boon
getting rich out Of Aer trado. As tho |
balance Of trado is QUO Of 1lr. Doutgoll'a
principal cstlaoa Of tho panic, aud in
'latlon OF tho currency III lila remedy.
1t III il!o 10 lincnns tl,o matter with him. Tho
fact that n'an who utlors aucl yia,ys ~ tl,eso
VIM for Hoyoral yoarn, and mp to very short
tino Hnco, Hocrotasy Of tho Unitetl Rtatos Troas-
ary, would. IN lilo abAonco of othor causes, bo
almoHt enough IN ituolf to account for a pauIc,
IT aTl'oara That all lilo Hl,al,'H tronLlos sIuco
no han rcturno'l to 1ehnra. have boon occasiou-
Dd by thu rnfraotory wlyoH whom llo aont baok to |
hta capItal wIaom llo llad ronul,od st, potors.
burgh. Tl"y l'nvo buon taAiug Awoot royouge
jill tho dru.d YIzIor, whom tlloy frst in