The New York herald., 1874-08-31
A Very Strong Argument in Favor
of Specie Payments.
FINANCIAL LEGISLATION.
Congress Should Fix Period for
Calling in Legal Tenders.
The Secretary Of the Treasury Should
Retire $50, 900, 900 Annually.
The following letter, recently received by gentle
men in Cincinnati, Is now published for the first


men in CINCINNATI, Is now published for the first
time:-
PLAINFIELD n. j., August H. 1874.
GENTLEMEN-Your kind letter OF the 25th ult was
forwarded To me IRON Fort Wayne after mad lett.
regret that other engagements prevent me from
accepting your nattering invitation to meet my
fellow citizens OF CINCINNATI, with many OF whom I
was formerly connected oy business ana social
and what you term 'perplexlng" SUBJECTS OF
finance and taxation.
lam IN no sense teacher My opinions upon
these subjects are valuable only as the views or
one who has given to them some thought, and
who has been Influenced IN his conclusions neither
by personal nor political (party) considerations.
AS however, you desire an EXPRESSION OF them,
and as now hnd this cannot be given rtUd vOce,
do not hesitate to express them IN this manner.
1t Will be sufhcient iOr my purpose to consider
that you especially refer by "hnancen to the cur
this is but a limited view OF the terms From
want OF time shall only be able to express the
to give the facts or arguments on which they
are BASED.
THE CURRENCY.
MY opinions on the subject OF the currency are
well known by those who took the trouble TO read
my Fort Wayne speech, and my reports as Secre-
tary OF the Treasury from 1895 TO 1862 The opin
ions l then expressed, IN language as strong and
unequlvocal as l could command, have neither
been changed nor modified. On the contrary they
have been confirmed and strengthened by further
observation and reflection. | thought 1t TO be the
duty OF congress. considering the subject in its
moral as well as its financial bearings. TO adopt
decisive and effective measures TO bring about
specie payments and that the time for the adop-
ton OF these measures Was at the close OF the war.
did not think that 'tha way to prepare to resume
specie payment was TO resume,' but did think 1t
country that the restoration OF tne specie standard
should be tie end and ain OF all legislation bear
ing upon the subject OF the currency. My convic-
tiOn was clear and decided that this could only be
enected-wlthln any reasonable time, and before
suc1 financial disaster as has recently occurred
would overwnelm the couniry-by retiring so
much OF the paper currency IN circulation as would
Ss a s 10 g soua 5s 1s to
the occurrence OF the apprehended disaster to the
business oil the country and without affecting in
the least the real value OF property; tnat by cur
tallment ol the amount OF inconvertble notes N
circulation the purchasing or measuring power OF
The remainder would be proportionaJely increased,
and that consequently the amount OF real money
In circulation would not be thereby dIminished
that the measuring property by iaise standard
dard reduce 1t. There was, IJ seemed to me-
but one class in the community, the debtor class,
VINO could be benefited oy appreciated currency,
and was ANXIOUS that decided action Tor rellev-
ing the country Oh such currency should De
taken Immediately alter the close or the war,
when individual Indebtedness was less than 1t had
been Tor many years. 1t seemed to me, also, that
the injury 10 this Class from reduction, and con-
Sequent Improvement, OF the currency would be
altogether less tlan was feared by them; that
what honest and energetic debtors needed was
not legislation 10 enable them to pay their debts
in deprecated currency, but legislation that
tive enterprise. aud staolty to business; that as.
In TACT, one debt Is, in the course OF trade,
usually paid by the creation OF another, and the
general Indebtedness OF the people Is not Ordin-
arlly, from year To year, materially reduced, the
debtor class itself was IN no serious danger OF
being injured by the elevation or the standard oil
values ana that II debtors were to be injured by
II, the injury would be small In comparison with
that which had been inflicted upon the creditors
through the legal tender acts, which compelled
them to receive. in satisfaction OF existing con-
tracts, a currency OF lar less value than that
which was the only lawful money at the time they
were made, ana who generally bore their losses
w9S 9S as its esqursa wa
gigantic rebellion. Al that time, In
language which MADE up by explcitness what It
MI QV hay
danger and the immoral influences OF an incon-
vertiDle and deprecated currency. BY every ar
gument 4 could make, and every Illustration l
could bring to bear upon the subject, endeavored
to prove in each Of my reports tnat deprecated
currency was and never could be anything else
than, positive unmistaSabe injury to the people.
morally and financially that Ia regard to sucn
nmcv tnat bv wIaa isois
latiOn We should move toward specie payments, or
S sopg I & ~ nnon or
breakers before We were conscious OF immediate
danger.
In my earliest utteraDces upon the financial
question, IN a free talk with my Fort Wayne friends,
Remarked "that while | regarded an exclusive
metallic currency, among an enterprislng and com.
mercia people, an lmpracticabie thing, regarded
an irredeemable paper currency as an evil,
which extreme circumstances ior season might
render q necessity, but when should never be sus-
tanned as pocy; that the legal tender notes were
issued as war measure and, as the war mad been
brought 10 a successful termination measures
should be faSen for retiring these notes altogether
or bringing nem up To the specie standard tnat
i
deprecated PAPER money, and that ! saw
no saie path TO tread but that which
led to specie payments: that the extremely
high prices prevailing in the United States were
an unerrag indication tnat we were measuring
properly by lalse standard; that the United
States were becoming the best country In the
world for foreigners 10 sell in, and the worst to
buy in; that the longer Inlation continued the
more difficult would 1t be TO get 1t back to the
solid ground OF specie payments; that II Congress
should early IN the approaching session QS65-6),
authorize the funding OF the legal tender notes,
and the WORK OF reduction should be commenced
and carried on resoutely, bat carefully and pru-
dently we should reach the solid ground without
serious embarrassment TO legitimate business If
not, we might have brief period OF hollow and
pp0spefy resulsng IN Widespread
ments then and SUCH are they now.
The tfutn is. gentlemen, and the reiteraton OF
1t ought not TO be necessary, gold and silver are
the only standards OF value, and as long as we are
part Of the great family OF nations and a
standard without being greatly the loser by It, A
sound currency s the very
LIFE BLOOD OF COMMERCIAL PEOPLE.
None but banKrup: nations, with the exception
OF the United states, Keep in circulation an ire
their cases tends to produce and perpetuate
the poverty 1t indicates. TO the United States
such currency % ,s utterly disreputaole, since
. nation rich as ours so granG in its resources,
30 vast in its productions, a nation which has
challenged the admiration OF the civilized world
by the rapid reduction OF it's public deDt, COM
mencing that reduction at the close OF a war the
and actually reducing its Indebtedness at the rate
of nearly a $1O0000 600 year. that such nation
should ior 50 long period. maintain deprecated
circulating medium, made lawful money by
statute, 49, to intelligent foreigners, an mex
piicable mystery. The specie standard ought to
have been restored before now. and believe 1t
would have been II that great power IN the
land, the press, mad given the doctrines enunci.
ated from the Treasury Department from 1866
to 1869 the hearty Endorsement IL has given to
similar doctrines when proclaimed by the President
In 1874.
II the financial trouble that has come upon rs
and the consequent prostration OF the business in
nearly all branches OF trade, Notwithstanding the
pIentifulness OF currency, shall tend TO correct
the public sentiment in regard to the nature and
entirely without compensation. IL required the
sacrifice OF q great war TO uproot slavery perhaps
It required the experience OF great financial dis
asser to teach the people the danger Of dscarding
the true OF value, and substituting there
for the uncertain, nuctuatlng standard OF Irre-
deemAbe legal tender notes. IL Will be lamentable,
indeed, II, instead or having pronted BY expe-