The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-02-27

Indifferent to the paralysis of trade copse-
quent upon the uncertainty of the financial
future, the Senate has lengtsened the ruinous
delay by postponing further consideration OF
the Currency bill till Tuesday. 1t needs
scarcely to be said that on the subject of finance
the country is far ahead of its lawmakers
There is no question upon which the ripper
public opinion of the country has been more
emphatic in its expression than the proposition
to initiate the currency The issue Is drawn
in clear lines. Upon one side we note the
demagogues who live on party cries and by
appeals to the prejudices of particular sec
tons. Upon the other we observe our
thoughtful men, who have the true, catholic
American spirit who know that legislation
cannot really benefit one section of the coun-
try at the expense of another. On one side
we have wisdom, on the other folly. It is
painful to find man with mind as clear
and vigorous as that of Senator Morton
directing the councils of folly. But we cam
not help it, we are afraid. Senator Morton is
not the first Of his class We have had
men of the same kind in other times as we
ancestor of this Senator who wished to send
Calico to the rack for affirming that the sun
moved, and that the earth revolved in ODE
dience to imnlutable and eternal laws, and not
as it pleased the Pope. And yet the laws
which Calico knew are no more immutable
than the laws which control finance. For
centuries the world has been gradually,
steadily, inevitably developing these laws,
every century adding to their wisdom and
truth Already they form science as COM
plete as the science of language or jurispru-
dence or mathematics or astronomy. The
general opinion of educated men acknowledges
them, or rather did acknowledge them until
the advent of Mr.. Senator Morton.
If this were at all an amusing subject we
should consider nothing more entertaining
than the philosophy of this Senator. He be-
gins by assigning America an Independent
existence. She is a universe by herself. The
rain, the sun, the stars and the sea- all the
operations of nature, are suspended in her
behalf. Of course the centuries have gathered
wisdom, and Senator Morton graciously con-
cedes that in jurisprudence, in literature, in
the arts and sciences, in every department of
human thought and endeavor, there are
some things which America may accept but
generally speaking, this easy, fippant Senator
would have the world know that we are a
soaring eagle in the clouds; that we are q
young lion in the woods; that we are fresh,
original people; that our political economy
comes from the Rocky Mountain breezes,
and not from the musty and forgotten records
of Venice and Genoa. Consequently, what
would be ruinous TO decrepit nations like
France and England and Germany, what
would be rejected with contempt by
the fnanciers of the Old World as
somewhat akin to reputation, this
original and careering Senator pronouncos
to be the panacea for our sufferings.
He may be told that the laws of finance are
as plain as the proposition in arithmetic that
two and two make four In effect he
responds that in many of the old countries
of Europe there were doctrines not suited to
ours" and that one of these doctrines is that
two and two make four. But we are "rapidly
growing and developing country" and there is
no reason why two and two should not make
6ve or six, or eleven, if the people so demand
and majority of Congress can be induced so
to vote. We freely admit that there is moth
ing in the constitution to prevent the Senate
from voting Mr.. Morton's doctrine that two
and two are eleven. The disadvantage is that,
no matter how large the majority so declaring,
it would not be eleven after all, it would only
be four.
Now, this simple illustration to our mind
expresses the whole debate. Whatever action
Congress may take on the currency question
it must ultimately obey the laws that govern
finance and trade. We may fancy that we
have accomplished certain results that we
have added to our money facilities that we
have given the West new prosperity-that,
in brief two and two have really become
eleven. But the inexorable law will come to
us sooner or later. We are suffering from the
necessary evils of the war; aggravated by the
astonishing expedients of men like Thaddeus
Stevens, who insisted upon passing laws
determining the price OF gold. From Thad-
deus Stevens to Senator Morton we have had !
statesman after statesman, with their absurd |
contrivances for financial relief. The result |
is that our whole financial system has drifted |
into the management of gamblers and specula-
tors. The Treasury has been simply fancy
stock on Wall street, and all the operations of
trade, commerce and finance have been at the
mercy, time and again, of the first knot of reck-
less Adventures who had money enough to
advance margin upon few millions in gold.
Black Friday and the panic are the natural
consequences of this policy, and they we're as
inevitable as that Waterloo followed the in
vasion of Russia and the surrender of Lee the
fall of Richmond We suffer because we
have sinned ; and, instead of seeking COM
fort by reformation, we are urged to sin more
and more. We have believed that "the ma
tional debt is a national blessing" and find