The daily gazette., 1874-12-22
For he Gazette. =
National Finances.


--s'
MR. EDITOR. Rifle correct view. of
our National financial difficulty, be.
lieve to be this t'..e7
Durihg the war, the government
contracted debt, Of in round NUN
bers, two thousand millions of dollars
every dollar of which has already been
paid in paper. Part of this Is In ths
form of notes, which hear no Interest,
and these are called greenbacks. Thn
balance is in the form of interes.
bearing'notes which are miscaled
bonds. The only bond the govern.
mcnt can give is It's word, and that "
equally good for both kind of notes.
The fact of the bond bearing interest
adds nothing to its security@, buts it
renders it liable TO be boarded away
and not imploycd in productive indus.
Try. And this Is one great sonfce~of
our present troubles.
There are probably thousand mil
lion OF dollars in.the form Of these In
terest-bcarlng notes called bonds, ly-
ing idle. and unmprodlctiye, while
their holders are simply living on fheir
interest. Now this has the same effect
ON the business community, as the
boarding of gold and silver would
have, ii our currency consisted OF
hose metals. Not only is money rqn-
dered scarce by this process, but the
rate of interest is kept too high. The
only sure test of The abundance, or
scarcity of money is the rate of inter
est, the price paid for the use OF mon.
ey. If this is too high, money. cannot
be borrowed and employed success
fully In ordinary pursuits, and 40 the
"whcelS of industry" are checked
This is the case at the present time:
Now what is the remedy for thiss
Why ny cutting off the interest OF
these notes called bonds. f.
This will force them into active
business circulation, make ,noney
plenty and bring down the rate of in
teresi.
How can this he done
By paying off all bonds in 'gra.n-
backs, which are not pledged to be
paid in gold, andsby constantly buy
| ing IN the market, all that are offered
| for sale
This o4 coursc'would be Il gradual
pBecess, but it Is the only relief.
This wenld not be expanding The
currency onedlolfar, hut simply sub-
stitu'inS one kind Of paper for r'ahoti.-
er. Ia
The only way the government eau
expand the currency, is by printing
paper, and issuing IL in paymeat. OF
current expenses this would be sd.
ding TO the volume, whereas substi1n-
ting notes that bear no interest. for
those that bear interest, does not add
to The volume.
These notes represent money boz
rowedby the government, from The
lpeoplc.
Now suppose that the government
should be able to pay those notes in
gold tomorrow: that is to substitute
gold dollars for paper dollars; We
should then have currency of two
thousand millions of gold dollars,
whichNhows that this Is the real volume
OF currency, that of right belongs 10
the nation. But ii this :could he
done, the gold would soon erase to be
the Circulating medium. e
n would be hid away in vaults, and
oe made the basis of paper curren
cy; which shows further, that paper
money is hest adapted To the wants OF
this age and generation ;.
| "'uhi S.l, Ill tIlis SOnneC4 lOlf IL al
II our paper money il 10 he. issued by
the government, that specie payment.
Is Il matter of convenience; and NOT 4
necessity of security: For suppose
that the government had sufficient
lgold NJ Washington, to Justify the
payment of specie on demand, aud
snppose.tlat fleet OF foreign. irou
clads should sail up the Potomac and
carry of the gold, would the rapel
be therefore worthlessg BY no means
the government would still he held
responsible. But if yon want o pa
lper currency based entirely on speEie,
the government must be disconnected
from 1t altogether and resort be had to
chartered Institutions.
The effect of the National Banks is
to release portion OF the bonds from
the boarding process but they d.
not relieve us OF the interest on then.
We want to stop the boarding and stop
. the interest also.
The paying OF interest On ouI cur
Irency is one great source of the pres
ent embarrassment, and the less in
terest there ia to be met, by taxation,
the sooner will the government. be
able to exchange gold Tor its notes Oh
demand. w. F. QUINBY
|