The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-09-03
The Congregational Elections.

the results which may be fairly expected
After the impassioned debates On the currency
question during the last session and the arrest
of wild legislation by the Presidents constitu-
tional negative. it might have been expected
! that the controversy would be transferred to
the people and made the dominating issue in
the Congressional elections. But, In point OF
fact it will hardly influence the elections at
all, and the actual contest will be mere con-
tinuance OF the everlasting warfare between
! the outs and the ms. Nor is it indeed of any
/ consequence that the great Issue which 30
deeply agitated Congress will be practically
! ignored in the choice of its successor. The
country has complete security against the
passage of imitation laws by the next Congress
in the fact that President Grant will remain in
office until its term expires, and stands ready
to protect the country with unfiinching vetoes.
Unless the inhationists should elect two-thirds
of the next House they will be utterly power
less, and that is a danger which nobody fears.
With this solid ground of confidence the
people cannot be brought to feel any great
interest in the currency question practical
term Public opinion is not yet ripe for
vigorous policy of contraction. and Is not
likely to be during the ensuing two years.
The imitation tide reached high water mark
with the passage Of the bill which President
Grant vetoed. 1t has been quietly but
steadily ebbing ever since. and will con-
tinue to recede by the operation of causes
which have but slight connection with party
! politics. The imitation craze of last winter
was the consequence of the then recent panic
which turned the heads of a large portion of
the business community The clamor for
more currency which besieged the President
in the height of the panic and moved him to
put into circulation portion OF the reserved
| greenbacks was interpreted by politicians
as expressing permanent public want and
they were eager to mount the supposed popu-
lar hobby But the fever heat of the panic
was certain to cool down with the lapse
of time, and the crisis of that de-
fusion passed with the SOLDERING veto
of the President. which disappointed the
hopes and broke the courage of the initiation
leaders. The experience of this autumn will
demonstrate to everybodys satisfaction that
there is abundant currency for moving the
crops and conducting all the great operations
of commerce, and when this demonstration is
once given there will be total collapse of the
in hation excitement. We have the prospect
of an active but not extravaganza fall business,
with diminished scale of prices, requiring
less money to transact it than was needed In
previous years. and exempt from the sharp
competition for money created by wild specu-
lative enterprises like the Northern Pacific
Railroad and SO many others that exploded
with the panic. When the country finds that
it has money enough for the transaction of all
legitimate business imitation will die quiet,
natural death. That folly will be cured by
the spontaneous good sense of the people.
without the aid Of politicians, and the cur
rency question will have no perceptible infu-
ence on the Congressional elections of the
present year.
1t is in one respect fortunate that both
political parties are so hopelessly divided on
this great subject. The fact that both repub-
licans and democrats have a large infa-
ton wing makes it impossible for either
to gain any party advantage by agitating this
question, so that the education of the public
mind will not be impeded by the binding
effect OF party spirit The ablest public jour
nails of both parties, in the West as well as the
East, are champions of sound ideas, and
truth is certain to prevail when sound doc
trines have numerous and powerful advocates
irrespective of party lines But inasmuch as
no party capital is to be made out Of the cur
rency question, and as the country has COM
plete security against imitation in the firm at
titude OF the President it cannot be made an
issue in the approaching Congressional cleo
tons, and no spasmodc efforts to make it a
party issue will have any success.
The only sense IN which these elections are
important is their bearing on the next Presi-
dental canvass The democrats have every
advantage tor an effective appea! to the peo-
pie which they are likely to have two years
hence. Many of their most damaging topics
of invective will have grown stale before
1876. If these topics do not arouse the people
now while they are fresh they will never pro-
duce any effect. AS the Presidential election
draws near both the administration and
Congress will grow cautious They are
not likely to repeat any such
hazardous experiments they ventured
upon in the flush of their last victory, like
the salary grab and the Louisiana outrage
There is little chance of a new crop of expo
sures like those which resulted from the Credit
Mobiler investigation, running Vice President
Colfax and sending other prominent repubi-
cans to Coventry. Such grounds of inculpa-
ton are fresher now than they will ever be
again, and if the democrats cannot give their
party great lift by means of them in the
election of the next Congress it is a vain ex-
pectation to suppose that they can gather up