The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1874-12-18
THE MISSISSIPPI.
NATIONAL FINANCES.
Annual Report of the Secretary of tn
Treasury.

81. 1913, TO nave De6n C4O0 900, OOS 81 ana
1902, 1856 S73,7 6s respectively, leaving balance
in the treasury Of $3.50, 731 ,694.6 g. at the date
named. and that the net revenues were $685.
ATS. 756.06, while the ordinary expenses were
S2S7, 133. 873.76, leaving surplus revenue Of
g, 344, S82 so, the secretary says
''For the current fiscal year, judging from
the actual receipts and expenditures for the
first quarter and from the estimates of the
sams for the remaining three-quarters, the
estimates being based on the assumption that
congress will not increase the expenditures by
deficiency or other appropriations, it is ex-
pected that the revenues will amount to 1924, =
9I8, 258 90. and that the ordinary expenses will
be 1915, 315, 4S9. 2 ; which will leave surplus
revenue Of SO, 002, 1861 to be applied to the
sinking fund
The sum of s81, O96, 545 will be required
under the law for this fund, and, therefore,
unless the revenues shall increase beyond the
amount anticipated there will be deficiency
in the sinking fund account for this year Of
$22, O93, 748.4 49,"
It is estimated that the receipts for the ifs
cal year, ending June 80, 1876, will be $685.
000, 600, and the ordinary expenditures. $272,-
600, On this point the secretary remarks ::
- Should these estimates of the revenues and
expenditures prove to be approximately cor
rect, there will be surplus OF revenue OF
about $50, 800, GOO. The amount necessary for
the sinking fund IS not included in the above
estimates OF expenditures, and to provide for
it the sum Of $50, 40 GA VIII be required.
The surplus revenues which can be applied to
this fund GO. 800 OOO) will be insufficient to the
extent of 81, 900, 914, and there viii therefore
be a deficiency of that amount.
During the past fiscal year, the public debt
has been reduced IS, 762, 447.65.
The secretary here gives history OF the ne
gOtiatiOns by which S55, 000 600 of the public
debt was refunded at 5 per cent.
RESUMPTION OF SPECIE PAYMENT.
This, the most important topic touched upon
in the report, is deliberately and ably treated.
The secretary says:
To attempt the enumeration of the com
picated mischiefs which flow from al unstable
or inconvertible currency would carry this re-
port to ineXcusable length, and, after al,
would be but a repetition of what has been
often said. No nation can long neglect the
wholesome maXims, founded upon universal
experience that uphold public credit without
suffering financial disturbances and bringing
serious consequences upon its people. It viii
not be denied that the existing issue of legal
tender notes, as a circulating medium, would
never have been made except in the great
emergency of g war involving ne less an issue
than the preservation of the nation. Whether
the argument in support of the validity of the
legal-tender acts be rested upon the war pow
ers conferred OF the government by the con-
stitutiOn or on other provisions Of that instru-
ment, it is clear that congress could not have
been induced to pass such acts under any other
circumstances than IN a time of the most
pressing and urgent need, such as a state of
war only produces. The most earnest defend
ers of the power to issue government obliga-
tons and make them by law legal-tender for
all debts public and private, would scarcely be
found to advocate the exercise of the power
except under circumstances of extreme nece5-
sity, and then only for the time of the emer-
gency; and there is abundant evidence in the
debates and proceedings of congress, and in
the statutes themselves, that it was not in
tended to make the legal-tender notes the
permanent currency Of the country. The acts
authorizing the issue Of such notes provided
A1,rTv. Of
States bearing interest ct the rate Of six per
centum per annum.
The act of March Is, 1859, in terms de-
clares that the faith of the United States is
sOlemnly pledged to the payment in coin or its
equivalent of all obligations of the United
States not bearing interest. known as United
States notes. The same act further affirIns
that the United States sOlemnly pledges its
faith to make provision at the earliest practi-
cable period for the redemption of the United
States notes in coin
- The purpose of the act is well expressed
in its title, which declares it to be An act to
strengthen the public credit and that such
was the effect of the act cannot be doubted,
for it is an unconditional assurance on the
part of the government, not only that its notes
shall be paid in coin, but that this shall be
done at the earliest practicable period. The
faith of the government could not be more
clearly or absolutely pledged than Is done by
this act of congress, to say nothing of previous
legislation.
'''lhe length OF time LlaL mas now elapsed
since the final overthrow of the rebellion, as
well as proper regard for the faith of the ma
ton, admOnish rs that iniiatOry steps towards
the redemption OF its pledges ought not TO be
longer postponed. 1t is not unworthy Of re-
mark that the era of the war viii not be closed
until the period OF redemption shall have been
reached.
" In a country like ours, with varied indus
tries and extensive commercial relations
among its different sections and with other ma
tons and peoples, stability of the circulating
medium Is indispensable to the general pros
perity. Credit, which necessarily enters
largely into commercial transactions, can only
be steady and secure when it has for its
foundation stable currency. The quality Of
stability IN money attaches only to coin, which,
by common consent of mankind, is the me-
dunn Of exchange, and to a paper curren "
representative of coin, because convert lble
into it at the viii of the holder. The reason
is obvious; for coin, besides being recognized
throughout the the world as q medium of eX-
change, has a high intrinsic value, can be
procured only by labor and in limited qUanti-
ties which cannot be increased by statuatory
laws, nor suddenly by other means, while in
convertible paper money may be produced in
indefinite quantities at a nominal cost a note
of the highest denomination costing no more
than the lowest, and its volume depending
solely on legislative enactment.
8 A dollar legal-tender note, such as is now
in circulation, Is neither more nor less than
the promise of the government to pay dollar
10 Tic DGdIGI, Wllll6 NJ express DEONl6lOn De
made by law for paying the dollar at any time
whatever; nor is there any existing provision
for converting it into anything that stands in
tangible ratio to coin dollar. As far as
existing laws go, there is no reason why the
legal-tender note OF the denomination Of a
dollar should pass for one cent of gold, except
SO faI as the government compels creditors to
accept 1t In discharge of obligations to pay
money, and obliges the wealth and commerce
OF the country to adopt it as a medium of eX-
change. To this may be added, as an element
of the value Of the legal-tender dollar, the
hope that the government will sometime or
other redeem Its paper promises according to
their import. The universal use OF, and re-
lance upon, such q currency tends to blunt
the moral sense and repair the natural self
dependence Of the people, and trains them to
the belief that the government must directly
assist their individual fortunes and business,
help them in their personal affairs, and enable
them to discharge their debts by partial pay
ment. This inconvertible paper currency be-
gets the delusion that the remedy for private
pecunlary distress Is IN legislative measures,
and makes the people unmindful Of the fact
that the true remedy is in greater production
and less spending, and that real prosperity
comes only from Individual effort and thrift.
When exchanges are again made In coin, or in
q currency convertible into it at the viii of the
holder, this truth vii be understood and acted
upon.
1T is obvious that there can be no resump-
ton by the government so long as the volume
of paper currency Is largely in excess of the
possible amount of coin available for that pur-
pose which may come into the treasury in snv
year, and while no provision is made for the
conversion of this paper money into anything
having nearer relation to coin; nor is it DOS
sIoie for the banks or people to resume so
long as the large smOunt Of irredeemable pa
per now IN circulation continues to be by law a
legal-tendeT for all private debts with refer
ence both to the past and the future While
this state Of things lasts gold VIII continue to
flow from us, and find employment where the
ing legislation make its daily use indispensa-
BILE.
The secretary, therefore, recommends con-
gress to provide by law that after an early aud
fixed day United States notes shaII cease to be