New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-06-06

notes ran he maid now all at once, that 1t w0uld
be safe 10 fix future day on which they shall be
PAYABLE at sight But everybody knows that they
can be paid gradually, by regular instalments, with
out once exhaustng the Treasury without oppress-
ing any interest of honest men. To show what l
mean let me suppose an act Of Congress providing
that on the 1s of July next, and on the LIST OF every
month thereafter, ten millions of the greenback
money then in the Treasury shall be destroyed
and that in their place there shall be Issued notes 10
the same amount in the same denominations, ana
having the quality of legal tender" but pay
able two years after date providing also that after
the end of this year, 1874 the substitution Oh such
pOs-notes for the indefinite greenbacks shall DE at
an increased rate, say fifteen millions monthly OF
twenty, till the S4OO!OOO,OOO shall have been cam
celed. Such a process would be neither contraction
nor expansion but it would be unequivoca proof of
purpose on the part of the Government to deal
fairly and honestly with every public creditor, and
if the first payment of actual units of value" from
the Treasury in exchange for its long dishOnored
promises to pay them should take place the 4th OF
july 1876 it would honor the Centennial anniversary
of our national independence, which, but for Presl
dent Grants veto of the late currency BILL we might
have been ashamed TO celebrate.
2. If the Government will honestly pay IT'S own
notes, its duty of requiring the banks of its own
creation to pay theirs will not be difficult. As for
free banking believe that every honest business
ought to be Free the sense OF being open 10 uni
versal competition and that dishonesty III whatever
business ought to be suppressed and punished. III
company of capitalists permitted to incorpo-
rate themselves and to set up bank of circulation
on complying with certain conditions why should
not any other company be permitted to do the same
thing on complying with the same conditionsf But
whatever the Government may do by way OF regu-
latng restricting the banks which 1t has created,
let it not attempt to abrogate those governing
laws which are beyond its control and which they
do not understand. The "Obvious and palpable'
truth about banknotes is that they are not money,
and that they worth just as much money as they
can be exchanged for on demand. The obvious
and palpable' duty of Government in regard to
banking-as in regard to baking or shoemaklng-ls
not to guard the business against the pers OF CON-
petition but to guard the public against the evils OF
monopoly and to punish dishonesty. Let bankers
understand that if they notes which they can
not pay those notes will surely and speedily come
back to them and their affairs will be wound up.
Let them understand that their business Is open to
universal competition, and is therefore under the
control of governing awsr which, if too subtitle
for scrutiny are also too memorable to be despsed or
disregarded and they Will find out that " free bank
ing has its own securities and limitations. The one
duty of the Government in regard to its banks is to
take care that they deal honestly with their deposit
tors and with the holders of their notes. Whatever
bank has promised to pay it should be compelled to
pay OF be broken. Let it be understood that free
banking is not free cheating, and what reason is
there why bankers should not transact their bust
ness according to their discretion, and at their
own risk under their responsibility to the laws OF
nature and to the law of the land'
My humble theory of the finances viii doubtless
be derided by men who think they know all about
things which "elude the keenest scrutiny" 1t is
simply this Let the Government honestly pay its
own debts and compel its corporations to pay theirs,
and leave the rest to the people and TO God.
Respectfully yours, LEONARD BACON.
Neu- Haren, Nav 40, 1874.