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


is to be resumed to-day, the points hitherto
most strikingly apparent ore the plea Of
poverty from the poorer parts of the country
and their demand to be made rich by act OF
Congress. In a sentence, that is the great
feature Of the debate 30 far as it has gone. II
is sectional debate but it happens in this
instance that the sectional division Is coinci-
dent with the commercial division OF the coun-
try BY the combined action Of recent events
and the course of commerce the Middle and
Eastern States are the wealthier parts OF the
country: while the South, devastated by the
war and paralyzed in its enterprises by the
'smonstrosities" of republican government,
and the West, with its great grain
crops, the profit on which is lost by the price
of transportation to market. find themselves
laboring in great degree to increase the wealth
of others and making comparatively little i'm
provement in their own condition. The debate
is denunciation Of this state of facts Indeed.
the debate is the most distinct expression-and
all the more valuable because it is an uncon-
scious expression-of the bad results of our
present political and commercial systems 1t
represents the South as poor and the West as
poor, and the clamor of their representatives
fora special issue of currency to these sections
is the expression, doubtless, Of need really
felt and the causes of the comparative poverty
of those sections, looking at the subject
largely, are sufficiently clear but they are
too deep to be affected by the remedy indi-
Gated in the Senate. New York and the
Eastern States generally are the wealthier
parts of this country by the force of the same
causes that, operating on larger scale, have
made England the banker and money lender
of the world; but this result of the gravitation
of capital is not to be changed, nor even tenn
porarily alleviated, by the poor expedient pro-
posed in Congress.
There are two financial propositions-frst,
to add forty-six millions to the volume Of ma
tional bank currency and, next, to make such
o distribution of this new issue as will restore
what is now regarded as the lost balance be-
tween the sections-giving to the West and
South what New York and New England are
supposed to have unjustly taken But,
although the propositions are regarded sepa-
rately, and the first is the one now distinctly
before the Senate they are but parts of one
plan; for the majority that will possibly vote
for the additional currency will scarcely do
this unless assured of its power to secure
some provision for the special sectional distri-
button of the currency voted.
Mr.. Merrimon, of North Carolina, who pro-
poses the issue of forty-six millions, rests the
demand on an argument which ought to be
received with the more consideration be-
cause it so seldom happens that the friends of
imitation descend to any detail of this sort, or
venture to touch the subject in any other
spirit than that of grand Western refer
ence to the national bird. Mr.. Merrimon
argues that the present volume of the cur
rency is only about double what it was before
the war, while the wealth, resources, COM
mercial activity and general need for currency
are fully trebled and that hence not to increase
the currency is to cripple the country. One
need neither assent to nor deny the figures by
which Mr.. Merrimon shows the currency to be
now only double in volume what it was before
the war nor need we consider the statement
of the increased value of the property of the
country in order to meet this argument for
imitation, since the answer lies altogether
nearer the surface. Our retrospect must
not go to times before the war, but
only to times before the panic. At
that period the value of the property
and products of the country were not essen
tally different from what they are now. and
the volume of currency was less than it is
D,,% IL al Sc
money? Was it not, on the contrary, very
evident that the volume Of the currency was
then beyond a healthy and proper point, and
that our financial activity was not that of a
sound condition but feverish, stimulated
activity due to imitation? Is there among
persons who have given attention to financial
subjects, any difference of opinion on the
cause even of the panic? But do not all alike
concede that it was the consequence of wild
spirit of speculation that is developed always
in proportion to the excess in the supply of
money?
Instead therefore, of our having had too
little currency, the very occurrence Of the
panic itself is an indisputable evidence
that we had too much for it was the
presence of more money than we could
legitimately employ that tempted us away
from the highways and solid grounds of
regular traffic into the ballooning schemes of
which Jay Cookies enterprise was merely the
most magnificent. And if we had too much
money then we cannot have too little now,
since we have at once more money and less to
do with it, and this will abundantly appear
as the country RECEIVERS the spirit, the temper
and the faith to try new endeavors /; for these,
and not money, were what the panic destroyed,
and these only time can restore. Legislation