Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1874-05-21

! New England States Were entitled n To-.
than $4,000, 600, but received s11000o
| 900, and the other Eastern States had W
excess of nearly Sl2 100000. =
Whether the volume of the currennr,a
sufficient for the business Of the country
| question of fact about which men rs+
honestly differ. During the four YEA
preceding the panic there had been =
| actual contraction Of the currency, and :
! much larger comparative contraction 70
sulting from the growth of populatio.
and business. A majority Of Congres,
were Of the opinion that to produce re-.
toration of confidence, a speedy revival ~
business and return to the prosneri,,
which was so suddenly destroyed bv n.
panic, some addition should be made :.
the volume of the currency.
| That the bill which has failed to becor,
a law would have produced some contra
ton is undoubtedly true; but it worI5
have been almost entirely in the stocy
market in New York. 1t is well-unde,
| stood fact that the reserves of the West
ern and Southern banks kept in New
| York have been loaned by the Neu
York banks almost exclusively upon call
! to dealers in stocks, and have finn,
! contributed to stimulate unwhOlesoms
| speculation, and have been OF very LITTLE
! benefit to the mercantile or manutacmr
! ing community. The evil resulting from
this fact was strikingly illustrated duripg
the panic last fall. The stockholders
who had borrowed the money were not
| able to repay the New York banks, and
! they in return were not able to pay the
| ntr,v hon L. t,nn, WI irh tIa
had been received, and thus the disaster
of the panic was greatly aggravated
! This bill in effect required the banks
outside Of the redemption cities to keen
three-tourths of their reserve at home
and would have Withdrawn some millions
from the stock market in New York
which would strengthen the banks 10
which they belonged, and would have
! produced contraction in quarter where
| it is pretty well understood that contrac
! ton would do no harm.
| The act of 1869, to strengthen the pub
! lie credit, declares that " the United States
solemnly pledged its faith to make pro.
vision at the earliest practicable period
for the redemption of the United States
notes in coin" In the debate upon this
bill nobody has denied the character or
binding force of that pledge, but the
question as TO the practicable period"
for its performance remains as open as It
was upon the day it was passed. Very
few members of either house of Congress
have agreed upon any method for the re-.
sumption of specie payments. A few are
in favor of boarding the gold in the
Treasury until enough has been acquired
to begin the redemption Of the notes. 9th,
ers have proposed to acquire the requisite
amount of gold by selling our bonds in
Europe others to fund a portion of the
legaltender notes in bonds bearing per
cent. interest, and retire them in that way,
to bring the rest to par by contraction;
others to fund them into a bond bearing
5 per cent. interest, to be issued and again
funded.
While the Government is pledged to
redeem the legal-tender notes in coin, at
the earliest practicable period while the
purpose to do SO should ever be kept in
view-yet that period is by many not
deemed to be practicable when there is
great stagnation of business, much labor
unemployed, the revenues largely fallen
off, and much distress and suffering in
every part of the country.