Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1875-09-02

Some time after the curtailn
four millions per month bad T.
operation, one of those periodie
temporary stringencies occur
Wall-st. (such as would occur &
were a thousand millions Of moi1
circulation), and this stringency
improperly attributed to the actt
the Secretary in retiring the 1epl<
notes. Mr.. Van Dycks Tie eI>ar-H 9
and jud;cions HuhI n knnn1ord 12H
York, who kept me prompfla si6feo
Of everything which was occur at
the commercial center which Wa Mkely
to affect the interest Of the Depart
ment, and who anticipated every pos
sible danger therefrom, informed me
that there were indications of Wall-st
panic. and expressed his apprehensious
that if the next monthly statement
showed that the usual curtailment had
been made, a panic would actually oc-
cur The apprehensions of Mr.. Van
Dyck were also expressed by other
valued and judicious correspondents in
New York, and although l knew that
the disease with which country was
laboring was plethora Of paper money,
and that there was then no real cause
for a panic, thought it wise to give
heed to the warnings which / had re-
ceived. I thereupon sent for Gen.
Spinner (who, highly as I esteem his
his successor, l am sorry to learn is not
to occupy, through life, position, the
ddties of which he has for SO many
years discharged with an ability unsur-
passed, and a diligent fidelity unequal :
ed by any. officer ever employed BY
Government) and said to him: "Gen-
eral, our friends in New-York advise
me that there will be panic in WALL
st. if your next statement shows that
the usual monthly curtailment has been
made. You have the four millions for
cancellation ON hand, and have no oc-
casion to use them. The law only au-
thorizes their cancellation, it does not
require it. Let them remain where
they are SO that your statement will
show them to be cash on hand, and not
notes withdrawn from circulation"
This course was pursued, and al
though the four millions had been ac-
tually retired, and were never to see
daylight again, except to be counted
and burned, the report at the end of the
month indicated that the depicting hand
of the Secretary had been staved.-
Wall-st was OF once in good humor
again, and the operators for rise were
relieved, as the sensualist is relieved,
who, oppressed by his late dinner and
heavy wines, dreams that he is in trou-
bic and wakes up overjoyed to find that
his dream was not areality.
have made the foregoing reference
as sailors take an observation after
having been long in fog, to show how
retrograde have been the movements
of our finances during the last eight
years: First, in obedience to the sense
less outcry against contraction (al-
/ though the withdrawal of legal tenders
had been fully made up by the increased
circulation of the National banks),
came the repeal of the act authorizing
the withdrawal and cancellation of the
legal tenders; then the decision of the
Supreme Court (overruling its former
decision) that the legal-tender acts were
not only constitutional, but that the
notes issued under them could be ten
dered and must be received, in satisfaction
of contracts made before as well as af-
ter the acts were passed.
Thus the cure ncy question was set
tied and everybody was happy. The
operators in stocks and gold were hap
py, because no secretary could Law his
ruthless hands upon the currency. The
railroad companies we're happy because
they could pay in deprecated notes the
interest on the bonds (and the princi.
pal if they had matured) issued before
the passage of the logal-tender acts.
States were happy because they could
violate the letter and spirit of their
obligation, and yet keep within the
law. Railroads were built or COM
menced in advance Of the need Of them,
because money could be borrowed and
profits could be made in their construc-
tion. Extravaganza, with waste, its
concomitant, increased, and everything
seemed to be ''lovely," as lovely as a
marriage feast. So strong had become
the delusion produced by a redundant,
and in the language of Webster q de-
graded currency, that one Of the most
sagacious bankers in New-York, who
had formerly been one of the most Wig.
orous supporters Of contraction, said to
ME in the Autumn of 1870: "Mr. McCul-
loeh, think We shall have to acknowledge
that we werei in the wrong in our opposi-
tion to the legal-tender notes; the country
Is prospering in spite Of them. We are
getting on very well, if we have super
MISUNDERSTANDING" But, alas! alas! !!
all earthly blisSis transient, If not iIluso-
ry The happy days rolled on until the
time came. later, Iadmit, thanI had ex-
pected, when the imitation bubble could
no longer bear the strain upon il, and the
country was awakened from its bissful
dreams to q realization of the fact that
what had appeared to be solid was un-
substantial-tha: the seeming prosper
ity of the country was q sham and de-
fusion. The first impression made upon
the public mind by the crisis OF Sep
tember, 1873, was that there was mere
ly . panic in New York, which would
be Is temporary ~ that Of l6Sz. This
impression was Of short duration.-
A few days were sufficient to show that
what was supposed to be only An un-
reasonable and unreasoning panic was
the outbreak Of deep rooted disorder,
to stay which the reissue. - Il was
called, of $40, ,OO0, 900 Of legal-tender
notes was ~ poweriess a. bread pills
would be to check the progress Of cho-
lera or yellow fever. And now while