Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-12-02
specie Payments and the Debtor Glass.
Let Congress this winter enact:

partment, be entitled to receive in ex-
change therefor 4 per cent gold bonds, OF
'he denomination of $50 or 500, OF anv
multiple of 800.
z. That these bonds, having thirty years
70 run from the date of issue, be made
legal-tenders in the payment of all debts
ana contracts made before, say, the 4th Of
July, 1876.
8. the egal-tender for all contracts
mace after that date shall be the coin of
the United States, except when payment
otherwise may be expressly stipulated.
Here, then, we have the problem of
specie payments solved without any dis
turbance of the relations of debtor and
creditor. For all purposes of payment of
debts the ~greenbacks in their new form of
bonds will be available. The bonds tnem-
selves will, at present prices of money, be
worth about eighty to eighty-fve cents on
the dollar in coin. The Government S
per cents. are worth par, and the 4 per
cents. would range from eighty to eighty
five cents. They will continue to be
bought and sold as the currency now is,
for the purpose of making payments of
debt, and will pass from hand to hand as
currency in all transactions over fifty dol
lars. For thirty years these bonds or the
unfunded currency will continue to serve
as q legal-tender for debts already con-
tracted, and that period will cover all ex-
listing liabilities of individuals, corpora
tons and municipal governments. No
man or municipality will be called upon
to pay debts in any other currency than
that in which they were contracted.
ming of new contracts under the coin le-
g~al-tender, there will not be the slightest
difficulty in finding all the gold necessary.
AS we have repeatedly shown, the vol
ume OF currency actually handled in the
payment of debts is comparatively very
small. 1t Is less than 8 per cent. The
exchanges OF the country are made by the
transfer Of credits through the e Of
the banks. The greenback currency and
the lcgaltender bonds will take the place.
in the general business of the country.
that the currency now occupies in the
business of California. Greenbacks can
be disposed of in Canada. England or
France; that is, they will Je taken
in exchange for gold at their current
value. A considerable proportion Of
the business of Canada is done in
American currency. Canada will sell all
she has for MISUNDERSTANDING them at
their market value. In California and on
the Pacific coast the ~greenbacks are re-
ceived In all business transactions for
what they are worth in coin. SO when
gold and silver are made the legal-tender
in all nen contracts the paper currency
will be used as now, except that instead of
being the measure of prices it will be
taken at its coin value. The currency
will lose none of its purchasing power and
will be relieved from most of its f1uctua-
tons when it passes into the shape of 4
per cent. legal-tender gold bonds. The
only change will be that it will be re-
ceived in the purchase of property and in
payment of labor at its market value,
which may be estimated at about s. Per
cent, with a tendency to increase in a few
years to 80 per cent.
After the day named all new debts to
or from banks will be on the basis of
specie values; all new deposits will be re-
ceived at their value in gold, and will be
payable on demand in gold value; and,
except in the case of old debts, the banks
will practically resume specie payments
without shock or difficulty. The demand
for gold in the United States at present is
almost limited to the sum needed for pay
ment of duties, which is again paid out in
the shape of interest on the public debt,
and for transmission abroad to pay for
our purchases and other foreign liabilities
to the extent that our exports do not
cover. The uses for gold in this
country being increased, gold, obey
ing the inevitable laws of trade,
will flow hither in sufficient GUAM
tity to meet all needful demands. We
published a few days ago the fact that
some of the New England cotton mills
have begun the expectation of their man
ufactures. A return to a specie standard
would make the export trade general; the
country would manufacture more, having
the foreign market as we'll as the domestic
IN which to sell. Instead of exporting
gold to pay our foreign balances we
would substitute wooden cloths, and iron
and wooden goods. The world will come
here to buy, if we will only adapt our
financial system to that of the commerce
of mankind. We will have specie pay
ments, leaving debtors and creditors to
settle all existing contracts n paper; but
for the new century we will begin on the
and permanent basis of specie
values, and contracts in honest money
a fixed value.-Chicdgo Tribune.
THE S5EUer World says: "Houses are
going up SO rapidly at Lake City, Col,
that a citizen leaving town for a days ex-
ercise has to inquire his way to his own
on his return in the evening.
And if one goes across lots to see his girl
the evening he is likely, on returning
home, to run his proboscis against ahouse
where non existed when he started"
A HARTFORD Conn., woman is en-
young ladies in pressing and
packing autumn leaves and the Hartford
ern." The packages are sent in card