Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1875-12-15
SECRETARY nRisrOw-s VIEWS an
sFkCiE hEsCMfriON.

The annual report OF the Secretary oil
the United States Treasury u an sxcsp-
tionally able document. Its great fee.
lures are its espious and thorough dis
cushion Of the specie payment question
and its sound recommendations thereon.
Mr.. Bristow assumes that Congress was
in earnest when IL passed the specie re-
sumption Act last Winter. and then dis
cussss the msa provided BY that law
for bringing about resumption In 1879.
These he concludes are inadequate, and
therefore recommends further legisla-
ton. The Law Of last Winter provided
No method Of accommodating gold save by
the sale Of honda, and restricted such
sales to the par valse Of tho bonds in
gold. The hve,psr cent. bonds, which
only have been for mouths past n. par.
have all been sold. There remain now
only four and . half and four per cent.
bonds. These with gold At fourteen
per cent. premium are not salabls at
par. and the rcsult 10 that thers Is IN
der the Law no method whereby
the Secretary can accumulate gold
for the purpose Of specie resumption.
This 10 the problem which Secretary
Bris.o~ presents to Congress and which
10 TO BE- solved. As an aid to their de-
libsrations the Secretary suggssts the
passage Of an Act authorizing him to
fund the outstanding greenbaeks in
four per cent. bonds. In other words,
that he b allowed to ssll United States
bonds. bearing interest At four per cent.
At their face value In grssnbaeks instead
OF In gold. Iii evident that this would
soon reduce the volume Of outstanding
currency. as every dollar thus obtained
would either be destroyed BY tho Gov
eminent or boarded As Is geld now. At
any rate, ii would so out Of circulation.
The steady funding Of srcenbacts dur
ing the ensuing three years would save
the necessity Of Aeeumulating a vast
amount Of geld to begin resumption In
1879. for every dollar In gresnbaeks then
In possession Of the Government would
be out Of the way, and paymen. OF its
face in gold could not be de-
manded. The process has the
further recommendation OF undoub,-
sdly approaching the price OF
grsenbacks toward par. As an adiune,
to this project Of s%Pprsciating the value
Of the grssnback. the Secretary recon-
msnds the repeal Of the Legal Tender
Act TO take effect January. 1877. two
ysars before resumption. In order to
work NO injustice to the debtor class. he
recommends that such an Act Be made
70 apply only to contracts made or debts
contracted after that date. II Is evil
dent that with this limitation. after the
passage Of the Act, everything would b.
bought and sold at gold prices. and no
debtor could DO injured because bar
gains would be made on that basis.
Everybody would at once begin to get
ready for resumption. and before the
time AIsd. 1879. grssnbscks would BE-
quotabls at par. aud resumption BE- un
.Cait acconpi. The New York Hsruii.
commenting upon these recommends
tons. says. that ''they will determine
the standing and test the sincerity Of
political parties on the question OF rs-
sumption" and adds these sound re-
marks:
Every member OF Congress Who de-
aires Q sound currency will cordially sup
port these measures, unless better ones
are proposed. II the Republican men,
bsn do not support them IL will be q |
confession that the act OF last Winter. |
fixing . date for resumption. was . hol-
low sham. II the Democratic members
oppose them without offering something
equivalent. they will stamp their party
a. opponents Of resumption. We do not
believe that either party can offer any
thing better than the measures recon-
msndsd BY Secretary Bristow. and II
either party shirks the subject II will
forfeit public confidence and be placed
at q disadvantage in the Presidential
Old .. ~ -