The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1876-08-11

now outstanding j. less than $50. 900.
600. besides S:}4. GEO. GOO of fractional
! currency. How shall the Government
make these notes at all times rs good
as specie IL has to provide in refer
| ence TO the mass, which would be kept
in use by the wants of business, a cen
| trail reserve of coin adequate to tie
| adjustment of the temporary tluetua-
tions of international balances and as
a guaranty against the transient drains
artificialiy created by panics, or by
speculation. 1t has also 70 provide for
the payment in coin of such fractional
currency as may be presented for re-
demption. and such inconsiderable
portions of legal tenders as individuals
may from time to time desire to con-
vert for several use. or in order to lay
by in coin their little stores of money.
To make the coin now in the Treasury
available for the objects of this reserve,
to gradually strengthen and enlarge the
reserve, to provide for such other excep-
tional demands for coin as may arise,
does not seem to me work of difficulty
if wisely planned and discreetly pursu-
ed, il ought not to cost any sacrifice TO
the business of the country. 1t should
tend, on the contrary, to revival OF
hope and confidence. The coin IN the
Treasury on the SOth of June, includ-
ing what Is held against the coin GER
tilUutes, ga, OOO, 900. The current OF
precious metals which has flowed out of
our country for the eleven years from
July 1st, 1865 to June 30th 1876, ,averag
ing nearly S76, COO, 600 year, was 1852
900, 900 in the whole period, of which
S617, 600, 900 were the product of our
own mines To amass the requisite
quantity by intereepting from the cur
rent flowing out of the country, and
by acquiring from the stocks which eX
ist abroad without disturbing the equi-
librium of foreign money markets, isa
result to be easily worked out by prae-
tical knowledge and judgment. With
respect to what ever surplus of legal
tenders the wants of business may fail
to keep in use, and which in order 10
save the interest will be returned for
redemption, they can be either paid or
they can be funded. Whether they
continue as currency or be absorbed
into the vast mass of securities held as
an investment is merely n question of
the rate of interest they draw. Even
il they were to remain in the present
form, and the Government were to
agree to pay on them rate of interest
making them desirable as investments,
they would cease to circulate and take
their place with Government, State,
municipal, and other corporate and
private bonds, which thousands of
millions exist among us. In the per-
feet ease with which they can be chang
ed from currency into investments lies
the only danger to be guarded against.
in the adoption of general measures
intended to remove a clearly ascer
tanned surplus, that is, the withdrawal
of any which are not permanent
excess beyond thewants of business
Even more mischievous would be any
measure which affects the public imag-
ination with the fear of an appreheDd-
ed scarcity. In a community where
credit is so much used, fluctuations of
value and vicissitudes in business are
largely caused by the temporary beliefs
of men, even before those beliefs can
conform to ascertained realities.
The amount OF necessary currency
at a given time cannot be determined
arbitrarily, and should not be assumed
to both permanent and temporary
changes. An enlargement of it, which
seemed to be durable, happened ut the
beginning of the civil war by a substi-
tuted use of currency ia place of indi-
! vidual credits. 1t varies with certain
states of business. IL fiuctuates with
considerable regularity ut different
seasons of the year In the autumn,
| for instance, when buyers of grain and
other agricultural poducts begin their
operations, they usually need to bOr-
row capital or circulating credit, by
which to make their purchases, and
want these funds in currency capable
of being disturbed la small sums among
numerous sellers. The additional need
of currency Mt such times is five or
more per cent. of the whole volume,
and if surplus beyond what is re-
| quired for ordinary use does not hap
| pen to have been on hand at the money
| centers, a scarcity ensues, and also II
| stringency in the loan market.
1t was in reference to such expert
| ences that in a discussion of this sub
| ject in my annual message to the New
York Legislature, of January 5th, 1875,
| the suggestion was made that the Fed
| eral Government is bound to redeem
every portion of it's issues which the
| public DO not wish to use. Having as
sumed to monopolize the supply of
currency, and enacted exclusions
against everybody else, it is bound to
| furnish all which the wants OF business
| require. The system should passively
| allow the volume of circulation credits
| to ebb and How according TO the ever
changing wants of business It should
initiate as closely as possible the Dni
ural laws of trade, which it has super
seded by artificial cOntrivaDces. And
in similar discussion in my message
of January 4th, 1876, it was said that
resumption should be effected by such
measures as would keep the aggregate
amount of the currency self adjusting
during all the process, without creating
at any time an artificial scarcity, with
out exciting the public imagination
with alarms, which impair confidence,
contract the whole large machinery of
credit, and disturb the natural opera
tiOns of business. Public economics
official retrenchments, and wise finance
are the means which the St Louis
Convention indicates as the provision
for reserves and redemptions. The
best resource is n reduction of the ex-
penses of the Government below its
income, for that imposes no new charge
on the people. If, however, the inprOyi
dence and waste which have cOndueted
us to- period Of falling revenues Oblig-
us To supplement the results of ecOnO
mics and retrenchments by some resort
to loans, we should not hesitate. The
Government ought not to speculate on
its own dishonoI in order to save the
interest ON its broken promises. which
it still compels private dealers to accept
at fictitious par. The brightest
National honor is not ONLY right, but
would prove profitable. OF the public
debt 1856, 900, 900 bear interest," at per
cent in gold, and SIP, OOO, 900 at per
cent. IL, gold. The average interest IL
SIS per cent Afinancial policy which
should secure the highest credit wisely
availed of ought gradually to obtain
reduction of one per cent. ia interest
on most Of the loans. \ saving OF one
per cent on the average wOuii i'c
S17, OOO. OOJ year in gold. That saw
ing, regularly invested at four and
half per cent, would in less that thir-
ty-eight years extinguish the principal
The whole 81, 700, O00 600 of the fund
ed debt might be paid by this saving
alone without cost 70 the people, The
proper time for res sunption Is the time
when wise preparations shall have
ripened into a perfect ability &c accom-
plish the object with certainty and
ease that will inspire confidence and
epcourar,a the reyiytuO OF bHsine-S-