Wilmington journal., 1876-08-11

Ecept ut fictitious par. The highest
national hDnor is not only right, but
would prove profitable OF the pub
| llc debt, 9S5 millions bear interest at
six per cent. i'll god. The average
| interest is 5 SO per cent. = =-... ss
financial policy which should Sc
| cure the highest credit, wisely avalled
| of ought gradually to obtain reduc~
| tion of one per cent. lii the interest on
most of the loans A saving of one
| per CEN ou the average would be IL
millions a year IL gold That saving
| regularly invested at four aud a half
| p cent. would. in less than thirty
| eight years, extinguish the princi pal.
| The whole ], 700 millions of funded
debt might be paid by this saving
alone, without cost to the people.
| PROPEf: TINE FOR RESUMPTION.
| The proper time for Ie>umption il
| the time when wise preparations shal.
| have ripenad INTO perfect ability 10
| accomplish the object with IL certainty
| and ease that will INSPIRE confidence,
| aud encourage the revivlng of bual-
ness. The earliest time in which
| such u resnit can be brought about is
the best. Even when the preparations
| have been maiured. the exact date
ence to the then existing state of trade
and credit operations iii our own
country, the course of foreign COM
merce, and the condition of the ex
changes with other nations. The ape-
cltic measures and the actual date
are matters of detail having reference
to ever changing conditions. They
| belong to the domain of practical adj
| miniAtrative statesmanship. The cap
| tain of steamer, about starting from
| New York to Liverpool, does not as
Sbmble council over his ocean chart
and fix IN angle by which to lash the
| rudder for the whole voyage. A hu-
man intelligence must be at the helm
| discern the shifting forces of the
waters and the winds. A hum an hand
must be on the helm to feel the ele-
ments day by day, aud guide to a
mastery over them.
| PREPARATIONS FOR REsUNIPTION.
Such preparations are everything.
Without them. Legislative command
fixing day, an official promise fixing
a day, are shams. They are worse
they are a suare and Il deluslon t, all
who trust them they destroy all
co 1tidence among thoughtful men
whose judgm will at last sway pub
lie opinion. An attempt to act on
snch II command or such a promise,
without preparation, would end in
new suspension. 1t would be fresh
calamity, prolific of confusion, ,distrust
and distress.
| THE ACT OF JANUARY 14TH, 1875.
The Act of Congress on the l4th of
january, 1875, enacted that, on and
after the 1st Of January, 1879, the
Secretary of the Treasury sh all redeem
in coin the legal tender notes of the
United States on presentation at the
Office of the assistant treasurer in the
City of New York. It authorized the
secretary "to prepare and provide for"
such resumption of Specie payments
by the use of any surplus revenues not
otherwise appropriated; and by issuing,
| in his discretion, certain classes of
| bonds
More than one and half of the four
years have passed. Congress and the
President have confined ever since to
unite in acts which have legislated out
of existence every possible surplus APP
piicable to this purpose.
The coin in the treasury claimed to
belong to the government had, ON the
80 of June, fallen to less than 45 mil.
lions Of dollars as against SO millions
on the 1st of january, 1875, and the
availability of part of that sum is
said to be questionable. The revenues
are falling faster than appropriations
and expenditures are reduced, leaving
the treasury with undiminishing re-
sources. The secretary has done moth
ing under his power to issne bonds.
| The Legislative demand, the official
promise fixing the day for resumption
have thus far been barren. Impractical
preparations towards resumption have
been made. There has been no pro
gress. There have been steps back
ward
There is no necromancy in the opera
tions of government. The home maxims
of everyday life are the best standards
of its conduct. A debtor who should
promise to pay loan out of surplus
income, yet be seen every dav spend.-
ing all he could lay his hands on in
riOtous living, would lose all character
for honesty, veracity. His offer of
new promise Or his profession as to
the value of the old promise, would
alike provoke derision.
| RESUPMTION PLAN OF THE ST. LOUIS
| PLATFORM,
The st. Louis platform denounces
the failure for eleven years to make
good the promise of the legal tender
notes. 1t denounces the omission to
| accumulate ''any reserve for their re-
| demption It denounces the conduct
(which, during eleven years of peace,
has made no advances towards re-
sumption, no preparations for resump-
tion, but instead has obstructed re-
sumption, by wasting our resources
and exhausting all our surplus income
and while processing to intend
speedy return to specie payments, has
annually enacted fresh hindrances
thereto" And having first denounced
the barrenness of the premise of day
of resumption, it next denounces that
barren promise as ''hindrance" to
resumption. 1t then demands its re-
peal, and also demands the establish
ment of ga judicious system of prep>
aration" for resumption. It cannot be
doubted that the substitution of
"system of preparation" without the
promise of a day, for the worthless
promise of day without so system of
preparation" would be the gain of the
substance of resumption in exchange
for its shadow.
Nor is the denunciatiOn unmerited
of that imprOvldence which, in the
eleven years since the peace, has con-
sumed 4, 500 millions dollars, and yet
could not afford to give the people
sound and staple currency. Two and
half per cent. on the expenditures
of these eleven years, or even less,
would have provided all the additional
coin needful to resumption.
RELIEF TO BUSINESS DISTRESS.
The distress now felt by the people
in all their business and industries
though it has its principal cause in the
enormous waste of capital occasioned
by tn false policies of our government
has been great y aggravated by the
mismanagement of the currency. Un-