Daily Kennebec journal., 1876-08-07

the COVE rnment below its income, for that impos-
es charge on the people. III, however,
the improv idence and waste which have conduct
ed us to period of falling revenues oblge us to
supplement the results of economies and retrench-
ments by some resort TO loans, we should not hcsi
tate. The government ought not to speculate on
its dishonor in order TO save interests on its
broken promises, which it still cJmpels private
dealers to accept at fictitious par. The highest
national honor is not only right. but would prove
profitable OF the public debt 9S5 m illions bear
interest at per cent in gold, and ~ mill lions at
6 per cent. in gold. The average interest is 5.5S
! per cent. A financial policy which should secure
| the highest credit availed Of, ought gradually to
obtain reduction of one per cent. in the interest
on most of the loans. a saving of one per cent.
on the average would be Sl7000000 year 10
gold. That saving, regularly invested at - per
cent, would, in less than thrty-eight years, ex-
| tnguish the principal The whole seventeen hun
dred millions OF the funded debt might be paid By
| this saving alone without cost to the people.
| PRoRER TINE FOR RESUMPTION.
The proper time for resumption is the time
| when wise preparations shall have ripened into
perfect ability to accomplish the object with Ger
ainty and case that will inspire confidence and en-
courage the revvng of business. The earlies!
| time when such result can be brought about is the
| best Even when the preparations shall have been
| matu,ed, the exact time W oud have to be chosen
with reference to the then existing state of trade and
credit operations in our own country, the course
| OF foreign commerce, and the condition OF the cx-
| changes with other nations. The specific meas
ures and the actual date are matters of detail hav
| ing reference to ever changing conditions. They
| belong to the domain of practical administrative
| craftsmanship. The captain OF a steamer about
| starting from New York to Liverpool does not
assemble council over his ocean chart and fix an
angle by which to lash the rudder the whole of the
voyage. A human intelligence must be at the
helm to discern the shifting forces of the water
| and the winds. A human hand must be the
| LII, ola H1x oIfr do
| a mastery over them.
| PREPARATIONS FOR RESUMPTION.
Such preparations are everything. Without
! them legislative command fixing day, an oiii-
cial promise fixing day, are shans. They arc
worse; they are snare and delnslon TO all who
| trust them They destroy all confidence among
thoughtful men, whose Judgment will at last sway
public opinion. An attempt to act on such com
| mand or such promise without preparation would
end in a new suspension. 1t would be a fresh
calamity, prolific of confusion, distrust and dis
| tress. The act Of Congress on the lith of Janu-
ary 1879 enacted that on and after the lst of jan
uarv 1879, the Secretary of the Treasury shall re-
| deem in coin the legal tender notes of the United
States presentation at the office OF the Assistant
| Treasurer in the City of New \ ork. II author
lied the Secretary to prepare and provide for such
resumption of specie payments, by the use OF any
| surplus revenue not otherwise appropriated, and
by issuing, in bis discretion certain classes OF
bonds. More than one and hail OF the four
|
dent have continued ever since to unite in acts
which have legislated out Of existence every pos
sible surplus applicable to this purpose. The con-
in the treasury, claimed to belong to the govern
ment, had, on the Both OF June fallen to less than
$40 900 O00 as against so 900 900 the first of
January 1873, and the availability of part of
that SUN is said to be questionable. The revenues
are falling faster than the appropriations and the
expenditures are reduced leaving the treasury
with diminishing resources. The Secretary has
,nIp MS l-su
The legislative command and the etiicial promise
fixing the day for resumption, have thus far been
barren. No practical preparations toward resump-
ton have been made. There has been no prog
ress. There have been steps backward There
is no necromancy in the operations OF the govern
ment. The homely maxims of everyday life are
the best standards Of its conduct. A debtor who
should promise to pay loan out of his surplus in
come. vet to be seen every day spending ali he
could Law his hands on in rotous living, would
lose all character for honesty and veracity. His
offer of new promise, or his profession as to the
value of the old promise, would alike provoke de-
rision.
PLATFORM.
The St. Louis platform denounces the failure
for eleven years 10 make good the promise of the
legal tender notes. 1t denounces the omission to
accumulate any reserve for theil redemption. Ii
denounces the conduct which during eleven years
l | of peace has made no advance towards resumption
; no preparations for resumption, but instead has
obstructed resumption by wasting our resource:
and exhausting all our surplus income and while
protesting to intend speedy return to specie
payments has annually enacted fresh hindrances
thereto And having first denounced the barren
ness of the promise OF day of resumption, it next
denounces that barren promise as hlndrance to
J resumption. 1t then demands its repeal, and
} also demands the establishment of a judicious
! system of preparation for resumption 1t cannot
; be doubted that the substitution of a system OF
preparation, without the promise of day, for the
worthless promise of day, without system Of
preparation, would be the gain Of the substance
of resumption in exchange for its shadow; nor Is
the denunciation unmerited Of that improvidence
which in the eleven years since the peace ha'
consumed 400 millions of dollars, and yet coule
not afford to give the people sound and stable
currency. Two and a half per cent. on the ex
penditure of these eleven years, or even less
) would have provided all the additional coin need
full to resumption.
RELIEF TO BUSINESS DISTRESS.
The distress now felt by the people in all the
business and industries, though it has its princpa
cause in the enormous waste OF capital occasionet
by the false policies of our government, has teei
greatly aggravated by the mismanagement of tht
currency. Uncertainty is the prolific parent o
mischief in all business. Never were its evil
more felt than now. Men do nothing becaus,
they are unable to make any calculations on whlcl
| they can safely rely They undertake nothing be
i cause they fear a loss in everything they woul'
attempt; they stop and wait. The merchant dare
not buy for the future consumption of his Gus
: toners; the manufacturer dares not make fabric
! which may not refund his outlay; he shuts hi
, factory aud discharges his workmen; capitalist
! cannot lend on security they consider unsafe
+ and their funds lie almost without interest; me-
/ of enterprise who have credit securities t.
pledge Will not borrow. Consumption has fa|le
! below the natural limits of a reasonable economy
Prices Of many things are under their range il
frugal specic-paying times before the war; Vas
masses of currency lie in the banks unused.
year and half ago the legal tenders were at thci
, largest volume, and the twelve millions since re
tired have been replaced by fresh issues of fiftec
millions of bank notes. In the meantime, tn
. banks have been surrenderipg about four million
month, because they cannot find profitable US
fer so many of their notes The public mind Wi
not longer accept shams. 1t has suffered enoug
from illusions. An insecure policy increases dis
trust; an unstable policy increases uncertainty
The people need to know that the government
moving in the direction of ultimate safety an
prosperity, and that it is doing so through pru
dent, safe and conservative methods which will b
sure to inhict no new sacrifice on the business O
the country then the inspiration of new hope an
we'll founded confidence will hasten the restorn
processes of nature, and prosperity will begin t
! return. The St. Louis convention concludes Ii
: expression in regard to the currency by declara
ton of it's cony CtoDs as to the practical results