Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1876-08-12

'e Government below its income, for tbs
n imposes no new charge on the people
It LII, however, the improvidence an
o waste which have conducted us to
If period of falling revenues oblige us
e supplement the result of economic
is and retrenchments by some resort t
It loans, we should not hesitate. TIL
d Government ought not to speculate ol
e Its own Gishonor in order to save th
: interest of its broken promises, whicl
a 1t still compels private dealers to ac
e cept at fictitious par. The highes
g national honor is net only right. bu
s would prove profitable. OF the pub
t lie debt, $685., 100000 bear interest a
Q 8 per cent. in gold and $3.50, ,O00, 900 a
n b per cent. in gold. The average in
; terest is 5-58 per cent. A fnancia
8 policy which should secure the highes
5 credit. wisely availed of, ought gradual
| ly to obtain reduction of per cent. il
3 the interest on most of the loans. A
{ saving of per cent. on the average
would be 100000 year in gold
} That saving, regularly invested at AZ
: per cent, would in less than thirty
: eight years extinguish the principal
} The whole 81 zoo, 600, 900 of the funded
debt might be paid by this saving
} alone, without cost to the people. The
, proper time for resumption is the
J time when wise preparations shall
have been ripened into perfect abil-
ity to accomplish the object with a
J certainty and ease that will inspire
confidence, and encourage the reviving
of business. The earliest time in
which such result can be brought
about is the best. Even when prepa-
ratlons shall have been matured, the
exact date would have to be chosen
with reference to the then existing
state of trade and credit operations in
our country, the course of foreign
commerce, and the condition of ex-
changes with other countries. The
specific measures and actual date are
matters of detail, having reference to
ever-changing conditions. They be-
long to the domain of practical ad-
ministrative craftsmanship. The cap
tain of steamer about starting from
New York to Liverpool, does not as
semble a council over his ocean chart,
and Tx an angle by which to lash the
rudder for the whole voyage. A hu-
man intelligence must be at the helm
to discern the shifting forces of the
waters and winds. A human hand
must be on the helm to feel the ele-
ments day by day and guide to mas
terry over them.
NO PREPARATION FOR RESUMPTION
YET MADE.
Such preparations are everything;
without them, legislative command
| fixing day, an official promise fixing
a day. are shams. They are worse.
They are delusion and snare to all
who trust them. They destroy all
confidence among thoughtful men,
whose judgment will at last sway the
public opinion. An attempt to act on
such command or such a promise
without preparation would end in
new suspension. 1t would be fresh
calamity, prolific of confusion, dis
trust and distress. The act of Con-
gress of JAM, 1875, enacted that on
and after the lst of January, 1879, the
secretary of the treasury shall 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. 1t authorizes the
secretary to prepare and provide for
such redemption of specie payments,
by the use of any surplus revenue not
otherwise appropriated, and by issu-
ing, in his discretion, certain classes
| of bonds. More than one and half
of the four years have passed. Con-
gress and the president have contin-
ned ever since to unite in acts which
have legislated out of existence every
possible surplus applicable to this
purpose. The coin in the treasury
claimed to belong to the Government
had on the Both Of june fallen to less
than $45,000,00O, against $4,000, 900
on the lst Of January, 1875, and the
availability of part of that sum is
said to be questionable. The reven-
ues are falling faster than the appro-
priations and expenditures are re-
duced, leaving the treasury with di-
minished resources. The secretary
has done nothing under his power to
issue bonds. The legislative command,
the official promise fixing a day of re-
sumption, have been made. There
has been no progress. There have
been steps backward. There IL no
necromancy in the operations of gov
ernments. The homely maxims of
everyday life are the best standards
of its conduct. A debtor who should |
promise to pay loan out of his sur
plus income, yet be seen every day |
spending all he could lay his hands on |
in riotous living, would lose all char
acter for honesty and veracity. His |
offer OF new promise or his profess |
sion as to the value of the old prom |
Use would alike provoke derision. The |
st. Louis platform denounees the |
failure for eleven years to make good |
the promise of the legal tender notes. |
1t denounces the omission to accumu-
late any reserve for their redemption.
1t denounces the conduct which dur
ing eleven years of peace has made no
advances towards resumption, but in
stead has obstructed resumption by
wasting our resources and exhausting
all our surplus income, and while
protesting to intend a speedy re-
turn to specie payments has annually |
enacted fresh hindrances thereto, and |
having first denounced the barrenness
of the promise of day of resumption,
it next denounces that barren promise
as hindrance to resumption. 1t then
demands its repeal, and also demands
the establishment of judicious sys-
tenn of preparation for resumption.
It cannot be doubted that the substi-
tuition of system of preparation with
out the promise of a day for the |
worthless promise of a 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 is eleven years
since the peace has consumed $780,
100000, and yet could not afford to
give the people sound and stable
currency. Two and a half per cent.
of expenditures in these eleven years,
or even less, would have provided all |
the coin needful to resumption. The |
distress now felt by the people in all |
their business and industries, though |
it has its principal cause in the enor-
nous waste of capital occasioned by |
the false policies Of our Government,
has been greatly aggravated by the
mismanagement of the currency. Un-
certainty is the prolific parent of mis-
chiefs in all business. Never were its |
evils more felt than now. Men do |
nothing because they are unable to
make any calculations on which they
can safely rely. They undertake
nothing because they fear loss in eV-
erything they would attempt. They
stop and wait. The merchant does
not buy for the future consumption OF