The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1876-08-18


by some resort to loans, we should not
hesitate. The government ought not Ia
speculate en its own ,lshnnnr, in order tn
save interest on its broken promises, which
its still compels private dealers to accept
at fictitious par. The highest national
honor lie not only right, but would prove
profitable. OF the public debt, 9S5 mil
lions bear interest ut six per cent in gold
and 7l2 millions at five per cent. in gold.
The average interest is 5. IS per cent.
A financial policy which should secure
the highest credit, wisely availed of ought
gradually to obtain n reduction of one per
cent in the interest on most of the loans.
A saving Of one per cent. one the average
would be II millions a. year in gold. That
saving regularly invested at four and u
half per cent. would, in less than thirty
eight years, extingush the principal. The
whole 1,700 millions of funded deb. might
be paid by this saving alone, without cost
to the people.
PROPER TIME FOR RESUMPTION.
The proper time for resumption is the
time when wise preparations shall have
ripencd into perfect ability to accom-
plish the object with certainty and ease
that will inspire confidence, and encourage
the rcviving ofbusiness The earliest time
in which such result can be brought
about is the best. Even when the prcpa-
rations shall have been matured, the exact
| date would have to be chosen with refer
cnce to the then existing state of trade and
| credit operations in our own country, the
course OF foreign commerce, and the con-
| dition of the exchanges with other nations
The specific measures and the actual date
are matters of detail having reference to
ever-changing conditions. They belong
| to the domain of practical administrative
| craftsmanship. The captain off steamer,
about starting from Now York to Liver
pool, noes not assemble council over his
ocean chart and fix an angle by which to
lash the ruddcr for the whole voyage. A
human intelligence must be at the helm to
discern the shifting forces of the waters
and the winds. A human hand must be
day, and guide to mastery over them.
PREPARATIONS FOR RESUMPTION.
Such preparations arc everything
Without them, Legislative command fix
ing day, an official promise fixing day,
are shams. They are worsc-they are a
| snare and dclusion to all who trust them.
They destroy all confidence among thought
full men whose judgment will at last sway
public opinion. An attempt to act on
such command or such n promise, with
out preparation, would end in u new sus-
pension. 1t would be fresh calamity,
prolific of confusion, distrust and distress.
TIE ACT OF JANUARY 14Tm, 1875.
The Act of Congress of the 14th of Janu-
AIRY. 1875, enacted that, on and after the
LIST of January, 1879, the Secretary Of the
Treasury shall redeem in coin the legal
tender notes of the United States on pre-
sentation ut the office of the assistant trea-
surer in the City of New York. 1t author.
lied 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 a-half of the four
years have passed. Congress and the
President have continued 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 be-
long to the government, had, on the 30 of
June, fallen to less than as million of dol
lars as against so millions on the list of
January, 1875, and the availability of
part of that sum is said to be questionable.
The revenues arc falling faster than APP
preparations and expenditures are reduc-
ed, leaving the treasury with diminishing
resources. The secretary has done nothing
under his power to issue bonds.
The legislative command, the official
mic itxin far Mt In
thus far been barren. No practical prcpa-
rations towards resumption have been
made. There has been no progress. There
have been steps backward.
There is no necromacy in the operations
of government. The homely maXims of
every day life are the best standards of it's
conduct. A debtor who should promise
to pay loan out of surplus income, yet be
seen every day spending oil he could lay
hands on in riotous living, would lose all
character for honest veracity His offer
of new promise or his profession as to
the value of the old promise, would alike
provoke derision.
RESUMPTION PLAN OF THE ST. LOUIS PLAT
FORM.
The st. Louis platform denounces the
failure for eleven years to make good the
promise of the legal tender notes. 1t de-
nounces the omission to accumulate "any
reserve for their redemption" 1t lenoun.
ces the conduct (which, during eleven
years of peace, has made no advances to-
wards resumption, no preparations for re-
sumption, but instead has INSTRUCTED re-
sumption, by wasting our resources and
exhausting all our surplus income, and
while protesting to intend speedy return
to specie payments, has annually enacted
fresh hindcranccs thereto" And having
first denounced the barrcnness of the
promise of day of resumption, it next dc.
nounccs that barren promise as "linder-
ance" to resumption. 1t then demands its
repeal, and as demands the esta blishmcnt
ot"u judicious system of preparation" for
resumption. 1t cannot be doubted that
the substitution of u system Of prepare,
ton" without tho promise of n day, for
the worthless promise of Il day without"a
system of preparation" would he the gain
Of the substance presumption in exchange
for its shadow.
Nor is the dcnunciation unnerited of
that improvidence which, in the eleven
years since the peace, has consumed 1900
millions of dollars, and yet could not at
ford to give the people sound and stable
currency. Two and u half per cent. on the
expenditures of these eleven years, or even
less, would have provided all the addi-
tional 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 the false
policies of our government, has been great
ly aggravated by the mismanagement of
the currency. Uncertainty is the prolific
parent of mischiefs in all business. Never