, 1876-01-10

UAk uo" tAb lCutWPLioA EAl1 w 444&A1&lhAIA
md tho notes roissucd and kept in circa1a-
ton. We are ali DuspnEAnys on this n,atter.
1t il ono Of the things no fellow cnn find out.
Mr.. DEssLow inadvertently onits to tell ,ls
tlais. He simply assumes TINT tho Govern
ment eau keep aaoat gold notes to tho
nmount Of 81 per cent Of tho present
volume Of 1egal-tenders md redeem them in
gold whenever tho holders demand coin for
them. Now, assumption and resumption are
two very different things, in dictionaries and
finance. They should not DO confounded.
Our correspondents attempt to mako tho
former take tho place Of tho latter il MIS-
Judged. Wo nnswor his historical argument
first, and then discuss tho plan in general
IIo says of his scheme:
Il adopts tho policy by which Russia and Austria
huncd srcclepay1nenta years after The cloac Of
tter waEs with NAPOLEON, which had placed their To-
gal-tcn1era Mt discount. Th,ir resumption III boti
INSTANCES. was Without any arrangement whatever Of
business, though the old curroncy OF Anst7a was
worth in gold but to per cont OF It's faco and that OF
lusB!a worth In gold but 81 per cent Of s face
Resumption, In both inaaneeB, was effected In .
mouth: and, II tho stme method Of resumption woro
resored to hero and now Il conl easily 10 oEoctsd
In March next II atsny rubseIuent date.
Tho amount Of paper nussia or .sustrin Ind
in circulation at tho time Of this financial c1-
pclicnt was n mere bagatcllo in comparison
with the amount Of our present irrcdoemable
currency. Since tho Hungarian war OF 1913
aud tho Cri1ncan war Of 1851, noithor Austrin
nor R.ssin has yontured to try tho scheme
ovor ngain. They have too much paper out.
They could not kcop tie now notes radeem-
able, md therefore could not keep them at
par. Austria for twenty-eight years md
Russia for twcnty-ono years have hal 1l1c-
taating currency which has damaged their
prosperity. Whit they did then with few
millions is one thing; what they cannot do
now with their many millions il another.
Tho historical argument recoils upon Mr..
DESsLow. As fur Oh It proves anything, it
shows TINT his plan ia possible only when the
amount OF irrefteemnble paper afloat is smnll.
II there wers only so5, ,ooo, 900 or $50, ,ooo,o 900
Of greenbacks In circulation, our Government
could doubtless adopt the oxpodiont with safe-
ty. Wo cannot do 80 now, with $420, ,000, 600
Of our scrip out and nearly as much mora
Of National Bank currency rcdsemablo In
this scrip.
There is historical precedent nearer ut
hand, in our own country,-a precedent
which applies with considerable forco to our
present circumstances Before md during
tho Revolutionary War, tho Colonies Of s1as-
| sachusetts, Rhode 1sland, and others. adopted
tho prcciae policy which Ii now urged upon
III. When their notcs Ind fallon to about
10 cents on the dollar, they issued new ones,
rcdooinnble in coin on demand, md took mp
the old ones at tho rato OF 30 cents for each
100. hut they soon found themselves unable
to redeem tho now currency, and this there
foro depreciatel. When 1t sank to the level
Of tllo old anl in somo cascs below it, q
thir.l scrioa was put forth, which went
through precisely the same stagos. In tho
| gnulo way, we would bo tumble to maintain
tho redemption of our new gold.notcs, and
they, tisloncred like our present grcenbacks,
would dopraciate and tuctunto. This loads
us to tho general consideration Of tho plan.
The Government would be obliged to re-
deem between $500. 600, 600 and $400, ono, ,00G
of go!d-notea year. This In exclusive ol
our domestic commerce and local deusanl 10,
gold. Within our own borders, people
would Just rs Lief hayo papcr worth l00ccntt
". ,.s.,9 s.,e NA s., - w.. . l,Aats
"s'1' ."'Ao, ssa'o ~. 4"s va ''o's'' ~. ~
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u4nou''' " so,,' ~, W. n"'o ''a'.'o.e"' A4o'
u" 90 ,lo", Ane l'ayi'4o',' .. uu.'ea feia'te.
s1oo''oo'oo'' u "A'e1 S'o''o'o'"V" ~ l'a'.
o"' as'an 4os "se''s' a'a s"' a'a'h!ns aaa 1nna
oar 'osc'esa saa ''aoe '"aea 'sonl s"',oo''ouo u
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