The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1876-08-08

both permanent and temporary changes.
An enlargement of it, which seemed to be
durable, happened at the beginning of the
civil war by a substituted use of currency
IN place of individual credits. 1t varies
with certain states of business. 1t fuctu-
ates, with considerable regularity, at differ
ent seasons of the year. In the autumn,
for instance, when buyers of grain and
other agricultural products begin their
operations, they usually need to borrow
capital or circulating credits by which to
make their purchases, and want these
funds in currency capable Of being dis
trlbuted IN small sums among numerous
sellers. The additional need of currency
at such times is or more per cent. of the
whole volume, and, if surplus beyond
what is required for ordinary use does not
happen to have been on hand at the money
centres, a scarcity of currency ensues, and
also stringency in the loan market.
1t was in reference to such experiences
that in dicussion of this subject in my
annual message to the New York legisla-
ture Of January 5, 1875, the suggestion
was made that:
The Federal Government is bound to
|
the public do not wish to use. Having
assumed to monopolize the supply of cur
rency and enacted exclusions against
everybody else, it is bound to furnish all
which the wants Of business requires.
The system should passively
allow the volume of circulating credits to
ebb and flow, according to the ever-chang-
ing wants OF business. 1t should initiate
as closely as possible the natural laws of
trade, which it has superseded by artificial
contrivances. And in similar discuss
ion in my message of January 4. 1876, it
was SAID that resumption should be effect
ed by such measures as would keep the
aggregate amount of the currency self
adjusting during all the process without
creating at any time an artificial scarcity
and without exciting the public magma
ton with alarms which impair confidence.
contract the whole large machinery OF
credit and disturb the natural operations
| of business"
MEANS OF RESUMPTION.
Public economies, official retrenchments
and wise finance" are the means which the
St. Louis Convention indicates as provision
for reserves and redemptions.
4
The best resource is a reduction of the
expenses OF the government below its in
come; for that imposes no new charge on
the people.
If, however, the improvidence and waste
which have conducted us to a period Of
falling revenues obhge us to supplement
the resubs of economies and retrench.
ments by some resort to loans. we should
N no L.
to speculate on its own disnOnor, 10 order
to save interest on its broken promises,
which it still compels private dealers to
accept at fictitious par. The highest
national honor Is not only right, but would
prove profitable. OF the public debt, 9S5
millions bear interest at per cent in gold,
and 7l2 millions at 5 per cent. in gold.
The average interest is SIS per cent.
A financial policy which should secure
the highest credit, wisely ayailed Of, ought
gradually to obtain a reduction of ! per
cent in the interest on most of the loans.
A saving of | per cent on the average
would be Il millions year in gold. That
saving regularly invested at Al per cent.
would in less than thirty-eight years extin-
guish the principal The whole 100
millions Of funded debt might be paid by
this saving alone, without cost to the peo-
pie.
PROPER TIME FOR RESUMPTION.
The proper time for resumption is the
time when wise preparations shall have
ripened into a perfect ability to accomplish
the object with certainty and ease that
will inspire confidence, ana encourage the
reviving of business. The earliest time IN
which such result can be brought about
is the best. Even when the preparations
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 own country, the course
of foreign commerce, and the condition 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 states
manship, The captain Of steamer about
starting from New York TO Liverpool does
not assemble a council oyer his ocean
chart and fix an angle by which to lash the
rudder Tor the whole voyage. 4 human
intelligence must be at the helm to discern
the shifting forces of the waters and the
winds. A human hand must be on the
helm to feel the elements day by day, and
guide to mastery over them.
PREPARATIONS FOR RESUMPTION.
Such preparations are everything,
Without them, legislative command fix
ing Il day, an official promise fixing a
day, are shams They are worse-they
are snare and a delusion 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 command or such promise
without preparation, would end in a new
suspension. 1t would be fresh calamity,
prolific of confusion, distrust and dstr ess.
THE ACT OF JANUARY IA, 1875.
The act of congress of the l4th of Janu-
airy, 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 pre-
sentation at the office OF the assistant treas
urer in the city of New York. 1t author
| lied the secretar $50 prenare and Drovida