New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-05-25
I0oKIvG 10w1RD RESrUPTION

II il reported that The Cabinet viii again
take into consideration to-day the means oi
preparing for resumption Of specie payments.
Thus far. as has been abundanty explained,
Secretary sherman has dOre but one thing a.
a special preparation for resumption-hc has
sold 10. 600 900 I'D bonds which were promptly
taken and paid for in gold. We must presume
that. i'm this step. ne has acted with full con-
currcncc Of the President. 1t is also generally
stated that lie intends. at such time rs he
NAV deem best 10 sell the gold for legal
tenders aud to increase the gIccnback balance
in the Treasury. Though much discussion has
Cnsucd as to the form I'D which the Secretary
means TO hold thc LEGAL tenders thus acquired
and ne has not thought it necessary as yet to
make any authorized statement OH that point
or i'm regard to the amount or time OF con-
templat,d sales of gold for the purpose OF ac-
cunrlatng legal tcnd,r--thcrc is no reason to
doubt that lis deliberate purpose IS To gather
in a store Of lcgl-tendcr notes, as the best
possible preparation which can now be made
for the day of resumption.
Il does not seem 10 us Of any importance
under what name or form the notes thus OBJ
tanned are held in One Treasury. The discus
sion ON that point is empty. Secretary Sher-
man has power to sell bonds for gold only as
a preparation for resumption, and he is strictly
required by the law TO apply the proceeds Of
such sales to ,hat purpose only. Coin cncc
received ly tie Treasury cannot be applied
to the purpose Of resumption except in two
ways il can be held as coin, or it can be- cN-
changed foi Legal tenders and in that form held
against the day OF resumption. But If the Sec
rctary sees fit to exchange thc gold for legal ten
dcrs hc has 40 power TO use them iorany other
purpose than rs q preparation for resumption,
and they can be'uscd for that purpose only if
held in the Treasury. Hence it doe, not mat
ter i'm what form, or 10y what name, OF under
what provision OF law they are held; without
disregard of the law legal tenders thus oh
tanned cannot be used in any way until the
day OF resumption arrives, unless in some
Temporary emergency not now contemplated
rs possible they might be a%lin exchanged
for gold. Either as coin ready for the rcdcmp
ton Of notes, OF as notes ready to be tychni-
cally redeemed and retired, the proceed, OF
bonds sold under the act Of 1873 must be re-
tanned in the Treasury.
II is remarkable that many journals which
have progressed To- advocate specie resumption
very zcalcusly, now object with more or less
heat to The couI,c which the Secretary is I'M
dcrstood TO contemplate. They say that he
has no authority 90 contract the currency"
and. in the legal sense, he does not contract il
by holding large instead Of a small legal
tender reserve. But not one of them can give
an intelligent reason for saving that he has
not n right 10 hold 10000, geo instead of
$4,000, 900 in legal tenders. Nor can any
sane man deny that every lcgal-tcnder note
held in the Treasury is precisely as complete
a preparation for resumption as coin of like
amount.
The real objection Is that the preparation
for resumption is UNNECESSARILY more COM
plctc and effective if the Treasury holds the
notes than if it held thc coin. For coin in
circulation does not impair in the least degree
the ability OF the Government to resume. But
unpaid notes of the Government do. They de-
preciate the value Of other notes outstanding;
thew circulate from hand to hand affecting
prices: they serve as a basis for large cx-
mansion of credit by the banks. In short, in
Naiiou of the currency blocks the path; TO
reach resumption we must diminish that inlla-
ton. Some part Of the notes in active use
must be got OUT OF inc WY lH' IL"
does not provide That we may burn or
cancel them. But it docs provide tlut the pro-
cocds Of the bonds sold may be employed in
preparation for resumption, and the most eilcc-
tive preparation is the Withdrawal Of the sur
plus notes from active use. Those who object
to this course are helping the inilationists,
however little they may intend It, They may
wish to see the Government redeem its pledges
and vindicate its honor. But not even the
ayowcd repudators are doing more to prevent
resumption, to dshonor the nation, and TO
postpone indefinitely the fulillment of its
pledges, than those who oppose the with