Connecticut western news., 1877-02-09
SPECIE PAYMENTS,
What President Grant Says on tie Subject
 ---He Sends Message to Congress.

| What President Grant Says tie Subject ellie Sends a Message to Congress. President Grant announced his belief that the time had now arrived when an immediate resumption of specie payments 1 Is possible. He said that he had ob- served for some months past tendency in the financial affairs of the country to- 1 ward this point, and had watched 1t closely with the view of suggesting at the proper time measures looking to the accomplishment of the desired result. Referring to some of the more important recent commercial events, he said that the statistics of our foreign commerce shows balance of trade in favor of this country amounting during the last year to $120, ,OOO,0 900. During the present fiscal year, ending on the thirtieth of June next, he believes that the balance will be at least $1OO, GOO, 900 in our favor. He thinks that after the four years of rest since the panic of 1873 the country has reached 8 point when healthful in dustry and legitimate enterprise, based on sound monetary principles, may again be engaged in with profit.
 General Grant believes that provision can be made for the resumption of spe- cie payments by some slight modification of the Resumption act of 1875, changing the date when United States notes shall be redeemed in gold from the first of January, 1879, to the first of March, 1877; besides this, in order to supply defects in the provisions of the act of 1875, Congress might pass an act grant ing authority to the secretary of the treasury to provide for the redemption of legal tender notes on and after the date fixed for resumption by the accumulation of an adequate amount of gold to re- deem the outstanding legal tenders; this can be done by means of the sale of the United States bonds.
 General Grant also suggested that au- thority be given the secretary to issue from time to time as he may deem expe- dient, and the state of the national f. nances may admit, $1OO, OOO,O of thir- ty-year four per cent. bonds these bonds could be used in funding legal tender notes as presented at the treas ury. The President said we could now better afford to sell bonds at this rate of interest for gold than to lock up the gold for two years as reserve upon which to resume specie payments on the first of January, 1879. In reply to the sugges- tion that this plan might be regarded as one of contraction, the President said that on the other hand it is one of ex- pansion. He believed that new banks would be established to meet the neces- sites of reviving enterprise and increas- ing trade. He added that we must eith- CT provide for keeping gold at home or it will go abroad, and as it's use is now limited at home, while the present state of things continues, it naturally seeks an outlet in foreign markets. The increas- ing amount of foreign investments in American securities is now bringing gold back into this country. Should the pro- posed plan be adopted and resumption of specie payments take place at once, gold, instead of going abroad, except in such quantities as is actually demanded to pay balances, would find it's way into the banks, and be held as a reserve in which the national bank notes would be redeemed on presentation.