Litchfield enquirer., 1877-09-06
lFrom the Evening Post.l s, 8siatsl, Secretary sherman on the Finances

From the Evening Post.l ; s5n,aIr Secretary sherman on the Finances
 The Epeech of the Secretary. of the TreAsury at Mansfield Ohio, will for many. .reaAens command attention threugh. outthe cdnhfEy, and no parts of it will be mote caFefnllyr yead than. those, which re- totp th6Resnfnption of fspecie payments, to 6ha public finances and to the proposed regulation of railroads by. federal rau- thokitE. sIGIduolA tAJJJILLE tlbL
 HeSpecting the, resumption, of specie paymbnts Mr Sherman explains that the paIp0sAt of the law of A1875,a which he drdlka0 and which is popularly associated with kiaa name. WAS to bring thes legal ten. der notes of the government to par with gold: thak eliis could be done, either by contracting their volume or by increasing the amount of gold in the possession of the Treasury; that the law is defective in that itpr0gides for less contraction than it ahOdl0 fhas, as these legal tender notes constitute an overdue demand debt, com mon business principles dictated that the best. Way would have been to, fund them into 6 uSae debt x or bonds; that authority to d8thia conld not be sobtained frph' OonafeNS bscauseIo of the popuAF drnad sof coutkaCti0n: that accordingly the next best and the only practicable thing to do was to make use of such contraction as the law does direct, but to trust mainly to the acquisition of such gold reserve as would De sufficient for the Treasury to have in order to pay the notes which may be presented; that when the Treasury is prepared to do this all the notes, will be at par with gold, and the widespread losses which the country now suffers from the use of paper currency which fuctuates in value from day to day Will be saved. s1 crrr~Y 4-s crxT 7c..rG
 The most important part of Mir. ~Sher. mans speech, so, far asrit relates. to this subject, is his confident declaration that, if undisturbed, he can, with no change in the law and without supplementary legis- lation, bring about a resumption of specie payments before the day named in qt the Resumption act, and that he can. do this without resort to forced construction of the law which has been urged on the de
 partment: namely, that he has authority to sell bonds for gold and then to sell the gold for legal tender notes which shall be held in. the Treasury ---a ,construetion which would arouse an opposition that wouidl be fatal to resumption in 1879 and might defer it indefinitely. The position taken by Mir Sherman that, with the law as it is, resumption can be brought about in 1879 is the same that has been steadily maintained by the Evening Post and by baukers5of experienceA What he has to do is simply to get gold enough in the Treasury to pay such g part of the legal tender notes as may be presented, and not, as is absurdIg held in some quarters ok so late in kha k@ get dollar of coin for every dollar note hility. As well might it be argued that . must have in its yanlts dollar for every ing. If it did that it would. be safe de. posit company rather thanSa bank. A bank of deposlt and note circulation. which isalways subject to large demands ffoha depositors as we'll as to the presanta- ton of it's notes, is considered strong when it has reserve of thirty three and One-third per.centufn, and to De in good condition. yhaA it has Q reserve of twentyo i've per centum. Howmuoh stronger the Treasury. @hoae notes are q legal tender over half a continent and. with no deposit liabilities to protect would be if it had a reserve of thirty three and one-third per centhm. han a bank would he with the same reserve. ought to be apparent to every thoughtful person whether he has made bAnk ling and financial affairs study or not. However much. 1t may be- regret ted, 1t is fact khat the Treasury fby the issue of paper money is practically s great hank Iot issne; it haa no deposits. but has a note acircul lation which is made Q legal- tender within the domain of the govern. menE It, just as bank, has to consider what reserve it needs to maintain it's notes at par. When 1t gets that reserve it can open ito doors for payment. and. when it paysIalI notes presented. it. by a single aoE. sliftB to par with gold every form of currency sn use. v National bank notes are payabls not in gold but m lawful money. which Treasury legal!tender notes would be then as much a now Private notes of hand are payables in ulawful money; book accounts. domestic bills. of exchange, bank credits-1n fact everything which pssses from hand to hand and expresses dsbts4.would be payable in legal-tendef notes after redemption as before. If these notes were redeemable in gold they would be at par yiths gold. and, as we have often explained, the whole currency would Nxpress a gold value as Q result Of su0 @tstBi1 VA tt1o 4 IoaSuEy AeekAu& gAts promise. hssss.s,qi sahaa1aaosea sei iIa aso
 This much then depends on the Treas ury. and the only question, left to be an swerad is; Gan the Treasury get. snffi- cientfgessrxs to be in position to pay all it's notes that may be presented? Mir
 Sherman saysyes, ahd he is perfectly safe in so saying pSOsided Sthat heS~doess not use too largsia part of the proceeds of the sales of bond for refundlng rather than for purpose of specie reserve That 1t is ptAatieableA to get $1O0 DOC, ,D004 of gold for resumption purposes before Jan uarysl ,si659, is admitted by persons who are fatailiar with the exchanges. That
 this snm would be nearly if not quite a reserve of fifty per-eentRm of all the legal tender notes whicha could be presented for payqlept va showed in recantr arti- ole. 0isIwell Apd topa t0os ftkat the onlys LII bJrtd1s dsmAad 1pt Ihe gold pays ment of leRal-tender notes would be when II