The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1878-02-26
Our New York Letter.
The silver BilI-GeographicaI LegisIa.
uon-The Reason for these Things
Weakness ofthe Executive.
New YORK, February 25. 1878.

beratlng "Dloated bondholders," Wall street
"Shylocks'' and eastern sharks they may
recover their reasoning faculties sufficiently to
be able to set themselves to considering what
possible ground there can be for supposinp that
any financial policy that may be adopted will
not benefit or injure all sections Of the country
alike 10 kind at least if not in degree. 1t
seems incredible that a proposition so self
evident should be disputed 10 any quarter.
And yet sectional feelings exist and are grow
ing at the capital that are stimulated BY the
persistent promulgation of the absurd theory
that one portion of the people of the Union can
thrive at the sacrifice of the interests of the
other. II puerility of this sort were limited to
politicians it would the sooner be rejected as
unworthy of the thought Of intelligent men.
But unfortunately ii is reiterated in a variety
of forms in many newspapers, aud is doing
infinitely more mischief than it would other
wise be possible for so utterly senseless a con-
ceit to accomplish. There really has been very
little temperate and convincing discussion of
the question of remonetizing silver. The OF
ponents of the scheme have been scarcely less
offensive in their practice of bestowing epithets
and finging hard words than its advocates.
Both have engaged in the encounter in q spirit
of anger and bitterness quite obstructive to the
calculation of tie principles involved.
Now we hear that the spirit of autagonsm
is taking decidedly geographical shape; that
the West and South are combining to thw
the Northeast by all the ingenuities of legisla-
ton; that they mean to make the tariff as op-
pressive to her artizans and merchants as they
possibly can; that they design to punish capital
by imposing upon ii excessive burdens of taxa
ton; that the proposition to restore the income
tax originates in similar motive; and that
they mean to worry the national banks out of
existence and substitute for their bills a cur
rency irredeemable in quality and illimitab!e
in volume.
All these things are talked about in Wash
ington with as much gravity aud solemnity as
If they were entirely practicable and absolutely
certain TO build up one end Of the Republic at
the expense of the other. We have ali read
about and laughed at the irate Hibernian who,
having conceived violent dislike to country.
man of his who was banker, gathered to-
gether all the bills of his bank that he could
collect at par or at premium aud took his re-
venge by making pvblic and ostentolious bon
fire of them That was very good story in its
day, and so Irish. But the notion that the
West can antagonize the East, or the South the
North without detriment, each to the other is as
whimsical intrinsicaly as the Irishm an' 3 fancy
that he could damage his enemy by buying up
and eancslling his obligations Tue masses of
American citizens are too sensible to be chaffed
with any such rubbish as that for any great
length of time. The politician who depends
upon it for the rallying cry of campaign will
find that it will not last long enough to serve
his purpose.
Nevertheless while such unfratsrnal sentI-
ments are expressed 10 a3y quarter they are
productive of serious evil They interfere sadly
with the progress Of the work Of rebuilding the
waste places of the land which is the weight
est concern of every man within its borders.
The argument on which the endeavor to dilute
the currency is based is that the debts Of all
kinds now existing are of stupendous amount
That is very true; that they are so large that
they never can be paid in full; that is not at all
unlikely. Bat what odds does II msks as s.~
as tho principle 10 concerned whether Ihs sUm
of the debt is reduced or the value of
the thing with which it is to be paid
1t is quite as well and just as easy to
compromise with the creditor at ninety
cents on the dollar as it is to put fictitious
value to that extent on the token used In effect
ing the settlement. There is another point in
the calculation that Is of special Significance.
The debtors cannot all make the same dividend.
Some can pay In full others cannot exc out ten
per cent; between these two ranges of compo-
sition there will be a movable scale adapted to
cases as they occur. This system of liquidation
has been in full operation for four years and
five months, already. More than half the debt
OF the country has been extiuguished and there
is just as much property remaining as il 1t had
all been paid in full and a great deal more
than there was in the early part of 1873 when we
were measuring five or six feet to the yard, and
counting everything at forty or fifty per cent.
more than it was worth The method of ad-
jnstiDg liabilities low largely 10 vogue is called
falling, but is becoming so fashionable that
it involves reproach and very little mortifica-
tion. Creditors accept it as a matter of course,
and unless the reckoning has some very suspic-
ious features about it, they promptly consent
to whatever settlement is proposed to them, and
their customer is relieved of his burden and
at liberty to enter upon fresh career unob-
strueted and free.
1t seems to me that the West and South are
getting altogether the best of this self acting ar
rangement. Whatever hsrdshps there are
about it fall wholly upon tue merchauts.of New
York, BostoL and the other Northern aud New
England towns, great aud small that encounter
the hazard Of miscellaneous traffic. The pas
sion for prosecuting trade is too strong to be
resisted or account of any perls by which it is
attended, but if this style Of business is kept up
long enough the West will have effected a
transfer of such an enormous amount of East
ern capital to its own domain, that the losers Of
it will be compelled to migrate thtther to try
and get subsistence by cultivating the soil. A
good many of them in fact have already been
forced to take that direction and more will have
to follow. The present effect of the silver asi-
tation is to interrupt the outflow Of capital from
the seaboard to the interior through these chan
nes. A good deal is still going all the while,
bat not so much as there would bs if there
were no talk about plans for receding from the
obligations to resume payment pext January
aud to take step backward by resorling to va
rious expedients for inf ating the currency. If
the debtor class don't in the eud get the worst
of the doubt, uncertainty and delay which en-
velop the financial horizon it can only be be-
cause the laws of nature have been miraculous
ly suspended in their favor, for the principle
of gravitaion itself is not more certain than that
in all cases of alienation between capital and
enterprise the latter must endure the greater
suffering. Capital can shut itself up and bide
its time. Enterprise must either have exercise
or fall into decay. There is no resting place
for it.
Ia deseantiDg upon the chaotic condition of
affairs at the national capital it is less dificult
to defne the causes of the existing state Of
things than it is to contemplate them without
extreme impatieuce and dissatisfaction. 1t was
Thomas f. Marshall Of Kentucky, il recol-
lect rightly, who described Tylers admiuistra-
tion as parenthesis in the history of the
American government. The same definition
seems strikingly applicable to the present dy-
nasty. Both parties are desenera,ing into
rabbles for lack of leadership; it is not so
much the fault as the misfortune of the DEM
ocrats that their forces are scattered, and their
purposes conflicting; but che Republicans have
the executive mower an the res nonsihilitv and