The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1878-02-14


general disaster"
When, therefore, on the 14th of jan
uary, 1875, this governn eat, having al |
ready destroyed silver money ,deterlnin- |
ed to destroy within the next four years
its outstanding legal paper currency
until there should be no more of it lett |
than could be redeemed in gold coin
alone on the 1st day of January, 1879, /
it became responsible for all the appal /
ing consequences that have followed. |
An attempt TO force the resumption
of specie payments with gold and sill
YER both as our metallic basis would be
cruel failure at this time; but the pro-
position to contract, reduce, cancel
and burn our present amount of cur
rency until it harmoniZes with the
meager margin of gold which we can
command has stricken the arm of
labor with paralysis, dried up the
fountains of business prosperity, and
placed hOllOw-eyed want in more
than million hitherto happy homes.
The decentralization silver was pur-
pOsely accomplished before the policy
of specie resumption was declared, in
order to make money as scarce as pos
sible in reaching by forced contraction
the single standard OF gold. We could
reach the double standard easier tina u
the single one, but the purpose of the
money power was the diminution OF
money in circulation, and it better ac-
complished that object by first outlaw
ing silver and then seeking the specie
basis composed of but one metal. 1t
can not be denied that great progress
has been made in this work of destroy
ing moneys, and all values, except the
value of money, which is made greater
by being made scarcer and h. rder 10
obtain.
At the date of the act of January.
1875, our volume of currency was al
ready reduced in proportion to popu-
latiOn far below European nations,
where labor commands barely susie
nance wages. We had nearly one-hall
less per capita than Germany, England
or France. Financial distress was
even then upon us. Business wrecks
were afloat on every hand. We had
the warnings of the nine preceding
years during which the money of our
country had been diminished nearly
$500, 900 900 by contraction, and dur
ing which time the liabilities for com
mercial failures and bankruptcies had
arisen from an average of about $11,
000, 900 per annum to nearly $500, 0OO,-
600. A panic had just swept over the
country with sufficient havoc and ruin
to extort the admission from General
Grant in his message of December,
1873, that our volume of currency was
too small for our business, even at its
dullest stages. We had less than $685.
OO0,00 not counting fractional cur
rency and yet against the supplicatiOns
of every active business and industry a
still further reduction was dictated,
and has been elected to the extent OF
nearly one hundred millions. If, how
ever, the law for the enforced resump-
| ton Of specie payments is to stand UNI
repealed on our statute books, then
there still remains work of destruc-
| ton to be done in this country far
more extensive, dangerous and full OF
Indebtedness than we have vet wit
messed. That law declares that
ION and after the LIST day of January,
A. ID. 1879, the Secretary of the Treas
ury shall redeem in coin the United
States legal tender notes then Outstand-
ing on their presentation for redemp
ton at the office of the Assistant Treas
urer of the United States in the city of
New Y Ork, III sums of not less than
$50"
The term coin here used means only
gold now, and the law, in order to en-
able the Secretary of the Treasury to
carry out this plan for retiring the
greenback money for circulation,
authorizes him to sell Understanding
bonds to obtain gold and to use such
surplus revenues as he may have on
hand.
The government has undertaken two
things; first, the shrinkage of the
amount of currency, and second, the
F,N a IN, efNT
that one can be converted into the
| other. The smaller, therefore, the
quantity of gold that can be obtained,
the greater must be the reduction OF
paper money in order to rest dollar
for dollar on such a narrow metallic
| basis. 1t becomes important in this
view to know what has been done I'M
der the law of January, 1875, in ac-
cumulating gold as basis for specie
payments a year hence. Many efforts
have been made to ascertain the exact
amount of actual gold which this gov
eminent now owns, none of which have
been entirely successful, for the reason
that the sum is so small, but it is per-
fecuy safe to state, after deducting the
amount due as interest on bonds, that
there are not this day fifty millions OF
gold in the United States Treasury
and in all the national banks besides.
If resumption is to take place on that
basis, the gigantic task of this poor
pittance will be to stand good for the
redemption of $3.50, OO7 ,30S 80 of legal
tender notes, commonly called green.
backs, and S29l ,S74, 236 Of national
bank note circulation, making in all
the sum of S64l ,SSl, 5H 80. 1t is very
plain, even to those who believe that
81 in gold is sufficient for the circula-
ton and redemption of 50 i'll paper,
that our present condition of 81 in
gold to about ,Sl4 in paper, must be
radically revolutioniZed against the
day fixed for specie resumption. What
probability is there Of any large in
crease of gold in the vaults of the
treasury? viii specie resumption be
reached within the present year by
leveling up the amount of gold in our
possession or by leveling down the
amount of currency in circulation.
No one claims that foreign nations
will supply our want of gold.
On the contrary, nearly all the pro-
auctions OF our mines goes TO them to
pay interest on public securities held
abroad. But even if this government
could turn the entire gold yield of
every American mine into, the treasury
between this and the lst day of Janua-
~, 1879, the supply would fall far
short, of specie basis for one-tenth
part of our present circulation. Dur
ing the year that has just closed, 1877,
the gold coinage of our mints reached |
only the sum of S44,07S, 1879. The |
bulk of this sum went abroad, a por-
ton of it is boarded by private parties, |
and small fraction, perhaps, found |
its way into the Golfers of the govern
ment. An examination of the report |
of the director of the mint for 1877, |
shows that the entire coinage of gold |
in the United States to the present |
time amounts to but 1888, l59, 694.
This is the slow and comparatively |
small production of gold money in the
long space of 81 years-nearly the