The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1878-10-24


bandment of the great Union army-and of
other demands upon the Treasury. The anx-
ious inquiries then were by what means can
this large amount of money be raised, and
not what will be the cost OF raising it. How
can tie soldiers be paid and the army be dis
banded so that the extraordinary expenses
of the War Department may be stopped.
and not what rate of interest shall be paid
for the money. These we're the inquiries
pressed upon the Secretary. He answered
them by calling to his aid the well-tried
agent who had been employed by his i'm
mediate predecessors, and by offering the
seven and three-t" nth notes.-the most pop
ular loan ever offered to the people-in every
city and village, and by securing the advo-
cacy of the press thu ougout the length and
breadth Of the land. In less than four
months from the time the work of obtaining
subscriptions was actively commenced the
Treasury was in condition to meet every
demand upon it,
The 7 31Orhs were payable, interest and
principal, in lawful money Qegal tender
notes., but they were not themselves legal
tender, as some have asserted; and nobody
so considered them until ten wears after they
had retired. In October, 1865, the follow
ing short time charlottesville payment or
retirement OF which is denounced as a con-
traction of the currency-were outstand-
ing-vz:
Compound-interest notes. due 1867
ana 1906. @ifo'Vi@'i9i
per cent. Treasury notes, due De- 10,
SO Treasury IS y' notes. due in 1861 and
1884,. -.............-........ osV,oo2,ooo
In addition to these there were debts due
from the Government, in the form of TEN
porary loans on ten days notice. and certi
ficates OF Indebtedness, to the amount OF
$l55. 00J. 900. The ompOund-interest notes
were legal tender at their face They
we're paid out, and for few months circu-
lated as currency, but the interest which
they bore soon caused them to be taken by
those who had money to invest, and to be
held as securities. Neither the five per cent.
nor the 3 10 notes, as have said, were a
legal tender, nor did they, except as before
stated, answer the purposes of money.
1t is undoubtedly true that allthese tenn
| porary securities, when first issued, did to
some extent swell the volume of currency,
but this was when enormous sums were re-
ceived for the payment OF soldiers and other
creditors of the Government. The fact that
all of them were paid or funded at or before
maturity, without any complaints of contrac-
ton, proves conclusively that whatever pnr-
poses they have subserved, in 1864 and the
early part of 1865, they were so held, long
before IDey were feuHeQ, CnaC Cl1eIf pay
ment or conversion into bonds in no man
ner affected the money market. Ii, as is
commended, the payment or funding OF these
notes was contraction, how happened it that
| the contraction was not felt or complained
of while the process was going on? flow
| happened it that the tide of speculation con-
tinued to sweep on, that prices continued to
| advance, and extravaganza to grow more
| wanton, until the crash of 1873 awakened
| the country to a realization Of the fact that
| what was supposed to be prosperity was
| simply ''the baseless fabric' of dream.
There never was any contraction of the cur
rency until after the crisis had been reached,
and whatever reduction has taken place
| since has been the result of business depres.
| sion. there is even now more money gold,
silver, greenbacks and bank-notes) in the
| VAULTS OF the banks, in the United States
Treasury, and in circulation, than there was
at the close Of the war, or at this end of 1865.
| The temporary loans of the Government
were paid, or converted into s. 30 bonds as
they inatured, without prejudice to anybody,
and the legal-tender notes issued for war
| purposes, and no longer needed after the
war was over, might also have been gradu-
ually retired without financial trouble, and
without any shrinkage of real values. If
| this had been done the country would have
| long since been on the tide Of prosperity
| Property might have lost something Of the
| artificial value which had been given to it by
being measured by false standard, but the
damage. if any, would have been trifing,
| . Al.