The New York herald., 1878-11-26
The Machinery OF Specie Payments.

| explicit and cannot be regarded as salts
factory He leaves the country quite i'll a
fog as to the facilities which he will afford
to the holders of United States notes for
readily converting them into coin. 1t is too
evident that public convenience requires
that the law on this subject be supplemented
by set of we'll digested Treasury regula-
tions The only provision made in the Re-
sumption act itself is in these words:-"On
1879, the Secretary of the Treasury
Shall redeem in coin the United States
legal tender notes then outstanding on
their presentation for redemption at the
Office Of the Assistant Treasurer Of the
United States in the city of New York, in
sums not less than fifty dollars" If there
is to be no other channel of redemption
than the one here designated legal tender
notes will be at discount in most parts of
the country whenever there is an active de-
mand for gold. If citizen OF New Orleans
or St. Louis or San Francisco happens TO
need coin for any purpose he will be SUBJ
iect to the risk, expense and delay of send
ing greenbacks to New York by express,
and the further risk, expense and de-
lay of having the coin received in
exchange sent back to him by ex-
press. The agent who transacts the
business for him in New York may have to
await his turn behind long line Of people
at the Sub-Treasury, adding to the expense
and the vexatious delay. Besides the
expense of transmission both ways he will
lose the use of his money during the time
consumed in the operation. He would find
it cheaper and more convenient to pay
premium on coin in his own city. The
business of the gold brokers would not be
abolished by redemption at one point on
the extreme eastern edge Of country three
thousand miles in extent
We must not be misled by an analogy
founded on the method Of redemp-
tion in England. There are, to
be sure, some close points Of re-
semblance between Bank of England
notes and our government notes. Both are
q full legal tender for the discharge Of
debts and for the redemption of other
paper currency but it must not be in
ferred that because one centre Of coin re-
demption is sufficient in England that it
will answer equally we'll in the United
States. The local banks of England have
abundant means of obtaining coin otHer
than the sending of Bank of England notes
to London for redemption. The great
distinction between the currency Of
England and our own consists in
the absence Of small notes in the
circulation of that country. No bank
notes are allowed to be issued Of smaller
denomination than five pounds, and the
consequence is that large amount of gold
is used in ordinary daily transactions. A
great proportion Of our paper currency,
both legal tender notes and national bank
notes, is in small ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS,
twos, fves, tens and tweRties. If these
were all suppressed by law and notes Of
twenty-five dollars were the lowest that
could be issued, there would be needed IN
immense amount of coin to fill the vacuum.
In England wages are mostly paid and the
retail trade mostly conducted in metallic
money. The state of the circulation
affords to all the banks in every part Of the
kingdom facilities for recruiting their sup
plies of coin at will. as a soil saturated with
moisture feeds abundant springs and rivers.
In that country there is gold in the hands
of the people everywhere, and it flows into
and out of the banks daily in the ordinary
course Of trade. The retail dealers receive
coin for great part of what they sell and
deposit it regularly with their bankers, SO
that it requires no trouble or foresight for
banks to keep q supply Of coin without
having constant recourse to the Bank of
England. They are always prepared to
supply their customers with either notes or
coin, according to their wants, from sources
independent of the great central reserve in
London--namely, from their own depositors.
Now, the condition of our own currency
10 so different that the English practice is
no guide for this country. Our small note
circulation excludes gold from the ordinary
channels of business our banks have not
a source of supply in their depositors.
When resumption begins they can procure
what gold they may want by sending green
backs to the Treasury for redemption,
which will drain away the government re-
serve to that extent This is the reason
why the cooperation OF the banks is so i'm
portant in the work of resumption. Secre-
tary Sherman has no right to expect their
hearty and continued cooperation unless
he meets them in spirit ofmutual accom-
mediation. 1t is FOR his interest that they
should take away no more of his stock Of
gold than is actually needed in the current
transaction Of busin ess. He IN ust not tempt
them to make provision for fanciful
exigencies and to accumulate large gold re-
serves by way Of precaution. If they find
that they can obtain gold in exchange for
greenbacks only by the cumbrous process of
sending their greenbacks thousands of miles
and ta L q thar chances of rettin no hustled In