The Portland daily press., 1879-04-04
III ihe Union was worth aghsiug for ii is
wsrth paying for.
The New Era Driven TO the Wall.

The New Era Driven 10 the Wall.
The Neg Era doubles like fox, and is as
fertile in expedients. Three weeks ago it
stated that the amount of the currency in
circulation in 1866 was $1,92O, ,467, ,59S, and
said it took these figures ''from the Treasur-
er's report June 80 and August IS, 1866, for
the purpose of giving the readers of the Neao
ira the truth as stated by the proper author
ities at the time, and before there was any
reason for throwing dust in the eyes of the
people," The PRESS charged that the pre-
tended extract from the United States Treas
urer's report never appeared in that report.
Two weeks ago the Neao Era renewed its
statement in regard to the circulation in 1865
but having been convicted of misrepresenta-
tion no longer attempted to father Its figures
on the Treasury report of that year. Aban-
donng its purpose of giving the amount of
the currency "as stated by the proper author
tiles at the time" it pretended to quote from
a report made thirteen years later, by "John
Sherman, Treasurer" The PRESS showed
that no report so signed was ever in exist
ence.
Last week it again shifted ground, and
said found its statements of the currency
circulation in 1866 in a tabulated statement
prepared at the Treasury Department in
1878. The PRRss asked the Neo Era which
OF its three contradictory statements it asked
its readers to believe and said ''If the Ne,v
Era says Secretary McCulloch or Treasurer
Spinner or any other Secretary of the Treas
ury or United States Treasurer in any official
report stated the paper money currency of
The country in 1866 or any other year to be
S1,920, ,467 ,59S, it is guilty of falsehood."
This week the Neae Era returns to the
charge and says, ''The PRESS has backed
squarely off the track" The readers of the
two papers can judge how much truth there
Is in that statement. 1t furthermore says it
stated ''the facts just as they are set down
IN the authorities noted" Having aban.
doned its pretext that the amount of the cur
rency in circulation in 1866 was stated in the
treasury report of that year as 81, ,920, ,467,-
59S, it must refer as authority to the tabu-
lated statement prepared at the Treasury
Department July Is, 1878, Showing the
amount OF State, National Bank and United
States Notes, &C., outstanding at the close OF
each fiscal year, from 1860 to 1878, inclusive"
statement which it has asserted, with hab-
itual incorrectness, is signed by "John Sher-
man, Treasurer" We have that statement
before Us, and the following is a literal trans
crption of the account given by it of the
amount of the circulation in 1866:
StateBaDk Circulation. $142 9f9 63S 90
Natonal.Bank Circulation. ....,... 146, 6,137, $50 90
DeInanu Notes. ...................... 4l2,603 90
One and two-year Notes Of 1se3. .... 4235s,7l0 90
Compound- Notes. ........ 1893 7o6, ,080 90
fractional Currency. 25 O05,s2S rs
Total Amount in Currency. 1855, ,3ls,6 ,6s5 76
Thus is the Neao Era convicted by the
very authority upon which it pretends 10 re-.
ly. 1t stated the currency in circulation in
1866 as $1,920, 49,, ,59S. 1t said it got its
authority from the Treasury report of 1866.
Convicted of falsehood in that assertion it
said ii got its figures from tabulated state
ment produced at the Treasury in 1868. 1t
is again convicted of falsehood, for the state
ment of 1868 distinctly gives The total
amount of currency in circulation in 1865
as $983,31S,6S5. Furthermore the same
statement says:
"The above tables are official and give the
whole currency circulation, including Treas
ury notes, State-bank notes, fractional cur
rency. time notes, demand notes, legal-ten-
der notes, compound-interest and National
bank notes."
The statement again says:
sit will be sean' [by the official tables
given that only at two periods, 1865 and
1874. did the purchasing power of the curren-
cy exceed its present power, and in 1866 only
for brief period, during an extraordinary dis
bursement to pay off the army) and then only
in the small sum of 81, 100, 1858 Is, and iu 1874,
the year following the great panic which has
been enormously charged to contraction"
This is the language of the statement pre-
pared at the Treasury Department in 1868,
to which lne Neao Era appeals as authority
Nothing more is necessary to show that
the Greenback paper has falsified official
authorities. 1t of course has right to its
opinion in regard to the extent to which the
currency has been sweled by the habitual or
occasional use of the interest-beariDg oblga-
tions of the Government as currency. But
it is guilty of downright Misrepresentation
when it says that in any official statement
prepared at the Treasury Department at any
time the amount of the currency in 1856
is given as $1,92O, ,467,59S. 1t virtually con-
fesses its fault when it acknowledges that
the Secretaries of the Treasury place the
items of the interest and non-interest
bearing debt s'under their respective
and proper heads" and that ''the Neac
Era takes items from both heads and
unites them in one sum-" That is ex.
acty what it does, and then represents the
re-arrangement as made by the Treasury De-
partment. 1t represents the Secretaries of
the Treasury as reckoning as currency, ia
terest-bearing obligations of the Government
that they have never recognized as currency,
We charge it again with garbling, misrep
resenting and falsifying official authorities
and we have proved it. How Is that for q
"back. down?'
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