Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1879-08-20

refundlng and resumption purposes.
| This was a critica. experiment, the ex-
| pediency Of which was gravely doubted
by many friends Of resumption, but it
PROVED PERFECT SUCCESS.
This course was pursued until Novem-
Der, the price of coin constantly declin-
ing and confidence steadily improving,
when cong ess met and bill speedily
passed the house OF representatives to re.
! peal the resumption act. This and other
proposed measures affected seriously the
| public credit, and stopped the sale of
bonds as with clamp. An examination
Of financial problems by the committees
OF both houses and the debates in con.
! gress caused the senate to refuse to pass
! the bill for the repeal of the resumption
act, and finally prevented the passage of
any bill that would cripple that act, and
left the executive officer TO pursue its
duty as pr, scribed therein. On April
! II, 1878, the department was again able
TO resume its policy of purchasing coin
by sale Of 4ia per cent. bonds, and short
" afterwards To- commence the sale of
per cents tor refunding purposes, and
this policy Was steadily pursued to the
end. During the process coin constantly
bonds steadily increased In 1873 we
sold $50,0O0,O00 four and 4 half per
cent. bonds at premium of one and
half per cent, and S128,6S5, 450 four per
cent. bonds at par. Ninety million dol
lars of the proceeds of bonds sold in
1877 and 1878 were held in coin as part
of the resumption fund, and the balance
was applied to the payment Of the six
per cent. twenty five bonds. At the end
of 1878, and before congress had con-
vened, we had thus accumulated, includ-
ing surplus revenue a coin reserve Of
Sl3,000,000.. Resumption
HAD PRACTICALLY COME
one month before the day fixed by law,
as quietly and TRANQUILITY as a vessel
would float from the river into the
ocean. Our notes were no longer at
discount They were at par with coin.
The same money was paid to the laborer,
the farmer, the bondholder, and all as
good as the best coin issued from the
III int. On the first day of January, and
on every day since, both gold and silver
have been ready, and have been paid to
every holder of a grcenuack who de-
sired it. SO complete was the success of
resumption that all the notes presented
for redemption since the first of Janu-
airy. and prior to the first of July, amount
to s., 016 sos, while gold coin has been
freely deposited in the treasury in ex-
change for United States notes. The
total amount OF gold coin aud bullion in
the treasury on the second day of Jan
uary, 1879, was Sl35 49,, $3.50 AZ On the
first day of this month, the amount of
silver dollars has increased from $lG,-
1888 in January to So, 1881 judy |.
RESULTS OF RESUMPTION.
Let us now see what have been the
legitimate results of resumption. Since
the first of January, and prior to the
first of July, 1879 we have paid about
81 100000 coin certificates with United
States notes, and have paid $ll0,501,-
1898 United States bonds with United
States notes Ofth enormous sum of
called bonds paid by the treasury, so far
as is known, not a dollar has been de
manded in coin, and thus by resumption
we have paid, and are paying daily,
the tive-twenty teniorty bonds in cur
rency.
The annual saving in the interest
charge, effected by these returning oper-
ations, since the first of January last, is
$3.50, 46S, and since the first OF March,
1877, to the present time, Sl4,291 III.
Sometimes complaint has been made
that, during the process Of refunding the
amount Of interest bearing debt was tenn
porarily increased, and that interest was
paid on two sets Of bonds at the same
time. This, from the nature of things,
was unavoidable under the provisions of
the funding act of 1870, BY that act, be-
fore any bond can be redeemed, notice
must be given for the period of three
months. Before that notice must be
given, bonds have to be sold and the
money either collected or secured, and
this process necessarily involves the pay
ment of interest for three months, not
only upon the bonds sold, but upon those
to be redeemed. Advantage was taken
of this fact to unjustly arraign the de-
partment for matter beyond its control
4 constant cutlery was made that the in
terest. bearing
DEBT WAS BEING INCREASED.
The debt statement would necessarily
show that, during the three months, two
SETS of bonds were outstanding, but it
would show also that the money was in
the treasury, and this being deducted
would leave the balance of the debt as
| before. Thus, if you owe a thousand
dollars with the right to pay it at your
| pleasure, aid borrow money for that pur-
/ pose, YOU will nave two notes outstand-
| ing at the same time until you can apply
| the borrowed money to the payment of
| the first note. The secretary then showed
/ how resumption had increased the pros.