New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-12-10
THE PRESIDENTS FINANCE.
COME PERTINENT QUERIES ABOUT THE
MESSAGE
7. E. cHITTENDEN COMMENTS ON THE BOND
,sst-E THE GREENBACK RETIREMENT

TIE GREENBACk RETIREMENT
AND THE FREE-rRADE SECTIONS.
10 the Editor OF The Tribune
S,r. The message approaches the financial situa-
Elan with paean Of triumph for the Wilson tariff
,rha Argentine Republic. from which woollen
..c,ories draw the needfu supply Of raw material.
ns IN return for free wool. admitted certain OF our
-,sc,s at reduced rates 1t IL TO be regretted that
o,bsr the articles the reduction nor the value OF
our exports is given But the gain is something,
and the Wilson tariff is thankful for small favors
rna; our woolen factories get their needfu supply
,-,n, that country is new. II has been supposed
,hat some wool came TO from Australia and
the countries, But when there is little to be
,hankful for there is tendency TO exagserae. For
IN ungraieful Germany the Wilson tariff does not
,,,rk so we'll That empire and other countries DIS
eliminate against our live animals and food prod
Its and Prussia has actually driven out our great
assurance companies by vexatlous conditions.
We can agree with the President that our Ma
.onal financial situation is az present In
such q perpexing and delicate predicament as TO
,s1uire prompt and wise treatment" He may de-
scribe IL for himself. After increasing our inter-
est.bearing bonded indebtedness more than one
hundred and sixty-two million dollars nearly
where we were when started having now in our
cod reserve $50 $50 as against 1854 3sSS in Feb
mary 1894. when the first bonds were issued
Ths President is partly right when he attributes
,be difficulty to the outstanding $3.50 100000 of legal
tender notes redeemable in gold. He is entirely
right wien he says that at the time OF their issue
.,hev we're intended for only temporary use 10 meet
the emergency Of war. and that in May, 1878 an act
Was passed prohibiting the retirement and canceha-
zion Of these notes But he forgets to mention that
as early as April 1865 his own party, aided by
few greenbackers and weak Republicans. tied the
hands OF Secretary McCulloch that he could retire
only 100000 per month. and in February. 1863
wholly suspended his power OF redemption or retire
rent by an act passed over the veto of Republican
President II is plain fact of history that but
for these acts Of his own Democratic party all the
leral-tender notes which now so trouble his repose
xy,,,ld have been retired and converted into pulp
hy Republican President and Secretary by the
fine the name of Cleveland first heard OF as the
Sheriff Of Erie County
In addition 10 his bad memory the President ias
70 appreciate the real source Of the existing dinl-
Guilty The legal-tender notes never gave any
trouble so long as the income Of the Treasury
eouaued its expenditures. Under Republican man
aqsrneut there was never q deficit, always a sur
plus Restricted he was, Secretary McCuhoch'
o Of this surplus retired nearly slOOoOOe OF these
notes reducing their aggregate from Sii'VVo'wV 10
ss6co0OO And the country never felt IT, Tor the
burden was borne by foreigners.
IN the face of these facts the President does not
ind II easy to understand how the amount of our
revenue receipts affects cur present difficulty. Men
who have their eyes open and wish to see ma IL
very easy. Upon the natural laws Of finance the
rresent situation was inevitable as death or the
grave.
PARALLEL CASE.
II a merchant engaged in an established Well
anoyn ard profitable trade in which he had made
regular profits and built up a frs-ciass credit
should drop it and take up another which haa peeh
abandoned as profitless by the whole mercantile
body men would say there was something the mat
er with his judgment and it was time TO curtain MS
credit II after a year his monthly losses were
thousands of dollars, he should against the "afh-
ing Of all his friends and his creditors persist IN 'he
business on the ground that the millennium was
coming when every man would work for the inter
est Of every other instead OF his own they wouio
saw: The gods mean TO destroy that man; ne Is as
mad as March hare already" They would cease
10 give him credit the ground that II ne was no.
insane he was certainly idiotc. 1t would not heip
him much TO say that by-and-by everybody wouio
be doing business in his way-that there was man
down in the Argentine Republic who had gone INTO
& already.
Yet this is Just what country under Demo
cratic rule has been and is doing. We were unoor
a protective tariff the most prosperous nation on
the globe We were paying off our war debt, oui'a-
ing a navy. meeting all our obligations, and every
month increasing Treasury surplus fresiueh'
Cleveland's party came into power pledged TO an
ad valorem tariff and 10 reduction OF customs
duties Orders were cancelled, our factories were
closed our exports fell off, our imports increaseu
and our prosperity vanished in the whirlwind or a
financial blizzard. Our credit was impaired our
trade balances everywhere against us had 10 be
paid-and our gold began TO run out OF me Treas
ury into foreign countries like water through d
sieve our only comfort comes from the Argentine
Republc which admits certain OF our products al
reduced rates" But the President cannot see IT,
though il is as plain 10 others as the doom OF lhe
Democratic party. IF the blind lead the phnd' oo'h
shall fall into the ditch
one hundred and sxty-two million dollars is a
,.,.a. deal of money-more than the annual eX-
nenses of the Republic before the war. II Is enough
q hire for year the labor of 62Oo skilled mecha-
4cs a. salaries OF 81 900 each 1t has been literally
thrown away. The President says; we are now
nearly where we were when we started ana our
god is still leaving US faster than in February lsoi
This gigantic waste unparalleled in past history Is
either a crime 4. blunder. One thing Is certain.
Whether IL Is one or the other II is the fruit OF
Grass ignorance or Democratic incapacity. and the
country wants know who is responsible LOT H.
This can only be asccrtained by Congressional
committee of investigation
l. does not satisfy the people that the Presdeht
Is quite willing to for his full share OF the
,eenon sibilltv" He has great resources We know
real estate operations, Banker Benedict, and, some
say sugar But can he raise the sls2O0,co II the
report is against him? II is more than the Ma
,ional debt when Mr.. Webster said mat rather
than have a fuss about " he would pay II himsei'
As The President like Barkis. lis wilin. there are
several points upon which he will give such COM
yoiftee information. They will wish 10 know
SOME QUESTIONS FOR THE PRESIDENT
Why. before submitting TO such an unconscionaoie
and UNPARALLELED price for gold some inquiry was
not made OF American bankers whether 1t was
Necessary? ..
Why the attorney OF one OF the bankers a FORMER
law partner Of the President. was also permit 'e"
10 act for the United States and 10 ara" up INC
Why thirty-year bond ten years longer ,nsr
ans, other ISSUED since the war, at the eAoi
~ ~ ,1er cent Interest. was agreed 10 py the
attorney? - r-x,,od S,ates bond
since 1851 giving the right TO the United staes ~
cali in and nav the bonds after a nXed GATE WIS
nor inserted I'm these bonds? , a. =