Year: 1869

Financial Views OF the Inaugural Address.


President Grant has devoted the largest
portion Of his brief and terse inaugural
address to the financial situation Of the coun-
try. This shows that he regards the subject
as most important and overshadowing all
other subjects. He lays great stress upon
the necessity of protecting the national honor
by paying every dollar Of the public debt and
the interest as it becomes due according to
contract. To do this he would give the public
creditor the benefit of any doubt, even as to
how certain securities should be paid, and en-
phatically declares that every portion of the
debt should be paid in gold unless otherwise
expressly stipulated in the contract. This
will have the effect, undoubtedly, of appre-
ciating the market value of our fve-twenty
bonds both abroad and at home. He will not
trust any one in public Office who is repudia-
tor. He believes that by making this the
policy of the government we shall be enabled
ultimately to convert the debt into bonds bear


ing less interest than we now pay.


To accomplish this object he deems it i'm
poptant, however. that there should be faith
ful collection of the revenue, strict account
ability to the Treasury for every dollar
collected, and the greatest practical retrench-
ment in expenditures in every department of
government These are brave words and we
have no doubt our new President will use all
his power to carry out the views expressed.
But it will be necessary for Congress to confide
in and aid him in the good work. The govern
ment has been defrauded in the collection Of
the revenue hundred millions year, and the
expenditures in these times of peace are at
least a hundred millions more than is neces-
sary. 1t may be in his power to save all this
by reorganizing, in the first place, the whole
machinery Of the Revenue Department and
holding the heads of it responsible; and. in the
second place, by cutting down the expendi-
lures Of every branch of the executive govern
ment. There are thousand ways in which
he can do this-in the army, in the navy, in
the civil service, and in checking the extrava-
CANT appropriations of Congress. It is evident
he is opposed to further large appropriations
for railroads, however valuable such
works may <be, till the finances of the
a specie basis; for he intimates that the gov
ernment should give its aid to these only when
dollar of obligation to pay shall be no more
in value than the dollar of aid that may be
afIorded-that is, the government should not
lend its credit in deprecated currency and
then have to pay in gold.


On the subject of reaching specie payments
President Grant takes sensible and practical
view. He desires to return to specie basis,
but only when it can be accomplished without
country at large. How the public debt is to
be paid or specie payments resumed is not so
important, he says, as that plan should be
adopted and acquiesced in. He admits that
legislation on this subject may not be necessary
now, nor even advisable, but will be when the
civil law is more fully restored in all parts of
the country and trade resumes its wonted
channels. The first step, he maintains, is to
see that our PROSTATE commerce be rebuilt and
all industries encouraged as the basis of re-
oumAhS6 opCSAC Poy hAoheo, ACotOAluS tuO uuuuCCo
and paying the debt This is just what we
have maintained all along. Specie payments
win come gradually, and as insensibly as the
dew falls, when the national finances shall
be placed on good foundation, retrench-
ment and economy be practised, and
as the industry and trade Of the country be-
come improved and developed. Those mex
haustible mines Of precious metals in the
mountains Of the far West, too, which Presi-
dent Grant designates our ''strong box" will
be unlocked and contribute to bring about at
no distant day an abundant specie circula-
ton. On the whole, President Grant takes
sensible, practical and conservative view of
the financial situation and prospects of the
country. All that remains to be done is the
application Of the policy he has laid down and
the cooperation of Congress in carrying it out.


IMPORTANT FROM PARAGUAy.-Ou despatch
es from Paraguay, by Atlantic cable via Lis
bon, received last night, inform us that Presi-
dent Lopez is still at the head of considerable