Year: 1862

4 III II singular phenomenon attending the


various financial doings of the day that, not


withstanding the issue by the government of
hundred and fifty millions of legal tender
notes, and the opposing issue by the several


banks throughout the country of above two
hundred and fifty millions Of bank paper, yet
the prices of commodities in general have not
! perceptibly risen in value; or, in other
| words no great or serious imitation Of prices
has taken place 1t is true that silks kid
| gloves, and some expensive articles of foreign
| importation, have greatly risen in price; but
this rise has reference to the action of the new
tariff and is wholly unconnected with our do
mestic trade and with the abundance of the
currency. We may take, perhaps, some other
opportunity in attempting to explain this phe-
nomenon. In the meantime the deduction flows
out Of it beyond contestation that the fnan-
| cial course Of our government il Q sue
cess, and that the issue Of legal tender
notes, Independent of the war demands,
was necessity. It is made evident that the
country stood In great need Of an increased


currency, which, from whatever source it pro-
ceeded, has ell been absorbed in the necessi-
1
| But Notwithstanding this propitious aspect Of
affairs there are not wanting shriekers, croakers
and adversaries who exert themselves to the
utmost to defeat, and, if possible, to destroy,
the course of financial management which has
been inaugurated by the United States Trea-
| sury. The opponents Of our new Treasury
| system are principally, If not wholly, the Eng
u:.I - - IT, srAo k~l
bank party at home, of both which the motives
which actuate them are transparent They see
in our system the loss of profitable loans which
they had hoped to negotiate ct an immense
profit to themselves, while here at home they
have the additional incentive which the fear of
the loss Of the. monopoly of supplying the
country viii sency supplies them.


This oppol ssf to the financial course of the
government involves the parties. to it, both at
home and abroad, in the grossest contradictions
and inconsistencies. They have been great
admirers and imitators Of the English
system Of paper money, and now they set them
selves to decry and oppose the very system
which heretofore they have SO much applauded
The course pursued by eur government is the


same as that which Mr.. Pitt followed in a crisis


of financial difficulty and distress. He author


lied the Bank Of England to suspend specie
payment, and from that moment till 1921, when
Mr. Peel brought about a return to specie, Bank
| Of England notes were constituted the whole
currency of England, and were, instead Of gold,
| q legal tender. It is we'll known that an at
tempt was made at that time to raise panic
and to discredit the government credit.
Shortly after the adoption Of this bold
measure by Mr.. Pitt, stocks fell from 80
to so. The Lombard street of London
was like the Wall street Of New York
| ii contained spectators and brokers, who had
| an end to answer in decrying the public credit.
The same schemes are being tried now in our


Wall street; but they will not succeed. The
plan adopted by our government, if very similar


to the course Of Mr. Pitt. is dissimilar In most
essential point, and that is, it is vastly supe
] rior plan-one which will outlive the war, and
| require no second Sir Robert Peel to mend and
improve 1t. Our new system is Q measure Of
finance, in which all the advantages Of converti-
bility into gold are effectually secured at once
1t is system based upon the national credit





securing TO every person throughout the country
gold for all the legal tender notes he may &C
cumulate whenever he pleases to turn them
into stocks and receive the interest Of his
investment in specie. Such a basis for the
support of our financial system is infinitely
superior to any bank credit which formed
the basis Of the English system. In the mean
time temporary agitation in Wall street,
. great rise in the price Of gold, and the rise of
foreign exchange. have given increased energy
TO the opponents Of our financial system. One Of
our contemporaries the other day, in its money
article. came out with a wonderful discovery,
which assuredly required all the genius Of
Baron Munchauscn to hit upon. 1t has dis
covered and solemnly announced the fact that
in consequence Of the price Of gold and the
high rate Of foreign exchange 1.-The use of
about s9O.OO0,oOO in legal tender notes. for
about six weeks, If persisted in, will take from
the peoples pockets this current year cash to
the amount Of s91 600 900" We quote the
very words Of this splendid Munchausen, who
modestly calls this monstrous hoax /" clear,
plain statement Of the practical working Of the
paper money system of Mr.. Chase" Really. If
this age may boast Of some great inventors
and inventions, there is evidently great draw
back to its glory in the magnitude Of the con-
summate impudence and lying Of some special
spirits and drawers of the long bow.


Here we have wonderful discovery with
respect to the issue OF ninety millions Of good,
sound money by the national government. But
the question naturally presents itself, why was
not this or similar discovery made with re-
spect to the issue Of many hundreds of millions
of doubtful, unsound paper money, issued by
the fifteen hundred and odd banks Of irrespon-
siblo 81 precarious corporations throughout the
co. .ntry during the last ten years." How much
money have their issues in all that time taken