Year: 1868

that a reduction of the paper circuIa,
/ ton Of the country until it appreciated
to the specie standard, was the true so
luton Of our financial problem. Blu
as this policy was emphatically con
demned BY Congress, and 1t is now toC
! late to return 10 II, ne recommends the
/ following measures as the next bes
calculated to eject the desired result;
COIN CONTRACTS OUGHT TO BE LEGAL
IZEDs


| Agreements for the payments of coir
seem to be the only ones not contrary tc
good morals, the performance of which
cannot be enforced in the courts. COiu
contracts executed before the passage
| ofthe legal-tender acts, as well as those
executed since, are satisfied in all the
States, except California, by the pay.
ment Of the amounts called for in de.
preciated notes. This shackIe UPON
commerce, this check upou our nation
al progress, this restriction upon indi-
vidual rights, should no longer be con-
| tinued. Ifs be admitted that the con-
dttion Of the country during the waT
and for time after its close created a
necessity for laws and decisions making
promissOry notes, ductuating in value
according to the result Of battles and OF
speculative combinations, the medium



charged, this necessity no longer exists.
Steps should now be taken to give sta
bility to business and security to enter
prise, and to this end specific contracts
to be executed in coin should at once
be legalized. Perhaps no law could be
passed which would be productive OF
better results with so little or private
inconvenience. Such law would SIM
ply enable the citizen to do what the
government is doing in its receipts for
customs, and in the payment Of its
bonded debit would merely author
ize the enforcement Of contracts voIun-
tarily entered into according to their
letter. The effect of such a law would
be to check the outflow of specie to
other countries by creating a necessity
for the use of it at home, to encourage
enterprises extending into the future by
removing all uncertainty in regard to
the value, and show how groundless is
the apprehension so generally existing
that q withdrawal of deprecated notes
on the appreciation of these notes to par
would produce scarcity of money, by
proving that specie expelled from the
country by an inferior circulating me-
dunn win return again when it is made
their performance.


THE LEGAL TENDER ACT MUST BE RE-


PEALED.


By no member of Congress, and by no
public journal was the issue of these
notes as lawful money advocated on
any other ground than that of necessity,
and the question arises, should they
not now or at an early date be divested
of the character which was conferred
upon them, in condition of the coun-
try so different from the present? The
Secretary believes that they could, and
he therefore recommends, in addition
to the enactment by which contracts for
payment of coin can be forced, that it
January, 1870, United States notes shall
cease to be legal tender on any ac-
count, or for any purpose whatever, ex-
cept government dues for which they
are now receivable. The law should
also authorize the conversion of these
notes, at the pleasure of the holders,
into bonds bearing such rate OF interest
as may be authorized by Congress on
the debt on which the present out
bonds may -he funded The
period for which they would continue
to be a legal tender would be sufficient
to enable the people and the banks to
prepare for the contemplated change.
and the privilege of their conversion
would save them from depreciation.
THE SUPREME COURT MAY OVERTHROW


IT.


Although the decisions of the court
have been generally favorable to
the constitutionality of the acts
by which they are authorized, grave
doubts are entertained by many
of the ablest lawyers of the country as
to the correctness of these decisions, and
it is to be borne in mind that they have
not yet been sustained by the Supreme
Court of the United States. The Illus
trious lawyer and statesman whose
language upon the subject OF irredeem-
able paper money has been quoted in
the Senate of the United States, on the
21st of December, 1886, expressed the
following: "Most unquestionably there
is no legal tender in this country under
the authority of this government, or
any other, but gold and silver, either
the coinage of our own mints or foreign
coins at rates regulated by Congress.
This is a constitutional principle, per-
fectly plain and of the very highest inn
portance. The states are expressly
prohibited from making anything but
gold and silver a legal tender in the pay
ment of debts, and although no such
express prohibition is applied to Con-
gress, vet as Congress has no power
granted to it in this respect, but to coin
money and to regulate the volume Of
foreign coins, it clearly has no power to
substitute paper or anythlng else Tor coin
as a tender in payment OF debts, and in
discharge of contracts Congress has ex-
ercised this power fully in both its
branches. 1t has coined money and
still coins it. 1t has regulated the value
of foreign coins and still regulates their
value. The legal tender, therefore, the
constitutional standard of value is es-
tabIished and cannot be overthroWn.
To overthrow it would shake the whole
system"


1t is by no means certain that the
Supreme Court viii differ from Mr..
Webster upon this question, and no
one can fail to perceive how important
it is that the Legislature recommend a
decision from which there can be no
appeal-that United States notes are
not, under the federal constitution, a
legal tender.


DUTIES ON IMPORTS.


The receipts for customs for the last
three years have been as follows: For