Year: 1868

nation Of busiHess-by the paralysis OF


.rade-by the delay in general progress


and developement, brought about by


deprecated, fuctuating. and deceptive


currency, when estimated in dollars,


would form vast sum, compared with


which the loss Of interest on the re-


served gold would be mere bagatelle.


But if we do not obtain the gold to


redeem the greenback currency in the


manner proposed, in what other way, or
ut what time should it be obtained9


Shall the Government go intoWall street


and buy it, like the importers or gam-
blers? Or shall we sell new bonds in
| europe at seventy and seventy two
! cents on the dollar, aud obtain it in
that way2 Will it be easier to begin the
process at the end of five years, tae
nation suffering in the meantime all the
evils and Losses of depreciationp Shall


the nation stand shivering for four
wears on the banks Of this Jordan, and
then make the plunge when the waters


are deeper, swifter, and colder than
now? Such is not the part of wisdom Or
patriotic craftsmanship.


/ If an individual fails to pay his debts,
payment may be enforced by the law


against his property, but against the
Government there is no such remedy.


What would be mere neglect or failure.


therefore, on the part of an individual
would be reputation by q Government.
If the greenback note is to be reyar-


ded as an obligation, for the payment OF


which the faith of the Government to


make any provision for its redemption


can not be regarded in any other light


than repudiation. When the first OF


those notes were issued. it was provided
/ Al l.. III s,1ko fhn fivn
| twenty bonds, but that provision was


shortly after repealed, and they now
| stand in the nature Of forced loan,
| drawing no interest and, for all that ap
! pears, are to be left to perish in the
hands of the people.


If, when the five twenty bonds fall due,


the Government should fail to pay them,


or to make any satisfactory provision
far funding them into new bond, the
cry of reputation would at once be
raised; and yet it cannot be shown that
the legal and moral obligations to pay


those bonds at maturity is greater than
that resting on the Government to make
prompt provision for the redemption of
the greenback currency. The legal Oh
legation is no greater, aud the moral obli-
CATION hardly as strong; for the green


back notes, are in fact the peoples bonds


the bonds of the millon-in which are
invested the laborer's toll and the mea
ger profits of the humble occupations OF
life, which,, more than any others, de-
mand tho fostering and protecting care
of the Government.
- But, while it is true that the discount
on our bonds has little, If anything, to
do with the depreciation of our currency, |
it is also true that the depreciation of our
currency has much to do with the dis
count on the bonds. do not believe
that our bonds will ever approach par,
approach it nearly, until the currency |
Is made good.


The legal tender currency of coun


try hears an intimate, and,perhaps, mys-
terious relation to every form of credit
and security, both public and private,
and, if it be deprecated inevitably drags
them down to it's own level. This l
state as general proposition, in which
there may be a few exceptions, depen


dent upon grounds which can be readily
explained The legal tender currency
is at par, in contemplation Of law and in
the payment Of debts, though it may
not be worth six cents on the dollar.
II is the ''par" and the measure of price
and value recognized in all the ordinary
business Of the country. The price Of
property and all articles of trade are
not given at so much in gold; but in
green backs, and the legal tender value I
of the greenbac.< is so identified in the
public mind with the measurement in
price Of ever species of property, mer !
chandse and labor, that it assimiates to ,
Itself well the price OF securities, |
even though by their terms they may be {
made expressly payable in gold.


We find full illustration of the oper-
alton OF this principle in the history OF
the five twenty and ten forty bonds.
These bonds were sold at par by the :
Government for greenbacks, when the {
greenbacks ranged in value, at different
times, from ninety 30 thirty four cents t
on the dollar. Whatever might be the {
value of the greenback dollar, the bonds 6
were still sold at par for that dollar, |
and such is the measure Of value to day
in the markets at ITO Ill lie and l13 +
in greenbacks in the New York market. I
The premium grows out Of the semi e
annual payment, of a large interest, and '
it is hardly so large as the premium '
which was paid TO the United States six l
per cent. stocks, berfore the war, in gold. f
So that, in point of fact, the par value Of n
these bonds in New York is measured
BY the legal s'par" of the greenback f
currency. The value of the ten forty C
bonds in the market, although by i
heir express terms, payable in gold is t
governed by the same legal "par, and a
what is more true of the market value il
of these bonds in the United States is V
equal true Of their market value in Eu- t
rope. Here their price is calculated in a
yreenbacks. and there in gold. There s
'he price ranged from sixty TO seventy |;
.wo cents on the dollar, in gold, and is p
always kept within the gold value of the a
,reenback currency in New York, per- Il
laps with the addition of two or three s.