Year: 1874




We are aware that there are some reasons


which, in the eyes of the President may


render it necessary that he should sign the bill


which has passed the Senate. But at the same


time there can be no exaggerating the impor-


tance of the present financial issue. We do


not. Of course, imagine, nor would we have


our readers think, that the American govern


ment rests upon foundation 50 timsy that


any measure of imitation like that which
passed the Senate will seriously affect the


national prosperity The bill does not con-


tain materially much that is good or evil. 1t
| is not vast measure OF legislation But it
| is the principle, the first step in career the


gravity of which We cannot overestimate.


Unless we avert that career now, we may as


we'll surrender any hope Of rescuing the


country from the unfortunate and pernicious


consequences of the war. Our present fnan-
| cial condition is consequenc e, but not, we


sometimes think, necessary consequence of


the war To the President therefore, the


country now appeals to conquer financial


peace, as permanent and gratifying as the


peace which was conquered at Appomattox.


For there can be no financial peace in
America unless the President rises to the
greatness OF his present opportunity and de-
stroys the manifest disposition OF Congress to
drive the country into insolvency He must
save the country from Congress The results
of this Senate bill will be the unsettlement of
all values, unhnging the public credit, fol-
lowing the disastrous and unworthy war ex-
pedients in the way Of greenbacks and cur
rency, instead of returning to specie pay
ments If we really felt that these expedients
were unavoidable, that the country was suf-
fering for the want Of relief, that the time had
come for Congress to use the extraordinary
means necessary at some times to save the
State, then we would bow to it as dispensa-
ton of Providence, an unfortunate duty Just
as we see tnanciers in Spain who pay ten and
twelve per cent for extraordinary accommoda-
tons of money. Spain did this, not as an
act of craftsmanship, but because she no longer
had any financial power. Centuries of just such


Legislation as the bill recently passed by the
Senate have eliminated in condition of affairs
which grieves every Spaniard and all who wish
the Republic well The credit of the country has
become paralyzed, and no means have been
found adequate for its restoration. The spirit Of
gambling which is only another name for in
hation, and the protective system, have COM
bined to bring Spain to what she is financially,
just as they will surely bring America in time,
II We continue system which, in the dying
words of the wise and lamented Sumner, is ''a
detriment and a shame"


Peace is impossible with such policy We
mean financial business peace which, after all,
is what true peace means. We find the first
embarrassment in the management of our
national loan. Why is it that we cannot bor-
row money as cheaply as France and Eng
land? Why has it been thus far impossible |
for us to fund our new loan at five and half |
men of Europe gave TO the wandering Tours
government of Gambetta and to the Rus |
sian Gar a financial confidence they |
declined to confer upon us? 1t was
because we were not worthy Of any con-
fdence. We were rich, prosperous and self |
denying. For the purposes of the war We
accepted burden after burden in the way of
taxes. We made unusual and perhaps un-
necessary exertons to pay the principal We
did pay large sum. Our interest has
always been promptly met--in most
cases even anticipated We in America |
who know values well enough and the ma
terial interests which rest at the foundation of
all credit know that human skill cannot in |
vent q loan more secure than the American
national bond; that, taking all things into
consideration, it is, perhaps, the safest in
vestment in the world. Yet the world will
not believe this We have gone on from one
expedient to another from bad to worse, So
that the conservative money dealers abroad
are afraid of us. They do not like the security
of o loan based upon the Rocky Mountain poht-
ical economy OF Oliver p. Morton and John
A Logan. They do not sympathize with the
''needs Of rapidly developing and growing
country when it proposes to fabricate gaudy
fragments of paper and call them money.
However stable and inviting loan may be
to-day there is no knowing what it may be to-
morrow. We have had so many sta tesmen
discussing repudiation as an act of party tao
tics we have had reputation itself in States
like Mississippi and in some of our longest
railways; We have had so many such measures
as this proposition to increase the currency,
and to continue the increase whenever the
Western farmers do not find o good
market for corn, that the money kings are
afraid of us. We have made ourselves an ill
name We are in a state Of financial war.
The money kings deal with us as a hostile
nation, and We are compelled to pay war
rates for our money and our credit.


But there are even graver considerations
than these Arising out of our alienation from
the money kings of Europe. That we could