ous official testimony of a contradictory character can be produced; may be safely asserted that it cannot be found. it 2. The newspaper files of 1865 also shed material light on this subject. There can have been no reason why their monetary and editorial columns should not have presented the facts concerning the volume of the currency precisely as they were, for misrepresentation then was both causeless and certain of detection. And when there is found to be a substantial agreement between the newspapers of that day of all parties and the official reports, the cumulative evidence is simply unanswerable. The following are the results of the examination of a file of the New York Semi- Weekly Tribune for the latter half of 1865: In an editorial on the currency question published on August 4, 1865, these statements were made: Of "legal tender" afloat there is not quite $700,000,000; but over $250,000,000 of this consists of notes on interest, which have been mainly hoarded for presentation when due. Practically the amount of our currency does not exceed $500,000,000, to which add the National bank notes in circulation, and the aggregate is less than $700,000,000. In an editorial on a Treasury Report, published on Tuesday, September 5, 1865, are these statements: The compound interest notes only serve as a temporary currency. For the first year of their issue, they float about at par, but afterward become absorbed by shrewd investors. We shall have "the seven thirties" to pay (in 1868-9) and other securities of short date. Let it be noted that "the seven-thirties" are classed with securities; they are dealt with uniformly in this manner in the monetary columns of the same paper; so also in the advertisements of Jay Cooke, who was then disposing of them by subscription among the people. In The Semi-Weekly Tribune of Friday, November 3, in an article on "Debt, Finance and Currency," bearing all the marks of Mr. Greeley's vigorous pen, appears this paragraph: The aggregate of legal tenders in circulation is as follows: Sept. 30. $ 32,954,280 392,070 427,768,409 217,012,141 $633,812,521 $678,126,900 The compound interest notes are practically withdrawn from circulation, reducing the volume of our currency by nearly $200,000,000. But, includ ing these, our aggregate currency is very nearly as follows: This article was devoted to an appeal for a vigorous contraction policy, and the existing "inflation" was therefore put by Mr. Greeley in its strongest possible light. Yet his total of currency, after including issues that he himself admitted were "practically withdrawn from circulation," fell over $1,100,000,000 short of the alleged "two billions." The financial article in the issue of the same paper for December 5, 1865, gives the following statement of the total "currency standing: Five per cent. legal tenders....... United States notes, old issue.. United States notes, new issue (greenbacks). Compound interest notes. National bank notes... State bank notes....... Total............... currency" out $32,536,901.00 392,970.00 426.349,326.00 167,012,141.00 221,230,115.00 55,000,000.00 $902,521,453.00 And the editorial columns of December 8 (the next issue), speak of the compound interest notes as being "mostly held as investments," and of $30,000,000 as the amount of interest bearing legal tenders then "actually in circulation." To make this exhibit still more convincing there is added the following extract from a letter of Henry C. Carey, a standard authority with the advocates of an "irredeemable currency," to Schuyler Colfax, dated February 13, 1865, and discussing the volume of the currency: "What, in the meantime, had been the course of the Treasury in regard to the issue of legal tender notes? For a reply to this question I must refer you to the following figures exhibiting the state of that portion of the public debt on the 1st of November last: I. Of greenbacks, the amount then outstanding was... II. Of one-year notes....... III. Of two-year notes...... IV. Of two-year coupon notes.............. V. Of three-year notes... Total.. $433,000,000 43,000,000 16,000,000 61,000,000 102,000,000 .$655,000,000 "The amount is here shown to have been greater by about $150,000,000 than it had been a year before, but of this how much was there that really remained in circulation? At the present moment, as I am assured, twothirds of Nos. II, III, and IV, have been absorbed by individuals and institutions, and have ceased to constitute any portion of the circulation, Such, likewise, is the case with a portion of No. V. Admitting now, the quantity since issued of this last to be equal to the amount of the others. so absorbed in the last three months, we obtain, as a deduction from the above apparent circulation, the large sum of $80,000,000, and thus reduce the real amount to $575,000,000. Is this, however, all the reduction needed to be made? By no means! Throughout this period banks have been parting with their gold and substituting for it United States notes, both demand and interest-bearing, and individuals to a vast extent, have followed their example. The farmer pays for what he needs in local notes, but he puts aside his "greenbacks." The miner and the mechanic-the laborer and the village shopkeeper-the soldier and the sailor-the immigrant who is seeking to invest his little capital, and the sempstress who is trying to accumulate the means with which to purchase a sewing machine-all of these have been hoarders of "greenbacks which have thus been withdrawn from circulation, and have, for the time being, no more influence upon either the gold or produce markets than they would have, had they been altogether blotted out of existence. Adding now together all these qualities we shall, as I think, readily obtain the sum of $75,000,000, and thus reduce the actual Treasury circulation, to the precise point at which it stood at the close of 1863.". Again, in his series of letters to Mr. McCulloch, written in February, 1866, on "Contraction or Expansion," Mr. Cary said (pages 17 and 18 of his pamphlet on the subject, published by H. C. Baird & Co., Phila.): The interest bearing legal tenders may somewhat have increased, but, having been steadily withdrawn from circulation as they grow in value, the increase cannot have been very great. Further than this, the high price of gold having withdrawn from it all the private hoards of the country, the hoarding of "greenbacks" had not only now commenced, but had made such progress as to constitute an important element in the estimate here, for the close of the year, to be made of the "paper money "then outstanding. Allowing for all these circumstances, the highest estimate of the circulation that could now be made would scarcely, as I think, exceed $750,000,000. The production of this kind of unanswerable testimony as to the limited character of the interest-bearing legal tenders could be continued indefinitely, but enough has been already adduced to prove the absolute falsehood of "the two billions of currency" claim, and it only remains to state THE CONCLUSIONS which this comprehensive examination of the subject justify. They are these: a. It is true that in 1865 the national banks held in their lawful reserves many interest-bearing legal tenders; that now they are compelled to hold "greenbacks" proper; and that, therefore, for purposes of just comparison between the two periods, the amount of these reserves (which released an equal amount of " greenbacks") should figure in the "currency" table of 1865. The total amount of these bank reserves in legal tender notes of all kinds on October 1, 1865 (vide page 64, Comp. of Cur. Report of 1865), was $59,295,704, and for the purposes of this examination, and with the view of giving the opposing side the benefit of every doubt, they will be treated as all interest-bearing legal tenders. b. The statements we have quoted make it clear that the total of other interest-bearing legal tender notes that should figure in any table of the real "currency" for 1865, by reason of their being in actual circulation as currency among the people, would not exceed $50,000,000. This is an excessive estimate made to cover any contingency; if changed at all, it should be changed by reduction. These then are the facts as to the real volume of the currency in 1865, giving to those who argue that there has been an "enormous contraction" the benefit of every doubt: Table of undisputed items........ Interest-bearing legal tenders, etc., in actual circulation.. Total.......... These figures would probably be nearer right if they were some tens of millions less, but there is absolutely no ground for claiming that they should be one cent more. "The two billions" story is the purest possible fiction, and nearly $1,200,000,000 out of the way. The margin for the real "contraction" since 1865 is the difference between the above figures and the total of "the currency for 1878" already given ($735,258,989.52), and of that margin almost $50,000,000 is due to the natural "contraction" in the volume of greenbacks" and "bank notes" which has taken place since 1874 under the operations of the free banking provisions of the Resumption act. It will be noticed that these conclusions are based wholly upon official and other records, published before the present financial discussion was commenced, and to which such references are given as to make the verification of all quotations, etc., a matter of no difficulty. THE CURRENCY. The Statutes Relating to Loans and Currency Since 1861. A Full Text of all the Important Sections of Every Law Passed by Congress, During and Since the War, Relating to any Issue of United States Currency, Treasury Notes, or Bonds-Something that Every Reflecting Voter Should Preserve tor Reference. THE ACT OF JULY 17, 1861. [Under this act were issued the six per cent. bonds now known as "The Loan of July and August, 1861," "The Seven-thirties of 1861," and "The Demand Notes."] AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE A NATIONAL LOAN, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.— -Vol. XII., p. 259, Stat. at Large. SECTION 1. That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, authorized to borrow on the credit of the United States, within twelve months from the passage of this act, a sum not exceeding two hundred and fifty millions of dollars, or so much thereof as he may deem necessary for the public service, for which he is authorized to issue coupon bonds, or registered bonds, or Treasury notes, in such proportions of each as he may deem advisable; the bonds to bear interest not exceeding seven per centum per annum, payable semi-annually, irredeemable for twenty years, and after that period redeemable at the pleasure of the United States; and the Treasury notes to be of any denomination fixed by the Secretary of the Treasury, not less than $50, and to be payable three years after date, with interest at the rate of 7 3-10 per centum per annum, payable semi-annually. And the Secretary of the Treasury may also issue in exchange for coin, and as part of the above loan, or may pay for salaries or other dues from the United States, Treasury notes of a less denomination_than $50, not bearing interest, but payable on demand by the Assistant Treasurers |