Nobody can exaggerate the value of this determination, which is the corner-stone of Financial Reconstruction.

Willingly, gladly, patriotically, it submitted to this burden while the Republic was in peril; but now there is a yearning for relief.

War taxes should not be peace taxes; and so long as the present system continues, there is a constant and painful memento of war, while business halts in chains and life bends under the load.

The national credit being safe, relief from the pressure of existing taxation is the first practical object in our finances.

The proper reduction of taxation involves two other things: first, the reduction of the present annual interest on the national debt, thus affording immense relief; and, secondly, the spread or extension of the national debt over…

What is a burden now will be scarcely a feather’s weight in the early decades of the next century, when a population counted by hundreds of millions will wield resources counted by thousands of millions.

But the case is strengthened, when it is considered that the war was for the life of the Republic, so that throughout all time, so long as the Republic endures, all who enjoy its transcendent citizenship will share the benefits.

Thus, besides precious blood beyond any calculation of arithmetic, the present generation has already contributed immensely to that result in which succeeding generations have a stake even greater than theirs.

Considering these propositions with the best attention I could give to them, I have been impressed by their inadequacy as a system at the present moment.

But besides this capital defect, apparent on the face, I find in the system proposed no assurance of success.

Obviously, to induce the voluntary relinquishment of bonds at a high rate of interest for other bonds at a less rate, the holders must be offered something preferable to the coin tendered as an alternative.

The attempt at too low a rate of interest would cause the coin to be taken rather than the bond, if we had the article at command,--and would end in a deluge of coin, sweeping away the premium on gold.

A return to specie payments, thus precipitated, would be of doubtful value, if not illusive, without other and sustaining measures.

New York is our commercial centre, designated by Providence and confirmed by man.

It was my duty to show why the propositions of the Secretary were not sufficient for the occasion, and this I have tried to do simply and frankly.

While the present system continues, we are poor.

The payment of the national debt and the accumulation of coin in the Treasury are the signs of unparalleled national wealth, but our financial condition is not in harmony with these signs.

And yet, with these tokens of national resources manifest to the world, our bonds are below par, and our currency is inconvertible paper.

There should be no coercion of any kind upon any holder, at home or abroad, to induce the acceptance of a substitute bond.

It is important, if not necessary, in order to counteract the suspicion which has been allowed to fall upon our national credit.

I know no way in which this conviction can be created so promptly and easily as by redeeming in gold some one of our six per cent. loans; and that most naturally selected is the first, which is already so noted from the discussion to which…

The time will have come, which is the condition-precedent named by the Secretary of the Treasury, when “the want of faith in the Government” will be removed, and the door will be open to cheap loans.

The stigma of Repudiation, whether breathed in doubt or hurled in taunt, will be silenced.

There are other fields of glory than in war, and such a triumph will be among the most important in the annals of finance.

Accustomed to the facilities this currency supplies, it is difficult to understand how business was conducted under the old system, when every bank had its separate currency, taking its color, like the chameleon, from what was about it, so…