A prominent Boston merchant has transmitted to Mr. Cisco a
financial scheme which deserves more attention than most of the plans emanating
from amateur financiers. The writer shows clearly that the only reliable source
of the government at present is the continued issue of paper money. Starting
from this standpoint, he argues that the chief evil to be apprehended from the
use of paper money is the export of specie to foreign countries. This danger
can be obviated, in his opinion, by the negotiation in London, at regular
intervals, of a sufficient amount of United States bonds to keep the balance of
trade in our favor. At the present rate of exchange we could afford to sell
bonds in London so low as to tempt investors and speculators; and even if, in
order to secure a sale, we were compelled to accept prices lower than the
market value here, the loss would be unimportant in view of the advantage of
keeping our specie at home. A sale of $30,000,000 of bonds in the course of a
year would probably keep the balance of trade in our favor. The scheme has been
transmitted by Mr. Cisco to Mr. Chase, and will probably receive careful
consideration.
_______________
SOURCES: The above paragraph abstracted from “Financial and
Commercial,” The New York Herald, New
York, New York, Monday, February 9, 1863, p. 2 and is quoted in Preston Stearns’ The Life and
Public Services of George Luther Stearns, p. 283-4
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