vi. National Banks, amount of capital in National Bank law, official copy. 415 297 65 do do new law improvement New York bank dividends. 319 299 155 90, 138, 250, 298, 378, 455 154 ain..... 894 of specie.. 43, 133, 244, 293, 376, 448 crease.. Prices, list of and the effect of the Prices, rise in and the effect. 66 of United States paper... 447 289 242 43, 132, 245, 295, 374, 446 Produce, exports of breadstuffs to 386 318 Produce, monthly receipts, exports, 243 252 414 city bank returns.. Purchasing agency. 314 New York clearing-house returns from 1854 to 1864.. New York State Bank returns.. 379 North American Colonies of Great THE MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW. JULY, 1864. THE EX-SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY AND HIS SUCCESSOR. THE finances of a great nation, in times of crisis, are often fatal to the minister that undertakes to guide them. That Mr. CHASE would, sooner or later, break down under the system he put in action, was very apparent to every reflective mind; but the immediate and sudden termination of his career was hardly looked for. Nevertheless, events seem, latterly, to have crowded so fast upon each other, the course of depreciation being so rapid, forcing the Secretary to the most desperate expedients to stem the downward torrent, that it became very evident he would speedily be swept away by it; and he, therefore, resigned on the 30th of June. The President immediately nominated DAVID TOD, Ex-Governor of Ohio, as his successor. Mr. Top was known mostly as a politician, but had, in his career, identified himself so decidedly as a hard money advocate, that he won the sobriquet of "Pot Metal ToD." Although that gentleman promptly refused the office his antecedents, in that respect, were taken as indicative of Mr. LINCOLN'S views upon money questions. The Hon. WILLIAM PITT FESSENDEN, who has represented Maine two terms, as United States Senator, and who has served as chairman of the Finance Committee, was then nominated, and immediately confirmed as Secretary. This gentleman is a lawyer, and one whose financial theories and experience have been gained only in the Finance Committee; but he has personal qualities, which enable him to command more public confidence in that situation than would, perhaps, any other mere politician. If the country is fated to be governed by lawyers, in all its departments, perhaps Mr. FESSENDEN is as good a choice as may be made. He has, however, a terrible task before him, to assume what may be called the debris of the splendid patrimony of the country, which, with carte blanche, was put into Mr. CHASE's hands, but has, with his manipulation, been so wasted as to have the nation now, we might almost say, in a state of bankruptcy. To restore a currency which has once been so depreciated, and, at the same time, extract taxes and the means of carrying on the government, seems to the practical financier almost a hopeless task; since the restoring of the currency in volves falling prices. These cannot decline without causing losses, bankruptcy, diminished value of property, and suspended production, a state of affairs that destroys the power to collect taxes, and makes borrowing difficult, if not impossible. Yet this is the task from which Mr. CHASE shrunk, after causing the necessity for it, and which Mr. FESSENDEN has now to undertake. When Mr. CHASE first assumed the position of Treasurer the personal property of the Northern States was, per census, $2,500,000,000, the debt nominal, and the currency specie; at the last published statement the debt is given at $1,720,000,000; but it is well known that the real amount is many hundred millions in excess of that sum; in fact the debt, we believe, is nearly equal to the personal property in 1860; while the personal property itself has greatly diminished in quantity during the war. Of this debt about $800,000,000 is in various forms of paper money, which had depreciated to 40 cents on the dollar on the day of Mr. CHASE's resignation; so, also, two loans put on the market by Mr. CHASE, had failed. The expenses for the coming year, estimated some months since, are about $1,000,000,000. Now with the currency 40 cents per dollar, with the loans unproductive, and with all prices at a high level of inflation, and daily rising, Mr. FESSENDEN is called upon to provide for the coming year. The task is not a light one. Its great difficulty consists in the fact of the present high and increasing prices for commodities, and that all the taxes of the government are taxes upon consumption or indirect taxes. There are no taxes upon property. This alternative then presents itself:-If the present level of currency is maintained the expenses of the government will be swollen by the high prices to an extent equal to the product of the new taxes. To illustrate the Quartermaster's Department bought last year 283,940,284 lbs of corn, or 4,800,000 bushels, at 90 cents, making $4,320,000. The same quantity now will cost $7,100,000. Thus $2,800,000 of the increased taxes is sunk in that one article. The pay of the troops is higher; the same number of men and subsistence will cost 50 per cent more this year; consequently the new taxes count nothing as a resource, unless the present prices are reduced. On the other hand, if prices fall, the stringency and distress thereby caused tend to make the collection of taxes difficult and loans impossible. The revulsion set on foot by Mr. CHASE to cause a reduction in gold, has reduced the customs revenue to a point far below the wants of his interest account, and the prospect is not propitious for the future payments. Such, then, is the condition in which Mr. CHASE leaves our finances; and these facts should be well understood now, lest hereafter Mr. FESSENDEN be blamed for disasters, to avert which was beyond the power of man. The initiative error of Mr. CHASE seems to have been a distrust of the people. He, apparently, in taking possession of the Treasury, understood that a large amount of money must be raised for the support of the war, but he was afraid that the patriotism of the country would not remain proof under the burden of taxes; that if he imposed such taxes as were indispensable to the maintenance of the war on a sound basis, the people might shrink from its prosecution. He therefore determined that the war should go on, and that by means of paper issues it should be made apparently profitable, always |