ached; and that a specie
basis can not be reached and maintained until our exports, exclusive
of gold, pay for our imports, interest due abroad, and other specie
obligations, or so nearly so as to leave an appreciable accumulation
of the precious metals in the country from the products of our mines.

The development of the mines of precious metals during the past year and
the prospective development of them for years to come are gratifying in
their results. Could but one-half of the gold extracted from the mines
be retained at home, our advance toward specie payments would be rapid.

To increase our exports sufficient currency is required to keep all the
industries of the country employed. Without this national as well as
individual bankruptcy must ensue. Undue inflation, on the other hand,
while it might give temporary relief, would only lead to inflation
of prices, the impossibility of competing in our own markets for the
products of home skill and labor, and repeated renewals of present
experiences. Elasticity to our circulating medium, therefore, and just
enough of it to transact the legitimate business of the country and to
keep all industries employed, is what is most to be desired. The exact
medium is specie, the recognized medium of exchange the world over. That
obtained, we shall have a currency of an exact degree of elasticity.
If there be too much of it for the legitimate purposes of trade and
commerce, it will flow out of the country. If too little, the reverse
will result. To hold what we have and to appreciate our currency to that
standard is the problem deserving of the most serious consideration of
Congress.

The experience of the present panic has proven that the currency of the
country, based, as it is, upon the credit of the country, is the best
that has ever been devised. Usually in times of such trials currency
has become worthless, or so much depreciated in value as to inflate the
values of all the necessaries of life as compared with the currency.
Everyone holding it has been anxious to dispose of it on any terms.
Now we witness the reverse. Holders of currency hoard it as they did
gold in former experiences of a like nature.

It is patent to the most casual observer that much more currency, or
money, is required to transact the legitimate trade of the country
during the fall and winter months, when the vast crops are being
removed, than during the balance of the year. With our present system