"PALAZZO COOLEY, 2 VIA DEI PUCCI,
"FLORENCE, ITALY, _Oct. 20th, 1875_.
"HON. SAMUEL J. TILDEN.
"DEAR SIR,--Allow me to congratulate you on the success and popularity
of your administration as Governor of the State of New York. It seems
to have the true Bentonian and Silas Wright tone or ring in it. I like
it, and wish you the most perfect and entire success in the noble and
patriotic efforts you are making to ferret out and punish thieves,
without regard to party, and bring back the administration of the
public affairs in the State of New York to the splendid condition they
were in when confided to the guidance and care of such men as Wright,
Marcy, and others of their best and most influential days. May God give
you health and strength to carry out your noble purposes to the utmost
limit of your commendable aspirations.
"I rejoice to hear of the signal defeat of the Democratic party of Ohio
on their shameful inflation platform; and I am prayerfully hopeful
that a similar result may accrue to the silly, not to say dishonest,
inflationists of Pennsylvania. However much it may be regretted that
the foolish inflationists of the Democratic party should have had
sufficient influence to insure its defeat this fall in those two
States, it will have the good effect to tumble out of the Presidential
path several aspirants and possible candidates for that high office.
"The Democrats in the United States have once more the political
cards in their own hands, and they are mostly trumps. Two-thirds, I
may venture to say, of the Republican party, are wearied, not to say
disgusted, with Grant's administration and sigh for a change, which
would have been affected at the last Presidential election but for the
inconceivable folly of the Democratic party in nominating Greeley,
who for forty years had exerted himself to the utmost of his ability
to destroy the party and malign and blacken the character of the most
pure-minded and patriotic members of it.
"'Free trade, reform, and speedy return to specie payments' should
be the conspicuous rallying or watchwords of the Democratic party
in the future; and it must follow, as the night the day, that, with
that insignia inscribed upon its banners, and with candidates truly
representing the sentiment or policy it indicates, the party will next
year triumphantly sweep the country from one extremity to the other.
"Protective duties, Civil War, and excessive issues of paper money
have done much to demoralize the character of our people and waft the
country towards the brink of ruin! It is high time to bring these
destructive measures to an end; and to the Democratic party, rightly
directed, is reserved the noble and patriotic mission of effecting this
incalculable benefit to the United States, which would bring back the
party itself to the enjoyment of all of its pristine power and the warm
affection of an overwhelming majority of the people.
"The war is happily at an end, and protective duties may be abolished
by repealing the ruinous acts that authorize their unjust exactions.
But a return to specie payments cannot be effected by simply passing
resolutions or empty and vague enactments of Congress. Something more
grave and important is required to insure this great and much-needed
reform in the deplorable financial condition of the country.
"In an extremity, and as a _war measure_, the government, having
undertaken to furnish a paper currency declared to be equal in value to
gold; and having made that currency the basis of a system of banking,
which has been generally adopted throughout the country, it cannot now
withdraw itself from the full responsibility of that position without
great detriment to the best interests of the country, and incurring
lasting dishonor, until it shall have, as it is abundantly able to
do, appreciated that currency and brought it up to par in gold. This
being done, the government will have returned to specie payments;
and greenbacks, being the basis of banking, the banks themselves
will also have resumed specie payments, if in a solvent condition,
with an augmented appreciation of the whole volume of the currency,
including the greenbacks and the bills of the national banks equal to
the difference between the current value of the depreciated currency
and the price of gold in the American market, which I perceive by the
last quotations is 16 per cent. This _agio_ or premium, calculated on
the whole amount of paper currency now issued by the national banks
and the government (equal, I suppose, to no less than $700,000,000),
would amount to $112,000,000; and this large sum is simply what would,
in that event, justly accrue to the possessors or holders of the
depreciated currency of the government and the national banks.
"How, it may be asked, can this desirable result be _easily_ attained?
Evidently in no other way than by the government taking such steps
and adopting such measures as will surely bring into its possession
an amount of gold sufficient to enable it to deal in its own currency
for _all_ government transactions. How is this to be done? Simply by
a six-per-cent. 'redemption loan,' having 30 years to run, and to an
amount equal to the full volume of the greenback currency now afloat.
I say _six per cent._ because I would make the absorption of the loan
_speedy_ and _sure_, though it is not unlikely that a loan of the kind
might be slowly negotiated at 5 or even 4-1/2 per cent. interest. But
a government loan at 6 per cent., having thirty or even _twenty_ years
to run, would be caught up with avidity by capitalists on both sides
of the Atlantic at a large premium; and it would at once throw the
balance of trade in favor of the United States, so that there would
be no immediate demand for gold abroad. It would, also, break down at
once the mischievous ring speculations in gold at home, and obviate the
necessity of buying gold for the payment of customs; and as gold could
be obtained at any time for greenbacks or the bills of specie-paying
banks, the demand for it would become so small that gold, instead of
commanding, as it does at present, a ruinously high premium, would most
likely become a drug!
"Such a loan as I have indicated should be put upon the principal money
markets of the United States and in Europe and bid for simultaneously,
and _payable_ in _gold_.
"Should such a condition of monetary affairs be attained the government
might withdraw the greenbacks from circulation, so fast as the volume
of currency necessary to meet the requirements of commerce should
be supplied by sound specie-paying banks, until the whole amount
($400,000,000) shall have been retired, without disturbing materially
the general current of trade or adding a single dollar to the present
indebtedness of the United States. The interest on the new loan would,
of course, have to be provided for; but that would be more than
compensated by the saving of gold premium, now annually required in
payments for foreign importations, which, whatever may be the amount,
is added to the price or cost of all foreign commodities consumed by
the people of the United States. The loan, moreover, would doubtless
be taken at a premium of 10 to 15 per cent.; if so, $40,000,000 to
$60,000,000 would be realized by the government by the operation.
"The glory of this great and patriotic achievement may be made to
redound to the honor of the Democratic party is aroused to a proper
sense of justice, and stimulated to a faithful performance of its
obvious duty to the country; and, above all, inspired with a firm
determination to be true to its own self.
"I have the honor to remain, with great respect,
"Very truly, your friend,
"J. E. COOLEY."