234 History op the greenbacks

The outstanding certificates of indebtedness had mounted to

$162,000,000 and there were unpaid requisitions on the

treasurer of $72,000,000. The expenditures were $2,250,000

a day, while the income from customs was hardly more than

sufficient to pay the coin interest on the debt, and even the

secretary's overestimate made the daily receipts from inter-

nal taxes but $750,000.' Add to this the fact that there was

little chance of quick improvement because Congress had

delayed passing the revenue bills until the last day of June,

and the unhappy state of the finances becomes apparent. 2

Under the combination of unfavorable circumstances it is

not strange that the value of the currency fell rapidly. News

of Mr. Chase's resignation came to New York July 1, and

was declared by the World to mean that the treasury was

practically bankrupt. 3 This seems to have been the construc-

tion generally put on the resignation at first, and it was not

until July 7 that the Tribune denied this story and declared

that Chase withdrew simply because he and the president

could not agree on a successor to Mr. Cisco. Senator Fes-

senden's appointment produced a temporary reaction, but

Early's raid was creating too much consternation to allow of

much improvement. Sunday, July 10, he was within ten

miles of Washington, where there was no force that seemed

capable of withstanding his veterans. Next day the price of

gold touched 285 the highest value of the war that is,

the currency fell to a specie value of $35.09.* Though the

crisis was passed, the market yielded stubbornly. Fessen-

' Cf. Report of the Secretary of the Treasury, December, 1864, pp. 19, 20, and

Part I, chap, v, sec. ii, above.

2 The tariff act, the ways and means act, and the internal revenue act were all

approved June 30. 13 Statutes at Large, pp. 202, 218, 223.

3 See the reply of the Tribune, July 7.

* After the regular market had closed for the day, transactions in gold at a still

higher price are said to have taken place. MEDBEEEY tells a circumstantial story

of a frightened Missouri banker who bought $100,000 of gold at 310, in Men and

Mysteries of Wall Street, p. 250.

SPECIE VALUE OP THE PAPER CUBBENOY 235

den's attempt to relieve the treasury by securing a loan

from the banks failed on account of the limitations imposed

by the subtreasury law, and the seven-thirty loan which he

advertised on the 25th of July was not very well received. 1

Consequently while the currency reached $40.98 on the 15th,

it fell back again and closed for the month at about $39.

Contemporary observers were wont to declare that this

extraordinary rise of the premium after the gold room had

been reopened was due solely to a well-concerted corner

which had been arranged while the gold bill was still in

force. 2 When one examines the military and financial

situation, however, one finds little ground for surprise that

the credit of the federal treasury was at a low ebb in the

first half of July. No doubt the "bulls" in the gold room

were doing their utmost to raise the price, but their signal

triumph over the " bears " would have been impossible had

July, 1864, been like July, 1863, a month of great sub-

scriptions to national loans and decisive victories in the

field.