governed by the Jews of
the gold board and the speculators of the stock exchange, or by the
Secretary of the Treasury. If we ended the war by placing one man on the
field to direct every movement,--after we had tried in vain to conduct
it by committees of Congress and rival generals,--will not one
statesman, with plenary power, be equally effective on the field of
finance?

The man who carried a Western State through the revulsion of 1857, and
maintained specie payments when Boston and New York succumbed,--who has
so well and so successfully wielded the limited power we have given
him,--well deserves the confidence of the country. Let him have power at
once to go to the fountain-head for the small balance we may require
from the Old World; let him have the authority to raise funds to meet
the floating debt and temporary loan, and to replace the seven-thirties
and compound-interest notes as they mature, and we may confidently
anticipate both an early resumption of specie payments and reduced rates
of interest, and consequent diminution of debt. With a return to specie
payments, our current expenses must fall from thirty to forty per cent,
and we can well afford to resign any premium on gold we now enjoy.

TAXES ON PRODUCTION.

The Revenue Commission enlighten us on this point. In their very able
and luminous Report they say:--

"The diffuseness of the present revenue system of the United States is
doubtless one of its greatest imperfections, and under it the exemption
of any article from taxation is the exception rather than the rule. To
assert this, however, is no reflection on the judgment or skill of its
authors. The system was framed under circumstances of such pressing
necessity as to afford but little opportunity for any careful and
accurate investigation of the sources of revenue; but it has most
certainly accomplished the end designed, namely, the raising of revenue;
and the country to-day is undoubtedly receiving by taxation far more
revenue than is necessary for its legitimate expenditures. As a success,
therefore, our present revenue system is a most honorable testimonial,
not only to the wisdom of its authors, but to the patriotism of the
people, who not only _endured_, but _welcomed_, the burdens it imposed
upon them.

"A system of taxation, however, so diffuse as the present one,
necessarily entails a system of duplication of taxes, which in turn
leads to an undue enhancement of prices; a decrease