A convertible currency is nothing more nor less than the servant of coin. If there is no coin, it can neither be servant nor representative, though it may attempt to perform the functions of coin. Presenting itself under false pretences, it but partially succeeds in this attempt; and the discredit attaching to it compels it to pay more for any property than would be the price of such property in coin, or the acknowledged representative of coin,--just as doubtful people must submit to ten, fifteen, or twenty per cent. discount, when what is known as “gilt-edged” commercial paper is discounted at five, six, or seven per cent. Thus far we have had no coin in the Treasury appropriated to the stability of the United States notes,--and under our present policy, dictated by the restrictive laws that hedge the Secretary of the Treasury and confine his liberty of action, we never shall have, until the whole bonded debt of the country is extinguished,--while at the same time the banks are excused under the law from all attempts to fortify their notes with coin. And what is it that successfully discourages us from direct steps toward specie payments? In the first place, it is the mistrust of the people in our ability to resume, and to maintain resumption. In the next place, the monthly publication of the Treasury discloses precisely our weakness as well as our strength; and the great element of our weakness is the volume of our past-due and demand obligations. In ordinary times,--that is, when the people have confidence in the ability of the banks to redeem their demand obligations in coin,--a reserve of twenty to twenty-five per cent. in coin is more than sufficient to meet any probable demand that may be made. Let mistrust arise in relation to the solvency of any bank or of the system of banks, and the reserve of twenty-five per cent. will vanish as the dew before the sun, and the individual bank or all the banks must close their doors to all demands for specie. In our present legislation we encounter this mistrust wide-spread among the people; and so long as we ourselves exhibit so great timidity in our attempts at legislation upon this subject, just so long do we minister to and strengthen this mistrust. The amount of demand obligations which the Treasury must be prepared to meet upon a moment’s notice, including three per cent. certificates and fractional currency, is more than four hundred and forty million dollars. With the existing mistrust, measured by the premium on gold, a reserve of twenty-five per cent. of coin in the Treasury appropriated to these demands would be totally insufficient. This reserve must bear a proportion to the aggregate of liabilities so large as to remove mistrust, and this can be accomplished only by presenting as in the vaults of the Treasury an amount of coin nearly equal to the sum of liabilities.