4 DECEMBER 1915, Page 26

LINCOLN'S FINANCE OF WAR.

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.'] SIR,—It is interesting to read the benediction which Mr. Moreton Frewen bestows upon the irredeemable paper money of the American Civil War (Spectator, November 27th), of which Mr. Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury in President Lincoln's Cabinet, was the author. I have been led to believe that ft had been condemned by every ,economist who had studied the subject. Professor Albert Bushnell".; Hart of Harvard, the well known historian, speaking of this currency, says : " It should always be remembered to Chase's credit that he put forth this issue with hesitation, and that later, when chief justice [of the United States], he confessed he had committed an error," citing Roamer, "Appeal to Arms " (Am. Nation, XX.), 64, 167, and 249. See also 12, U.S. Supreme Court Reports, le 576.-