90 REFORM OF RUSSIA'S FINANCES AND CENTRAL ADMINISTRATION
the sake of the long term benefits it will confer upon the country.
To pretend that a fundamental reform of the financial structure can
be accomplished without affecting some private vested interests, without
reducing the ordinary expenses of the government, is to be dishonest
and to fool the country into ruin.^1 Speransky is, therefore, well aware
of the political difficulties facing him and he does not hide them from
the Emperor. But he hopes that the government will make show of
the necessary consistency of purpose and energy in overcoming the
initial hurdles.
Speransky proposes to work for the realization of three limited and
concrete goals: 1. absorption of the assignats currently in circulation,
- establishment of a bank based on silver, 3. introduction of a sounder
monetary system. Several steps will lead to this result. In the first place,
the present level of credit should be maintained and faith in the
economy of the nation restored. To this end, the government should
make perfectly clear its intention of changing the financial system, its
irrevocable resolution to stop the emission of new assignats, and its
recognition of all paper money in circulation as a state debt on the
security of the entire national wealth. The faith in this program willbe strengthened if the government asks for the help and advice of
representative leaders of the economy. For this latter purpose Speransky
suggests inviting the merchants of the most important commercial
cities, St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Riga, to elect one representative
who will be appointed to the board of directors of the "Assignat Bank"
to be created for the purpose of supervising the absorption of the
assignats in circulation. 2 The absorption, or elimination, of the
assignats in circulation is a matter of immediate concern, and the
means for achieving it will be discussed later under the heading of
short-range measures.
A second long-range reform consists in putting in order the system
of direct taxation of non-agricultural incomes. The trouble with the
system in force, asserts Speransky, is that the taxes are not always
clearly stated and not based on definite rational principles. In
Speransky's opinion, "all [state] revenues can be considered normal 1.
when they do not dry up the sources of domestic wealth, 2. when they
are distributed evenly, 3. when they do not affect the capital necessary
for production but are deduced only from net benefits, 4. when the
manner of their collection is cheap for the government and not burden-
some to private individuals." 3 For an equitable assessment and re-
1 Plan Finansov, pp. 2, 3.
2 Plan Finansov, Sec. 38-39, p. 11.
3 Plan Finansov, Sec. 101, p. 21.