Oregon Republican. [volume] (Dallas, Or.) 1870-1872, 1871-03-04
THE COIN RESERVE.

The following extracts from the New
York Sun of February llth, pays high
tribute to the Secretary of the Trea.
sury, Mr. Boutwell,, in his management
of the Treasury Department
"Before Mr.. Boutwell, leaves the
Treasury Department, which it is on
all sides declared he is soon to do. we
wish to express our approval of prac-
tice of his which has not met with that
support from the leading organ of the
Administration to which it is entitled
We refer to his rcsolute holding on to
his coin reserves. Mr. Trumbull, in
the Senate, aud Mr.. Greeley in the
| Tribune. have never lost o chance of
condemniuy this practice, and of advo,
eating the complying of the Treasury of
J its gold Tor the useless purpose Of re-
ducing the funded debt Their COM
plant is that the country is losing the
interest money on the gold held in re-
serve by the Treasury.
There is no sounder or more self
evident proposition than that in all
] banking operation certain amount of
cash should always be kept in hand 1t
/ it be not necessary that it should be in
coin, as may he urged in the case dur
ing suspension of specie payments,
coin is nevertheless needed for other
purposes. 1t is necessary at the present
time especially to show that beneath the
mountain of paper money transactions
! disclosed by the bank and Treasury
operations, there is something ut the
bottom which denotes some degree of
actual solvency and real ability to pay.
We have at this moment an irre-
deemable paper circulation Of about
seven hundred millions Now, who but
the most crazy advocate of paper issues
and no money banks can say that this
gigantic pile of paper money requires
no coin basis =
After comparing the financial opera
tions of the Government to that of a
large banking Institution, with an en-
tire circulation of s400,000,000, it
says:
If the Government is to keep no
coin reserves on hand, what sort OF
show would the country make in the
eye of reasonable people everywhere, in
respect of its ability or Intention ever to
resume coin payments? The banks and
the Government would be alike banking
on nothing Together. they would use
seven hundred millions Of demand notes,
and FIVE hundred millions of deposits.
And if the Government is TO strip itself
of gold, as MrSrumhull aud Mr..
Greeley recommend, the only solid
basis Of this enormous aggregate of
twelve hundred millions. due on de-
mand, would be the beggarIy sum which
might chance to be found in the vaults
Of the banks.
The current coin balance of the Gov
ernment only averages between forty
and City millions over and above It's
demand obligations. aud this is all the
basis it holds to pay its demand notes of
four hundred millions. Talk about the
Government losing interest on its spe-
Gle Does it not gain the interest on
four hundred millions of paper money,
and is it too much to ask that it shall
show something in hand toward paying
this immense amount of disregarded
obligations Suppose the Government
does not intend to pay its notes. does it
not owe something to the public sense of
propriety, something to the old-fashion.
ed prejudice of honest people, that
when paper money is issued, there
ought at least to be something behind
the counter TO redeem it 7"