, 1874-03-23
11R. BUELL. ON THE CURRENCY,

Butler for Governor next year.
.s.--Az...--..@-
MR. BUELL. ON THE CURRENCY.
As VIC have Btated in a previous article, Mr.
James Buell., Of Now York, President Of the I'M
porters & Traders National Bunk Of thns city,
ut tho invitation Of tho House Committee on
Banking appeared before them and gave certain
testnlony, winch deserves more attention than
it has received. Mr. Buell. Is an advoca.e Of
return to specie payments; but he seems to
think that such rotuln ia hardly practicable In
Ill that Is Incumbent On tho country ia to pro-
pare for 1t as best it muy. He points out how,
In his OF inion, this may be e1fecLed without any
Inconvenience to commercial intorests. His
method may bo summed up III fow wolds.
He would return to specie payments through the
avenues Of free banking and "practical re-
demptlon.'' BY FREQ banking lo understands tho
organization. with the appreciation Of the Comp.
troier Of the Currency, Of banks with o capital
Of not loss than 950,o00 in towns whore tho
population is not less than 0,0o0; theso bauks
to redeem theao notes Ut their own countcrs rs
well as ut the contrea, at par-greoubacks to 10
decreased aH Nnsionnl-Bank notos incronse uatfl
they ltho grsonbacks) aro reduced to $500, ,oo0,-
0o0. Wbatever may be said OF any othor system
Of free bauking under our Natlonal-Dnnk act,
this systom would certainly not lead to imitation
A1r. Duoll thinks that the less Government bas
to do with banking, the better; that tho soouer
it goes out of tho busueHs entirely, tho bet:er;
that at present, 1t should at ]eaat let banks mum
uge redemption for themselves, aud not ussume
that duty isssIf. He thinks that. on tho syBtem
Of froe-banking PROPOSED by him, it would
take four or five years to contract tho loaul ten
doris S100,0 900. Tho enoct OF this contraction
would be to rondor logal-tendora q little moro
valuable thaa the notes OF National Banks, and
to make it the interest Of banks, therefore, to
assort and present the litter for redemption.
When the volume OF 1egal-tenderB was reduced
to $500 0,000.00u, specie resumption would be
possible, and bank notos might ba issued to any
extent, provided only their redemption wus se-
cured. It will be noticed tLat Mr. Buell dooa
not advise contraction Of tho whole volume Of
currency, but only Of the legaI-tandcrs thus
raising their value as compared with tho NATIONAL
Bank notes, and making 1t IN object to redeem.
Ouce reduced to this extent, Government could
take up every groonback in tho country with
100000 coin. 1t has generally from ESQ.,
000,0o0 10 s75,0o0o00 CON Oh hand, which
Mr. Buell. calculates might be increased
to $3.50, ,0o0, 600 before tho Nutlonal-Danh System
will have expanded 500. .0oo. 900, md, of coursc
absorbed tho Ereenbucka to the extent Of 310O,-
100000. Government might begin specie ro-
sumption Of this point, the effect of which
| would be to bring all The coin III tho country
into circulation, and increase tue volume Of lho
currency by 40 much more. Eyon now, In Now
| York, Na:ional-Bank notes cRuuot be used ln
paying Cleaning House debts, aal, as tAoy cau-
uot bo counted al q reservo, they become re-
duutlaut, aud tho banks sometimes decliuo 20 TO-
| ceivo them on deposit. Au outlet ID sought FOR
them in Cincinnati, Chicago, etc., wAego lAsy
are distributed and come buck again.
| Ouo Of tho effects OF redemption Of National
Dau2 uotss by the banks ut their own counters
would be to absorb their resoryos,
aud relieve them OF tho necessity Of leop-
lug thom at the centres whore they aro required
to redeem by the Inv as 1t now stands. bIr.
Duo!I THINKS TINT, 1t the National-Banlz notos
| could bo reduced ono-fourth Of l por oent below
| par tAoy would bo re1eenel fast enough WHOM not
wantod for commerce. It would be impotio TO
discontinue the redemption at contres, however.
We're this lattor species Of redemption dlboon-
tinued tue Na:ional-DapR notes would loso their
national character thcy would bo ut large dis
count a discount which would bs measured by
dlsaanco aud difficulty OF presentation. 10 the
question whethor VIC have enough currency, Mr.
Duol auswors that he has no ,nsana Of knowing
~ho.her wo have or not (thst can only be deter
mined by the experiment Of practical redemp-
tlonj, and 10 recommends that we neither IN.
crease nor decrease our present volume ol
currency.
Another reform which he Advocates Is the ab.
oitlon Of tie somi-lcgal-tonder character Of tho
Nationhl.nank note, 'yhloa enables II to compete
with tas lssAl.sshasr proDsz. National pshAl