Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1875-10-08
Resunufion Of speOie Parments.

Aho DllI lOd Tue tCeuLpbaOu VI ePOO<O pay
ments passed BY the Forty-Third Congress
pledges the nation TO the fulflmeut Of its prom
ises in 1879. By January of that year the
United States VIII be able to pay to bearer the
amount promised on the face of the greeHback.
Then gold and paper money VIII be of equal
value, and the present fuctuation Of our cur.
rency viii cease altogether.
We have accepted the bill as a good one
from the day of its introduction In the Senate.
We have done this on the ground that it meets
the present and prospective condition Of our
finances, and will accomplish what it contem-'
plates.
The bill is in three sections, the first Of which
Is as follows:
Be ii enacted By the Senate Gsl House of Rep
TeseHtGtsges Of the UIsited States Of America IN
Congress assembled, That the Secretary Of the
Treasury is hereby authorized and required, as
rapidly as practicable, to cause to be ceined at
the mints of the United States, silver ceins of
the denomination Of ten, twenty five, and fifty
cents, of standard value, and to issue them in
redemption of an equal number and amount of
fractional currency of similar denominations,
or, at his discretion, he may issue such silver
coins through the mints, subtreasuries, public
repositories, and post offices of the United
thorized and required to redeem an equal
amount of such fractional currency, until the
whole amount of such fractional currency out
standing shall be redeemed.
The opponents of the measure claim that the
silver specie will be exported about as fast as
it is coined. There appears to US to be no tan
gible basis for this conclusion. In the first
place, every independent nationality prefers
re nrwTa aofa t. l., D-f,
the war, when silver coin was in circulation in
the United States, our 25 cent coin was worth
only 24 cents in the Dominion of Canada, and
subsequently, it was reduced to 2ocents. A sim
liar practice of depreciation prevails in nearly
every commercial centre with reference to the
silver coin of foreign Powers. 1t is, therefore,
evident that practically, for export, silver coin
is OF little or no value above the current price
Of silver bullion. As we approach the time for
resumption the premium on silver Will fall,
making the chances for speculative profits in
its export altogether too small to render the
operation at all probable. Possibly the South
American republics may take one or two
million dollars of our silver coin; but beyond
that it could not be disposed of but as bullion,
and in that form it would not pay the expenses
of export and leave O margin Of profit to the
operators. But even If eight or ten million
dollars of United States silver coin should
", 4Gs
course of trade, would find its way back again.
It will be worth more, az We have shown, at
home than elsewhere, and in making specie re-
mittances from one country to another, the
coin of the country to which the remittance is
going is always preferred and secured When
ever it can be obtained. But suppose again
that eight or ten million dollars IN silver specie
should be carried and kept pernanently out Of
the United States. its absence would cause no
inconvenience. We have. S42, ,00o, 600 in frac-
tiohsl currency iR circulation, which the bill
proposes to have converted into ten, twenty
FIVE and fifty cent coin : pieces. Does
the business of the country require that
amount? A plethora of silver is q Serious in
convenience, and not ,unfreqaently, occurs in
commercial experience. It has occurred re-
peatedly in our own country. Fifty million
dollars in fractional currency can be en-
ploJed without Inconvenience, because its COM
paetness and inconsiderable weight are such
| that five or ten dollars of ii in a pocket causes
no Inconvenience, while that amount in silver
| would be an intolerable burden. Pocketbooks
would avoid all over a dollar or two in silver,
| and select bank bills of small denominations
for everyday use. Beyond this, the silver coin
would lie in merchants counter-drawers, and
| in safes and banks. Still, the conversion of
fractional currency into silver coin is an ex-
| cellent provision of the bill. Fractional paper
is liable to be lost or destroyed; and the actual
loss to the people from this source alone aver
| ages to about four per cent. per aunum of the
entire circulation, amounting in the aggregate
to a formidable sum. The United States
Treasury may be benefited by this loss to the
public;- but the constant wear and consequent
demand for new issues is heavy expense to
the Government. So that the proposition to
| dispense altogether with fractional currency
and substitute silver is judicious measure,
and one that cannot fail to be duly appreciated
by the public generally, including the Demo-
cratic chorus of grumblers.
The second section of the bill is as follows:
| Sec. 2. That so much of section three
thousand five hundred and twenty-four of the
Revised Statutes of the United States as pro-
vides for charge of one-ffth of one per cent.
for converting standard gold bullion into coin
is hereby repealed, and hereafter no charge
shall be made for that service.
This simply removes the charge for coming
gold from the owners of the same, and trans
fers the cost of coinage to the Government.
The object, we presume, is to raise the coming
value of gold and induce a larger coinage by
| American mints. At present large amounts
of gold leave the country in the form of bull
lion, to be coined elsewhere. The effect of the
act is intended to, and probably will, inter
eept considerable portion of this bullion, and
convert it into coin. In this form less of it
| would leave the country, and Of the portion
exported larger amounts would be likely 10
return in the form of commercial remittances
| The South American and other adjacent Gov
| ernments would also, under the new arrange
ment of free coinage, send portion at least of
| their gold to United States mints to be coined,
and not without more or less benefit to the
country in which 1t is coined. The coinage
| value of gold under the provisions of this Sec
ton being slightly greater than in some other
of the principal commercial countries will,
when exchange is at par, cause bullion to flow
| to this country.
The third and last section of the bill pro-
| Vides as follows:
Sec. 8. That section SLIT of the Revised
Statutes of the United States, limiting the ag-
| gregate amount of circulating notes Of national
banking associations, be and Is hereby repealed;
and each existing banking association may in
crease Its circulating notes in accordance with
| existing law without respect to said aggregate
| limit; and new banking associations NAV be
organized 10 accordance with existing law with
out respect to said aggregate limit, and the
provisions of law for the withdrawal and redis-
| tribution Of national bank currency among the
several States and Territories are hereby re-
| pealed. And whenever and 30 often as circu-
lating notes shall beissued to any such banking
association, so increasing its capital or circulat-
ing notes, or SO newly organized as aforesaid,
it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the
Treasury to redeem the legal tender United
states notes IN excess only Of three hundred
million of dollars, to the amount of eighty per
centum of the sum of national bank notes SO
issued to any such banking association as afore-
said, and to continue such redemption as such
circulating notes are issued until there shall be
outstanding the sum of three hundred million
dollars of such legal tender United States notes,
and no more. And on and after the 1st day OF
January, ammo Domini 1879, the Secretary OF
the Treasury shall redeem in coin the United
States legal tender notes then outstanding on
their presentation for redemption at the office
of the Assistant Treasurer Of the United States
In the city ef New York, in sums of not less
than fifty dollars. And to enable the Secretary
of the Treasury to prepare and provide for the
redemptions in this act authorized or required
he is authorized to use any surplus revenues
from time to time, in the Treasury not other
wise appropriated, and to issue, sell and dispose
OF at not less than par, in coin, either of the
descriptions of bonds of the United Statel
described in the act of Congress approved July
IA, 1870, entitled "An act to authorize the
: refundihg of the national debt" with like
qualities, privileges and exemptions, to the
extent necessary to carry this act into full
effect, and to use the proceeds thereof for the
purposes aforesaid. And all provisions of Law
inconsistent with the provisions of this act arC
! hereby repealed.
The Limitation of the aggregate amount O
. national bank notes to S354, 600, 900, hereto
, fore existing, is removed. National banks may
be organized to meet the actual or supposed
necessities Of the country, subject to the restric
tions of the provisions of the national banl
act. The proportion of circulation TO be issued
! to such new organizations will continue pre-