The Portland daily press., 1876-12-06

cy is largely IN excess of the real demands of
legitimate business, and that portion of the
legal-tenders might be gradually withdrawn
without embarrassment to the business of the
country.
In the interest of permanent redemption
and as means of maintaining the same,tls
deemed important Also if not quite indspen-
sable, that provision should be made requiring
the national banks to gradually provide coin in
such ratio as the Secretary of the Treasury may
direct, and to hold the same as part of their
legal money reserve, so that said reserve on the
first day of January, 1879, shall be equal in
amount to the entire reserve required by law.
To the same end, as the fractional currency is
withdrawn, it is deemed expedient that not
ouly the vacuum caused thereby in the matter
of change should be made good, but that, as
additional change, the volume of silver should
be increased to the amount of at least eighty
millions of dollars, and silver made legal
tender to the amount of ten dollars in all cases
except the obligations of the Government of
the United States and the customs dues
Of silver change already 1922 900 900 has been
issued, and $13,000,000 of fractional currency
redeemed. Legal tenders have been reduced
nothes to the amount of SD, 466, 2S4, during the
year, leaving the amount of legal tenders
1857, 535, ZIG.
The Silver Question.
Taking up the question of the silver dollar
and the payment of the debt in silver, the Sec
lotaiy ouLhibc tudb lu6 pleug6 Oh Inc payment
IN coin does not in terms discriminate against
silver, but argues that the universal understand
ing at the Time the pledge was given was tina:
the payment was to be made in gold. He sayst
1t will not be questioned by anyone conversanr
with the question at that time that the populas
impression, not to say general conviction, wa
for payment in gold. This belief may have OBJ
tain ed from the fact that the interest on this
class of obligations, payable in coin, had unit
formly been paid in gold, that the customs re-
nInfS hnd hQnrl cat a. al IL.
these were paid in gold, and that the silver dol
lar had, as money of payment Heretofore CONS
into general dsuse, especially in all large tran
sactlons, and could scarcely be considered a.
contemplated IN any measure having for it's OBJ.
iect to provide for payment of sums so ample
as the interest on the public debt, at that time
amounting to the sum of one husdred and thir-
ty million dollars This view of the subject
receives no inconsiderable support, also, in the
legislation OF Congress in 1873, by which the
legal tender quailty OF the silver Coin was linn
tied to five dollars. By force of the laws of
| trade, quite independent of those of Congress.
| the legal tender silver dollar had actually dis
| appeared from circulation as money and, al
| though not abolished by act of Congress, it did
not, as matter of fact exist for commercial pur-
| poses, and did not enter into money payments.
The object and intent of the act of 1873 was
confessecly to give to gold the precedence in the
statutes of the country it held in the CONNER
clai world practically, and to declare the gold
l
| resentative of the money unit Gold had for
many years been treated as the principal mon
| ey OF COIN payments in legislation and in the
transactions of the Treasury Department..
BY the act OF 1868 the Treasury was authoriz-
| ed to receive deposits of gold coin and bullion.
and to issue certificates therefor redeemable in
gold COIN, thus indicating that its obligations
called for payment in gold and not in silver.
rms proVlson, it will be seen, is in consonance
with the fact that our foreign exchanges for
/ ~
basis, aud thus it is apparent that the general
understanding has been of late years, for the
| consideration stated, that the money of coin
payments was gold, and an obligation to pay in
| coin required payment in gold coin.
| Whatever may be thought, he adds. of the
right to pay these public securities in cheaper
| money, 1t Will remain true that it is lawful to
pay them in gold coin and that tie belief that
tney were TO be SO paid has a practical value in
the probable reduction of the public debt equal
to one fourth OF the amount of the annual in.
terest thereon. The Secretary respectfully sub.
| mts that the coin payment to which the faith
OF the nation was pledged in 1869 was gold and
not silver, and that any other view of it, what
ever technical construction the language may
be susceptible OF, would be regarded as doubtful
good faith and Its probable effect preiudicial to
| the public credit.
In connection with resumption, attention is
called to the fact that because of the exhaus.
flon OF appropriations government no longer
/
dempton, and that in consequence the paper
currency is rapidly becoming unfit for circua.
tlon. An appropriation is earnestly recon-
| mended,
| The National Banks.
The report of the Comptroller of the Cur.
| rency contains full statistics of the reserves
taxation, dividends, earnings and losses of the
national banks, together with summary of
| their resources and liabilities for each wear
since the system went into operation. From
this report it appears that, up to October 2 OF
the present yeaar, 2,342 banks in all had been
organized, OF which 20S7 were in operation al
that date. The returns of these banks show
that they then bad an aggregate capital al
S499,o02, 232; surplus of 1882 2O2, 2S2; circula
ton on, standing n 1921, 544 O2O; individual de
Including coin certicates,) SOL $50, 767; legal
tender notes, (including United States certifi.
Gates of deposit.) $113 42O,S47; redemption
| fund with the United States Treasurer SIS.
| 743 sos. ~''
The act of June 20, 1874, authorized national
banks which desired to withdraw their circu.
latiDg notes. in whole or in part, to deposit
| lawful money with the Treasurer of the United
States in sums of not less than nine thousand
ocHals, aea to Withdraw proportional amount
The Of JsDuaTy Id isTS repeaIed ali nse.
visions of law limiting the aggregate amount
OF national bank circulation, and made it the
| duty OF the Secretary of the Treasury to retire
| legal tender Totes to the extent of eighty ner
| cent. OF the sum of national bank notes there
| after issued, until the amount of legal tender
| notes outstanding should be reduced to three
| hundred millions of dollars Since the passage
OF the former act, 1852, $50, $50 of legal tender
| notes have been deposited 10 the Treasury for
the purpose of retiring circulation, and 1897. 122
069aof bank notes have Teen redeemed and
| destroyed. The whole amount of additional
| clrcuiatlon issued since the passage of the
latter act, is $18,080 1885, and legal tender notes
equal to eighty per cent thereof, or Sl4, 464 294
| have been retiled, leaving the amount of legal
tender notes outstanding on November 1, 1876.
| 1857 ,535,7l6. The amount of legal tender notes
on deposit with the Treasurer on November 1,
for the purpose of retiring circulation, was
| $50 ,9l0,946. The amount of national bank
notes IN circulation on November l was 800
| lab 464 less than on June 20, 1874; and that of
legal tender notes was $14 49,, 2S4 less than on
January IA. 1873; the total decrease of legal
tender notes and national bank notes, under
the operation OF these acts. being $43 6O7, 74S
The Comptroller, considering the present
year especially appropriate for that purpose,
devotes considerable portion Of his report to a
review of the banking systems under which
circulating notes we're issued previous to the
organization of the national banking system,
aud to the presentation, 10 concise form, of
| the statistics of the two Banks of the United
States and OF the former state banks of the
country, so far as they could be obtained from
official and other reliable sources.
The table compiled by him from estimates of
MIR. Gallatin, in 1884, give the capital circula-
tioL, deposits, and specie of the banks of the
country. including the two Banks of the
United States: for the years 1911 1916 1876
| 1920, and 1929; also, similar inform ton as to
the state banks from 1884 to 1868, and the
national banks since the organization of the
system.
The Comptroller also presents, by geographic
cal divisions, the capital and deposits of the
state banks, private bankers, and savings banks
of the country, which have been compiled from
returns made to the Commissioner of Internal
Revenue, during the present year for purposes
of taxation.
These tables exhibit the growth of banking
IN this country since 1911 and Shnw tho +ot,I