, 1878-03-09
The National Party.

The political organization hno"
greenback party, or soft money party nave
met in convention and named themselves
the national party. Under that distinctive
appelation they propose to 90 forth to victory.
The platform thay have adopted Is IN many
r,-spec.s a good one Somehow. minority
parties always adopt good platforms; lhere
ia some more or less connection between
honesty and good sense IN politics and
minority condition. No sooner do these
qualities win a majority of the voters, than !,
dishonesty and folly creep in. Nearly All
parties begin well. They always have some
strong, earnest and pure men As early lead
er, Later III the career of the party. their
early leaders aie set aside as fossils ihey
serve admirably well as leaders until there
are offices to distribute. Then they DO NOT
do SO well. A lack of availability Is dis-
covered. Devotion to principle, wneh IS
an excellent trait in leader Of minority
party, is sometimes urged against leader as
a candidate when there is a chance oi sue
cess.
The national party has incorporated some
sound ideas into its platform. The feature
that antagonizes our present financial
policy is that "ali bank issues designed
to circulate as money should be suppressed
Bank issues Are mostly OF two kinds. com
pany or corporation, having complied Win
local laws Oh that subject, issue their own
bills, notes. or promises to pay. The larger
amount of their bills they can keep IN CIR
culation, the larger their profits. The bills
cost the bank nothing, but the bank derives
interest on them. All the bank has to do Is
To- have coin on hand to pay such of Its own
notes rs are presented for payment. In or
binary prosperous times but little com IS
demanded for paper, as the latter Is more
convenient and answers all the purposes OF
money. When financial storm comes, the
coin is demanded, and if the bank cannot
raise il, suspension is by 10 means unfrequent.
In consequence, the moment cloud hovers
in the financial sky, holders of these bank
notes rush to the bank and demand their
coin. A logical result IS suspension, even
when the bank is solvent. 1t Is apparent,
therefore, that this kind OF bank issue Is not
safe, and cannot be made safe by law. Some
solid banhs have been established on that
system. but for one such there have been
many which served only to make money for
stockholders in good times andlosethe money
of non Stockholders in hard times
The other kind of banks are our national
banks. These are infinitely preferable to
the kind whose operations we have Just de-
scribcd. Their issues are guaranteed by
government Their notes can always be con-
rerted into government currency, that Is,
into greenbacks OF legal tender. The OBJ
lection raised to them Is that they perform
an Office between the government and the
people, which the government might just as
well perform for itself and save the expensive
machinery of the national banks. As mat
tiers now stand, the government practically
endorses the national banks notes, and per
mits the banks to enjoy the profits OF circu'
lation. 1t is true the government Is secured,
but the government pays interest on Its own
securities, which lie idle III bank vaults.
The banks therefore draw interest On their
capital, which is III the form of government
interest: bearing securities, and draw interest
on their notes III circulation, which may
amount to ninety dollars Oh the hundred
The new national party propose to do away
with this cIrcuitous process OF issuing money,
and issue government notes direct. Green
backs Will thus take the place of bank notes
! and the government, whose demand note:
are non-interest bearing, will save Interest
on Ike amount, which is now about $500,
GEO, 600 No good reason has been giver
| why the government should not supply the
800, O0O, 600 or $500, 600, 600 of paper money
! the country needs, and thus reduce the vol
umc of the interest-bearing debt. The coin
age of silver dollars. which are legal tender
alike for greenbacks and interest-bearine
bonds, may be made to facilitate the conver
sioh of bonds into legal tenders. The na
tional party demands that all money, whether
metal or paper, bearing the government
stamp, shall be full legal tender for al
debts, duties and taxes at its stamped value