Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1878-08-14

: ignored. While the shareholder
. hold their bonds as individual prop
erty they cannot be taxed, but I'll
moment they are deposited with tn
U. 5. treasurer to secure circulation
they become bank stock which is tax
able the same as all other propert
for all purposes, besides which, it
taxed by the government, while al
other property except whisky, tobac
co, matches and patent medicines,
not taxed by the government.
The foregoing statements being tru
1t follows that the greenbacker'
charges against the national bank
are false, that on the contrary, they
bear their full share of taxation, tha
they pay . direct tax to the govern
ment which no other capital does
that bonds otherwise non ia xable be
come taxable IS stock of the banks
that the system is not . monopoly be
cause any five persons with suffi
clent capital can start q national bank
that the profit on circulation is no
nearly 30 large as represented, tha
1t does not equal the interest on th,
bonds, to which the stockholderl
wonldbbe entitled il the system were
abolished, that the greenbacks pro
posed to be issued in lieu of the ma
tional bank circulation would, as par,
OF the government debt, be non-taxa.
BILE in the hands of anybody, that the
advantages to the government more
than Offset the disad dvantages and tina,
the banks are obliged to provide fol
the redemption Of their own paper.
/ In view Of these facts it is some.
what difficult to see the national
banking law in the light of an out.
rage upon the government or the peo.
pie. Even the widest greeub acker
must admit that the system is far su.
perior to the old State banks, becaus sc
the currency is good any where in
tho country, because the banks and
the government are both behind the
bill-thus making it doubly good,
1t is now impossible for one to lose q
bill by the failure ofa bank. The dc.
positor being near at hand can al.
ways look out for the solvency Of the
bank, but never until the present sys.
tenn was devised did the holder in
Maine of . bill on an Iowa bank have
any protection against the failure OF
the bank and hence one found that
he was constantly taxed by shavers il
he undertook to travel from one State
to another, and it is undoubtedly true
that the money paid to ahavers under
the old system to make the money
equal to the task of doing inter State
business amounted to far more to the
people as q direct loss than does the
interest paid to national banks on
their bonds, after deducting the gov
ernment tax.
Again the government gains large
ly by the destruction and loss of ma
tional bank notes. Brick Pomeroy
says the banks gain, but he tells q
falsehood and misquotes the law.
There is no provision in the law to
pay this gain back to the banks, the
practice is directly contrary and be-
side this the strong effort by the
banks to have the law amended in
this respect is proof of what the law
now is. Let me read you the law on
this point from Fawcett's book, page
236:
Whenever sufficient deposit of lawful mon
20 aeueem tne outstanding circulation of an as
sociaton proposing to Close its business has been
made, the bonds deposited by the association to
secure of It's notes shall be re assigned to
II, IN the manner prescribed by section Afty.one
nanarsd and sixty-two: And thereafter the asso-
cafon and its shareholders shall stand dischsI g.
ed from al liabilities upon the circulating notes,
and those notes shall be redeemed at the Treasury
o. me United States. And If any such bank shalt
iailto make the deposit and take up its bonds for
thirty DAYS af er the expiration of the time speci-
neo, the comptroller Of the Currency shall have
power 70 sell me bonds pledged for the circulation
and, after providing for the redemption and can
cellaton Of said circulation and the necessary ex-
ns Gf sa Sans to s..
m, VI" '""~ VI I've 'esa'Iepresehsaslve."
The "balance' here referred to is
plainly the excess of proceeds from
sale Of bonds over the circulation and
not the balance ofcirculation OF pre-
sented for redemption.
think ] have said enough and pro-
duced sufficient authority on this
point to convince any man of reason
that the charges against the Republi.
can party on account of the uetiOpal
banks arc groundless.
CONTRACTION.
Another great blow is made about
contraction. Before giving facts and
figures to show up the stupendous
lying done on the question of con-
traction let me call your attention to
one position that the greenbackers
cannot get around. They admit that
this great contraction took place pri.
or to and during 1868 because all
classes of bonds and notes. about the
legal tender or currency feature of
which there ia any dispute, were re-
tired by that time and have not been
in circulation since. But the panic
did not come till 1873 and it is q fact
IN the memory of every man that
times never were 30 good as during
the five years beginning in 1868 and
ending in 1873 Now then if contrac-
ton was what ruined the business
men of the country and brought dis
aster upon us, why. upon their theory,
did not trouble begin when the slle9-
ed contraction took place? Taking
their own position, coupled with the
iacts IN the case, no green hacker
can answer this question in accord
ance with his theory. But We deny
that any serious contraction took
place then or has taken place since.
The truth is very little of what they
style destroyed currency ever circula.
ted as such and what did was issued
and retired at such times that it af-
fected the volume of the currency
much less than other greater causes
which produced no visible effect upon
business. For instance, prior to 1865
and 1866, the South had not used any
OF our currency. Adding some 5000,
0OO people to those using the green.
backs and national currency in 1866
and 1866 amounted to a more serious
contraction Of the currency than has
occurred at any other time, and vet
who remembers of any inconvenience
at that timer Who then raised auy
cry about the scarcity Of money to do
business with3 Besides this, concur.
rent with this spreading ont Of cur.
rency over one-third more territory,
occurred the retirement of $50, COO. .O0G
of the Z 80 bonds. II these bonds
were currency (Which they assert but
which Is not true) and were retired
(as they were chiefly in 1866 and 1867
and at the same time the 7OO,OOO,OO0
of greenbacks and national bank
notes were practically contracted,
say $4,000, 600, by taking the place
OF the Confederate money, we
have the enormous contraction OF
$50, 100000 in about two years, 1866
and 1857, and yet the business of the
country went right along without q
ripple. Can't any one sce that there
must be lapse in their logic or a
mistake in the pretended facts? Blu,
for the facts about the contraction OF
the currency. From my statement
shall exclude all bonds or interes,
bearing treasury notes, because
whatever may be the facts about theil
ever having been legal tender, OF
however widely or narrowly they may
have circulated as money - they
we're practically retired at least five
years before the country experienced
any financial distress. Since theil
retirement did not affect our prosper
ity which continued uninterru ptei
till late in 1873 all controversy as t
their character is not at all to tn,
polnt. 1t may be we'll to remark
however, that the retirement of tn,
Il l7.3O bonds and the treaanrv uotna ma