Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1879-09-04

upon them? Do you think they are fond o
having government officer closely watcl
all their proceedings, put his finger into
them whenever anything appears out o.
time, and expose all their doings to thu
light of publicity? BY no means. Business
men are always ept to be impatient o.
restraint and interference. What, then
which in many respects may become tt
them an annoyance? In great part it is the
profit they make on their note circulation
And what is the profit! 1t is not by far a.
large as the enemies of the national
banks represent, it to be. It is
not the full interest on the
whole amount of note circulation in
addition to the interest they draw on the
bonds they have to deposit as security for
their note; for, as the comptroller of the
currency has shown by official figures time
and again, counting the tax they pay, the
reserves they have TO keep, and SO on, they
upon their note circulation based upon 4
per cent. bonds. That is certainly not ex-
travaeant, Lut it is something. Take even
that source of benefit away, and most, if not
all, of the national banks would hasten to
relieve themselves of a government control,
so severe to them, but so wholesome to the
general interest. And then the best bank
ing system this government ever had, giving
to the business of the country guarantees of
safety, and being a source of confidence
never before enjoyed, would disappear.
Why, if. 1t were really true, as the Demo-
Gratis say, that ten millions of interest
could then be saved; nay, if the saving in
interest were twenty or thirty millions, even
of penny wisdom and pound folly. For so
safe bank system as this is worth every
year many times that amount to the business
of the country. Indeed, to destroy bank.
ing system deserving and enjoying universal
confidence; to destroy it now, in period
of struggling business revival, when conf.
dence is especially needed to retrieve the
disasters of the past, would be folly Dor
dering on insanity. And this costly and
dangerous experiment is to be made at such
q time for the purpose of putting green.
backs in the place of national bank notes.
Are national bank notes q bad currency :?
Not even the widest enemy of the national
banks asserts this, and even Gen. Ewing
goes no further in his Lancaster speech
than to say: "Nobody pre!ends that the
greenback which redeems the national bank
note, is not better than the thing it re.
DEEMS" If this is to convey the idea that
the national bank note is not as safe to the
holder as the greenback, then I deny it.
The national bank note is secured in it's
value not only by the convertibility with
the greenback, but by the same amount of
United States bonds and 10 per cent. in add.
ton standing behind it, which security must,
under the law, always be kept good. The
national bank note is, therefore, not only as
safe to the holders as the greenback, but, if
tage the greenback has is that by law it is
made legal tender, while, practically, in
the ordi mary transactions of trade, the bank
note is just as readily accepted as the legal
tender. Is it not SO? Has any man in any
part OF the country ever lost q cent Oh ma.
tional bank note, even when the bank
broke? Not one. Does any man ever hest.
tate to take a national bank note as good,
no matter whether the bank whose name it
bears is located in Texas or Massachusetts,
in New York or in Oregon? Never. The
national bank note is, therefore, not only a
better and safer bank currency than we
ever had in this country, but as good and
safe as exists in any other.
SAFETY AND UNIFORMITY.
In point of safety and uniformity of value
the greenback certainly does not excel it.
note is, as paper currency, vastly prefer.
able to the greenback. The volume Of gov.
eminent paper money must necessarily be
determined by law; that is, in our case, by
the opinion of a majority of congress, the
executive concurring. Once so determined,
it remains fixed and rigid, no matter wheth
er the business of the country demands
more or less currency than is out, until at
another legislative session it can be changed,
and then it remains fixed and rigid again.
For it can not be assumed that the exec
utive would be intrusted with the discre.
tionary power to contract and expand it at
pleasure. 1t is not necessary to discuss
how this would work with such paper
currency if convertible into coin, for as l
have shown, the plan of the Ohio
ably to make our greenbacks in.
convertible again. Now imagine what the
consequences would be if the fnanciers of
the "Ohio idea" school were in possession
of the government, and intrusted with the
power to determine according to their no.
tons how much money the country is to
have in circulation from time to time. But
even under more propitious circumstances
the volume Of the currency would depend
upon the fiat of politicians, and, therefore,
be more or less exposed to the action of mo-
tives and influences foreign to the business
interests of the country. 1t would constant.
~ remain the subject of uncertainty ari
agitation; and, as every sensible man
never fail to be highly prejudicial to that
confidence which is necessary for the sue.
cessful conduct of business
1t is not so with national banks notes
The volume of these bank notes, under a
sufficiently strict system of redemption,
will adjust itself to the Huctuating demands
Of business without the interference of the
When more is wanted, the
banks will find it profitable to issue more
When there is an excess, it will flow back
upon the banks for reduction. The gentle.
men OF the Ewing persuasion need not in.
bulge in the foolish fear that the banks
will try to make money by unnecessary,
artificial and ruinous contraction, for it is
not in that way they can make money. On
he contrary, the tendency will rather be
very strict and reliable system of
redemption to restrain that tende1-
~. But with such system our
rational bank currency will be entirely
it will be reliably governed
~ the wants of trade, and, therefore, the
oest currency for the general interest of
business. And this is the bank currency the
ohio Democrats seek to destroy. They
want to destroy it because, as they say, it
costs ten millions year. The regulator in
steam engine costs something. You can
ave a few dollars in buying an engine
Without regulator; but only foolish man
Vill forget that the regulator will save a
hundred times its cost in the working Of
he machine.
The constant and mischievous agitation
f the Ohio school OF Democrats for the de
truction of the natiora al bank currency
nd the substitution of greenbacks may,
lowever, serve one good purp, Sc. It will
t last convice every sensible man, that, as
ong rs government paper currency ex-
st the agitation for. an expansion of that
currency will never cease to disturb the
'ublic mind, to threaten the maintenance
It specie payments, to endanger the public
redit, and to undermine that foundation
pom which alone the business Of the coun.
~ can safely stand,-a sound monetary
ystem. 1t will at last convince even that
lass OF wellmeaning men, who, al.
hough in favor of honest money
ave been affected by that sentiment.
l ldolatry of the greenback which has con.
used so many minds, that, after all, under
ur constitution, as in every well-regulated
olity, it is not a legitimate function of the
overnment to be bank of issue; that in
he public interest it is necessary to take
he volume of the currency out of politics
nat it is the business of the country to coin
cal money and not to print notes; to see
nat the coin struck in the minis be of the
tandaYd Value tn nrovont opd munich