Daily globe., 1879-06-02
THE POST OFFICE SALES.
Dange, That There Is to 30 a locking up Of

Currency. a
New York Tribune
During the past week the banks of this
city have lost $5, 900 in legal tenders.
The surplus reserve has again been reduced
over 5000, 600, and is now only 5,259, 600.
In other words, one more week of such work
would leave the banks without any surplus
reserve whatever with less than the reserve
required by law. What. is the matter? There
have been very large disbursements by the
treasury on account of called bonds. Both
the treasury and the business community,
apparently, have supposed that these would
suffice. But they do not. There is very
sudden, sharp, unnecessary, untimely and
dangerous contraction of the circulation.
What is the cause? as g, s-.s.fs5
Secretary Sherman may wisely take into
consideration, without a days delay, the fact
that great throngs of men, women and
children who besiege all day long the Offices
for the sale of $40 certificates are violently
contracting the currency. Every person in
each long line has some currency, and by far
the greater number have. 800 each. Mil
lions every day are drawn from bank in this
city alone, to equip this army of pretended
:" investors who are in reality acting only
as the messengers of bankers and specula-
tors. Millions more are drawn in like man
ner in other cities all over this land and in
towns and villages wherever the certificates
are sold. From all these places there comes
a sudden and unnatural demand for legal
tenders. The drain from this city, unlike
the ordinary outflow which is both caused
and compensated by commercial movements,
takes away currency to be employed in this
systematic fraud until it gets locked up in
the Treasury. Between $1,oOO,00O and
$2O00,000 each day thus goes into the
Treasury, and a much larger amount each
day goes out of the banks, in preparation for
further pretended investments; and unless
the greatest care is taken the powerful con-
traction resulting from this unnatural and
discreditable process will cause serious
trouble.
i No banker or business man needs to be
told that this army Of o-called Investors
is not composed of persons to whom the
treasury intends to sell the certificates
Surely, Mr.. Sherman knows by this time
that it is utterly impossible to prevent whole
sale disregard of the law and of his orders
AS long as the certificates are worth ovel
three per cent. more than the legal tenders
demanded for them, the government il
robbing itself for the benefit of set o.
woman, boy or girl, who will consent tt
stand in line all day, and can buy only $1Ol
worth of certificates, can thereby maxi
more than an average days wages for al
, able bodied man, on farm or in shop o
, mine, and as much besides for the banke
or operator who sends the money. This j
as improbable for the government as j
, is demoralizing and discreditable, and Secre
: tary Sherman NAV well consider the prOprj
!. ETY. of withdrawing the certificates altogether
: That they do not get into the hands of smal
investors is obvious to everybody. Th
: treasury has tried its best, and has demon
, strated the futility of any attempt to preyen
9 the organized capital of the country fror
!, providing the places of sale with its mes
4 sengers.
;. If the sale is to be continued, however, som
a strong precautionary measures by the treas
ury are necessary to prevent monetary di
order. The legal tenders locked up by pul
chases of certificates will not, in the ord
nary course, come out of the treasury agai
s. until calls for bonds mature in July. Abol
h $25, 100000 in currency has thus been sut
n denly drawn from the store of the chi.
@ commercial centers, and the banks do NJ
yet get into their possession the new bond
which might be employed as a basis for il
q creased deposits of currency, nor the o'
bonds which are to be redeemed. Unles
some arrangement can be made to obvia
10 tho difficulty. by a more rapid disbursemel
8, of currency in redemption of called bond
If there is reason to fear that the sale of $50
% 600, 900 moro of the certificates will pro,
ill-timed and undesirable. The matter ce
:. tainly deserves speedy attention and actiol