The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1879-10-17
TERMS $500 PER ANNUM, IN ADVANCE.

promisory notes of the government in ac-
knowledgement of the actual cash had and re-
ceived, the government promising to pay In
terest thereon semi-annually. NOW the gov
ornment established the banks, requiring
them to deposit the bonds which they own In
the Treasury, and you think that thereupon
the government should refuse to pay interest.
eyes but the government issues to the
banks ninety thousand dollars in bills for every
one hundred thousand dollars in bonds so de-
posited-and the profit made by the banks on
these bills should be nearly or quite equal to
the interest on the bonds. we do not see that
there's any injustice in 1t
'But the banks were established by the gov
ernment for the public interest and not for
that ofthe banks. The interest on one hundred
thousand dollars in bonds of four thousand dol
lars annually, which the government has
promised to pay The cost of ninety thousand
dollars in bills might be two hundred dollars,
more or less, not annually, but that sum once
for all. You think it fair and just for the gov
ernment to contiscate an annual sum OF four
thousand dollars, in that way, without having
the smallest responsibility in relation to the
bank bills The whole plan OF the National
banks in all its details, was framed by the
government for public purposes and not Tor
private interests; and the scheme OF National
Bank bills, instead of bills personal to the
bauks, was also a government measure, inn
posed upon the banks. The whole plan in all
its parts was devised and enacted into law by
the government exclusively for its own inter
est.
do not saw that it would be breach of faith
in the government, after fair notice to alter
the terms of this bargain. 1t is quite compe-
tent to the government to do this In any way,
if the banks were free to accept the new
terms or to neglect them, as they were Tree 10
accept the National Bank scheme, While they
were yet State Banks.
These banks occupy a most important place
in the business of the country, as railways DO;
and it is as great folly to propose to. abolish
them as it would be to propose the same thing
for the others. The profits which they make.
more or less, is the pay they receive for ser
vices to the community. III your plan should
be adopted of refusing to them the interest que
from the government, one or two things would
their bonds from the Treasury and wind up
their affairs, or they would go on under
the new arrangement, making up the dlffer-
ences by charging the customers higher per
centage for accommodation. The latter course
would be adopted in most cases. because the
banks are indispensable to the business COM
munity. Business men must pay whateVer
per centage the banks would find it necessary
to charge.
According to your plan the Government
would say to the banks: Here are your Diiis'
we will pay YOU no interest on whatever sum
we owe YOU; take the bills on these terms,
or leave them and take back your bonds"
The banks also would say to their customers:
"The Government has withheld from us con-
siderable share of the pay we have had for DO
ing business; we cannot do your work on the
former terms: we must charge you so-and.so,
now, and you are free to decline the terms!'
You can easily see that if your plan were
carried out, it would result in compelling the
business community to pay as much more Tor
their Accommodations as the Government had
withheld from the banks.
All your Greenback plans ignore entirely the
inexorable laws of trade, simply because your
leaders are themselves utterly ignorant OF them
or for purpose, defy them. Whatever you
do, you cannot change or reverse THESE laws,
tbey will continue like the annual succession
of seed time and harvest. The business OF the
country by ignorant meddling may be thrown
into confusion, and thousands OF business men
may be ruined by financial quackery, as tho
doctors used formerly to kill their fever pa
tients by Withholding water from them; put
YOU cannot change the laws Of trade, nor could
the doctors change or suppress the lmperlous
demand of the fevered system for cooling
drink.
1t is, or has been, a part of the Greenback
scheme to enact laws establishing maximum
nrice for all commodities, thinking to provide
in that way against the inevitable depreciation
of their "fiat money" and to provide mini
mum price for the wages of labor, and to regu-
late all this by statute. They do not see tnat
speed of the earth in its circuit about the sun
as to do this. The proposition to do 1T shows
the ignorance of these men, who do not know
that such impossible expedients have been tired
in other countries and in other times
A part of the Greenback scheme IS 10 pro-
hibit the Government from issuing bonds for
any purpose whatever. Thefe is something IN
the word "bond' that is terrible to GreenDack-
ers Their scheme involves this-that the
Government is never to hire money under any
circumstances. Every Government in the
world has been and is at times compelled to
borrow money. Often, these loans have been
"forced," that is, Governments doom clties
and other localities to loan certain proportions
| of an aggregate sum. Bonds are only prom
| ises to pay borrowed money, and are as neces-
| sary to Government as notes of hand are TO
business men.
Now, let us see who these men are who start
up and insist that they know all about banks
und banking, all about financial affairs, all
about the best way to run the Treasury OF the
nation; who declare that Secretaries Chase,
McCulloch, Fessenden, Morrill, and the rest OF
| them were nobodies in financial matters; men
who devised the ways and means OF raising
thousands of millions of dollars to supply the
pressing needs of the nation, at time w@hen @
the nation was without credit, and who have
devised the plan by which this vast indebted
ness is to be paid off without distress to the peo-
pie and with ne shock to the business OF the
country. Who are these men? Why, they
are the same who through the newspapers
have to be constantly warned against the SWIM
ding tricks of agents for lightning rods and pa,
tent washing machines, and new-fangled
| plows men who, intending to sign a written
consent to become sub-agents for such affairs
| find out, to their amazement that they have
| signed promssory notes, without any vaiue re-
| ceiyed. which the courts compel them to pay
| to innocent holders to whom they have been
| transferred; men who have constantly to be
warned against mock auctions and against the
rogues who, for ten dollars, cash down, Will
| show how to make pound OF gilt-edged outteI
inf nf cxi,nmad milk. SUCH are tle
mon who come to the front, and insist that
they know better how to manage. the vast n
nancial affairs of great nation than the able
men DO whose lives have been passed In deal
ing with the intricate problems of trade, COM
merce and finance. NJ IL.