The Portland daily press., 1879-08-13
Boston Advertiser.l
A False Issue.

The idea has been started in Maine, to help
the Greenback cause, that the national banks
are Gin rebellion" against the government be-
cause they have, at least some Of them have,
standing rule against receiving silver dollars
on deposit The reviver of this notion Is Mr.
George NJ. Weston, to whom it would not be
either complimentary or just to suspect that
he does not know better, and the medium
chosen is the Bangor Commercial. Still, there
may be some people who argue thus: Silver
dollars are legal tender some of the banks
refuse them; therefore, the banks violate and
defy the law. The argument is absurd, for
the simple reason that there is confusion of
ideas as to the meaning of the phrase legal
tender. The true idea may be very clearly
illustrated thus: A has borrowed OF one
hundred dollars; at the maturity Of the debt
he tenders one hundred silver dollars in pay
ment; the law of legal tender eompels b TO re-
ceive them. On the other hand, suppose A
applies to for loan of one hundred dollars,
and agrees to lend the sum; when A goes
for his money B offers him one hundred silver
dollars; A has the right to refuse them. and
violates no law in doing so.
The bank is in the case of the borrower in
the latter illustration, with the important diff
ference that it has not agreed to borrow at all.
When it receives deposit it accepts loan
The reason that it accepts it is, that there Is a
chance of lending it again at interest. II the
bank directors think there is no such chance,
they refuse to take the deposit; because, al
though there is a risk in assuming the custody
Of it, they get no compensation for the risk 80
any sound bank, well conducted, Will always
refuse to accept funds of which it can make no
use, or to do business for customers whom IL
distrusts That is all there is OF it; and legal
tender has nothing to do with it. II the mani
ayers of bank believe that the safety OF other
peoples deposits will be diminished by the ac-
eeptance of silver dollars on deposit, they do
what is right and proper in refusing them.
Debtors of the bank still have the right under
the law to pay their notes in silver dollars, but
if they should take advantage OF that privilege
they would be Immediately and properly
dropped from the books of such banks as dis
criminate against silver. For bank has no
more obligation to lend than TO borrow. The
very man who paid his last note with silver
dollars might refuse to accept the same money
as loan again.
yer freely, the result might be an accumulation
of silver in the vaults with no power OF relief.
That is Just what has happened in France.
The Bank of France makes no discrimination
against silver fye-franc pieces but its custo-
mers do. The bank takes all that are sent in,
but it can get rid of only such as borrowers
will take. That is very little indeed, and the
result is tina. rapid transfer of silver to the
bank and of gold away from it has ia ken
place. More than half the coin in the posses
sion of the Bank of France is now silver, and
the change is still in progress. If the purpose
of the Bland act was to load down the national
banks with silver dollars, the outcry against
their action is from one point OF view, 1usti-
fed. But until it becomes the law that banks
must borrow whatever anybody chooses to
lend, there is likely to be q discrimination
against short-weighted money and tricky de-
poSitors.