Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-12-20
The Coming Contest in Congress
Relative to the National Banks.
spoadence of The Nei0 York Journal 0

A general discussion of the national bank
system will undoubtedly take place in both
Houses of Congress during the present ses-
sion. 1t will be incidental to the considera.
tion of 3 per cent. funding bill, and it
cannot be avoided when the bill to enable
national banking associations to extend
their corporate existence is brought for
ward.
It is morally certain that the Senate FL
nance Committee and the House Banking
and Currency Committee will report bills
substantially IN accordance with the recon-
mendations of the Secretary of the Treasury
and Comptroller of the Currency. It is
equally certain that no bill extending the
corporate existence of the banks will be
passed without encountering earnest and
formidable opposition. The struggle will
be long and bitter, and In the end it will be
found in all probability that no bill for the
purpose in question can be put through
Congress unless 1t contains various amend
ments of the existing banking laws. In the
first place it may be safely said that a ma
joritY OF the House of Representatives will In
sist upon an amendment to prevent the banks
from suddenly retiring their currency, and
which will provide that previous notice Of
reasonable length shall be given before
such retirement Of circulation shall be per
mitted. An amendment of this nature
would be in accordance with the recon-
mendations of the President, the Secretary NJ
the Treasury and the Treasurer. The friends
of the banks will blunder If they make gnv
strenuous opposition to this proposition
Events have clearly shown that some Of
them did their cause great harm last winter
In hghtlng the per cent. funding bill
passed by Congress and vetoed bv President
Hayes. II they had accepted that biIl
instead Of fighting it with bitterness and
persistence wholly uniustifable, the banks
would to-day be far stronger In Congress-
than they are. 1t Is reasonable to saw
that two-thirds of the present Congre 80
are thoroughly convinced that the 3 ner
cent. bonds authorized by the vetoed bill OF
the last Congress would have been success
tuiiy disposed OF. IL is seen, moreover, that
both the President and the Secretary of
the Treasury concur with the Treas
urer in recommending one of the
features OF the vetoed bill relating IN
the retirement OF circulation. and II has
been shown that what was known as the
compulsory clause Of she vetoed bill-re-
quiring the banks thereafter to deposit 2
per cents. as the basis Of new circulation
would not have been hardship, and that
the banks would have pursued the policy en-
bodied in the clause referred to even II The
clause had been stricken from the bill.
1t is but just to say that undoubtedly
large majority OF the national banks were
not aggressive in their opposition to the
per cent. bill. The active open hostility
came from comparatively few banks.
Their chief spokesman was OonptrolIer
John Jay Knox, who has done much re-
Gently to injure the standing of the banks
before Congress. Whether justly or not.
many Congressman entertain the bel,ef that
the Vetoing of the per cent, bin last win
ter was owing to the effective antauooism of
the Comptroller. In the end it viii be
toun9 70 De the wiser policy for the
friends and supporters Of the present bank
ing system to recognize the strong pre- eiudice
against them which exists In the minds of
many public men, and to make reasonable
concessions to that prejudice II this roli-
cy had been pursued Iast winter, and the
banks had accepted the funding bill. the
long controversy likely to take place this
session would have been avoided, the op-
pressiye bank taxes would have been re-
moved, and the banking question would be
In much more favorable condition than n
now is Or is likely to be for some time.