New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-05-24
TASTY LEGISLATION.

Already it has been discovered that the BANK
Charter bill will have to be amended. One OF
the amendments recommended by the commit
tee and passed by the House without division
WAS nevertheless so ill-considered that the
necessity for a change is admitted before the
bill has fairly crossed the Capitol There are
other points, as THE tribune has said, which
if will be found necessary to change if mischief
is to be prevented, and people who made haste
TO approve the bill without knowing its pro-
visions may presently have occasion TO feel a
little ashamed of their language.
To Mr.. Randalls amendment we objected at
the outset that banks could not foresee Tor
ninety DAYS whether the condition OF business
would render surrender of circulation deslr-
able But shrewd bankers said: That clause
@amounts to nothing. All the banks can give
"notice as soon as the bill becomes a law if
" they like. There is nothing in 1t compelling
"th-in to remember the matter at the expiration
of the ninety days or to send in theiT legal
tenders "a. that precise time. But the notice
will hold good, when once given, and Will
@enable them to surrender circulation at any
- time thereafter" 1t did not seem to IHE
TRIBUNE that bill ought to be approved or
passed on the ground that its plain intent could
be defeated 10y an easy evasion. But 1t turns
out that the door is left open to the same eva
sion by the letter OF the amendment offered as
"A substitute and adopted 10y the House without
q diyl.ion The banks can give notice as much
rs they like, with or without intention OF doing
ANYTHING but nothing in the law compels them
to comply with the notice given until they get
ready.
This papabc bunder ought to be corrected
in one way Oh the other. Either the provision
should be omitted, or surrender OF circulation
after notice given should be made compulsory.
If this provision has any business Ill the bill, 1t
will not do to leave the matter so that few OF
the banks can scare the whole country by mere
notices of surrender, without rsl1ng dollar,
or giving up any part of their circulation even
for an hour. The TRIBUNE does not believe
that there is the slightest reason for the re-
0uirement of notice. 1t does not believe that
National bank directors, who are also men en-
gagged in many branches of business will ever
enter into any conspiracy to ruin their business
by surrendering circulation in order TO cause
monetary alarm or distress. But If there is
any danger of this, then there is vastly more
likelihood that greater mischief would lie done
tended surrender of circulation under the pro-
vision of the pending bill.
But the attention of the Senate is also invited
to the fact that this danger cannot easily be
averted-if there is any real danger, as advo-
Gates of this provision imagine. Suppose it
were required, under heavy penalties, that q
bank shall comply with any notice it has given,
and shall surrender circulation on the date and
to the amount named. A dull summer is COM
ing, let us suppose. bank gives notice in
April that it will surrender 500, 900 circula-
ton in July. AS July draws near, the surrender
appears undesirable. Business promises to be
active. Thereupon the bank applies to the
Controller for an issue Of $780, 900 additional
circulation. Nothing in the existing or the new
law authorizes him to refuse. Either q little
before or little after the date fixed for sur
render, the bank takes out new circulation and
goes on as if nothing had happened. But if it
was intended to brighten the public by the no.
tice, that end has been reached without risk, and
at insignificant expense. The difficulty, Senators
will see is that the provision that notice shall
be given OF an intended surrender of circulation
is essentially pernicious and dangerous 1t
will continually tempt banks to play tricks
with the circulation, and its possibilities for
mischief are not to be easily avoided.
Senators would do well, also, to consider
whether the clause providing for suits in State
| courts il unconstitutional. United States