Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1884-12-12

we said at the outset, it is much n1orc likely
that national bank notes will be driven out
of use altogether, and their place taken by
an exclusively Government currency.
The existence of national bank circula-
ton, 1t must be remembered, depends entire
ly upon the profit it yields the banks. These
institutions are conducted upon CONNER
cal and not upon philanthropic prin-
ciples. So long as the bonds required as
security for their circulation bear q suffi-
GENTLY high rate of interest they will issue
the notes but as soon as the rate falls below
the paying point the circulation will be
withdrawn. AT present there are enough 3
per cents TO be had at about par to make it
worth while TO take out circulation upon
them, but these bonds, as we know, will all
soon be paid off, and the Comptroller of the
Currency tells US that the as and AIS are al
ready too high to make them profitable
basis for circulation. The AIS will surely
be redeemed at their maturity in 1891, and
the As are rising in price continually, under
the competition for them by executors, trus.
| tees, savings institutions and timid investors
| That the people of the United States will
for the sake of the banks, sanction any leg.
islation by which either the national debt
shall be prolonged or the interest upon it be
increased, it is idle TO suppose. That they
will permit banks to issue circulation on
any less secure basis than United States
bonds is equally incredible. There is no es.
cape, that we can see, from the hard logic OF
facts. The national bank currency must go
and that pretty soon.
or the possibility of the retirement of the
legal tender notes by redemption and can.
collation. there is no indication. The con.
tracing of them in this way was stopped in
1878 by popular clamor, and, as we have al.
ready remarked, they have remained fixed
at their present amount ever since, without
efforts by either political party TO reduce it
The same may be said of the coinage of sill
yer dollars. Every attempt to check or tc
suspend it has hitherto been abortive The
West almost unanimously favors it and will
support it to the last.
AS to the danger that the withdrawal OIL
bank circulation may cause q monetary
stringency, concerning which so much soil
citude has been expressed in various quar-.
tiers, 1t need only be remarked that the coin.
age of gold and silver alone will more than
fill any vacuum thus occasioned. Whether
the coin goes into circulation as coin or as
Government receipts for coin deliverable on
demand is immaterlal There is sure to be
circulating medium enough for the needs of
the community. At the worst, supposing
the amount of it to be reduced by an unu-
sual foreign demand exceeding the product
OF our mines, we shall have always, as we
had during the war, the resource of legal
tender notes, especially since the issue OF
them has been declared by the Supreme
Court to be constitutional exercise of Gov
eminent power.
We shall always do well to remember
that the natural forces are often stronger
| than lpDiclafinn anh that fha
OF events constantly sets aside the trans
cendental reasonings of theorists and phi
losophers.-New York Sun.