The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1884-12-11

INV YORK, Dec. 5.-The Sun, in no.
table double-leaded editorial, discusses
the, question of our coming national
currency and reaches the conclusion
that tho national bank currency must
30 and give place to a government cur
rency Of coin and paper money. The
article notes carefully the rapid decrease
Of national bank circulation and the
pore rapid increase in coin and coin
oertiticates, and says: "This will give
w by 1891 "A grand total of 81 rs, 00O, 600
Of government currency, against not
more than $lO0, 900, 600, and probably less,
supplied by the banks. Ofcourse, much
may happen to modify or prevent this
result. Tho conduct of men cannot be
predicted SO confidently as that of in
animate things. The legal tenders may
be redeemed and withdrawn, the coin
ago of silver dollars may be suspended,
and the supply of gold may be dimin-
lshed at tho mines, or be drained away
TO foreign countries. The decrease OF
national bank circulation may, on the
other hand, be checked by favOring
legislation, but the probabilities are
greatly against these events, and, az we
said at the outset, it is much more likely
that national bank notes will be driven
taken by an exclusively government
currency. The existence of "a national
bank circulation, it must be remem-
bered, depends entirely upon the profit
il yields the banks. These institutions
are conducted upon commercial, not
philanthropic principles. So long
as the e. hone bonds cron required n ,..r as
sufficiently high rate of interest they
will issue the notes; but 80 soon as the
rate falls below the paying point, the
circulation will be Withdrawn. At pres
ent there arc enough 3 per cents to he
had at about par to make it worth while
to take out circulation upon them; but
those bonds, AZ we know, will all soon
be paid of, and the comptroller of the
currency tells us that the As and 41S's
profitable basis for circulation. The
4Is's will surely be redeemed at their
maturity, in 1891, and the as are rising in
price continually under the competition
FOR them by executors, trustees, savings
institutions and timid investors. That
tho people of the United States will, for
the sake Of tho banks, sanction any leg
islation by which either the national
debt shall be prolonged or the interest
upop it be increased, it is idle to sup
pose. That they will permit the banks
to issue circulation on any less secure q
basis than United States bonds, Ia
equally incredible. There is no escape
that we can see from the hard logic of
facts. The
NATIONAL BANK CURRENCY MUST 90,
and that pretty soon. OF the possibility
of the retirement of the legal tender
notes by redemption AMI cancellation,
there Is no indication. The contracting
of them In this WY was stopped in 1873
by the popular clainor, and AZ we have
already remarked, they have remained
fixed at their present. amount ever since
without efforts by either political party
to reduce ". The same may be said of
the coinage of silver dollars, every at
tempt to check or suspend IL has hith-
erto been abortive. The west almost
unanimously favors it and will support
it to the last. AS to the
danger that the withdrawal
OF bank circulation may cause mo-
mentary stringency, concerning which
so much solicitude has been expressed
In various quarters, it need only be re-
that the coinage of gOl and
silver alone will more than fill any
vacuum thus occasioned. Whether the
coin goes into circulation rs coin or as
receipts for coiu deliverable
on demand is imnaterial. There is
sure To be circulating medium
enough for the needs OF tho com
munity at the worst, suppOsing
the amount of II to I've reduced by an
foreign demand, exceeding the
our mines. We shall have
aiways. a. we had during the war, the
resource OF legal tender notes, Especially !
tincs tho issue Of them has been de- !