Morris tribune., 1884-12-03
THE SILVER QUESTION.
POSITION OF THE NEW YORK CLEAR.
lNG-HOUSE.
Something That WIN Have TO he Soon AT.
tended to - Danger to the Gold Re
serve-The United States Treas
urer's Statement.

WASHINGTON CRY, Dec 1.--rhere is ons
passage in the report Of the treasurer of tho
United States which will attract the atten-
ton of the friends of tho silver dollar. The
treasurer observes that, Notwithstanding the
law of July IL 1882, which prescribed that
"no national banking association shall be
a member Of any clearing house in
which such Igold and silver certihcatesl
shall not be receivable in settlement OF clear
ing-house balances neither standard silver
dollars nor silver certificates have been or are
now offered in settlement of balances at the
clearinghouse The associated banks did after
the enactment of the law referred to, pass
resolution which provided that the resolutions
adopted Nov. -, 1878, be amended so far as
they conflict with Sec l. of the act OF July
IL, 1882. The resolutions Of November,
1878, prohibited the payments of balances
ut the clearing house i'll silver certificates or
silver dollars, except as subsidiary coin
in small sums-say under $40. The
treasurer adds that the treasury
has refrained from taking any steps
to enforce the receipt OF other these de-
scriptions of funds, which have, therefore,
not been used in payment Of Obligations pre-
sented through the clearing. house" the
statement will doubtless be made in congress
that the clearing house has violated the law
of July L. 1882.
The silver men viii doubtless find it very
difficult to understand why the treasury
should continue this obseQuioUS coUSe toward
the New York clearing houSe, and why
it is the same percentage Of the sill
yer dollars now used III other
branches of the treasury service should
not to be used in the settlement OF the
clearing balances. The statement OF
the treasurer, which is simply & report Of
facts unaccompanied by argument, indi-
Gates very clearly how strong the opposition
in the treasury department and in the sub
treasury at New York is to the recognition
of the silver dollar in any form.
As a consequences of the inability Of the
treasurer under existing practice to use
either silver dollars or silver certificates in
its settlements with the New York clearing
house, whereby the far greater part of its
disbursements is made, available gold
ran down from S155, 249,600 January l.,
1884, to S116,479,919 August II, 1884,
while silver dollars anu bullion on
hand, represented by silver certificates out
standing, increased for the same period from
S27, 266 O37 to SIS, 603,05 As temporary
expedient to stop the drain Of gold from the
treasury, the assistant treasurer at
New York was directed to use in
payments to the clearinghouse United
States notes to the extent OF
one-half its payments. But the amount of
these notes in the treasury, which, at the
time of the commencement Of this mode Of
payment, had accumulated beyond its needs,
has now become SO much reduced
that they are no longer available
for such payments to any considerable
extent If return to the former
practice of making payments entirely in gold
or gold certificates shall result in a coutinu-
GUS loss of gold to the treasury, not made up
to sufficient extent BY receipts Of gold from
other sources, the question must soon arise
for decision by the department as to whether
it will continue to make il gold OF its repre-
sentative payments now made through
the clearing house, or Use in its payment sill
yer dollars or their representative certificates
in some proportion 10 the relation which
siver dollars in the treasury not held for
certificates outstanding bear TO available
assets, and to an extent similar to that which
they are used at other Offices Of The treasury.
Found Dead in the Woods.
SHAwANo Wis. Dec. MIR John
Wattaconnitt, whose husband resides near
Oconto, started from Koshcno on Saturday
to walk to Cecil, a station twelve miles dis
tant, intending to take the cars for homo
She was accompanied by her ssiUtle girl aged
IL years. The mother and daughter got
lost in the woods and wandered
into some large swanps. The sharp
change in the temperature Of last Sunday
night made their wandering all the more Sc
we're Their non-arrival caused search to
be made. Thursday the girl was found fro
zen to death in low region where she had
evidently fallen from exhaustion. The
search for the mother was continued, and
Friday she was also found frozen to death
about fifty rods away from the daughter.
The indications were that after the mother
fell the little girl tried to push on for relief,
but was overcome by the. cold and laid dowE
to die within two miles of the depot.
Death of oklahoma" Payne.
WICHITA, Kan, Dec. IA private tele.
gram received here from Wellington, Kan,
says that Capt. David l. Payne died sud
denly in that city from heart-disease.
While sitting at the table Friday Payne
was observed to lean forward, and in.
stantly expired. His death, following closely
upon the decision Of Judge Foster Of the Uni
ted States court which declared Oklahoma
United States lands, as Payne always cor