The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1885-11-05

18I HtlO1 GONGas Tilt soSstC SsAa 61st oldt GC-
" fail to have such influence OH the
State elections next autumn rs to re-
mind the Eastern members Of Congress
that the banks are not their only con-
stituente. Meanwhile, the depressed
state OF trade will give the banks .
temporary victory by creating an
urgent demand for curreacy of some
kind or another. It is peculiarly Of
the situation that this demand can
much more readily be met by the banks
than the Government. Under existing
laws the Government has no power TO
increase the currency, while the banks
have. The Government cannot in
crease the lold coinage, because the
banks own the accumulated gold and
control all the new supplies. It can
not increase the silver coinage, because
this depends upon the discretion Of
officers opposed to such increase, be-
cause the banks have refused to accept
silver dollars for the payment Of bal
ances in the New York clearing house.
and because great clamOr has been
raised against the silver dollars. Il
cannot increase the greenbacks because
they are limited to $3i6, ,OOt,, 900, and
are payable on demand in gold and sill.
yer coins, Of which the Treasury pos
sesses an insufficient number. It cam
not increase the nationsl-bank notes
because the banks have entire control
Of this emission and are IN fact rapidly
decreasing it from day to day.
On the other hand, the State laws
under which these banks formerly is
sued circulating notes, and which Laws
have never been repealed, enable the
banks to issue similar notes again; and,
indeed, this is precisely what they are
aiming to do. Maj, nal stocks now
scarcely yield an inc, IN of 3 per cent.
per annum, while State and municipal
stocks pay 8 to = per cent. To ex-
change their circulation pledges Of
national stocks for State and munich.
pal ones would increase the combined
income of the national hanks derived
from IL to Ii million dollar per annum.
It is now under . millions; it might
be increased to . millions, even If :Leir
circulation did not exceed thA ls'.-:'
thirty years 400 ... of
90. 4Al.n.ugh the banks
40 at liberty to ,ssue notes upon the
pledge of State stocks, and could give
them currency by refusing to receive
any other money in payment OF clear
ing-hOuse balances, yet there arc two
obstacles in the way Of doing thi, aI-
yantageousiy. The superiprit cf green
backs, which are legal tender between
ell persons except from tho esern.
ment. and OF national bank ro.es,
which are legal tender to and froal the
Government, but not between in
dividuals or from the banks, is such
that SO long IS any considerable num-
Der of them remained in circulation,
the public would be unwilling to accept
State bank-notes in the stead. This
obstacle the banks are engaged in re-
moving. The national bank-note cir
culation is being rapidly retired.
The other obstacle is tax Of 10 per
cent. which the National Government
imposes upon all State bank-notes is-
sued for circulation az money. An ef-
fort will be made during the next ses-
sion Of Congress to covertly repeal this
tax.
The times are hard, the widow and
orphans are suffering; we have paid off
more than half our national debt; We
have an annual surplus SO large that
we do not know how to dispose of it.
The people are overtaxed. Let us di-
minish our enormous revenues by re-
ducing the taxes. But we must not
reduce the customs taxes, because
that would deprive our manufacturers
-
Of workingmen out of employment.
The times are hard enough; let MS not
make them harder. Therefore we
must reduce the internal taxes; We
must destroy every vestige Of this relic
of the war, ETC., and off will 60 the 10
per cent. tax on State bank circulation,
and the banks viii have won their
victory.