Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-12-25

DhChtI upon BoVu 6'Vu""0 e"N - W.
not one too, and are not the whole ma
ton Greenbackers to the extent Of about
$3.50, 900, 900, which is as good as gold?
And the question arises, Had we better
not convert the 1882 900, 900 of national
currency into greenhacks and save our
people that enormous amount of interest
which they pay the banks? Respect
fully, LEBANON SUBSCRIBER.
|. The banks do receive interest
upon their bonds, and would receive it
all the same il they were not allowed
to issue circulating notes. The bonds
are Government bonds, and the interest
on them will be paid no matter who
owns them. If the banks hold them,
the banks will get the interest. If the
banks sell them to our correspondent,
he will get the interest. These bonds
are exempt from taxation, as is evil
denced by the fact that they are at and
above par although they bear very low
rates of interest. If the Government
had allowed them to be taxed it would
have been compelled to pay interest at
the rate Of at least 6 per cent. per an
nun in order to sell its bonds at par.
The bonds were exempted from taxation
as a means of saving money to the
Government, which is the same thing
as saving money to tie people.
.. No. The banks are not allowed
to charge a higher rate Of interest than
is allowed by the law Of the State in
which they are located. In Virginia
the highest lawful rate is g per cent.
3. Nobody can get the use of money
without paying interest on it; and we
can't believe that it makes any differ
ence to the people whether they borrow
it from banks, or from brokers, or
from farmers. Whoever lends money
will make the borrower pay interest.
Cur correspondent can, if he chooses.
deposit 100000 Of Government bonds
in Washington and receive 100000 Of
circulating notes. The banking law
makes banking free. The banking laws
are framed in the interest of the people,
not in the interest of the bankers. Be-
fore the war, the banks issued circu-
latiDg notes of their own, lent them out
as money, and received full rates Of in
terest upon them. Those banks often
broke, and such men as our correspond
ent lost money by their failure. The
note-hOlder had no security against the
/ failure Of the bank. If he had ten
thousand dollars Of its notes, he lost
/ the whole amount if the bank failed.
/ Whoever had the notes on hand
when the fact Of failure was
announced had to bear the loss. We
once knew a man to deposit note of
broken bank only few hours before
the failure became known. The bank
lost it. If, like our correspondent, he
had lived where there was no bank, the
loss would have fallen upon him. TO
remedy that condition Of things, and to
provide currency that should be good all
! Al ~ -, ii
solute protection to the note-holders,
the present banking law was passed.
If our correspondent had on hand
100000 issued by national
bank, and the bank should
fail, he would not lose q
cent. lie could send to Washington
city and have his notes redeemed. They
would still be as good as gold. This is
so well understood that note of one
national bank is considered as good as
the note Of any other national bank ;
and nobody looks, when he takes such
a note, to see what bank issued it. The
Government doesn't gre the banker
any interest. 1t pays him only the
same interest that it would have to pay
10 whomsoever might hold the bond
Now, as to the circulating notes Of TIT
bank; Suppose the Government SHOULD
refuse to allow the banks to issu,
any. Then it would Of course return
the bonds to the bank The circu
lating notes would be Withdrawn. VIII,
: would be benefited? Will it be sal,
that the Government could issue 1882,
0O0,0O0 of greenbacks to take thei
place? But how would /" the people >
f get these greenbacks: Surely no san
q man expects the Government to gis
; them away. Surely no sane man ex
n poets or desires the Government to q
D into the business Of lending money. 1
: not, our correspondent and all the othel
{ people would have to 60, as now
, either 10 the banks or to some person
, that has money to lend, in order to Dor
/ row, and would have to pay as high {,
; rate Of interest as now, and perhap,
great deal higher rate. Our cor
respondent says there are now Out
$3.50, OO0, 900 Of greenbacks which are
as good as gold. They happen to be
as good as gold now, but let a wal
come between the United States and
any powerful Government and these
gresnbacks would soon fall far below
The par Of gold. But that is rot the
point now. We wish TO ask our cor.
respondent how much Of that SUN OF
| e3S( 600 000 ne mr. any othar 0..ao