Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1886-03-17
FORTY-NINTH CONGRESS.


Among the petitions presented were large
humber from local assemblies of Knights Of
Labor, favoringthe building of the Hennopin
Canal
Senator Wilson OF Iowa, reported favorably
an amendment 10 the Pacific Railroad funding
bill
Mr.. Bowen obtained unanimous consent TO
address the senate on the subject Of his bill,
"TU provide q new basis for the circulation
Of national banks" The bill provides that
banking associations shall deposit with the
United States treasurer silver dollars, gold
dollars and United States bonds to the aggre-
gate aii,ount Of 10 per cent Of tho circulating
notes rs desired by such association. In lieu
of these they are to get United States notes OF
800 for each $40 so deposited The active
circulation Of the United States shall be $50
per capita Of population, and tho secretary Of
the treasury shall assume the population to
be 90, 900 900, the volume Of currency to DO
increased yearly at the rate OF l-3 per cent
The government shall have a first lien on the
bank as further security for notes issued and
individual stockholders shall be liable to the
extent Of twice the par value Of their shares
The per capita Of circulation shall hot he held
10 ihcl,ide the bank reserve fixed by law on
gold and silver, that may from time to time
be in the treasury. The new notes are to be
legal tender for all debts, public and private,
except customs dues and the principal
and interest Of United States bonds made
payable in coin.
u, Tho bill alsp gives the Secretary IF the
Treasury, with the approval of the Presi-
dent, authority to suspend and resume specie
payments by the government from time to
time whenever in his opinion the same will be
conductive to the safety and to the business
interests of the country
Mr.. Bowen did not claim for his bill per.
lection In detail, but said the principle con-
tanned in it was sound The fact that legis-
lation on the subject of our currency was
necessary admitted of no doubt Our
national banks had furnished the best bank
currency that the country ever had, and,
next to silver and gold coin and United
States notes, the best we could ever hope for.
of so serious a nature that he would rathet
let the whole SYSTEM 60 than hazard It's longer
continuance with that one defect remaining;
rather forego its many advantages than risk
the disasters that confronted the country
through that ono defect. The defect was
the power given by law to the
banks to regulate the volume of money. After
careful investigation, Mr.. Bowen had failed
to find any reasons sufficient to satisfy bis
mind that the country needed national bank
notes at all. On the contrary, he was ire
sistibly led to the conclusion that the govern
ment, and it alone. should emit the paper cur
rency Of the nation. We were told that the
power of regulating the volume of our cur
rency shodld be allowed to remain in the
banks Recalling what we had seen in the
past, Mr.. Bowen dSkud whether there was
not danger that the banks would contract the
currency when it was to their interest to con-
tract It, and initiate it when it was to their in
terest to initiate. Would they not use this
power to their corporate advantage regard
less of the disaster which might follow from
one end of the country to the other'
Senator EdmundSs speech, in defence OF
his resolution concerning the rights Of
the senate TO obtain papers in the pos
session of the departments, was all that
the Republicans expected. It was de-
livered in two hours of dispassionato
argument, to overlooking galierie, He
showed that Duskin, in the case at issue,
was suspended by the tenure of office net,
and that the law made the consent of the
senate necessary to complete the removal;
that by law the papers at issue are not in
the custody of the President, but of tho
Attorney General that they are in sense
personal papers, fUr they cease to be such
when they go on the files of the department,
FOR all papers in the departments are by law
open to the process of the courts, and are de-
CNtItu 10y law, when III ITe departments, OH
cial and public in their character. He ridi
culed the idea that the president shall decide
for the senate whether the papers called for
are official, with fine sarcasm He said that
the only suggestion Of reason for withhold
ing these papers was because they were called
for in secret scssion--a pretence that he made
light of-and then showed by numer-
Gus precedents that the senate,
whether in secret session or
not, has from the beginning of the govern
ment asked and obtained all the papers in the
archives. His best point was comparing the