New-York tribune., 1886-07-14
SNAIL NOTES IN THE SENATE.


The Senate Committee has changed the Sill
yer certificate provision in the Sundry Civil
bill as follows: The small silver notes may
be issued only upon the s.me conditions Oh
which the silver certificates are now issued,
but in exchange for unused ceitlhcates Vi
large denominations now i'll the Treasury
others of small denominations may be 1Ssucu
and used These changes are important, anu
they take from the plan much OF Its power lor
mischief. The proposal to thrust addluohal
notes upon the public without any deposit OIL
silver and without requiring any Il yer 10 DE
held for their redemption, was entirely mex
cusable, and the Senate gets rid OF that lt
follows naturally that the Senates plan does
not contemplate any issue OF notes against
the large surplus of silver now IN the treasury
as the House provision did. nor does 1t provide
for any increase in the amount OF silver notes
technically outstanding unless there shouid pc
n new deposit of silver dollars, and then only
TO the amount deposited. There are members
of the Senate and Journalists, whose opposl-
tiou to any debasement Of the currency Is un-
doubted who act ,tnd speak on the belief that
these changes make the proposition harmless, and
some even commend it as beneficial. But there
are still great objections to the measure, and 1t
would probably do serious harm if passed,
even in the form proposed by the Senate Com
mittee.
There were technically outstanding, June
so. no less than S1l5,977675 i'll silver GER
ticates. Assuming that the amount was the
same last Saturday, when $SS, ,2OS, ,092 were i'll
actual circulation, there remain Ill the Treas
uly unused $27,7G9,5o3, against which the
Senate plan would permit the issue OF small
silver notes, those of larger denominations
now in the Treasury being destroyed. The
isSue of Sl7,7OO,O0O small notes, i'll place OF
large certificates now lying unused, would indeed
be a less mischievous step than the issue OF
500 .OOO, 900, more or less, against surplus OF
silver. but it would be a mischlevous step,
nevertheless 1t would dispace com, II the
certificates should remain i'll u>e and the See
,ctarv of the Treasury well knows that it Is
oDly the small certificates which get scattered
in the hands OF the people who are not III the
habit of using places Of deposit, that obstinate
" remain i'll circulation, pushing coin and
other notes out of use.
Upon Secretary Mannine's Interpretation of
the law there Is nothing to prevent The ietlle-
ment and destruction of all the silver celtlfl-
Gates now in the Treasury. Under Repubh-
can Secretaries, the law was so construed that
lhe certificates when once paid into the Treas
uly. we've held again for REISSUE and on the
3ist of March, when Mr.. Jordan made his
first statement us Treasurer there were tech
nicalv outstanding no less than 81 1861 ,3ll,
the amount having steadily increased under Re-
nnblican officials But il has declined III every
month since to $780, GIG June 80, 1850,
and to $1l5,977,675 June 80, 1856, SO that
S273S4,16 have been retired aheady since
Secretary Manming's first statement made.
He could easily retire as much more, the entire
amount now lying idle, if he saw fit. But the
law ought not to leave the condition of the cur
lency entirely dependent upon the Judgment
and wisdom Of one official, and though the
present Secretary might not so act under the
law. if the Senate plan should be adopted, H.
to do any ham, there is no certainty that
different Secretary may not presently be in
Office with entirely different conceptions of
duty.
There is no real need of issuing small silver
certificates OF new small notes of any sort,
because there is abundance of coin which it
would be far better to have the people hold and
use IN place of paper, and abundance of legal
tenders which the Secretary has already
authority under the law to issue If he chooses
The Secretary's withdrawal Of small legal
tender notes was expressly for the purpose of
bringing into circulation more silver coin, and
it has had that effect to some extent But if
more small notes are wanted by the people, it
is within the power of the Secretary to put out
again the small cgaltenders recently with
drawn and no reason can be given for prefer
ring new issue of silver notes of smaller
denominations instead. They would crowd out
silver, exactly as the withdrawal of some legal
tenders has made room for silver, but that
would be of DO benefit to the country.