Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-01-14
ow. having captured the executive branch

the ponds SHOULD DE palu. III Is ndTu 10 90
Justice to their audacty in temperate
language; l hardly think / am equal to the
task and will not attempt it, / can, how
ever get the facts before the people.
The last report of the Treasurer, page 81,
shows that the receipts at the New York
Custom House for the fiscal year 1885 were
pa Il as follows;
United States legul-
tender notes. $40, l6l 900. or SS.9 per cent.
United States gold
COIN. ......,.,.. l,544,000, or 12 per cent.
United States gold
certificates. AZ, 77a,000. or "a, per cent.
United States silver
certificates . 4466a.0Oo, or 356 per cent
United States silver
coin..... -. $4,000, or OIL per cent.
Total. sl25,5Gs, 900, or 100 per cent
1t is fair to assume that the payments at
the other cuSt0m-haISes were made in sub
stantiaily the same character of money. Ii
vii be observed that more of the customs
dues were paid in silver and silver certiii-
Gates than were paid in gold and gold certi-
fcateS; all OF It is by law special fund
which cannot legally b. paid or covered
into the Treasury till the interest on the
public debt is paid ont OF it, and the bonds
Tor the sinking fnnd are purchased or re-
deemed.
SILVER HELD IN THE TIRE ASURY.
These, together rqu red Il .Out sizes, 0oo,-
coo, yet not 4 doil-r of silver has been so
applied; ii Is paid into the treasury and
held there. ana a C amor Is raised that it
cannot BE- again raised into circulation. If
the law was tbeyed and the bondhOlders
required to TAKE the SAME proportion of sill
yer dollars that the G1veriment receives
through It's cust0m-houses, the bundholder
would have no difie tltY IN getting them all
into circulatian; and when it is made their
inter ST tl main ain and support the silver
they own we would hear 10 more about it
heaip iii Gil no
(pag,i II OF his report that the balance in
the Treasury has been increased from the
4th Of March, lsS5. to tho lst of November,
1885, SIS 053, 702.27, yet there has been no
reduction of the interest-bearing debt land
that is the only debt that is burden on
taxpayers) since November, 1884, certainly
mol since March, 1885. The monthly reports
show s19l, 100000 of 8 per cent bonds Their
outstanding and precisely the same amount
In November
How is the surplus silver coin to get out
of the Treasury If the Secretary refuses tc
pay ii out for interest and refuses to call in
the bonds which are now payable?
There is no more effectuai or pernicious
method OF contracting the currency than by
collecting by taxation large sum in excess
OF the needs of an economically admins
tered Government and locking it up in the
Treasury. Every dollar needleSsiy taken
from the taxpayer wrongfally deprires him
labored to obtain, and when it is locked up,
The circulating medium which all the peo-
pie want IS wrongfully withheld from them.
The thief who steals and squanders an I'M
nee led surplus locked mp il ths Treasury
vaults would infiict less injury on the cOun-
try and its business il the money he stole
was put in circulation than Secretary who
holds and hides in vaults currency which
the people want, and refuses to use it to
pay the debts. especially Understanding
debts, which the men who own this money
owe. 1t is easy to raise clam0r about a
surplus, but 1t will be more difficult to ex-
plain to the people why such vast amounts
OF money they have been so heavily taxed
10 furnish is lying idle in The overloaded
Treasury vaults and they deprived of its
Use, while interest is running against them
on bonds that can be and ought to be paid.
The idle money, when paid ont for interest
on bonds, would at ones be released and re-
stored to circulation.
Speaking of circulation, we are constantly
told that there is now great abundance of il
outstanding; indeed, we are officially advised
that the legal-tender notes and the silver Ger
tificates should all be withdrawn presume
because OF the super-abundance of currency.
Let us look for a few minutes at the effect oil
these recommendations If carried out and
see how far these certificates are now used as
currency.
1t was the avowed purpose of the advocates
one of them, to furnish safe, convenient
paper currency, every dollar of it could be
used Just as the coin paid for it could be, and
which would be secured by the deposit of an
equal amount of coin in the Treasury. No
better security could be asked or given. II
was not thought desirable to have the coin
of either metal exposed to the risk of loss OF
reduction of value by the abrasion which
necessarily accompanies its active nse. The
transportation of both was known to be
dangerous and expensive; all the expense
and risk, as well as the deterioration of the
substitutes, while the United States was sure
TO be amply compensated Tor all the expenses
incurred for vaults, custodians, and every.
thing else.
woTN-oUT PAPER MONEY.
Wei mean by we all the people-receiv.
ed a coin dollar for every paper dollar issued.
We only pay out the coin on the paper
brought back to our agents. All of il that is
lost or destroyed by ire, food, or the thou
sand accidents that all tlansitory things are
subject to is orr gain. We had experience
in operations OF that sort and knew that they
We're profitable. Fortytiye millions of dol.
lars of fractional currency was issued. We
afterwards called it iii for cancellation, and
we now know that S15. 0o0000, or one-third
of it, has been lost or destroyed. We made
S15, 0O0,0 600 out of that issue, as we received
full consideration for the whole amount is
Sutu. w z Only Ittittitl SUCH NatlOndl DdnE
notes as are returned, and the amount now
known to be lost is so great that the Control
Ter Is devisng all sorts of ingenious plans in
his report to get itaway from lis for the benefit
of the banks. None of them lost any of it,
The people who borrowed it or worked for
it, after the banks got value received for it,
were the sufferers; yet the Controller wants
it all for the banks. | expect they will get
II. They have as much right To it as to have
their interest and principal paid in gold
slone, or to have our silver stricken down.
have no idea that $500, 600, 900 of the 1916 900
600 of greenDacks charged i'll the report as
outstanding would be returned if they were
called in to-day. All lost is clear profit to
the Government lt is a sufficient answer to
all the clanlol about expense and vaults that
the coin is preserved from loss and from
abrasion, and that our gain from the loss of
the outstanding paper, ii ii is kept in denoml-
nations in which it will circulate, as il ought
to be, will amply compensate the United
States for all the expenses of its safe-keep-
ing
The object we all had in view by keeping
in actual use paper substitutes for gold coin
to the extent OF the coin deposited has been
grossly perverted The coin is locked up
and four-fifths OF the certificates issued are
of such high denominations that they are of
no sort of Use as currency.
The Treasures report Page % shows
that on the 30th OF June, 1885, the outstand-
=
$50, of which all but SIS, 800, 900 were in de-
nominations of $500 and upward. more than
$50 co., 900 of them being for SO 900 eaeh II
IS obvious that the people get no benefit in
the form of currency when bills or eertifi-
Gates exceed 500.
The director of the mint, on Page 70 of his
report speaking of these paper substitutes,
says: las these certificates represent coin
in the Treasury, which coin can only be used
IN their redemption, they really form part
OF the active coin circulation of the c0tIn.
try The director, perhaps, did not know
that S55,0Oo,000 of then. were for $4,000
each, as 1t would be absurd to speak of such
notes or certificates as forming part of our
active circulation.
The Treasurers report page pa shows
that June 80, 1885, silver certificates amount
ing to $3.50 90l ,646 were outstanding. and
nat SOB ,O9l were In SO and SO bills, in
'lout equal proportions. None were higher
LOO; so that the only real currency
~. l,-iied to the people In the shape of Ger
tlncates r. That based on the deposit of silver
coin. Yet the dollars so deposited are held
up as useless membranes, performing no
function OF value, and all our officials join in
the crusade against them and the certificates
that represent them, and urge Congress to
Withdraw The one and stop the coinage of
the other. l do not propose TO do either UNI
less better reasons are given why il should
be done than any / have yet seen or heard |
Woutu. however, amend the law so that no
certificate should be of higher denomina-
ton than $500. and not more than . per cent
nf the amount outstanding at any time should
be OF denominations higher than $50. The
legal-tender notes, too, are attacked II
seems as though every form of currency
which costs nothing and enriches nobody IS
condemned.
GOVERNMENT CREDIT.
1t is assumed that the Government has no
right 10 use its own credit or to furnish apy
part of the currency the people need. Legal