Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-02-04


coined.up to date; that S50,OOo, eo1 OF this is
in circulation in the form of coin; that SqS,
0OO, 900 Is In circulation in the form of silver
certificates This Is a.conyenient form for
its circulation, prevents loss from abrasion,
and gives the people at large lie benefit of
all certificates lost or destroyed. That leaves
in the vaults of the Treasury and out of cir
culation S72, 100000.
The Secretary of the Treasury shows in
his report, page 13 that there was on the LIST
of November. 1885, in gold I'M The Treasury
the sum of Sl42..3,S, 5S9.29. Now. we have
heard no complaint from the gold men about
flle hOattling of this large sum of gold in the
Treasury. He also SHOWS that the available
assets in the Treasury az that time, exclud-
ing fractional coin and othef ,,1lavailab,e
items, Is $3.50, 431, 1925. Fifty million dol
lars, 1t is believed, would be a sufficient re-
serve, coupled with the incoming revenue,
10 meet the current expenses of the Govern
fnent. That sum taken from the available
retentie would leave S166, $40 695 "A available
for the payfffeftt pf the public debt. Why
should we not extinguisli that amount of the
public debt and relieve The people of the
burden OF paying the interest on THAT sum
and at the same time throw that large sum
of money into circulation TO give increased
activity to production and To business, and
thus stimulate and give fuller reward to in
dustry and enterprise. l undertake to say
we do not do this because 1t is TO the inter
est of the national banks to prevent the pay
meht of the public debt and they have SO
far controlled the policy of the Government
in this respect; thus sacrificing the best in
ferests 1f the county and of the people,
whose iabof creates IFS. wealth, 20 furnish
bonds as d basis for bafiking ard To crafty
the inordinate greed Of rich class OF con-
sumers who create nothing.
II it1ay he said as partial answer to this,
that the law of 1875 and of 1882 has set apart
Sl00,000000 in the Treasury for the redemp-
ton of the outstanding legal-teHder green
back) notes. Ii that law is 10 contifftte to
cucumber our statute-bOOks, we would then,
on the basis / have suggested, only have
k65. S49, Cos. "a available for the payment OF
the public debt. The payment of this, how
ever, would reduce considerably the public
burdens and give greatly Increased activity
to business and ENTERPRISE.
In 1878 congress deliberately determined
to preserve the S346, O00;000 of Iegalitendef
notes as a part of the volume of our eurrei1.
cy, as means OF preventing hard times and
to revive the business Of the country and re-
store its prosperity. And we all know it had
this effect. This was certainly better for all
Interests than to have reduced the volume OF
the currency by that sum and to have con-
yerted it Into, an Understanding bonded
debt, which the stuck-gamblefs; bankers,
and b0ndholders aimed to do.
The country has not yet forgotten tire
recklessness with which the national banks
at that time contracted the volume of the
currency nearly S19,000, 900 in few weeks.
IN order to try TO intimidate congress and
the president and prevent the passage of the
coinage of the standard silver dollar, and to
restore its legal-tender character" and 70
prevent the passage of the act of May q,
1878, ito forbid the further retirement of
United States legal-tender notes" Their
unpatriotic and selfish conduct on that oc-
nIfuhf n 10 hnn
abandonment of the national banking sys-
TEN; and their persistent selfishness and
hostility to public welfare and the fact that
they have made themselves political power
dangerous to the public still cry out for
their suppression. They would have pro-
duced financial panic at that time if it had
not been prevented by the secretary of the
Treasury putting 4 considerable amount of
money III circulation by the purchase of
government bonds in the New York market.
TO this, am aware, II may he objected
that the national banks furnish q good cur
rency, current in all parts of tie country
alike and that the public interests would
not be consulted by the disturbance of bust
ness and by the retirement of so much cur
rency from circulation.
These objections may be easily and adj
YartagbOlislf met and overcome by proyid-
ing by law that there shall be no increase of
the natiOnal-bank circulation; that no others
shall be chartered; that as the charters of
existing banks expire, and as their currency
is called in and retired, treasury notes of the
United States to an equal amount shall take
the place OF their notes. The change would
thus be made without a single jar to busi-
ness, and the substituted treasury notes
would be OF exactly the same nature and
quality and would answer exactly the same
purpose as the Dational-bank notes. They
would not be a legal-tender, and the nation
al-bank notes are not; they would be first
nAfplnpfyt1l m maj nj oil i'm
all parts OF the country as the national-bank
notes are; they should be made redeemable
in coin at the will of the bill-holder as the
natiOnai-bank notes are.
The national banks showed lis by their
contraction of the volume of the currency in
1878 their readiness to Use the power of con-
traction for an immoral and dishonest pur-
pose; and we are now fully warned that
they may be expected, as long as they have
the power to control legislation and to
raise and lower the prices of staple articles of
commerce, such as cotton, wheat, and -four,
meats iron, and steel, cotton and wooden
goods, petroleum, d., or to make corners on
them, To enrich themselves and Their confed-
crates. BY ab0lislling THIS system we would
be relieved from the danger of political
power which is trying 10 control in its own
interest the currency question; Is hostile to
the interests of the people; is aiming, in its
own interest and a-a:nSt the interests of the
country, 10 peTpetuaic tive pubic debt and
make it an endless burden on the people
These dangers GU IN Ia be removed by do
ing away with the system.
In 1878, when the oil was passed provid-
ing for the coinage of silver dollars and max
ing them legai-tender, We were warned in
awfully solemn terms By bondhoIdels and
bankers, and by newspapers and members
of congress who represented their Interests,
that the coinage of silver would driv. the
gold out of the country and produce at an
early day most fearful financial distress and
disasters. These dismal predictions have
from time to time been rep .,.ttd ever since
by the same persons. 1'nsSe diretul pro-
phecies have gone on for eight years pre-
sent table furnished me by the acting di-
rector of the mint showing the amounts of
silver coin and bullion exported and the
amounts imported during the fiscal years
1878 to 1885, inclusive, as furnishing con-
elusive answer to this scarecrow declama-
ton.