Morning journal and courier., 1888-04-05
Fiftieth Congress--First Session.
WASHINGTON, April 4.

WASHINGTON, April 4.
 SENATE.-The Senate, on motion of Mir.
 Sherman, proceeded to the consideration ot i the bill to reimburse the depositors of the
 Freedman's Saving bank and Trust company
 for losses incurred by the failure of that
 company. When the bill was last before the
 Senate MT. Vest had objected to the provi-
 sion to pay the Illegal representatives" of de- positors and MT. Evarts had suggested the
 amendment of ''personal representatives. J
 MT. Sherman said he had no objection to the proposed amendment, although he thought | that the bill was sufficiently well guarded in l 9 provision against paying the assignee as a | depositor.
 l MT. Cockrell moved to amend by striking | out Illegal representatives, and inserting the words to the "widow and children if any | if not, to the father and mother if any, and | if not then to brothers and sisters and none ! others" Unless the payments he said were ] confined to actual depositors and their heirs the bill had better be entitled "a bounty to claim agents and sharks"
 MT. Hawley thought that the bill had bet- ter be left as it came from the finance com- mittee. The commission had administered ! it's trust thus far faithfully and quite as near ! to exact justice and equity as a score of ! amendments could make the bill.
 f MT. Hiscock suggested the words ''the widow and next of kin respectively"
 After some discussion Mr. Platt insisted on taking up the unfinished business-the bond purchase bill-and so the Freedman's bank went over without action on any of the amendments.
 The Senate then resumed consideration of the House bill to provide for the purchase of United States bonds by the Secretary of the Treasury. the pending question being on Mr. Beck's amendment.
 The question being on Mir. Beck's amend- ment MT. Allison desired to offer an amend- ment to it to extend the time frem thirty days to sixty days, but was informed by the presiding officer that MT. Beck's amendment was one in the second degree, being an amendment to the substitute. The question was taken on MT. Beck's amendment and it was agreed to; yeas 37, nays 13. Messrs. Platt and Hawley voted in the negative
 MT. Reagan offered an amendment direc- ting the purchase and cancellation of bonds with $1OO, GOO, GOO of gold now in the treasury for the redemption of legal tender notes
 Mir. Sherman moved to amend Mr. Beck s amendment by substituting silver bullion for silver coin over the two millions monthly but the presiding officer ruled it out of order as the Senate had agreed to the Beck amend- ment. He (Sherman) admitted that there was great distress in the country, but there had been no such distress before the present administration came into power, and he at tributed it to the fact that the administration had not executed a law giving it full power to use the surplus in the purchase of bonds. Now the banks were required to deposit a bond representing over $130 in value for every $90 of currency they issued. That they could not afford and consequently the banks had been forced to reduce their circu- lation. The effect of this policy had been that since the administration came into power the bank currency had been reduced by $170, ,000, ,000 And that was not all. When
 the banks commenced to reduce their circu-
 latien the only way they could do so was by depositing United States notes in the treas ury, and that they did to the extent of S102,- 100000. That $lO2, ,000,0 of United States notes was now tied up as the result of that faulty action of the House of Representatives. If there had been any contraction of currency there was no responsibility for it except in the Democratic party. And yet, notwith-
 standing contraction, there was, including $627 000 000 of gold and silver, an aggregate circulation of $1 ,500, 100000 or more than the entire debt. It was sometimes asked where the gold came from. It flowed into the treasury because for the last ten or twelve years the balance of trade had been in favor of the United States. Ever since the re- sumption of specie payment gold had come in by the millions and that gold had poured into the treasury as the result of the sound financial system then established. Coming
 back to the subject of national banks he spoke of their overthrow as some thing
 that would be Heather in the esp"
 of the Democratic party; and yet the nation
 al bank currency was the best that ever had
 existed in the country. He stood there to
 defend the system which was lnsidiously
 sought to be overthrown by the various prop
 ositions submitted. There had been an eff
 fort to undermine it ever since the Demo-
 cratic party came into power. He would
 not say that of the executive head of the ad-
 ministration, but of representatives who
 came mainly from the southern States. And
 it was proposed to buy silver bullion not at
 ;ko int ot ifa al cfa r1
 but at it's market value, and to coin it be-
 yond the two millions monthly into silver
 dollars. Under the operation of the
 system the price of silver had
 gone down steadily. The coinage was
 at an expense of 112 per cent besides
 the expense of transportation, etc., while the
 national bank currency cost nothing. And
 the Senate was asked in this hurried and in-
 considerate manner to substitute system
 for the others. For his part that was unwise.
 He could see that in the dim future, in ten, twelve or fifteen years, hence the national
 banks would disappear because there would
 be no government bonds on which to base
 their circulation, that then the banks would become banks of deposit and then the gov- ernment would be called upon to provide some other form of paper money, whether in
 the form of silver certificates, gold certif- cates, coin certificates or greenbacks. Some
 senators seemed to think he was opposed to silver. He never had been. If the policy which he had always advocated had
 been adopted and acted upon sil- yer would never have depreciated in market value. The maintenance of silver on a par with gold was wise act of public policy, and if it could not be brought up to
 that standard an approach to it could be made and by convention with European nations a new ratio might be established and gold and silver placed side by side as in the
 past. But while gold and silver were differ
 ently rated no single power in the world could bring them together and if the United States attempted it would reach finally the single basis in which financial transactions would be on the same foundation as China,
 Japan, Mexico and South America, thus de- taching this country from the great commer- cial nations of the world. He desired to see the two metals put side by side. the silver bullion should have been made the basis of circulation. He had no objec tion to the issue of silver certificates issued
 on the bullion in the treasury at it's market
 value. The United States, he said, should
 have done as France did and as every Latin nation did-not coin any more silver than was necessary for the ordinary trans
 actions. On the balance of the silver bull lion, silver certificates could have been is- sued from the beginning and could be now. There was no objection in the minds of the financial men of the country to the issue or SlIY6r c6rtlQcat6S At the mark6G value or silver. Those certificates would circulate freely without change in the ratio, for he should not desire to see the ratio change except by the consensus of the leading nations. The proposition of the Senator would dissipate the gold now held for the redemption of legal tender notes and would drive it abroad and into banks to be hoarded and then when some Black Friday came, some panic in stocks, or some other sudden event, there would be gap between coin and legal tender notes and gold and silver would be at premium. It seemed idle to discuss question often debated. There fore he was against all these various proposi- tions. AS a conservative man he desired just as much money in circulation could be used and he would rather have it too much than too little. But what he wanted was that it should be geod money, good in every market-whether paper or gold or silver. MT. McPhsrson moved to add to the bill |: Provided that nothing in this act shall au- thorize the Secretary of the Treasury to coin more than $4 ,00o, 900 worth per month-ths limit fixed in the act of February 2S. 1878.