National Republican., 1888-04-19
The GInancia, Debate in the senate.

..|I '' t'IN % lttblllt- 70 iNNs
-.-------.
The Financial Debate in the senate.
senator Farwcll docs not represent the
wishes uf the people when he insists upon
single gold standard and upon the coninu-
alton Of the national banks rs bauks Of l..
size, with their currency secured 10y state.
rountN or municipal bonds.
It q. true that the present national bank
W- system has been in some respects an ad.
muhlr one, and that the notes issued 10y
those banks are at par with gold every
Nn-r. lint Senator Farwrl knows per-
r.Ily well that the reason these bank notes
are - good is that Mc go,cr0ucW ~ tie
juf,d S'oi,s has ii1orS,d croy o0r 2f them
o,,d 0gt,ui ~ rr,'c,0 II "iCgyC' p,,scG'rL
The last monthly report Of the comp
tlullcrur the lrruury states that there isnDw
In circulation over -a7m0,OJo Of national
bank notes that lure bccy rc,ir,d. and for
which Tie banks are NO longer Responsible
Yet no hJldcrof any of these uotc, IS asking
Tor tlrir redemption,
senator Farwcll is too good busiuc,,
man not tu know what It Is that makes the
national hank notes 81 good currency. The
note or any tramp IN Chicago for one thol-
sand uriiiy ythOusaud dollars. with tlculmc
vf Charles Il. Farwcll written across lis back
would hc discounted at any bank in that
city. The law writes the name NJ the Uuiicl
States u,ro,, the back of every national
hank note and that makes them good the
world over.
Nur do the people want the LEGAL tender
uutys redeemed Technically they are
debt Actually they are an ideal currency.
never surpassed nor cpnlcl IN the tinan.
cial history of the world
Nriircr was senator Fdrwcll correct
| In his position rs to 'intrn-ic value" aud
! hi, effort To have the number of grains in
the silver dollar increased every time the
| English monomctali,t, force down the
| price Of silver bullion
That there Is value in the governments
stamp is shown by the fact that the five
dollar grecnbacl hill or tive of the standard
| silver dollars will buy Il, much Of anything
~ five dollar gold piece.
senator Stewart by an apt illustration,
made the best answer possible to the talk
| about intrinsic values. He said;
| Onc thing further. ! have heard much said
| at ont intrinsic value, contend that there Is
no such thing rs that. II is Il misnomcr 10 say
| in commercial sense that anything has in.
| trinsiU value. The senator from Illinois tNlr
| farwclD talked about intrinsic value For
| example, suppose one of You were ON Lake
! superior in a skiif would You pay anything;
ror Il drink of water: Would II have any mar
| kct value; suppose again volt were in the
] n. 81
h'r from any supplyS"3i wafer, the ther:
n"'n'''r S, iSo ISgt"SSS H. aud you were half way
c.N.dt would YOU tukcfor that gallon Of water J:
! The intrinsic qualities of the water are the
same on the lake as IN the desert II has in.
trinSic quality, not value
/ During the debate senator Reagan, of
I Texas, said:
[ For These reasons II had the phwcr--an I
/ trust such may he the policy of the govern.
/ nrnt--I would allow the charters or these
! banks to expire. / would not renew them. |
would not adopt any measure that woul | sud.
denly repeal the law If | had the power of
| abOlislling the banks 1T once but | wOul |
| allow their charters TO expire and refuse To
recharcr them aS bank of issue | shuul l
not have any objection To them rs banks of
deposit and discount, For that they subservc
a very valuable purpose without cndangering
the publ" interests: hut would allow their
charters 10 expire, and u they cXpirel /
would supply the place of the bank notes re-
tired from circulation in one of two ways
First. by providing us far a. tile government
could command the coin to issue coin certiii-
catcS--uut gold certificates or silver certii.
Gates based upon the gold aud silver in the
treasury 10 supply the place ol the retired ma.
tiunal bank notes; and II We failed To- have
coin enough to- supply II sufficient circu.
latiun, next To that would provide
that the government should issue It's treasury
notes, such uS II has issued un many occasions
in the history of the cOuntry-not with the
lcgal.tcnder clause, iur doubt the power OF
the government Notwithstanding the decision
| of the Supreme Court, to make paper a legal.
| tender for private dcbtS--but il there was not
coin sufficient to supply the necessary cur
icncy, then would require treasury notes Ia
he issued In an amount equal 10 the retired
bank notes which should have exactly the
qualities and properties that the present
national bank notes have They should be
rcdecmabe in coin al the will of the bill
holder, and they should he received for all
taxes and dues of every kind, but without the
declaration that they were legal tender.
There is much to be commended in what
Senator Reagan said, and his saying ii shows
that this great question Of finance is not
being considered from partisan standpoint
for whilst Senator Reagan is a supporter OF
the administration on the tarifI and all Othel
political questions, he directly antagOnze'
ii in every proposition quoted above,
The subject is one of paramount impor
tancc. aud has to he considered. Partisan
ing this subject. II will not u".NAuONAI
RFwBLICAN.
III" Virginia Delegates.
: ,cspected proud, and staunch Repuh