Eureka weekly sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1887-1902, 1888-04-14
r..E BECK AMENDMENT.

with the Ways and Means Committee of
the House and introduced and pressed to
a passage by Chairman Mills Of that
committee. Its purpose was to en-
large the powers Of the Secretary Of the
Treasury in the matter Of investing the
surplus money in the Treasury in IN.
matured Government bonds. When the
bill reached the Senate, Senator Stew.
art, with good judgment and distin-
guished parliamentary tact, sought to do
something to promote the silver inter.
est. His proposed amendment was ever
more radical in behalf Of silver than the
amendment Of Senator Beck which was
finally adopted. The Beck proposition
was simply q compromise and we are
| certain that il does not go as far as that
great friend Of silver would be glad to
have IL go under different circumstances.
But this is a Presidential year and party
exigencies csnnot be altogether ignored.
The Stewart amendment had thrown the
Republican side Of the Senate, including
the Finance Committee, Of which Sher-
man is chairman. into the grandest sort
Of o middle. Beck realized also that
the President might be embarrassed il
too sweeping . measure were insisted
upon. The Stewart amendment was
therefore abandoned to smooth the road
of Republican gold bugs, and the Beck
compromise was adopted to relieve the
President. This is the parliamentary
history OF the case, and no doubt we
have correctly OWNED the inner motives
leading to the compromise also. And
now as to the value and significance Of
the measure itself. Its chief value con-
sists in the broad declaration to the
world that this country has no thought
Of turning its back on bi.metallism; that
W. are a silver people and have our faces
set firmly in the direction of the full res.
t~oration of that metal. The immediate
practical benefit to accrue to silver by
putting more silver certificates into cir.
c~ulation among the people, cannot in the
nature Of things be very great. If this
bill had been enacted two years ago great
good would have resulted, for it was de-
veloped in the course Of the debate that
within the last two years something like
two hundred millions Of national bank
notes had been retired. We knew that
this contraction had been going on, but
we did not know, until it was SO stated
by Senator Sherman, that it had approx
mated the enormous figures indicated.
1t is equivalent to almost one.sixth of
the entire volume Of the circulating me.
dunn Of this country. Add to this two
hundred millions more locked up in the
surplus in the Treasury and we have
practically one.third of the whole money
of the United States as completely out
of use among the people as though it had
been swallowed up by the ocean. Such a
contraction Of the peoples money in any
European country would have caused
not only panic and financial distress, but
revolution as we'll. 1t is a cause OF
greatest wonder that this country has
been able to stand it and still maintain a
reasonable degree of prosperity. 1t only
shows that the energy and recuperative
power of the American people are above
and beyond all comparison. No doubt the
sale Of American securities abroad for
the construction of railroads and the
floating of other enterprises has had
much to do with relieving the monetary
tension in this country. Possibly in this
way we have attracted as much Euro.
pean capital as has ceaselessly flowed
into the Treasury through the operation
Of our revenue laws and the surrender
Of national bank notes combined. And
why should national banks be clothed
with the attribute of sovereignty to the
extent OF allowing them to contract or
initiate the peoples currency at will +?
When United States bonds rule at a high
rate of premium they avail their option
to withdraw the bonds from the Govern.
ment and sell them in the open market.
For every dollar OF bonds so withdrawn
ninety cents in circulating notes must be
surrendered to the Government, which
are s~traightway cancelled and destroyed
as completely blotted put as if they
had never existed. The tw~enty.eight
per cent premium which has been the
market rate for a year or more for four
per cent bonds, was q little to tempting
for national bankers and they have with.
drawn and sold, as Sherman tells US, to
the extent of about two hundred mil.
lions. Nothing has gone out to replace
the money taken out of circulation, not
w~ithstanding our population aud the de.
mands OF business have been steadily in.
%creasing. No wonder money is tight and
the prices Of all products and commodi.
ties low in this country. The fewer dol.
lars there are in circulation the more la
Dor aud the products of labor have to be
expended to get hold of one of them.
This is a truism too manifest on it's face
to need calculation. AS we have said
before in these columns, it is the cur
rency and not the tariff that has de.
stroyed the value of farm and other pro-