The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-09-28
SILVER CIRCULATION.
Director of the Mint Edward 0.
Leech Defends
THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT
And Says it has Tried to Honestly Carry Gu
the Lew-yirtual Defeat of the
Land Court Bill.

WASHINGTON, D. c., Sept. 27.-TSpecial
telegram to THE HERALD. THE attention
of Mr.. Edward o. Leech, the director of
the mint, having been called to the pub
lished statement relative to the ''nullifica
ton of the silver law by the secretary of
the treasury through the issue of treasury
notes of large denominations in payment of
silver purchases, which it is claimed are
presented for redemption in gold and act
as drain of gold instead of an actual in
crease in the volume of currency he said:
1.-The fact is, the act of July IA, 1890, re-
qriring the monthly purchase Of 100000
ounces Of silver and the issue in payment
of new form of government paper money
was by its terms to take effect thirty days
after its passage, so that all the work nee
essary to the preparation of the form of
note, the selection of the vignettes, the en-
craving, printing and issuing of the notes
had to be done within thirty days, or no
silver could be bought 1t was
found that it would be an impossi-
bility for the bureau of engraving and
and printing to engrave aud print enough
money to commence the purchase of silver
y
days, except of two denominations, viz, !:
One thousand dollars and one hundred
dollars, so that thu secretary either had to
pay in these two denominations of notes or
violate the law requiring the
purchase of silver to commence on
August 49, For this reason the purchase
of silver for the first five weeks were
necessarily paid for in notes of these two
denominations, but the bureau is now sup
plying treasury notes of smaller denomina-
tons and since the Goth instant the assist
ant treasurer at New York has been fur
nished with notes of the denomination of
$40 and they have been shipped to other
portions of the country to pay for silver
purchased under the new law. The assist
ant treasurers are authorized to exchange
notes of large denominations for small
ones and to pay out the notes of small
denominations in the place of the
the treasury, so that the temporary
embarrassment which was unavoidable
from the nature of the case OF having to
pay out large notes is practically ended.
''There has been no drain of gold in con-
sequence of the issue of those large notes,
and as a matter of fact there has been no
redemption of these notes in gold OF any
consequence. The total amount of treas
ury notes issued to date has been s., GAS, coo,
while the amount in the treasury in cash is
only 81, 600 (of which l,305, 600 is in
transitu) leaving all but 81, $4,000 in cir
culation. 1t would be interesting to know
how the issue of these large notes has pro-
duced any drain of gold.' If bank holds
large notes and presents them at the assist
ant treasury for redemption in gold,
the gold either goes into circulation
or replaces the large notes in the banks
reserve. There has been no movement OF
gold from the United States since the issue
of these notes, and the amount of gold in
circulation has not been reduced, and it is
a matter of no great Importance whether
the gold is held as reserve by the banks
or large treasury notes.
II desire to say that every possible effort
has been made By the treasury depart
ment to carry out the new silver law il
good faith and to reap all the benefit posi-
bic from its enactment, both in the In
crease in the value of silver and increase o.
the circulating medium