The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1891-06-04

Evidences accumulate of the serious Gu"
easements to which the Government ha'
nlaced by the reckless extravagance Oh '"o
late bllion-dollar Congress of unsavory ine"i-
oyv Al first Secretary Foster tried 10 pave
the way for concealiDg the true state Oh AnA"I
and thereby shielding his party az "u,"
n possible, by making it appear 'i,as 80
had n right to use the s100,0OO,OOo iuno hep'
in reserve in the Treasury for the redemption
of legal tenders; but on feeling Tue puoNo
nulse through his henchman, Director-oi-the-
Mint Ieech. he found so much oppositloh
manifested thereto that he had TO apahuon
the idea. In the meantime money TOT inc
thousand and one appropriations voted by the
F;ftv-arst Congress was badly needed, but
was NOT forthcoming The Pension Commas
s;oner had 10 be written to with the urgent re-
ouest that he haul in. cut down and delay his
mansion claims as much as possible, and, as
was shown in our Washington specials OF yes
terdav. construction of the various pubic
buildings has had to be kept in allegiance Tor
lack of means for prosecuting the work upon
them.
Still with all these precautions and schem-
ings TO prevent what is really the bankruptcy
of the Treasury from becoming known, the
demand for funds is still unequal to the
supply. and the Secretary is being forced 10
use all the ingenuity Of which he IS master 10
keep the wheels of Government III motion
without too much friction. To this END II mas
been officially announced that the "a per
cent. bonds are to refunded into per cents
At the option of the holder instead of being
redeemed at the time of their maturity
complete reversal of the financial polcy OF
the Government, which only few months
ago was paying premium TOT the privilege VI
redeeming bonds before maturity. NOW
however. instead of an abundance Of money IN
the Treasury it is officially shown that the
revenue of the country has fallen short during
the past month about a quarter of million
dollars and about 1900, 900 is to be paid out
during the month of June for pensions.
1t is stated that there are sol, 100000 Of ~
per cent. bonds shortly falling due, about one
half of which. it is said, are held by national
banks. There is every reason to believe that
the banks generally will accept the propose
ton to exchange them for 2 per cents. Indeed
it is virtually a matter of compulslon win
them. for they must have bonds deposited
with the Treasury as the basis and security tor
their circulation. Another class Of bondhold-
ers who will be very likely to accept the sub
stitution are those who look TO safety rather
than profit in investing their money. It's not
known how large proportion OF the bond
holders are people of this class, but 1t IS pro-
badly large class OF course no man who
prefers to use his money to make money
that is in speculation or business investments
will willingly loan it to the Government at 2
per cent. per annum.
1t is probable. therefore. that the much
larger portion of these "A per cents will be
funded as proposed by Secretary Foster, but
what will be the result? The Treasury en-
parrassment may be temporarily relieved but
the bonded debt of the Government will not
be lessened, and the policy which has been
steady and uninterrupted decrease OF the
public debt must be reversed. What COM
plete transformation is here presented? When
little over two years ago the Democrats
turned over lhe cOHuucI vi anaii9 w ''O w
publicans there was plethora Of money IN
the Treasury and everything was in condition
TO Justify reduction of general taxation.
Now the Treasury is empty, the public debt
has either TO remain in statu quo or be IN
creased, the wheels of Government are clogGed
and long-sufering people are still burdened
with war taxes. And all that reckless and
unscrupulous Republican Congress might
squander a billion dollars of the peoples
money upon its friends and political fayorites.