Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1891-09-01

The New York banks show a surprising
willingness to let Secretary Foster break
them. They are falling in with his bond
extension scheme with .alacrity.-intett-
0eneer.
The esteemed Intelugencer never could
go beneath the skin in a discussion OF
any kind. This may be from design on
its part or it may be because the Intel
IGgencer recognizes the danger OF going
beyond its depth. Secretary FOSTER
has simply played ''fim-ham" game
on the New York bankers and they
did not discover that they were taken
in till too late. When he found the
gold in the national Treasury run
ming low, with the four and a half per
cents due on September 2, he was puz-
zled to replenish the supply. The ex-
press companies charged IS cents on
$1,000 fer shipping currency from the
East TO the West, and when the demand
began to come into the New York banks
from the Western cities for money to
move the great crops all the shipments
were at first made that way. The East
ern bankers, of course, sent legal ten
ders to their Western correspondents.
| Then Secretary FOSTER caused it to be
made known to the Western banks that
the Treasury Department would ship |
money to any part of the West for Is |
cents per $1,000. Therefore the West
ern banks accompanied every draft on a
New York bank with an order to ship
through the Treasury.
When the New York banks went to
the Sub-Treasury in Wall street to de-
pOsit the money for shipment, they
found to their surprise that Assistant
Treasurer ROBERTS insisted upon the
deposit of gold coin or gold certificates.
When asked IL the secretary had issued
any order to that effect Mr.. ROBERTS
admitted that there had been no official
order, but he said lit was the practice"
The bankers called Mr.. ROBERTS at
tention to the fact that it was an en-
tirely new practice to insist upon all
gold for such shipment, but the assist
ant treasurer was obdurate.
The bankers protested, but there was
no help for them, The result has been
that every New York bank which has
received during the last two months an
order for currency to supply Western :
bank has been obliged to deposit
against it either gold coin or
gold certificates in the Sub
Treasury in Wall street. Then the !
Government, instead of sending the
gold to the West, has simply put it in
the vaults and sent out Geographic
order to the Sub-Treasury at Chicago,
or the nearest Government depository to
the bank wanting this money to trans
nit legal tenders. G
So successful has this sharp practice
been that the gold reserves in the ma /
tional Treasury have increased about :
$40, 900, 900 in about six weeks. On June :
30 the supply of gold in the Treasury I
as.r0gduvu 'y-,0ryr~~r NV pa o. - - a
total is S129, 4O2,927.
A dispatch from New York says:
The gold reserves in New York banks
have fallen so low through this strong
drain that many bank officers have become d
alarmed. There has been q good !
deal of grumbling within the last week, and z
inasmuch as there was no immediate pros
A. =. frrs NrrsNsGaV NfRWv
from the West, there have been several in
formal conferences in bank parlors to de 2
termine what concerted action the banks |
might take in the way Of reprisal upon the I
Secretary of the Treasury. S
There is no doubt that serious action by G
the bankers in that direction would have
been attempted had IL not been for the &C
ton of Secretary Foster thursday: de
had kept his eve upon the New York
banks, and, finding them growing FESTIVE,
he determined to throw them sop. He {
privately communicated with National
Treasurer Roberts, and when bankers sent
TO the sub-Treasury to make their currency
shipments to to the West, they were sur
prised and pleased TO be informed by the
suave Mr.. Roberts that the practice" OF
the department had been changed and that
the Treasury would accept one-half gold {
and One-half legal tenders.
This concession satisfied the New York
bankers for the time being. 1t has put
stop, for the present, to the talk about a
systematic combination Of the bankers
against the Secretary of the Treasury. In
financial circles Yesterday it was admitted
that Mr. Foster has been very shrewd and
has fairly outwitted the New York banks,
THE tests of the twelve-inch Water
vliet gun at Sandy Hook last week
have fully met all expectations, and are
a reminder that this gun cost only S4S,-
600, while the similar type gun to be
made at Bethlehem under the recent
contract will cost over 100000. The
next Congress can we'll begin its labors
by investigating this Bethlehem con-
tract, which means loss Of over a
million dollars to the people, and thai
much gain to the Bethlehem Iron Co.
A TARIFF PICTURE FOR FARMERS.
An Illinois man, who has just paid
visit to New England after an absence
Of forty years, in a letter to the Coun
TIN Gentleman expresses his surprise at
finding the farms less prosperous than |
when he last saw them. Referring TO |
the manufacturing CT ties of Nashua and |
/ Manchester, n. H., Southboro and |
Lowell, Mass, and Willimantic, Conn,
/ he says:
Under the benefcent provision of