New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-06-29
TIE TREASURY AND ITS CRITICS.

An unfailnp fountain of meanness, maice
and mendacity appears in Democratic commenv
ON tho conduct of the Treasury. Notnihg couiu
10 hoon more dishonest or dangerous 10 inc
oo,,n+rv than The recent pretence that tne
Tna,snrv was bankrupt, when it actually nelu
goa 600 600 deposited in banks and as much
,,,oro in cash over all liabilities. Then mall
cious attempt was made to scare business men
,,.;th ao.ortions that the President was about to
srrronder 10 silver fanatics and would order
coinage of silver continued without resdi" :"
the law of 1890. When this was shown 10 oe
false. critics were found mean enough 70 asser.
that their own false accusations had irlgnteheu
him from a purpose which he doubtless never
entertained Now it is pretended that the coin.
AGE of trade dollar bullion and the recolnage Oh
useloss half-dolars is but trick to keep up a
fictitious appearance Of surplus avMaole' anu
that the return TO the form of debt statement
used nv Secretary Sherman and others is for
decentiyo purpose. Fortunately these many
statements are so palpably unfair that they 10
not affect public opinion
The trade dollar bullion has been included III
available cash on hand in every monthly STATE
ment of assets since early in 1887, under rIes'-
don't Clevelands Administration, and no one
has pretended that this bullion was not at any
time available. because the law provided for
ifs recoinage. The value will not be added 10
the available assets by reconage, nor Will the
fractional silver become nominally one bit more
available by recoinage of half dollars into dimes
than it is now. The difference is that there Is
practical demand for more dimes to meet inc
convenience of business so that fracuohh Sill
yer in that form can be used, while the excess
of idle half-dolars cannot be used, but Is now
counted as part of the cash on hand 1hese
two changes, therefore, comply with the wlsnes
and needs of the people, without AIDING the
amount of either of the two items to the cash
reportcd on hand 1t requires some impudence
10 protend that either change can be designed
to deceive anybody.
The last official report in December showed
that there was on hand in the Treasury over
S19.1OO,OOO in halFdoars, the amount thus
held being nearly a quarter OF the enure
amount coined since the organization OF the
Government the coinage having practically
ceased for about twelve years. 1t was OF no
benefit TO the Treasury to hold so large a sum
in kind of coin not wanted by the people
But the total coinage of dimes has been only
SIS. 600, 600 from the beginning, and If there
Is demand for several millions more in actual
use. the recoinage will not only serve public
convenience, but enable the Treasury to use
part of the assets hitherto reclIoned as unavall-
able for some purposes When the trade dollar
bnllion has been coined into standard dollars,
there can be certificates issued against il in case
of any further demand for such certificates, and
in this way also the public convenience can be
] Il i m n "
plain that the coinage of part of the silver bull
ion purchased would add not penny to the
available circulation, since the whole value is
represented already by notes issued and no
more than the full value could be represented
in any case. The circulation loses nothing by
stopping the coinage, and the decision is calcu-
lated to strengthen public confidence.
The change in the form of debt statement by
Secretary Manning was made without any 1u-
thority of law, or any change in the laws gov
erning the mode Of holding or treating the
different funds. On the first of March, Secre-
tary McCulloch reported :" cash balance avail
able March /, 1885, 1852, 225, 052 &c." but on
| the first of April Secretary Manning reported
"net cash balance on hand S22,259,025 49,"
! by deductng from the cash on hand the bullion
| fund of 800, 900, which is pre-eminently
available for reduction of debt and the frac-
tional silver, separately stated as not available.
| Yet the same Secretary not long artery lrd
pledged part of this unavailable cash in New
| York to obtain gold thereon The object of the
change was to produce the impression that the
| Treasury held a much smaller amount Of cash
than it actually held. The only reason for a
return to the old form, which had been en-
ployed by Secretaries sherman, Window, Fol-
ger, Gresham and McCuloch, is that the cash
held by the Treasury in excess Of sums deposited
for certificates outstanding is in law and in fact
equally necessary and liable for the protection
of any of it's obligations. An honest Govern
ment will amply protect them all, and Secre-
tary Foster has but recently declared the in
tention and the ability of the Government to
| Al all