St. Paul daily globe., 1891-05-10
THERE Is DANGER.

The GLOBE is grad to see that its call
of public attention to the statement of
Secretary FOSTER that he would use the
greenback redemption fund to tide the
government over the deficit caused by
the reckless squandering of the revenue
by the late billion-dollar congress, is
needed. 1t is impossible to overesti-
mate the consequences to the country,
should this new financier put his prom
iSe into act. Every interest would suf-
fer by it. save alone the wreckerS of
trade who, keen to scent disaster, would
earlier prepare to gather in the tlotsam.
1t is inevitable that when the reserve of
gold is gone which has stood behind the
paper promises of the government and
those of the national banks, redeemable.
primarily, in greenbackS, the buiwark
of both classes of currency, which alone
has warranted the public confidence in
them and maintained them at par, the
market quotations would begin to
show premium on gold. This
would mean the retirement of the
gold coin as a medium of ex-
change, though it would retain its func-
country would undergo the most de-
structive contraction of currency that
the world has ever seen. What blow
could be so disastrous as the one that
would deprive the commerce of the ma
ton of one-half of its circulating
medium? Public confidence is not yet
fully restored from the financial furry of
last fall and the apprehensionS caused
by the passage of the silver bill, the Nc
Kinley bill, and the astounding appropri-
atiOns of congress. 1t would be quick
to take alarm should it appear that a
Republican secretary holds so lightly so
important trust as is the redemption
fund. and would not hesitate ''in a
pinch" to throw that into the breach i'm
vain hope to avert the inevitable. 1t
is useless 10 protest that the secretary
will not do what he says he will do: that
there will be no deficit, and hence no
situation justifying him. The shock to
public confidence is already given in his
avowal of determination to do it if he
deems it necessary; q feeling of uneas-
ness is already created. The panic will
come when he makes his first draft on
IAAO 1ohh. IL W PAOOi pICdbCQ WDGli
he attempts to treat it "merely as a
question of bookkeeping" and the debt
statement shows the transfer of this
fund from the liabilities of the treasury
to its assets.
The GLOBE is glad to have the COOP
Grafton of the Pioneer Press in awaking
attention to this matter, but it fears
that its contemporary blinds itself to
the fact when it says that ''of course no
one thinks for moment that anybody
connected with the treasury or mint at
the present time would dream of in
fringing on the gold reserve. All
that has been done is to make sugges-
ton of bookkeeping. The Washing
ton associated press dispatches of April
2S said that 1.-THE secretary to-day init
mated that he would not make any
change in the form of the monthly debt
statement at present." that "the secre-
tary believes that the old form used
during the preceding Republican admin
istrations is preferable for some rea-
sons to the present form, which does
not place the s1OO,OOO,OOO greenback re-
demption fund among the assets of the
treasury" On the following day the
same association sent out an interyiew "
with the secretary in which he said ::
''As to the s1OO,0OO,0OO of gold reserve.
it is held against the $3.50, 1000. 600 green
backs to make the credit of the govern
ment impregnable, for no one would be
able to get together enough greenbacks
to take all the gold out of the treasury.
and therefore they do not take any.
But these notes are legal tender, and
the government could and would use
this reserve if it needed to on on a
pinch"
The GLOBE cordially agrees with its
contemporary that I'VE want no mon