Huntsville gazette. [volume] (Huntsville, Ala.) 1879-1894, 1891-06-27
The coUNTRY's FINANCES. o


THE CoUNTRY'S FINANCES. o
Secretary Fosters Defense Of the Late
Congress.
In the fiscal calendar of the United
states June is the last month of the.
year. For long time now the demo
Gratis have been proclaiming with great
show of anxiety that the rbillion dol
lar congress- had bankrupted the gov
eminent or nearly SO and that the
new fiscal year with its heavy pay
ments would find the treasury, embar-
raised by deficit instead of surplus.
There is really no ground for this sort
of croaking and never has been. The
surplus at the close of May was $751;
2s3, sos, which is certainly quite as
large as the public good demands. The
total liabilities at that time were $685.
232. 492 and total assets $751;, $4,000
The total paper circulation of that
date was $l,055, AIS, 113, an increase
during the month of S7,041,653 Our
interest-bea1.in debt is not much more
than half our circulation, it being at
the date mentioned. including the ma
t,tred de bit on which interest has ceased,
S615, 206, 5l4. This includes the AIS
which are just about to mature, and
which amount to S5l, liz, 900. 1t was in
regard to these latter bonds that the
secretary of the treasury, ex-Gov. Eos
ter, of Ohio spoke in brief address
before the Union league of Brooklyn.
His tone was one of serenity. He
was unruffled by the wild-eyed alarm
of Grover Cleveland over the condition
Of the national treasury. Our demo-
cratic friends forgot, he happily OBJ
served. that this is billion dollar coun-
try He did not attempt to defend in
detail every appropriation, but he
laughed in good-natured way at the
idea that the treasury is not abundant
ly able to meet all the demands upon it
incident to the appropriations of the
late congress. The treasury is perfect
ly able, also, to pay every dollar of
these AIS now, but the secretary says
he thinks it unwise to do anything to
decrease the volume of currency. He
gives as a reason for this that $50, 000,-
600 of gold mad been exported lately to
Europe. k
That issan additional reason for ex-
tension, but entirely independent of
gold exports, the policy of extension
oughtto have been adopted, so far as
concerns the bonds now in use, as the
base of national bank circulation. The
rate of interest on the extension is only
per cent. The great problem of
finance is not how 20 raise revenue or
l. I,
raised, but how to adjust our circu-
lating medium to the wants of the
country and the peculiarities of our f.
nancial situation. The duties on imports
have been rightly readjusted and the
internal taxes are working satisfactory
IL. The last congress met the demands
OF the hour, so far as concerns all that
sort of legislation, but the circulation
problem was left unsolved. 1t was APP
preached and pecked at often enough.
and that is about all. The next con-
gress must take the matter in hand.
Secretary Foster can do nothing be-
You'd the proposed extension. Congress-
must take hold in right good earnest
next winter and at least make deter
mined effort to add to the volume of
our circulating medium enough to meet
the reasonable demands of the people.
Secretary Foster has notified the sur
plus banks that he shall draw down
their balances somewhat. This is right.
One especial cause of popular dissatis-
faction with the administration of
President Cleveland was that under
him favoritism had been shown certain
banks on large scale, and they were
allowed to have the use, free of interest,
of immense sums of government money.
The amount has already been drawn
down about one-half. At last accounts
the deposits in national banks were
500, $40, 449. Of course good deal of
this money may be set down as work
ing balance" for a great deal of the
government business has to be trans
acted through national banks. The
sub-treasurers are few and far between,
but $4,000, 900 would be a very liberal
allowance for the banks on that score.
The farmers of the country are es-
pecially sensitive about governmental
favoritism shown banking institutions,
and no one can justly blame them for
it. 1t was the inexcusable partiality
to the banks shown by the Cleveland
administration which gave rise to the
demand for government loans on real
estate security. or, as it is generally
called, the new sub-treasury system.
One evil begets another. Cleveland's
secretaries of the Manning
and Fairchild-were both bounded in
their financial outlook by Wall street.
Neither could take into account the
needs and demands of the country at
large. Secretary Foster on the con-
trary, gives promise of being worthy to
occupy the chair once filled by Alex
ander Hamilton and John Sherman
Inter Ocean.