Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-04-30
Secretary Foster Talks About
the S25o,ooo,ooo Surplus.
TREASURY OFFICIALS AT SEA.
They Are as Yet Unable Satisfactorily Il
Settle the Public Debt Statement.
In the Year 1865 There Was Only Nine
Hundred Thousand Dollars in the
treasury, and the Official see
no Danger Now.
Condition of the Treasury.

special 70 the Gazette,
WASHINGTON, April eat is regarded as
an assured fact by the treasury department
officers that Secretary Foster will change
the form of the statement of the public debt
OF the United States on the LIST day OF July
next. The secretary to-day declared The
present form of the statement to be uusa,iS-
factory, and that the form issued by Sec Sc
tarIes Sherman, Folger and others, prior 10
1885, was, in the opinion of Secretary FoS-
ter much better form than the one now
used.
Secretary Foster has not decided upon
the details Of the reform which he vii
adopt, but it is believed they viii be i'll the
direction of increasing the aggregate
amount Of liabilities.
The treasury officers, who have upward!
of twenty years experience in the insid,
workings of the department, say tlIf
changes in the form Of The debt statement
have been quite frequent, rs The statement
of the public debt is :ndde 10 conform &c
certain lines of policy. The same officers
say that the recent financial discussion ap
pears to have aroused feeling OF distruSJ,
while there Is no cause FOR II. In view OF
conflicting statements, which have been
made about the available assets of the
treasury, even to men well YerSed in the
intricate details OF the management of the
department, the subject is confusing. One
statement makes
AVAILABLE ASSETS
$3.50, coo 00O; another, S7O,o3o,0O0, and the
statement put on Secretary Fosters desk
this morning makes it $Ji.154, 1850. The
net surplus Is given as SlU6oi AZ. ID. The
daily receipts from customs are about
onc-haf what they were last year but no
doubt is expressed that every obligation of
the government will DC paid when pre-
scented.
1t is recalled by old employees that for
a period of six months in lS65 there was IN
the treasury of the United States but $780,
900, and that was in scent nickel pieces
The government then met its liabilities and
there was no distrust created, as the con-
dition of the treasury at that time was
not known.
THE $3.50. 900 600 SURPLUS
WASHINGTON, April pa reporter had
q talk with Secretary Foster to-day rela-
tive to the statement made by Director of
the Mint Leach that the government has "a
surplus or available cash balance of some
$3.50, 100000, and TO make this amount
he counted in the so-called
gold reserve OF 500, coo and
about 81, 900, 900 of silver, which was
purchased BY the issuance of legal tender
certificates. Secretary Foster said, in sub
stance:
Il guess Mr.. Leach is about right in the
main. | think that a matter that may well
be discussed. l should have stated it little
differently if l had been writing it myself.
l should have said that some of the $780,
con, 600 of available cash might be re-
garded as trust funds might be. l say it
would be correct to say that about &c.,
900, 900 is unguestionably available cash;
that is, about SOS 600, 900 in banks, $2l,-
600, 900 in subsidiary coin, s., 0O0, 900 in trade
dollar bullion, S2,0O0,OOO of current cash,
and S50O0,0O0 in silver, against which no
certificates have been issued. AS to the
500 900, 900 gold, it is held against the $780,
600, 600 greenbacks to make the credit Of
the government lmpregnable for no ono
would be able to get together enough
green backs to take all the gold out of the
treasury, and therefore they do not take
any; but these notes outstanding are legal
tender and the government can and would
use this gold reserve if it needed it in =
pinch. 1t should, therefore, appear in the
debt statement as available cash"
DO you regard silver purchased under
the new act against which certificates have
been issued, as available cash that may be
used by the government at any time5'
NO; | do not agree with Mr.. Leach
there Certificates are issued against that
and it is in the nature of trust; but the
profits on silver purchases, which amount
now to some "a, 0OO0 900, may be used. l am
in a different position from that of my
predecessors, who have held large sur
pluses. l presume that during May and
June there will be extraordinary expendi-
lures for Observation-Disclosures in that it
will be probably S4,OOO,OOO larger than last
year.
Now, as to redemption of the AZ per cent
bonds, l am thinking of trying to substitute
per cents for them as Window proposed.
If it can be done there will be two adj
vantages in it over redemption. To be able
to float per cent bonds will demonstrate
the extraordinary soundness of the govern
ment's credit, and money that would be re-
quired to redeem the 4lls may be used for
!
interest that would be paid in them up to
the time of maturity. l talk about these
matters freely, because believe it to be
good thing to have them discussed well and
well understood before they are tried. l
am getting good many letters from bankers
and others; some of them are silly, bu.
many of them contain valuable opinions.
If some paper criticizes in merely par
tisan spirit it makes no difference / be-
heve it is wise TO talk these things over
with the public and get the benefit of dis
cussion."