Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-14
MR.. FOSTERS FIGURES
Are Studied by Matthew Marshall,
Who Finds Them at Fault.
C0NUNDRUMS FOR THE SECRETARY
Who Is Asked Why Re Skips Certain
Facts, and for Many Things
HAS 10 SUGGESTIONS AT ALL TO OFFER


lillfs Inc -NaIlOHdl L lllaUceS, lot tO-tuOl-
rows S,7, Matthew Marshall SAYS:
Statistics are proverbially dry reading, and
] fancy that very few people pay much at
tention to those presented in the Presidents
message and its accompanying documents.
The newspapers print, as a matter OF duty,
Il portion of the figures embodied in these
1ucubrations, emitting the rest partly out
OF mercy and partly for the sake of econ
omy in typeserting, so that those who desire
TO explore their mysteries thoroughly must
RESORT to the official copies. Their enter
prise is sometimes rewarded by the dis
covery of nuggets of information in the arid
waste, but the task is tedious ana tiresome.
Mr.. Gladstone, it is said has the faculty of
rendering financial speech as interesting
as one of Turkish atrocities or the cause OF
home rule, but none of our statesmen pos
seSs il, or at least they Go not exercise 1t.
take to myself, therefore, some credit as a
patriotic citizen and an industrious student
Tor having carefully gone through the re-
port Of the Secretary of the Treasury tor the
last fiscal year and mastered its contents. 1
find in 1t a good many things not calculated
to arrest superficial observation, but which
are of considerable importance, and which
deserve to be brought into more prominence
thai is given them by the author of the re-
port.
Figures That Arc Out OF Place.
I was struck at the outset by the appear
ance for the fist time under the act or July
il, 1890, Of the item of lawful money de-
posted to redeem retired national bank
circulation among the assets of the nation,
and of that OF the amount paid for the re-
dcmption OF such notes as a part of its ex-
Oendlrures. Since the notes necessarily
come in slowly the money deposited by the
banks for their REDEEM ption is. for the time
being. in excess of the demands made upon
ii. but this excess no more righ fully belongs
n Ia I'ssna aSrlsN "a hn nU N
the hands OF trustee for specific purpose
belongs to him for his own use.
II seems very odd. therefore to find in the
Treasury figures the National income for
the wear ending June 80 1891, swelled by the
sum OF s54 .2O7. $40. received in wears gone by
for the redemption of national bank notes,
and diminished by 81, ,55S, e9S expended for
notes actually redeemed, the difference
he .nT put in the cash balance on hand. 1t
i. in reality. confiscation OF the property
OF the holders of the notes still outstanding.
/ was in Europe when the act was passed.
and do not know who is responsible for
that provision in it. / have heard the
argument made that as the nation
assumes the payment of the notes it has
right to use the money provided for the
purpose by the banks until it is called for,
just a. banker has right to use money
deposited with him, provided he keeps him
self ready to paw it on demand. The obvious
answer is that the Government is not a
banker, and that, as the notes which it un-
dert36e~ to redeem are sure to come In
sooner or later, any balance held on their
account is in its nature illusory, and cannot
be depended upon as assets.
4 Remarkable Jaunty CareIessness.
SO ennmored, however; is the Secretary of
this ingenious device for adding to the vol
ume of national income that he puts into
his estimated revenues for the current year
the money likely to be received from this
in the future, and even reckons it as
q part Of the sinking fund for the extinguish
lnent of the country's outstanding bonded
debit.
The jauntv earelessness with which the
Secretary speaks of a probable deficit in the
revenues of this and the next fiscal years
n lSO strikes me remarkable. Even after
the bank note redemption
fund, he onfesses that he will lack Sl0,747,-
9i2 Ofthe SIS 9lG, O25 which the sinking fund
will require for this year, and for the fiscal
year ending June 80 1898 he estimates that
he will have applicable TO it only Sl4 036. .257
surplus OF revenue over the appropriations.
This viii result in deficiency for that |
wear Of at least S35, 600 900. but he dismissed |
Tie subject as he does that OF the deficiency |
)f the current year. without comment and |
without suggesting any remedy for the evil. |
His figures show that the customs and inter |
nal revenue for the current year are already |
considerably less than they were during the
same period of last, and for the entire year
IRE likely to suffer total decrease of s2s,-
MOO COO As have said, he comedies proba- |
Die deficiency OF $40 147 362 at the end of this
year. and it is notorious that he reduces it
% this figure only by withholding items of
Expenditure which ought to be made if the |
of Congress are carried out.
Much Worse for the Coming Year.
For the coming year the case is much |
worse. The probable deficiency is, as have |
said. S35, 900 900, and to it must be added a /
large sum for river and harbor improve |
nents, for which no allowance is made. 1 |
shall watch with interest the mode in which |
he administration deals with these deficits |
md the eXpedients it adopts to overcome !
them.
By way of offset, 1 desire to give the Sec |
retarv credit for some very sensible remarks /
about the currency ana the groundless /
TO time by those who fancy that if the coun-
-Ty's supply of money were greater than |
it is they would, in some mysterious |
way, which they do not explain, find
more Of it in their own pockets. He shows
I'D statistics that our total circulation me-
liUm. which on July l was $l,497, 40 707 or
'Z3 Al for each individual OF our population,
lad risen on December to sl,ST, $4,000 or
- . per head. do nos myself attach any
-alue to this way of estimating the suf-
icicncv or insuf1iciency of a country's cur
ency, but the fact that ours is steadily in
'reasing is perfect answer to those who
lemand new and extraordinary measures
or its augmentation. If there were no
,ther cause Of work, the operation of the
ct Of July Il. lS9l, is giving us 81 SOC, 600 per
month Ct fresh paper currency, to which
must be added the surplus product of our
-old mines. over and above the quantity
onsumed in the arts. which is SIS, 900 900 an
ually.
Old Coins Turned Into New Ones.
During the past wear, too, unavailable sill
-er half dollars TO the amount of 81, Cos, SAG
ave been recoined into dimes and quarters
nd put into circulation. Furthermore. old
rade dollars to the amount o: So, ,26O, ,GOo have
,een recoined into standard dollars. The |
ecretarN-rather inconsistently. in view of |
hese facts-recommends measures for in
reasing the national bank circulation, but
: Congress is not likely TO adopt them what
e says on the subjecr is of no particular
Importance.
ON the silver question the Secretary is dis
reetly silent. He does not even repeat |
rsat he said at the recent Chamber of Com
4erce dinner about the beneficent effect of
he act o. July "a, 1890, and OF the determine
ion of the administration to maintain gold
ayments even to the extent of issuing new
OndS for the DurchaS of the necessary
IMPLY of the metal The omission is the
ass important, since President Harrison in
is message makes this noteworthy intima-
ion: 'Under existing legislation it is in the
ower OF the Treasury Department to main
ain that essential condition of national
nance as well as OF commercial prosperity
= he narity in use of the coin dollars and
heir paper representatives. The assurance
hat these powers would be freely and un-
used has done much to produce
nd sustain the pres mt favorable business
onditiOns" These words may be fairly in
as backing mp Secretary Fosters
speech.
An Important Omission of Fosters
wish, however, that the Secretary had,
his report, expressed his own personal
Jews, and 1 should have liked to read his
omment on the significant fact, which he
cords in the report, that whereas, the
ptal annual gold product of this country is
3 600 600 and the consumption of the metal |
the arts $4,000 0oo-leaving, as 1 have
Icntioned, surplus of SIS 600 900 in addition |
|. tl.n cit.l.Illa ting Inefinrn-nnr tntal animal |