St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-09-22
FOR PRESIDENT
GROVER CLEVELAND,
FOR VICE PRESIDENT,
ECLEl {. STEVENSON.
NELSON ON FINANCE.

Mr.. NELSON has now delivered his
little speech good many times, and he
has it by heart. SO also has that part
of the public which reads his party's
newspapers. He need feel no anxiety
about breaking down on the platform.
Should he forget sentence or two,
there will always be some one on hand
to prompt him. Even the GLOBE could
do that, such is its familiarity with his
Stere0typed periods: and it does not pre-
tend to be a specialist on Republican
oratory, either.
MIR. NELSON usually takes up the
financial question first. At this stage he
euloglZes the SHERMAN law and pours
what his friends call ''hot shot, into
that plank of the Democracy's platform
which calls for the repeal of the tax OH
state banks circulation. The SHERMAN
law is Republican measure, designed
TO enrich the owners of silver mines.
Under its provisions the government
purchases E4.000,0O0 worth of ore every
month, pays for it in legal tender money.
and piles it up out of the way in a store
house where it does nc good to any,
body. Its merits or dement's are not
at issue i'll the pending campaign, and
the only interesting feature about Mr..
NELSON'S discussion of them is the
light thus thrown on his own intellectual
Or moral complexion.
The SHERMAN law was a makeshift
piece of legislation. with all the weak
nesses incident to compromises. Its own
author admits its shortcomings, and
every student of finance recognizes
that it is fraught with danger.
not only to the stability of our
currency, but also to the stability of
our institutions. The accumulation of
vast body of coin of an intrinsically
deprecated value in the governments
vaults, and its constant growth without
any relation to the needs of trade,
threaten the destruction of an honest
circulating medium. Besides this. if
the government is justified in buying
S4,OO0,O00 worth OF silver monthly to
help out the mine owners. it would also
be Justified in buying $4,000. 900 worth of
wheat at regular intervals 10 keep up
the price of grain, or a like amount of
any other commodity the market for
which happens to be little depressed.
LIE outrageous subtreaSury herasy
gets its strongest Endorsement in this
way from such measures as the SHER-
MAN law, and unless Mr.. NELSON is an
exception, there is no man of profound
attalnmentS i'll public life who does
more than apologize for it as a Temporal
ry device. soon to be supplanted by
something better.
1t is an open question whether Mr..
NELSON'S attitude on this question is
the result of Ignorance or of PARTISAN
ship which does not stop even at will
full efforts TO deceive. The same doubt
attaches to his oft-repeated criticism of
the proposition to revive the circulation
Of the state banks. The creation Of the
national banking system was a war
measure, designed very largely to pro-
vide market for United States govern
ment bonds. A prohibitory tax was at
the same time put upon the notes of
state Institutions. This was done not
because of any faults in our currency
system. The days of wildcat banking
belonged to the land speculation era be-
tween 1S40 and 1850, and were already
long since past. But congress sought to
stimulate the demand for its own secur-
tiles by giving their purchasers mo-
nopoly on the profits which accompanied
the privilege Of issuing bank notes.
The national banking system has, on
The whole, proved a very satisfactory
Dne, but in the nature of things it can
not much longer continue. Already 1t
has practically ceased to exist as
far as the issuing of currency is
concerned. When the national debt
shall have been entirely discharged its
whole basis will be removed. and some
substitute will have to be found for il.
The Democracy proposes revival of
the state banks. This is not scheme
Of the visionary and the unsoupd, but
has the Endorsement of all the leading
authorities on financial problems in the
country. The only argument that has
been raised against it is the pueriIe and
preposterous one urged by Mr.. NELSON.
He contends that, were the state banks
permitted to issue money, our circulat-
ing medium would be unsafe, would
not command popular confidence, and
whoever took it in payment of a debt
would run the risk of its proving value