The advocate and Topeka tribune., 1892-10-05

IN 6IUtnSr way, very cueertuiIy yielded; |
and l shall, therefore, most cheerfully sup
port the amendment OF the Senator from /
Kentucky, as it has been amended by his |
suggestion and that of the Senator from |
Iowa.
If there were anything necessary beside |
what has been offered to show how very /
important this amendment is, would ask |
Senators to turn to Senate bill 163, Calen- |
dar No. 736, reported from the Finance |
Committee, and which that committee has
been talking about taking up o-day. !
believe suggestions have been made that
If anybody wanted to amend anything
which came from that committee he could
amend that bill. Section 3 of that bill, as
reported reads as follows:
That when any national banking association shall
deposit with the Treasurer of the United States
the manner provided by law, the p per cent bonds
authorized by this act, any bonds of the United
States bearing higher rate Of interest as securitv
/ for its circulating notes. the association making
such deposit shall be entitled receive circulating
notes, in manner form aud denominations auIb0ro
lzed y law, Uot exceeding in amount the par value
| of the bonds so deposited, etc.
If that should become law, national
/ bonds of all denominations and rates of
/ interest would be enormously appreciated
| IN value. The Senator from New Jersey,
who sits facing me, will remember the
debate we had or similar proposition in
this body, think two years ago, in which
SAID then, IN regard to q proposition
which he introduced, and which the SEN
ate finally, on his motion, passed. that if
it became a law the result of it would be
to add at least per cent to the value of
every dollar of United States bonds out
standing.
Mr.. SHERMAN. What is the number
of the bill?
Mr.. PLUMB. Senate bill 1853. 1t might
fairly be entitled "a bill to increase the
But while that Is true, no one could tell
what other effect might follow. OF course
the primary design is not to increase the
premium upon the bonds, but it is to in
duce the national banks to take out more
circulation, and thereby increase the vol
ume of natiOnal-ban notes outstanding.
But it might have-it would undoubtedly
have IN some cases precisely that effect,
for the very moment that the bonds began
to appreciate in value, as they would as
soon as they began to be purchased for
this purpose, there would be the tempta-
tiOn on the part of the banks to realize
the excess of premium created by this
very act and throw them upon the market.
AS L said, no one can tell what the effect
of that might be upon the volume of the cur
rency. It might immensely reduce it. 1t
undoubtedly would in some cases. There
would be periods when the currency would
go down, and other periods perhaps when it
would go up. 1t would induce a fuctua-
tion of amount beyond anything that has
been known under existing law. For the
purpose of that stability which ought to
be the principal object in all legislation
concerning currency, such a proposition
as the Senator from Kentucky has now
made, or the one similar to it which
made the other day, and which the Senate
voted into the bill, ought undoubtedly to
be the accompaniment of this legislation,
or at all events of some legislation.
There has been another gain, too, by
reason of this discussion. The Senator
t from Ohio Is not now so sOlicitous that
+ there shall not be silver certificates. He
} is willing to admit that there could be
more without impropriety, and that it is q
great gain. But he wants to have them
based, not upon coin but upon bullion, and
there he has made no progress. He is
} willing that there shall be an unlimited
amount of gold coin, and that certificates
shall be based upon gold coin alone, not
upon gold bullion; but he insists that there
shall be a distinction between gold and
/ silver, applicable whenever and wherever
this question of the relative merit comes
up, whereby one shall be stigmatized, one
shall be placed in relation inferior tO
/ that of the other; and that, take it, will
be the only outcome of his suggestion
that the amendment shall be so modified
as to require the issuance of certificates
upon bullion and not upon coin.
1t is true, Mr.. President, as true of qOLd
as it is of silver, that the people of the
United States tOant neither, for. actual use
as CURRENCY, for manual delivery in any OF
the processes of trade which require the
use of money. l have befo-~ me the last
= report of the Secretary of the Treasury,
showing that $120,486,817 of gold certifi-
Gates are outstanding, and $145,543,150 OF
silver certificates outstanding. The
excess of silver certificates is not great
This statement shows that the people OF
} the United States do not want coin as a
circulating medium, that for the purposes
! for which they use money they want paper
, Whether it be the actual representative OF
coin or not, at all events, it is to be paper
= As applied to the uses made of gold and
, silver certificates, it is plain that the peo-
{ pie of the United States do not want
either gold or silver, but they want the
, paper representative of both, and in about
t equal amounts.
, It is little bit singular, If there is such
great danger in the issue of silver certif-
Gates, and if they are for all practical pur-
poses worth so much less than gold, that
they are not used for the payment of Gus
toms dues in New York. Why does not
the New York importer, who is generally
, credited with being pretty smart, take the
cheaper money I'D pay MS CushOub dues
with? Why does he pay II per cont. of ali
the dues upon the goods which he has i'm
, ported in gold certificates and not in sill
yer certificates?
Here is so=ething conservative, simply
providing that whatever the volume OF
: paper money outstanding now, it shall be
, maintained at, following precisely the ex-
t ample set in 1873, when we enacted that
? the greenbacks which were paid at the
Treasury should be paid again out, and
| that the volume should not be diminished.
believe that We should not only have
; legislation of this kind, but I believe that
all the money in the Treasury which is not
needed for current purposes and which
may not be needed for the redemption of
the green backs, ought to be put into cir
culation. believe that thereby the inter
! ests of the people OF the United States