The advocate., 1892-01-06

Struction, and no two persons conStrue lt alike,
so that under IL secretary will have wide liber.
ana u Is SaIe & e S say tnaG for years % come 81
ments. In fact, IN changing speculative c0ndi.
lions the Effect OF the silver bill will be NIL and
the "Street" Is likely to find It out
Mr.. Plumb. Mr.. President observed that
editorial at the time lt appeared with great
deal Of concern. The paper In which 1t ap-
peared is not only very able paper, but one
whlchis properly very close to the administration.
IL has been given out that It more nearly repre-
Sented the treasury department than any other
newspaper In the country. It was also con-
splcuOuS and viruant opponent Of the silver bill,
and for that reason, as well as for others have
spoken of, itS utteTances are, of course, entitled
to great consideration. But the fear which I
had, growing out Of that article and other
grounds, that the bill, which was passed with
such great unanlmity on this side Of the cham
ber, would not be properly carried out, dissp-
peared on account Of the first step taken by the
administration, by the more or less public an
nOuncement that 1t was TO be, az far as possible,
carried out according to It's intent as understood
by It's friends and promoters, and not according
to a precOnceived notion Of the Importance or
lack Of Importance Of the question or Of the per-
sOnal Views Of the secretary In regard to the pro-
priey Of the enactment
So, Mr.. President. In Offering this resolution /
am not now prepared to say that this has been
done with any intent, whatever, but probably is
the result Of some old regulation of the depart
nP anNNnfhNnor ~ fh0k IN
room OF the building who has these matters In
charge has decided this question without the
secretary having had any opportunity to con-
slider 1t.
suppose there Is no department of the gov
ernment In which there are so many Of these
dust covered rules prevailing as In the treasury
department. One Of them came to light very
cOnsplcuousy the other day. The secretay OF
the treasury, for the purpose Of relieving the
stock brokers Of New York, determined to ex-
excise the power conferred upon him by law Of
preparing interest on government bonds, but 1t
was found to be practically without avail, be-
cause OF rule In the treasury department that
no man could be paid interest on any Of the
bonds standing In his name unless they were all
plOoCutCNp Dub AV WOuiN buAA OApp 90 ~ NhN Ia
almost all cases where there was large amount
of bonds In the hands OF one man, that some
one. two, or more of the bonds had been sold,
and the evidence of sale and transfer Of the pro-
prietOrship of the bonds had not been registered
and made known to the department.
The consequence was that the interest on the
larger lots of bonds could not be anticipated,
q nd khuq tho xvhnla nurDNro NJ tho uacrofO ru
was baked by reason Of rule made some time
In the missionary period Of the government; and
80 what was intended to be wise and beneficial
was Intellectual, and 1t was only under pressure
OF threatened panic In New York that the Sec
retary concluded to change this ruling In such
way that whoever presented bond, being the
owner, OF course. might have interest paid on
the bonds he presented without requiring him to
show that those were all the bonds he owned.
SO In this case it may be, and very likely Is, that
some clerk has made this rule, that 1t grows out
of some convenience of bookkeeping or some
thing of that sort, or 1t may be that there Is
some animns back Of it, but not that Of the sec
retary, as am bound to believe.
It seems to me that the sooner the treasury
department Is cOniOrmed In Its operations to or
dlnary business principles the better It Is going
to be- There never has been in all the history of
this government so conspicuous an Illustration
Of the impolicy Of allowing the treasury depart
ment to have anything to do which oOstructS or
accelerates business, as has occurred In the last
few weeks. For mOnths-for years-the treas
ury department boarded money which was
needed for the transaction of the business Of
the country, and during all that period Of time
the volume Of money was constantly shrinking
by reason of the retirement Of national bank
notes, and the secretary hugged to his bosom
the old idea that certain amount was necessary
to be kept on hand as reserve, without any
reference to the business Of the country outside.
The increasing business Of the country was
constantly hampered for the lack Of money,