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


not one single measure for the purpose OF
keeping up the pOEtsnle Of the currency and
nothing to increase tt in accordance tUtth the
Increasing needs Of business. Here Is
proposition which is put forth as some
thing which Is to relieve the existing strln-
9ency, which is to diminish the surplus IN
the Treasury, which is to add to the vol
ume of the circulating medium, OF which
it cannot be said with knowledge that 1t
will perform one single thing of that which
it is assumed on its face it will do.
Mr.. President, I should like to know
from the chairman of that committee
what the committee propose as substi-
tute for the national-bank circulation,
which has shrunk during the last year
over $50, ,OOO,O 900, and which, in all human
probability, during the coming year will
shrink more than $30.OO0,O00 more, and
which under the operation of this bill will
probably shrink at least $5o,OOO,OOO.
Does that committee have in view any
remedy for this extraordinary state OF
affairsi
Mr.. MORRILL,. will say to the Sena-
tor that we have several bills in the com
mittee which have been considered, but not
yet fully completed, and we propose to
report upon them at the earliest practica-
bic day.
Mr.. PLUMB. But this contraction Of
the currency, by means of the retirement
of national-bank circulation, has been go
ing on for more than ten gears, and all the
committee has to say now is that 1t has
considered some bill, but it Is not yet
com pleted. If the committee will not
complete some measure, the Senate must.
If the Senate will not, and if the other
House will not, then the country as going
upon the breakers of financial disturbance.
- = hae
now. l think it is there now. We are
dealing with a question which has more to
do with tho welfare of the people of the
United States, which is of more concern
to them than any other thing that is
pending in. either House of Congress, or
which can be pending the UOLume Of the
circulating medium Of The country, the VGlue
of its property, the difference bettGeerG debt
and bankruptcy on the one hand, and free
dom from debt and prosperity on the other
1t is estimated that there are in circu-
lation, including that which is locked mp
in the Treasury and held in banks as a
reserve fund, about 1000 million dollars
of all kinds of currency of the United
States, gold and silver, the Overplus of
gold and silver certificates, greenback
notes, and natiOnal-bank notes, all told,
and there are more than so billion dollars
of property which must finally be meas
ured by this volume of currency. It has
been contracted during the last gear more
than 5 per cent in addition to all that has
occurred by reason of abrasion and loss.
No man can tell the volume of greenbacks
outstanding. Nominally it is 346 million
dollars and fraction, but that volume
has been subject to all the accidents which
have occurred during the past % years,
whereby money has been consumed, worn
out, lost, and it is doubtful if the amount
is really over 300 million dollars to- day.
But saying nothing about that, the re-
tirement of the misunderstanding circula-
tion during the past IL months has been
3 per cent. of the total amount of currency
outstanding. There has been during that
period q phenomenal depreciation Of the
prices Of property. There has been the great
est depreciation Of the price Of agricultural
products the country has eUeT knoIUn.
The contraction Of the currency by 5 per
cent Of its UOtIGnle means the depreciation
Of the property Of the country three billion
dollars. Debts haze not only Increased, but
the means to pay them hGUe diminished in
proportion as the currency has been con-
trGcted. EUents based upon non-LegiSlatiOn
haze proved Of advantage to lenders, but
disastrous to borrowers.
The proposition which have made here
is simply that we shall do with reference
to the volume of the national banking
circulation substantially what We did in
regard to the volume of the greenback
circulation. We arrested the policy of the
Treasury whereby the greenback circula-
tiOn was being diminished, and we said
that after the date of the law which we
passed in 1873, known as the Ford bill
that from and after that date the volume
of currency should remain exactly as it
was then; that whatever dollars of green
in ah
out, and not destroy as it had been doing.
In 1884 I moved this amendment in
substance to then pending measure re-
ported by the Finance Committee, pro-
viding that whatever the volume of paper
money then VAS it should be maintained
at, by giving to the Secretary of the Treas
ury authority to issue greenbacks to take
up, to fill the void then impending, and
which we have since seen would have met
the subsistence of the national banking
circulation. That amendment received IL
votes in this body. Since that time the
national banking circulation has shrunk
more than 60 million dollars. If such an
amendment as this had been adopted at
that time, the paper money in circulation
in tLe United States would now be 60 mil
lion dollars greater than it is, and a large
portion of the shrinkage in the value of
the property of this country, of the paral-
ysis which rests upon its business, would
have been Obviated, as 1 believe.
1t is late to propose it again, perhaps,
but better late than never, and I propose
it in view of the fact, as stated by the
chairman of the committee, that nothing
of this kind is practically pending in that
committee, and that committee has no de-
sign tOhGteUef to propose any measure I0hich
shall arrest this contraction Of the cur
rency and let the country go on and on
with Increasing needs and yet t1ith a dinltn-
iShed quantity Of money for the transaction
of business until the worst shall come to
the worst. And that hour may not be long
delayed, Mr.. President. It may arrive
at any time. We have deluded ourselves
with the belief that because we have had
an abundance of currency in the banks of
New York there was an abundance of
money everywhere, which is an entirely
misleading state of fact. The abundance
of money IN New York testifies to nothing
except the subsistence of stock speculation.