Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1892-10-27
THE MONEY QUESTION
NATIONAL FINANCES, NATIONAL DEBT,
NATIONAL BANK NOTES.

What the Republicans Have Done and
What the Democrats Have Not Done.
Also What the Democrats Want to Do.
Something About state Bank Currency.
Especial Correspondence
WASHINGTON, Oct. 24.-The public
debt statement which is TO be issued n
few days hence will show a continue
ton Of the reduction Of the public debt.
The complaints made against the Re
publican party by the Democrats regard
ing its expenditures of public funds
must be recognized as an unjust one by
every man who stops to consider what
the Republican party in its administra-
ton Of the government has done. Since
1865, when it set itself seriously about
the task of paying off the public debt,
which war waged by the Democratic
party had piled up, it has reduced the
Indebtedness from S7S per capita to $13
per capita, and reduced the public debt
from $2,758, 0O0,0 goo, to $4,000, 900, in
round numbers. Such record for any
party or any government is unheard of
in the history of nations.
The record Of the present administra-
ton in relation TO the finances of the
country compares favorably with any
which has preceded it in the long line
Of Republican administrations, and con-
trasts in a marked degree with the
Democratic administration during the
four years prior to the Inauguration of
President Harrison. The Democratic
| 81 NI..N Il a..
sipated n surplus which the Cleveland ad-
ministration created in the treasury is
shown to be false by the fact that that
so called surplus has been expended six
times over by President Harrison's ad-
ministration in the reduction Of the
bonded debt.
Another subject relating to the finances
Of the government about which a good
deal Of talk has been made is the amount
Of money in circulation. In this con-
nection it may be interesting to COM
pare the conditions in this country with
those in others. A careful study Of
the finances of the world shows that
among the nations who count their
population with eight fgures-or, in
other words, among the nations whose
population is over ten millions of peo-
lple-only one has as large an amount Of
money per capita Of population as has
the United States. The amount of
money in circulation in the United
States is $500 per capita, Of which
slO.57 is gold, 1856 silver and 1851 pa
per. Free trade Great Britain, after
which the Democrats are anxious to
pattern, has but $3.50 per capita Ger.
many has even less-$lG.40 per capita
Austria-Hungary has still less-$9. 90
per capita. The per capita amount of
money in circulation in the United
States is double the average per capita
in the great nations Of the world.
One other subject may be of interest
in discussing this question of national
finance. That is the subject of national
bank currency as compared with state
bank currency, which the Democratic
party proposes by its platform to re-es-
tablish. A comparison of the losses by
iepositors, noteholders and all creditors
Of national banks in that last thirty years
with depositors and noteholders of pri-
vate banks is startling. An examination
Of the losses through national banks since
they were established in 1853 shows
that the annual average loss to depos-
tors and other creditors during the EN-
tire period has only been one-twentieLh
u per cent. of the entire liability of all
national banks.
The comptroller Of the currency show
I'D in his report of 1891 that the losses
by failures of private banks throughout
the country amounted in n single year
lS9O-to $17 ,4l9, which exceeds by
over $2,000,000 the total losses by the
national banks since their establishment
in 1868. This shows the contrast be-
tween the condition of the national
banks and the private banks of today.
Looking back to the history Of private
banks when they were permitted to issue
currency the contrast is still more strik-
ng. Thompson's Bank Note Reporter
for October, 1859, shows the failure of
no less than 1,5i7 banks between Aug.
"a and Nov. Of 1857.
Another authority, The Elliott Funding
system, reports that in the year Of
lS41, fifty-hve state banks, with an ag-
gregate capital of $67 ,O36, 265, and cir
culation of 1857, 752, failed, and that
in nearly every instance the entire
capital and circulation were lost.
rhompson's Bank Note Reporter of Nov.
IA. 1858, reports the notes of all banks
in Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, and Mis-
sissippi of doubtful and only nominal
value, and the notes of all banks in
Wisconsin at a discount of 8 per
cent, those of Virginia from to 25 per
cent, those of North Carolina 10 per
cent, those Of Ohio and Indiana from
to 80 per cent, and those OF illinois from
D to 80 per cent. ~ -
This is the sort of money to which the