Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-09-12
STATE BANK CIRCULATION.

A Good Democrat Regrets That His Part
Is Committed to an Unsound Financia
Measure-Matthew MarshalPs Objsc
tions to Revival Of q State Banknot.
Issue.
ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DIsPArCH.1
NEW YORK, Sept. 11.-Matthew Mar
shalrs article for to-morrow's Sun, on "Stat
Bank Circulation" is as follows:
Party managers are evidently going T.
! make the most they can out of the Demo
cratic declaration at Chicago in favor of re
viving the circulation of State banks BY
repeating che 10 per cent tax which the &C
of Congress now imposes upon it. Presiden
Harrison denounces the proposition vigor-
ously in his letter accepting his renomina
tion, Secretary Blaine urges that opposition
to it shall be one of the three prominent
issues of the Republican Presidential cam
paign, and the Secretary of the Treasury
prepared an elaborate argument against II
for the bankers convention at San Fran.
cisco, which, though not read as it was in
tended to be, is still available for future use
The Republican newspapers have obediently
taken up the cry, and they will doubtless be
followed by the Republican stump orators
all over this section OF the country at least
AS good Democrat, desiring the success
Of my party in the coming fall elections
must confess that 1 regret its having been
even apparently committed to measure
which seems to me so be so eunwise as the ad-
dition to our already redundant paper
-o@a mass - s-otn sborknotee
money 81 or s,U..st uah- Tunlim-
tied in amount and necessarily of varying
current values must surely be. The
section in the Chicago platform which
does this must, 1 think, have been
adopted without due consideration,
and hope that Mr.. Cleveland, in his forth
coming letter of acceptance. will not only
not give 1t his approval, but distinctly repu-
diate 1t.
Not at All Democratic Principle.
So far from embody1ng any Democratic
principle, it is opposed to all the ancient
traditions OF the party. Denunciations of
banks and bank shin-plasters, accompanied
by eulogies of hard money, were, until the
war, indispensable constituents OF every
Democratic platform, and though latterly
few Western Democrats have coquetted
with the green back and the free silver her.
estes, they are recreant to the faith of their
fathers, and deserve expulsion from the
company Of true believers. The new re-
cruits to the party from this part Of the
country, who seem to fancy that everything
which the Republicans denounce must be
supported and who therefore, are feeling |
around for specious arguments in favor of |
oLdIc UdHh dr6 uOG genuine DoIIl- |
ocrats but only mercenaries who have tenn |
porily Joined US for purposes OF their own. |
Happily, their efforts have not yet been sec |
onded by the regular party leaders, and 1 |
The fundamental objection to reviving |
the issue of State banknoteS to serve as |
currency is, as have already said on this
and on other occasions, that our paper
money ts not only ample for the business
needs Of the country, but perilously near
the limit at which any further addition to
gold, which will be manifested by a
premium on that metal.
What We Are Carrying at Present
We are now carrying sS46, ,0OO, 900 in
greenbacks, sllO, 900, 900 in coin notes issued
under the act OF July, 1890, sl7S, ,O0O, 900 in
national banknotes. and about s4l00O0,00O
of silver dollars and silver certificates
representing dollars. This mass Of intrinsi-
cally inferior money, amounting to 81, ,039, ,0O0,-
600, is at present at par with gold coin, be-
cause it is accepted by the Government for
deemed In gold whenever gold is demanded /
for 1t. Fortunately, these demands are as yet |
rarely made, and in small amounts, but the
stock of gold in the treasury available for
s113, ,000 900 and is likely to diminish hence
forth rather than to increase. Tie gold in
the banks and in private hands is of no use
for redemption purposes, because the banks
can pay all claims upon them with legal
tender notes and with silver and SO can |
private persons. When the currency now
among the farmers and planters comes
back to this center, as it probably will by
February l, and is REINFORCED by the addt-
tfonal coin notes issued monthly under the
act of July, 1890. the strain on the treasury
VIII become greater, and a very slight in
crease OF the present shipments abroad
Of gold payments, with all its accompanying
evils. To encourage further issues of paper
money in the face Of these facts is financial |
'oolishness.
A New Argument for Republicans.
Neither President Harrison nor Secre-
:ary Blaine have taken into consideration |
this objection to the revival of State bank
circulation. They base their opposition to
It entirely upon the minor point of the in
to the public resulting from
he want of uniformity in value OF such
ard from the inevitable discount
which would attach to so much of it as was |
ssued at remote points and by institutions
If doubtful solvency. STILL what they say {
IN the subject is undeniably true, and comes I
n well to reinforce the main argument
Lgainst the measure.
Those of us who are old enough to remem-
yer the state Of things which prevailed be-
ore the war, when only few experts knew j
whether the bank bills they took in and
,aid out in daily business were good for
heir face or worthless shams, and when, | 4
q President Harrison says, "a money | .
hangers office was the familiar neighbor
f the ticket office and the lunch counter" p
eed no exhortation to make US oppose | q
eversion to 1t. The younger generation | g
nay form an approximate idea of it from '
he example of Europe and from the annoy | =
nee and Inconvenience which travellers
re put to every time they cross q frontier l.
nd pass from one country into another.
Europe's Avoidancs of Danger.
In Europe, however, the inconvenience b
as been reduced to a minimum by judicious 9
at railway stations and ho- q
sls, and the loss in exchanging one cur VI
sncy for another is small and not often in
urred, whereas that on the State bank cur a
sncy, in old times, WAS large and frequent. e
bank would fail, and its notes would be- a
ome comparatively worthless long before u y
heir holders were aware of the fact and a | Z
onstant reference to the banknote de- %
,ctors, IN which such catastrophes were III
was practicable only by shop
eepers and people in active business. sx
The scarcity of circulating medium COM se
lained of in certain localities, and popu- ca
rly attributed to an insufficient supply of | Il
in the country at large, is really nothing | K
ore than an indication OF the poverty OF | es
le people who reside in those localities, | tl
he national banks are safe for fifteen years | N
niger at least and when they come TO an b,
Id the currency they now furnish can cas-
Y be replaced by notes issued directly Oy