The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1893-06-24
MORTON ON FINANCE
The Secretary Of Agriculture and
the Money Question.
OPPOSED TO THE STATE BANK TAX

Hopes the Sherman Silver Purchase Law
win be Repealed. but Thinks IL Un-
csrtain-Fistitious Values work Dis
astcr to the Producsrs-
WASHINGTON, juno "a in an interview
on the money question Secretary Morton
expressed the hope that the Sherman law
would be repealed by congress- In reply to
the query whether he thought the advo-
Gates of the repeal would have to accept n
the secretary said:
II do not know about that. / am little
uncertain as to Just how congress will
stand on that question. I am hopeful OF
the repeal Of the Sherman law, and think
1t may be repealed, though there II an ele-
|ment of doubt. I have no objection to the
repeal OF the 10 per cent. bank tar n .
means of supplying the increased cur
|rency, which IL 10 claimed II needed. I am
Opposed to that tax chiefly because IL was
levied under false pretences, and has no
right to exist. 1t is prostitution of the
taxing power, because, under the protence
'of raising revenue, 1t was never intended
to raise revenue, but to prevent the issu-
ance of state bank currency.
"a do not think there is danger of wild
cat banking, for only that currency will
circulate which IL based on sound secur-
Ih"ys uAAGso ~ 10 NAC AOG0tAty WhCAG 40
sued, and no where can it be forced into
circulation, for no state can give its cur
lrency legal tender quality. The national
government alone can mako currency a
legal tender. see no objection to the re
peal of the tax law as a compromise with
those who want more currency.
under one condition the absolutely fret
coinage of silver and gold alike might b.
agreed to as q compromise. That is, II
they both were deprived Of their legal ten
der quality. The stamp of the govern
ment would then signify no more thar
merely that the coin was of a certain
weight and hneness, and the people could
take which coin they pleased and refus,
either IL they did not like 1t. The two
sorts of coin would then be placed on theii
merits, and we could soon find out wha,
the people wanted.
| without the legal tender quality, de
prived of the fat elements, silver woult
have to depend on the proper measure o
supply and demand for its value, and it il
not difficult to judge which metal tn,
lpeople would want, as long as the differ
ence between the denomination value ans
the bullion value Of the coin is SO great
Touching upon another branch of til,
Question the secretary continued: ''Ther
lis no advantage to the farmer or tn
,tiaporer IN feuuuutancy Oh cHettp money
1t raises the price of the farm products ii
cheap money, cutting off the export trad
and narrowing the market. With a flcti
tious price put upon wheat through tn
cheapness OF the money with which 1t
purchased the foreign purchaser canno
afford to deal with our farmers, but go t
india, Russia or the Argentine for hi
wheat. The consequence of this is har
times here and the export Of gold from tn
country. As soon ms our wheat gets dow
to a price where it can find purchaser
Iabroad as soon as we begin to sell to fol
leigh purchasers, the supply and the de
mand alone regulating the price, the gol
begins to come back to us. The turn il
the tide of gold noticeable within the pas
few days was due to the sales of wheat
which had been brought about by til
necessity the holders were under to rails
money!