The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-07-20
TALk,wITH Mr.. MANLEY.
Some Pertinent Remarks on the Financial
Situation.

| can committee, in an interview on the Il
| nancial questions today, said: Il am
not one of those who believe the bust
ness depression now existing throughout
the country is owing to the so-called
| Sherman act. 1t attribute it mainly to
the succe ss of the Democratic party in
November last. The business men of
the country became alarmed when they
! fully understood what the Democratic
| party disclosed to be its purposes and
| found that party placed in power. And
why should they not be alarmed?
Here we find in full possession of the
government, all its branches, a party
coming into power, openly declaring
that all tariff legislation is unconstitu-
tional, expressing desire to overthrow
reciprocity, which was giving us COM
| mercial supremacy, and openly pledged
| to wild cat state bank currency.
think when we stop to consider, we
ought not to be surprised at the financial
and business depression but really ought
to wonder that tits not greater.
Reciprocity, as started by Mr.. Blaine
| and as carried outsunder the Harrison adj
! ministration, went hand in hand with pro-
lection. for protection was building up
our home industries, and reciprocity was
making foreign market for the surplus.
1t carried with it the idea of the Ameri-
can ship on every sea floating the Amer
lean flag, carrying American products,
and it would, if carried out, have given
us commercial supremacy. Having once
obtained this, we should have our finan-
cial standard in spite of England.
1.-THE Sherman act was a compromise
measure, as MI. Sherman himself de-
clared, and was question of free coin
| age, or the purchase of silver by the gov
eminent PROFESSIONALLY all agree now
| to it's repeal, but to repeal it and stop
| there means financial ruin. For instance,
| there was in actual circulation in the
| United States on January /, 1898, 81 ,611,-
| 321, 1853 in money, In the treasury and
| it's branches there was in addition, $780,
| 92S,577, making total of 50, 36S, $50, $3.50.
| OF this am Mount there was in silver coin,
| 1857, 269, 11S. and in silver bullion and
silver certificates 1881, 614, 1904, making
a total Of $69S, 1856, 422. Now it will not
do to permit this silver to go out of cir
culation because the people must have
ready money, to exchange their products,
unless you substitute something in it's
place, and if you retire this vast sum
without substituting anything in its
Cs
the Individual and the national credit
'You must substitute something in
the place of the Sherman act when you
repeal it. What are you likely to get
from this Congress? Ii they are true to
their principles you are to have a revival
of the wildcat state banks and it does
not need any prophet to fortell the re-
suit of that system of legislation. We
have got TO meet the question, and the
United States must assert its financial
supremacy as we'll as its commercial SUI
premacy, because, so far as production
is concerned, we control today the in
dustrial world. Everyone understands
that England is the greatest creditor ma
ton in the world and statistics prove
that the rest of the world owes England
and Englishmen $4,000, 1000 which is
just double the entire gold in the world.
1t is estimated that the entire indebted
ness of the world is $50, ZOO, 100000. This
can never be paid in gold. Bi-metallism
must become the standard, and it seems
to me the quicker the United States as
serts absolutely itself in favor of BIZ
metallism, the sooner the solution is to
be obtained. This could be brought
about, it seems to me, by the plan sug-
gested by Judge Estee of California,
which is as follows:
Limiting the amount of legal tender
for silver to $25, stop the coinage of gold
in smaller amounts than $40 and the
issuing of bills under that amount.
Under such a plan all money of less than
$40 would be silver. This would not
effect the price of silver, and would i'm
mediately put in circulation 100000, 900
in silver coin, and as Judge Estee says,
if the paying powers of silver were
limited to 1916, the coupons on our
bonds could be liquidated IN that metal,
and in this way England could be given
a lesson in finance that would compel
her to call for bi-metallism and force her
to agree hastily to the international sys-
tenn of money. The law says the in
terest on our bonds shall be paid in coin,
not gold coin.
'Again, a great remedy could be OBJ
tanned if the present national banking
law was so amended as to permit ma
tional banks to have circulation equal
to the face value of their bonds, rather
than as now, 80 per cent The truth is
that we have $7OO,000,000 of national
bank capital, and only $170,000,000 of
circulation because of the high price of
bonds which the banks have to pay,
only obtaining 80 per cent. of the par
value of thesbonds. They cannot afford
to do banking based upon circulation.
and now the circulation is the minimum
allowed by law.
IF Congress could issue law bond
bearing two per cent interest, and allow
the national banks to have the par value
of the bonds in circulation, paying in ad
dition tax equal to the cost of printing
the notes, it would give us $500, 00O,0 900
more of circulation almost instantly.
do not look for any practical remedy,
however, to come from the extra session
of Congress. The Democratic party is
divided on this whole question, and
think more is to be feared than hoped for
from session Of a Democratic Congress.
1.-THE people will see when they wake
up the great mistake that was made in
reversing the industrial and foreign poll
cy of the Republican party, which, if it
had been left in power, would have re-
suited in the greatest benefits to our
land. We shall have to wait until '96 be-
fore this can be remedied.'
A Letter of Bishop Brooks's.
W. E. Shaw, formerly of this city, and
a graduate from the Hartford Institution