The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1893-04-29
The S-MOuntaineer
GOLD CERTIFICATES.

A Washington dispatch states that
Secretary Carlisle issued an order
Saturday to the Sub-Treasuries
throughout the United States to issue
no more gold certificates at present.
This order is due to the fact that the
gold reserve has reached the limit of
100000, 900, says the Chicago Inter
Ocean, and under the law of 1892 no
gold certificates can be issued with the
reserves below that point.
The truth is that the entire certif-
cate system, both of gold and silver,
is relic of the period when specie
payments were suspended, and ought
to have been abolished altogether as
soon as resumption had got beyond the
point of apprehension. When the
cause ceased, the effect should. "When
the brains are out the man should die,
is an observation based on general
law that embraces national finance.
These gold certificates call for speci-
fc deposits. The government did not
wish to be responsible for the weight
of each gold piece it received and paid
out on the certificate basis, and so
proposed to return the identical pack.
ages, or bags. All this was well
enough for the period of suspension.
1t facilitated the payment of duty, and
was adopted for the convenience of
the New York custome house and the
import business of that city. The
silver certificates were also authorized
before resumption had been reached.
The greenback being redeemable in
coin, at the option of the holder, and
the national bank note, in turn, being
redeemable in greenbacks, every piece
of paper money becomes gold cer-
tIfcate if the holder wants gold, or
silver If he wants silver, and there is
no reason why the government should
either exact actual coin in payment of
duties or maintrin a distinction be-
tween the two coins by the issuance of
old-fashioned certificates. 1t is con-
trary to the spirit of bimetallism, and
tends TO embarrass the mainte-
nance of the two metals on monetary
equality.
If the government would exchange
coin and paper money freely and at |
its own express charges it would have
no occasion to fear run or shortage.
The expense would be very light, not
enough to amount to anything, and it
would afford ample protection against
foreign raids OH our gold supplies
There Is plenty of gold in the country.
Every bank has some, and many of
them would be perfectly willing to ex-
change 1T for paper money. As cur
rency gold is the least desirable of
money. 1t is so soft that 1t soon be-
comes abraded and loses its standard |
of weight. 1t then ceases to be q
legal tender money and is available
only to sell as 30 much old metal.
There is talk of issuing batch of
4 per cent bonds to keep up the sup
ply of gold. There is really no need
of this 1t would be much cheaper
and more businessllke to take gold
from banks in exchange for currency.
Let it be distinctly understood that
such rolicy had been adopted as
permanency and the details could
almost be left to work out themselves,
so simple and easy would they be.
But if the old certificate system is
kept up and lot of new bonds issued,
the tendency will be to aggravate
instead of lessen the evil of supposed |
short supply of "free" treasury money.