Asheville daily citizen. [volume] (Asheville, N.C.) 1890-1900, 1893-09-07
STATE BANKS QUESTION
SENATOR VOORHEES, THEIR
CHAMPION
The President Not Hostile to
state Banks If They Can BE
Made Safe-A Gold and silver
Basis for Security.

Basis for Security.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 5.-As far as can be
learned, the President has not committed
himslf on the subject of financial meas
urc any further than to express his opin-
ion on the subject of State bank tax, but
is well known that he is in daily consul
tation with Secretary Carlisle and men,
bers of the House and Senate on the
subject of a general overhauling of the
banking laws. 1t is to be expected, there
fore, that by the time the bill repeating
the Sherman law is sent to him for sigma
ture the Administration will have a
banking bill ready for the consideration
of the two Houses.
The question of repeating the tax on
State banks, as called for in the Chicago
platform, is already before the Senate III
the shape of bill introduced some days
ago, and in the Butler amendment to the
Voorhees, bill offered today, and it Is
predicted that as soon as the repeal of
the Sherman bill has been effected the
proposition will come to the front at
once.
Senator Gray, speaking of this subject
today, said he thought the day was not
far distant when this whole subject
would have to be considered and acted
upon by Congress. He said the condi-
tions today and those before the war,
when the State banks were in vogue
were as widely different as possible.
There was no more danger now of wild
cat banking than there would be of at
empting to enforce the fugitive slave
law. He believed that the wisdom of
Congress would evolve some plan upon
which the currency of the people
could be based, and a stability
given it that could never be ques-
toned. Government bonds would
soon cease to exist, and when that time
came the security on which the notes of
national banks are now based and
which makes them as good as the
governments obligation, would pass
away, and by the mere force of circum-
stances something would have to take
their place. What that substitute should
| be was for Congress to say. Whatever it
was, he believed that it would be as firm
| and substantial as the system now in use.
| The substitution of State banks would
add to the currency of the people and in
crease the circulation in small communi-
ties, where it was so often needed.
oSHubOI NOOIuSSS Is, peTHdpS, the lllOSl
| outspoken champion of State banks on
the floor of the Senate. What he means
by a State bank is, not the bank so COM
| monty remembered and associated with
| ideas repugnant to good banking ptinci-
pies, but the chartered State banks,
| which have a circulation based upon
specie itself-gold and silver. Senator
Voorhees, said today that when he made
the statement in his speech a few days
ago that no man had ever lost dollar
through a chartered State bank, he ut
tered a truth that had not to this day
been denied and could never be. That is
the sort of bank he contends for. He is
not one of those who believes the security
of the notes should be found in State
or municipal bonds, but he holds that
it should be based upon the precious
metals themselves. This means that
there should be at all times in the vaults
of the banks one third the amount OF
its notes in gold and silver, an amount
amply sufficient from his point of view
| to redeem any OF the notes of the bank
that might at any time be offered for re-
demption, and upon which to transact
the business of the community in which
| the bank is located. His plan also con
templates government supervision and
inspection, a combination which will, he
believes, offer a solution to the problems
now before the people, and give them a
| system of banking as firm and reliable as
any ever devised by man.-N. Y. Sun.