The Portland daily press., 1893-07-05
IcoPYRIeHT. 1891

IcoPYRIeHT. 1891
was talking to a Chicago profess
!sional man a few days ago about the
money market, and he asked me:
''Why have we not had general
panic since 1882"
Probably because we came to specie
payments soon after the conclusion of
that panic, and have ever since had a
sound currency, or, until we embarked
upon the silver programme, which
came from the California and Colorado
end of the line.
The late comptroller of the currency,
Mr. Hepburn, who is now prominent
in one of the New York banks, said
to me last winter: ''I consider Eng
land to have been dead right in her
whole attitude toward silver. She
took her position from scientific none
tary principles, and is not going to
give it up"
How strange that, with our fiscal au.
thorities holding those views, congress
should go ahead and muddy the cur
rency as it has done.
This is one Of the defects of con.
gressional government as opposed to a
parliamentary ministry.
A popular government does not rep
resent the interests of the great body
of the people, as compared to the spe-
cial interest of some specially active
element with a grievance. The nine
owners were determined to market
their silver upon the American govern
memt. They were assisted by the
s1ne1ters. Representatives of those
mines and smelling works were in the
United States senate and in congress,
and ambitious lawyers, whose constit-
uents were mainly silver miners, joined
in. We began by mining silver in diff
ferent forms of dollars, and ended by
buying the bullion to about the whole
extent of its production upon falling
market. Consequently the silver GER
Ftifcates, exchangeable for gold and
its notes, produced an extraordinary
imitation, and as it was as easy to draw
our gold away as it was to sell the sill
yer. the gold began to emigrate, and
what did not emigrate began to run
into stockings and cupboards, and so
we find the government now with
twelve OR fifteen millions less of gold
reserve than the law expects or safety
requires.
In 1874-5 we had man of moral cour
age in the presidency, one who did not
know everything, but when he knew
anything and believed it, he acted
upon his best bias. That was Presi
dent Grant. He vetoed the imitation
bill, and had he not done SO we never
would have come to specie payment in
1879. Of course, there was a great
sacrifice of corner lots in new towns,
and much that was considered fine
collateral was thrown out by the
banks, as they are doing now. Sher-
man, who took the treasury depart.
ment in the administration succeeding
Grant, was resolved on specie pay.
ment, though not many of the bankers
agreed with him. The equilibrium
currency and gold, had already made
their quotations nearly the same, and
thus the restoration of specie pay
ments was only the legalizing of q
natural condition of things. It was
the veto of the imitation act, however,
by Grant which in four or five years
brought us to specie payments.
The same secretary of the treasury,
Mr.. Sherman, passed the act which
President Cleveland is trying, with
Senator Sherman's help, to repeal
Though called the Sherman act, it was
not the intention Of Sherman to give
silver permanent status in our cur.
rency. 1T was, perhaps, weak thing,
however, to tamper with subject Of
that kind, under the interested per-
suasions and demands of the mining
element. The agricultural population,
which was led into the programme,
has been the greatest sufferer from it,
and now the mercantile population is
suffering. A widespread belief that
The currency is unsound with so much
silver in its veins hiss caused the banks
tc scan every enterprise which expects
to borrow, money, and the throwing
out of speculative collaterals is per-
haps another step toward revision Of
all our business methods.
These methods never would have
been as bad as they are but for foreign
example. The whole system of trusts
was imported into this country from
England. When the panic in 1884 had
nearly come about through failure Of
Grant 10 Ward. representatives of
foreign banking houses FASTENED to
New York, and when the Earrings
failed, men of the same class appeared,
to assure the Americans that they
were In much sounder condition than
Europe. In point Of fact, we were in
a position to lend money to the Old
World, to sustain 1t after it's mistakes
A plethora of money in Europe had
led to disastrous investments in remote
colonies and republics, such as South
America and Australia. South Africa
has not revived from her calamities,
and Australia has had general over
throw of all her American credits.
Seeing the weak spot in our currency.
gold has commenced the. backward
march. Since the commencement Of
the present year, nearly seventy mil
lions of gold have been shipped to