St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-05-29
STATE BANK TAX REPEAL.

Sohhihs oho
for the repeal of the tax Of 10 per cent
on the note issues of banks other than
| the nationals, took occasion to say that
| he would vote against it unless it were
accompanied with the passage of bill
| providing for the extension of the pres
| ent system. He frankly said that he
| was not bound by the declaration of the
| national platform, which was made
much of by our opponents, and. by say
ing either TOO much or too little. doubt
less alarmed many good people with the
fear of a return to the days of the Wild
cal banks. 1t said too much in simply
| demanding the repeal, and it said too
| little III not demanding also wider
| range of banking facilities.
Mr.. Springer made the bill the occa-
SION for the discussion of his own bill
and an explanation of its provisions. 1t
extends the securities of the present
system to the bonds of states. counties,
parishes and municipalities which have
not defaulted in interest, and which for
two years prior have not been quoted
| below 95. Twenty per cent of the
issue must be secured by deposit
OF gold in the treasury, the bonds men
| toned securing the remainder. The
notes are to be issued in three series;
those lettered A, equal in amount to the
| deposit OF gold, are to be taxed two
tenths of l per cent per annum; those
lettered b, and amounting to 20 per
cent of the notes secured by bonds. are
to be taxed l per cent, while the re-
naming 20 per cent Is taxed per cent
! per annum. All these notes are to be
made legal tender, are receivable for
federal taxes. are guaranteed by the
| United States, and are redeemable Oh
demand In coin.
These bills bring at once to the front
the question whether the paper repre-
sentatives of money shall be issued by
| the government Or be RENTED to the
| people who care to engage in it as a
vocation. and there can be no question
| as to the Democratic answer. We have
now, as the product of Republican
| hnanciering, hotch-potch of currency
| that endeayOrS to Straddle the real
| question. We have the greenback rep
reSenting the oolleclivist idea, and we
have the national bank notes measur-
ably instancing the individualiSt idea.
After the experience of the past year
no man who cares for financial stability
should wish to have the principle of gov
eminent issues OF notes perpetuated.
Had the government pursued the policy
stopped in 1878 of retiring the green
back, and had it never engaged in the
business of buying silver and giving its
notes for it, necessarily redeemable in
gold. we would have had no such dis
turbance of the public credit as we had
last year. nor would We have seen the
uneasiness and alarm caused by the
| forced withdrawal OF the gold reserve
by the presentation for redemption of
| greenbacks and silver notes. We would
be spared the demOraliZing effect, in
times of financial depression, of bust
ness and banking interests appealing to
the federal treasury to do something to
relieve the stress.
There are indications of revival of
the greenback craze. The most signifi-
cant of these is the demand of the Penn
sylvania Republicans in their state
convent on for the issue of greenbacks
to the extent of nearly doubling all the
geid, silver aud paper currency of the
country - forty dollars per capita
amounting to over $500. OOO,OO We
have the Populists demanding the issue
OF enough paper money" to transact
the business OF the country. We have
the Coxey element demanding an un-
limited issue. to be expended in giving
employment to the unemployed. More
| people than is suspected are lured with
the pleasing but dangerous fancy of an
issue OF greenbacks which could be
loaned out TO the needy. For this we
have TO thank the party which yielded
| to the greenback craze, and continued
the issue of paper money put out as
war necessity. 1t has educated people
to believe that issuing paper representa-
tives of money is proper function of
| government, and. worse than that, to
| believe that such paper is actually
| money.
| 1t is high time to abandon policy so
! fraught with peril, and which puts the
| finances of the country at the risk of
any craze which monetary depression
on the one hand or wild speculation OIL
the other extreme may create, and fill
the congress with a majority of fiatists.
1t is peculiarly the province of the Dem
| ocratic party, with its traditions of hard
money. to start the reversal of an I'M
wise. unsound and unsafe policy and a
| return to sounder and correct princl-
| plies. There is no more foundation
for the theory that the govern
ment should supply the money
for the people than that it should pre-
| scribe the quantity of wheat that should
be sown OR the number of shoes that
| should be made. All human experience
has shown that no government has the
wisdom to determine the quantity of
money its people need, any more than
it has to determine the number of yards
of print cloth OR the tons of pig iron
they need. All human experience
teaches that the supply of all the things
men want in the affairs of life, whether
it be food or money, should be left TO
themselves to supply, the excess or the
deficiency of anything quickly correct
| ing itself.
1t is recognition of a proper function
| of government. that provision of the
constitution giving to congress the
power to ''coin money and regulate its
value" When in their commerce, the
people make use of a metal as money.
| it is merely for the convenience of all
that the common power shall make the
metal into convenient shape aud certify
10 the quantity of metal it contains,
which is practically the sole Office OF
| the mint's dies. The same power
carries with it the power, when,
in the development of economies,
| representatives are used for the
coins, to secure for them by suitable reg
dlations the same security of value that
the metal coins possess. Under this it
is proper that the federal government
| prescribe the conditions under which
| people wishing to issue representatives