The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1894-03-30

bill, n the silver dollars therein directed
TO be coined are as ls provided. 10 be held
/ Ia the treasury for the redemption OF the
/ notes, u Is suggested, strictly speaklng'
/ that certificates can not be issued ON such
! coin in the manner now provided 10y
Z law because these dollars are money
I held IN the treasury Tor the express pur-
pose Of rcdecmng treasury notes on
/ demand, which would ordinarily mean
/ that they were set apart for the purpose
I OF SUBSTITUTING them for these treasury
/ notes. They are not therefore held in
/ such a way as to furnish "A basis Tor GER
/ uhcates. according to any provision OF
! the existing law.
! IL. however. silver certificates can prop
! crly be Issued upon these dollars there
! Is nothing In the section 80 indicate the
| characteristics and functions Of these
! certificates. IL they Were 10 be OF the
same character as silver certificates in
circulation under the existing law, they
would at best be receivable only FOR Gus
| toms, taxes and all public dues. and un-
der the language OF this section DIT Is, to
say the least, extremely doubtful whether
the certificates II contemplates could be
lawfully received even for such purposes
Whatever else may be sald of the uu-
certainues OF Expression In this bill they
certainly ought not to be found In legls-
l1tion affecting subjects so important and
tar-renching as our finances and cur
rency.
In stating other and more important
reasons for my dlsappruval OF this sec
ton, 4 shall however, assume that under
It's IIoNlSlNnb the treasury notes ISSUED
IN payment for silver bullion viii con-
tlnue 10 be redeemed 40 heretofore In
silver or gold at the option Of the holders
anu that II, when they are presented for
redemption or reach the secretary In any
other manner there are IN the treasury
coined silver dollars equal in nominal
Naiut 20 such treasury notes, then in
that case the notes would be destroyed
ana silver certificates to an equal amount
substituted.
| am convinced that this scheme is iii
advised and dangerous, Az am ultimate
or Us operation. treasury notes which
are legal tender for all debts public and
private, and which are rcdeemnble in
gold or silver at the option OF the holder.
which, whatever may be their character
ana description, will have none of these
Qualities In anticipation of this result
and as an immediate effect the TREASURY
notes will naturally depreciate In value
and desirabilty.
The fact that gold can be realized upnn
them and the further fact that their des-
trucuon has been dccrcod when thoy reach
the treasury must tend to their withdraw
~ from general ciroulation--to be imme-
diately presented for gold redemption or
TO be hoaydcd for presentation at a more
convenient season. The sequel of both
operations VIII be large addition to the
silver currency in our circulation and
treasury
The argument has been made that these
things viii not occur at once because
long time must elapse before the coinage
OF anything but the seigniorage can Be
entered upon. II the physical effects OF
the execution OF the second section of this
bill are 10 be realized in the future this
may furnish strong reason why II should
not be passed 80 much in advance. but the
postponement of Its actual operation can
not prevent the fear and loss of confidence
ana nervous pfostration which would i'm
nediately follow us passage ana bring
about it's worst consequences
] regard this section or the bill as en-
bodying q plan by which the government
VII be Obliged to pay out its scanty store
Of gold Tor no other purpose than to force
an unnatural addition of silver money
into the hands of our people This is an
exact reversal of policy which safe finance
dictates n we are TO preserve parity be-
tween gold and silver and maintain sensl-
bic blmetallsm.
1898 100000 in silver certificates issued I'M
der existing laws. That they are serving
The pu. pose OF money usefully ~ without
question; Our gold reserve--amounting 10
only a little more than 500 600 O0O-is d.
reclly charged with the redemption OF
{AG0o,OOO Of United States notes, When
II rs proposed to initiate our silver cur
rency IL Is time for strengthening our
gold reserve instead OF depicting g.
can not conceive a longer step toward
silver monometallism than We take when
We spend our gold TO buy silver certificates
for circulation, especially in view OF the
difficulties surrounding the re-
Of our gold. This leads me
70 earnestly present the dcsrability Of
granting 10 the secretary of the treasury
q better power than now exists to issue
bonds to protect our gold reserve when Cor
any reason II should be necessary. our
IL in such confused condition
aud our financial affairs nre apt to ass
sumo al any time so critical a position,
THAT II seems to me such a course 81 die
tated by ordinary prudence
l am not insensihlc 10 the arguments |
In favor of coming the bullion seignioraRe
now In the treasury and believe II could |
be done safely and with advantage II the |
secretary OF the treasury had The power TO !
gHIip honda nj low ffffn intRnpeT