Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-11-30

or not the country could with safety alb
sorb more silver certificates based on the
coinage Of the bullion owned by the gov
ernment. There is, however, every proba-
bility that by that time the effect OF new
conditions will begin to be felt and 1t may
not be necessary. England, with her large
increase of commerce, has not found 1t
necessary to make any permanent increase
in her paper issues for many years. /
am half inclined to believe that much OF
our dearth of currency has been the result
of the boarding of that portion of 1t that
was gold-bearing. l believe that we are
now at the lowest ebb Of the tide in the
matter of our gold supply in this country,
and that from this time on We must iney-
itably draw gold from foreign countries.
always provided we stop experimenting
with silver. With our excess OF exports
over imports of about two hundred millions
a year, 1t will not take long for us to be-
come the most important holders of the
worlds gold. That difference must al
ways be paid to us In gold or its equiva-
lent. Heretofore the problem has been
complicated by the dealing in our cor
porate securities abroad. 1 think that we
can fairly assume that at no time since
foreigners began to deal In them have they
held a smaller amount than at present.
We have bought back and paid for an i'm
mense amount of them. Whatever goes
abroad now or hereafter will add to our
stock Of gold. So I look for q large in
crease of our holdings of that metal, which
will help to settle the currency question.
ne currency COMMISSION COulQ WIN pro-
priety look into the proposition to stop
the interest on bonds against which notes
were issued, and resume 1t again when the
notes or any portion of them were turned
into the treasury by the banks to which
they are issued. 1t is claimed that this
would give elasticity to the currency, and
am quite sure that 1t would have that
tendency. 1t would certainly have the Of
the issue of the new bonds, seeing that 1t
would lessen the increase OF the fixed
charges for interest. caused by the new
bonds"
Against Doing Away With Bank De-
pOsits.
What do you think Of the plan for doing
away with bond deposits and giving circu-
lating notes of the banks a first lien upon
its assets?"
There seems to me to be an element of
injustice In 1t, for you virtually make the
depositors in a bank the guarantors Of it's
circulation. / have always held that every
creditor who has contributed to an estate
that becomes bankrupt has an equitable
interest in that estate in proportion to tine
things being equal. /, however, have not
thought much over the proposition. and az,
ready to be convinced. There is no doubt
that 1t would injure the general business
discrimination on the part of depositors
In favor Of trust companies or banks with
out circulation"
What do you think Of the plan of a
guarantee fund, contributed to by all the
banks. based on an ascertained percent
age of losses in given number of years?"
Il think that you refer to the Knox plan;
remember his reading a paper before the
dent, in which he elaborated 1t. 1t was
discussed by. many of our leading bank
presidents, who were present. and gener-
ally condemned as impracticable. OF
course. If b1nkprS hacOn1a of
another they Elust have a voice in saying
who shall be admitted to the combination.
That might of itself limit the currency, or
give them greater power than they now
possess or create a currency trust.
The Deficiency of Revenue.
''Of course, the above are all rough sug-
gestions. but may bear thinking over, and
are only made for the purpose Of provoking
discussion. There is another important
question that must be considered in con-
nection with this, and tffnt fs our revenue.
We should not have had go much trouble
with our gold reserve IL we had had a
sufficient revenue. don't believe that the
two issues of bonds have more than pro-
vided for the deficiency of revenue caused
by the Mckinley BILL and, so far as 1t is
in operation, continued by the Wilson bill.
In closing. / want to say In the way Of
warning that we must. no matter whether
the tariff be high or low.i look for a con-
slant decrease of revenue from that
source. We are supplying our own wants
from our own resources, and every year
there will be less for US to tax on its way
through the custom house The best and
most patriotic statesman will be the man
who can devise plan to raise revenue
which will be sure, no more and no less
than Is required, and which will commend
itself to the people. 1 am not only in ia
vor OF a currency commission, but also of
tariff commission. which will take into
careful consideration the whole question Of
the revenues of the government