The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-12-04

antchuSu TOT only temporary use anu 10 meet the emergency Of war, In al most, if not all the laws relating Co them, some provision was made con- templating their voluntary or eompul- sorry retirement A large quantity of them however, was kept on foot and mingled with the currency of the coun- try, So that at the close of the year 1874 they amounted to SSSl 999,073, Inn Gnedlately after that date, and In Jau- nary, 1875, law was passed providing Cor the resumption of species payments by which the secretary of the treasury was required, whenever additional cir oulation was issued to national banks 10 retire United States notes equal iu amount to 80 per cent, of such addi, tional national bank circulation unti such notes were reduced to $500, COG, GOO This law further provided that on and after the lst day of January, 1879, the United States notes then outstanding should be redeemed in coin, and in or. der to provide and prepare for such re- demption the secretary of the treasury was authorized not only to use any sur plus revenues of the government but tc Issue bonds of the United States and dispose of them for coin, and to use the proceeds for the purpose contemplated by the statute.
 In May, 1878 and before the date thus appointed for the redemption and re- tlrement of these notes, another stat ute was passed forbidding their fur ther cancellation and retirement, Some nf fher,1 had boUaUaY hne,,. 1,raviOlIsIV redeemed and cancelled on the issue of additional national bank circulation as permitted by the law of 1875, so that the amount outstanding at the time of the passage of the act forbidding their further retirement was SS46, ,6S1, ,010. The law of 1878 did not stop at distinct prohibition, but contained in addition the following express provision: land when any of said notes may be re- deemed or tbe received into the treasu- 3y, under any law, from any source whatever, they shall belong to the Uni ted States. They shall not be retired, cancelled or destroyed, but they shall be reissued and paid out again and kept in circulation This was the con- dition of affairs on the first day of January, 1879, which had been fixed upon four years before as the date for entering upon the adoption and retire. ment of all these notes and for which abundant means had been provided, The government was in the anomalous situation of owing to the holders of its notes debts payable in gold on demand which could neither be retired by re- ceiVing such notes in discharge of obli- gations due the government nor can celled by actual payment in gold. It was forced to redeem without redemp- tion and to pay without acquittance. There had been issued and sold $95,- 100000 of the bonds authorized by the resumption act of 1875, the proceeds of which, together with other gold in the treasury, created gold fund deemed sufficient to meet the demand which snight be made upon it for the redemp- ton of the outstanding United States Gotes. This fund, together with such ether gold as might be from time to time in the treasury available for the same purpose, has since been called our gold reserve and $100,000,000 has been required as an adequate amount to accomplish its object. This fund amounted on the first day of January, 1879, to $114 36O, and though there after constantly fiuctuating, it did not fall below that sum until July, 1892 Tn April, 1893, for the first time since its establishment, this reserve amounted to less than S100, ,000, ,000 containing at that date only $97,011, ,330 In the meantime and in July, 1890, an act had been passed directing larger governmental monthly purchases of silver than had been required under previous laws, and providing that in payment for such silver treasury notes of the United States should be issued, payable on demand in gold or silver coin at the discretion of the secretary of the treasury. It was, however, de- clared in the act to be "the established policy of the United States to maintain the two metals on a parity with each other upon the present legal ratio, or such ratio as may be provided by law. '' In view of this declaration it was not deemed permissible for the secretary oi the treasury to exercise the discretion in terms conferred on him, by refusing ito pay gold on these notes when de snanded, because by such discrimina- aion in favor of the gold dollar the so- called parity Of the two metals would be destroyed, and grave and dangerous consequences would be precipitated by affirming the constantly widening dis parity between their actual values un- der the existing ratio. It thus resulted that the treasury notes issued in pay anent of silver purchases under the law of 1890 were necessarily gold dbliga- tions at the option of the holder. These notes, on the last day of November 1893, when the law compelling the monthly purchase of silver was re- pealed, amounted to more than $155,- 100000. The notes of this description now outstanding added to the United States notes still undiminished by re- demption or cancellation constitute 8 volume of gold obligations amounting to nearly $500, 100000 These obliga- tons are the instruments which, ever since we have had 8 gold reserve, have been used to deplete 1t. This reserve as has been stated, had fallen in April 1S93 to $37 OH, ,330. It has from that lime to the present, with very few and unimportant upward movements steadily decreased, except as it has been temporarily replenished by the sale of bonds.
 Among the causes for this constant