The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-12-17
ANDCouRER,
LOSS oF REVENUE DUE TO DEFEc-

LOSS OF REVENUE DUE TO DEFEC-
 TIVE CURRENCY SYSTEM.
 After discussing at considerable length tho disturbance to the currency caused | by the silver producing act, Secre- taly Carlisle continues as follows;
 The great loss of revenue, instead | of being the cause of our financial difl- | culties, is one of the effects produced by defective currency system, and a failure to recognize thls Important fact will lead us far astray in our search for an adequate remedy. It is true that the tariff act of 1890, which re- mained in force urtil after the close of | the fiscal year 1894, had greatly re- duced the revenue derived from GUS toms, and that the expenditures of the | government were increased from SSlS,- Oi07l0 during the fiscal year 1890 to | $SSS, AT, ,95449 during the fiscal year 1885, stlll 1t Is not probable that there would have been any considerable eX | cess of expenditures over receipts if the business of the people had not been Interrupted by the disturbances growing out of the unsatisfactory condition of our currency.
 Remedies which might have been more or less effective under other cir cumstances cannot be in the least de- | gree effective now, and it would be | futile and dangerous at this time to attempt correction of our financial disorders otherwise than by total re- l moval of their causes.
 | Inc, Ia could extricate us from our present diff faculties, or give assurance of safety in | the future, unless it should be required | to be paid in gold under a system which would exempt the government from the obligation to furnish the gold when de- manded to be used in making the pay ments; and it is scarcely necessary to | suggest that such a system is impoSsi- l bie as long as the United States notes and treasury notes are kept in circula- | ton, and are redeemable in gold by the government itself on presentation
 THE SILVER CERTIFICATES. ! owing to the peculiar character of l our currency the ability of the treasury to hoard United States and treasury notes is limited to certain amount which cannot be definitely determined in advance-and if it should, after that amount has been reached, refuse to pay out these notes in making disburse- ments at the places where our customs are collected, the immediate result should be that nearly all payments to the government would be in silver cer- tificatels, which it is bound to take, but can compel no one else to take
 There would be a stream of these | non-legal tender certificates constantly l flowing into the treasury, and it would l receive scarcely any more United States notes or treasury notes as parts of the surplus revenue, but would soon be compelled to pay out those already ac- cumulated or pay gold, or break down l in it's operations at the sub treasuries.
 This result has been avoided hereto fore only by paying out these notes
 from the treasury from time to time
 whenever the character of currency coming in indicated that the point of
 danger was about to be reached, and it
 will be necessary to pursue the same
 policy hereafter as long as the legal
 tender notes are in existence.
 Notwithstanding all efforts of the
 department to protect the treasury
 against excessive receipts of these cer-
 tificates it has frequently happened
 that they constituted more than 80 per
 cent of all the payments of customs
 dues at New York, where more than
 twc-thirds of the total customs are
 made; but if the United States legal
 tender paper should be retired and a
 proper currency system adopted, gold
 and gold certificates and bank notes re-
 deemable in gold will take their place
 in the circulation, and the government
 will have no further trouble ill regard
 to the kind of money used in either
 it's receipts or payments.
 ADDITIONAL TAXATION FUTILE.
 But even if this difficulty could he
 obviated, an attempt to impose taxa
 ton upon our people sufficient in amount to enable the treasury to take up and permanently hoard all the legal } tender paper now amounting to about S4S5, 900 000, would be the most remark able finacial experiment in modern ! times, while an attempt to secure by taxation within a reasonable period a sum sufficient for their redemption and cancellation, as they may be received 7 5tG the treasury, although not quite SC impfacticable as the other, would just as certainly fail to accomplish the ob- ject intended"
 The remedy which Secretary Carlisle , proposes for the financial ills of which $ 1 he speaks is thus set forth:
 THD NOTES MUST BE RETIRED.
 "There is but one safe and effectua = way to protect our treasury against : these demands, and that is to retire and
 cancel the notes which constitute the I only means through which the with . l drawals can be made. Many partia f and temporary remedies may be sug = gested and urged, with more or less s plausibility, but this is the only on, v that certainly will remove the req s cause of our troubles and give assuranc, e of permanent protection against thei = recurrence in the future.
 t "This can be most successfully ant
 economically accomplished by authoriz ! ing the secretary of the treasury to is :, sue from time to time bonds payable il ' l