The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1895-12-20
THE TREASURY REPORT.

While it is possible that Secretary Car
Isle takes a too favorable view of the re-
lationbetwecn the government receipts and
expenditures and of the likelihood of re-
storing the balance by economy, he is very
right in insisting that the deficiency of rev
present Treasury embarrassment. and that
the lack of Il few millions would not I'M
pair the credit of the United States if there
were no other reason for distrust
Three years ago, Mr.. Harrison's Score
tary of the Treasury, Mr.. Foster, called the
attention of Congress to lone of the en-
barrassmentS to the Treasury" in the in
ability to keep up sufficient gold supply.
When the demand comes for the cxpor-
tation of gold the Treasury is called upon
to furnishit. lfthis demand should prove
to he as large the coming year as it has
been for the past two years, gold in the
Treasury would be diminished to or below
the reserve. line.
The revenues in the two years referred
to, or in the three years preceding Mr..
Fosters last report, had been in excess of
the expenditures by 100000, but the
Sill, O00,O 600. They had begun with the
imitation of the currency in 1890, both by
the new issue of Treasury notes and by
the disbursement of the currency that had
been accommodating in the Treasury, ana
they have continued and are liable to be
renewed at any time as long as there re-
mains any question, not of the quantity
but of the quality of the money the Treas
ury is able to pay out.
1t is hard to see how any surplus reve-
nue. could remedy this condition unless 1t
were great enough to cause an apprecia-
bic contraction of the currency. While
there was no increase in the government 5
paper obligations and a considerable vol
ume of them was Withdrawn from circu-
lation and locked up in the Treasury, the
demand for gold in eXchane for green
backs did not arise. But the total circula-
ton, which at the time of the resumption
of specie payments was but S129, 100000,
has now arisen to 81 ,594, 600. 00O or more
than double, taking no account of all the
development in forms of private credit,
and this vast volume still rests upon the
ability of the Treasury to pay out gold on
demand. The evil is obvious, and while
Congress hesitates to Apply remedy, bus
mess is disturbed. the revenues fall off,
and the embarrassment that Secretary
Foster complained of grows greater
The remedy proposed by NJ. Carlisle is
not increased taxation, which must be flu
tile and might be worse, but the authori-
bic in gold, to be employed by the Secre-
tary of the Treasury to meet temporary
emergencies, and cXchangeable, at his
discretion, for Treasury notes, to be thus
retired and cancelled. However slowly
this retirement of the floating debt mi chit
90 on, the adoption of such policy would
itself, like the original resumption act, re-
store confidence in the good faith of the
government and put the Treasury again
upon a hopeful footing.
If Congress is not willing to adopt this
plan, it should adopt some other to &C
complish the same result. We may be
sure that the Executive will exhaust all its
powers to maintain the credit of the Uni
ted States and the ntegrity of the curren-
CIV, but its efforts are rendered costly and
difficult by the want Of Legislative coop
Grafton. The facts have been laid before
Congress and upon it now rests the res
possibility to meet the situation.-Phila
Times.