The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-10-18
NEED OF MONETARY REFORM.
EDWARD ATKINSON ADDRESSES
THE BANKERS.

Gold Reserve by Providing for the
Retirement of the Legal Tender
Notes.-The Speaker BIames the
National Banks for Not being More
Ready 10 Place Their Gold Re
serves at the Disposal of the Gov
ernment-sir. II. John Speaks OF
the situation From "A silver stand
point.
Atlanta. Ga, oct. 1.-THE American
Bankers Association elected officers to-
DAY z. Il. uIlen of New York was
chosen president and r. J. Lowry Of A.
lanta was made vice president. The fea-
lures to-day Were the speeches made by
". p. s.. John of New York and Edward
Atkinson of Boston.
Mr.. ST. John made a strong argument
for a double standard and the opening Of
the minis again TO silver. he is one or
few silver men of the association
AR. Atkinson opene1 the discussion by
reading a paper upon practical sugges-
tions for a reform of the monetary sys-
TEN. The document was In the nature
Of a suggestion for the appointment Of a
committee or commission TO cooperate
with the executive department of the
government, supplemented by practical
hints for attaining the objects aimed at.
The speaker said: i need not say that
unless some way is found under existing
laws for the withdrawal by the govern
ment Of whatever excess of legal tender
notes there are now IN forced clrcula-
ton. or unless congress shall enact laws
10 that end if the present laws viii not
permit the secretary to act all our eff
forts to reform our monetary system VIII
fail. In that event there can be no sucn
cooperation between the banks and the
treasury as l hope for, ana each class Of
money corporations must protect Itself
until through recurring panics and imam
cial crises public opinion is brought 10
the point of compelling congress 10 act
He thought the existing laws We're ade-
feed, public opinion Will sustain effect
The true way out is a simple and ready
one" he concluded. THE treasury may
provide itself with gold by the sale or
bonds, so as to enable it in co-opera-
tion with the national banks to meet any
possible demand of the people for the re-
demption of government notes as fast as
they are presented. In that event, if the
volume OF paper money is redundant IL
viii be reduced by redemption; If il Is
not redundant it will continue in circuia-
ton. Three sales of bonds have been
made, but the last two sales did not ac-
complish the purpose because the notes
redeemed on the one hand We're paid out
on the other 10 meet the deficiency i'm the
public revenue. The third sale has par
TALLY accomplished its purpose, but nor
adequately.
''The revenue being now equal to the
expenditures, notes which are presented
for payment in coin are not and cannot
be reissued. even if they are not cancelled
They are and must be put aside subject
TO future cancellation whenever authority
therefore Shall be given by congress. A
beginning has therefore been made in the
only adequate and permanent method Of
removing our present monetary system
by redeeming the excess of government
notes without reissue.
/ hold that il is not only the privilege.
but the duty Of the national banks 10
place all their gold at the command of
the treasury; in other words. the treasury
is but one of the national banks of is
sue, and being the bank of largest issue
upon its absolute solvency and power to
meet every demand for prompt redemp-
tion rests not only its own credit but
that Of all the national banks alike. If
the banks cannot trust the treasury, what
Is their own credit worth2 If they do
not pool their gold with the gold in the
treasury so as to protect the nations
credit and disaster ensues, what are their
securities worth and what viii their own
loss be?
Their interests are inseparable and It
seems to me that national bank officers
who do not recognize this fact and act
upon it are strangely blind to their own
duties to their own stockholders and to
the public
1T is time. in my judgment for some
one TO say plainly, the national banks have
not been free from blame in these trou-
blous times. They now have the opportun-
ity TO justify their title of national and If
they fail to meet it they should be depriv-
ed of that title
1T is time that this ample reserve of
gold should be so used as TO sustain the
treasury. In fact. the Withholding OF this
gold by the banks is a potent cause of the
distrust of the ability of the treasury to
maintain gold payments"
Mr.. St. John, who is president of the
Merchants National Bank of New York.
replying TO Mr.. Atkinson, said, that ac-
cording to Mr.. Atkinson, current antagon-
isms as to money are due TO distinctly
different school of finance.
Mr.. st. John calls one the speculative
or the school of FEASIBILITY. and saws ne
IS pupil of the historical school, and
says that lump gold and gold coin are
adds that the reason is the law when
grants gold the right of conversion into
coin He remarked on Mr.. Atkinson's lie
mand Tor the repeal of legal tender laws
that It would leave courts no power to en-
force contracts, because they would lao,
authority TO determine what is money.
this scheme to a test NV
her act of 1877 and the gold coins maj
were without the legal tender function
would not circulate as money. He con-
demned Mr.. AtlNnson's charge of inins
ice to the creditor in granting the debtor
Ihe option OF coins with which TO pay. and
declared that the debtor choosing the
more abundant gives value to IL bV use
ana deprived the scarce of valie to thai
extent by lack of use. The operation in
many anu large transactions said he il
70 reduce the value of the scarce while en-
larglng the value of the abundant with a
constant attraction of the two to paritv
as a consequence, and he quoted the eX-
perlence of France to confirm this pr.ac-
tically. he said that the market price of
silver relative to gold was kept at about
the french mint price just as safely when
the annual production of silver was fiftv
times the production of gold as when II
was only SIX times the annual production
OF goid, ana he claimed TO have answered
ShaN 5 history of currency on these
Mr.. St John said he thought the United
states had a sufficient use for money to
90 what France could do He resented the
suggestion of silver basis in the United
states as the result of reopening the
mlnts to silver, but said that if the silver
basis ensues II may enable us to duplicate
The experience of India. India's foreign
commerce, according to Mr.. St John es-
tabllshes credit balance of trade an
preaching Sl90090,000 a year which NAYS
ner gold liabilities of $4,000 600 and draws
S9o,WVV0 OF silver and S25 600 600 of gold
from the trading world in settlement The
suggested eXhaustless supplies of silver
are to be met, he claimed, with a supposed
eXhaustless supply of gold in 1853 He
claimed that the object of the bimetal-
lists Is to enlarge the worlds aggrega 10
OF money, while the worlds aggregate of
everything else is charging and said
that the tendency of that will be to pro
Nlde producers fair share of the wealth
which they produce, the result being a