The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1895-01-29

for the purpose of shipment abroad OF
at home
While nearly S103, ,000, 900 of this amount
were drawn out during the first ten months
of the year, sum aggregatiug more than !
two thirds of that amount, being about |
S69, 900, 600, was drawn out during the fol |
lowing two months, thus indicating a |
marked acceleration of the depicting pro |
cess with the lapse of time
The obligations upon which this gold |
has been drawn from the treasury are still |
outstanding and are available for use in |
repeating the exhausting operation with |
shorter intervals as our perplexities ac-
Cumulate
Conditions are certainly supervening
tending to make the bonds which may be
issued to replenish our gold less useful for
that purpose
An adequate gold reserve is in all cir
cumstances absolutely essential to the up
holding of our public credit and to the
maintenance of our high national char
acter.
Our gold reserve has again reached such
stage of diminution as to require its
speedy reinforcement.
Danger to the National Credit.
The aggravations that must inevitably
follow present conditions and methods
will certainly lead to misfortune and loss,
not only to our national credit and pros
perity and to financial enterprise, but to
those of our people who seek employment
as means of livelihood and to those
whose only capital is their daily labor.
1t will hardly do to say that a simple in
crease of revenue will cure our troubles.
The apprehension now existing and con
stantly increasing as to our financial
ability does not rest upon calculation of
our revenue. The time has passed when
the eyes of investors abroad and our peo
pie at home were fixed upon the revenues
of the government.
Changed conditions have attracted their
attention to the gold of the government
There need be no fear that we cannot pay
our current expenses with such money as
we have. There is now in the treasury a
comfortable surplus of more than S63,0OO-
600; but it is not in gold and, therefore,
does not meet our difficulty.
l cannot see that differences of opinion
concerning the extent to which silver
ought to be coined or used in our currency
should interfere with the counsels of those
whose duty it is to rectify evils now ap
parent in our financial situation. They
have to consider the question of national
credit and the consequences that will fol-
low from its collapse Whatever ideas
may be insisted upon as to silver or bimet
alism, proper solution of the question
now pressing upon us only requires a
recognition of gold as well as silver and
concession of it's Importance rightfully or
wrongfully acquired, as a basis of ma
tional credit a necessity in the honorable
discharge of our obligations payable in
gold and badge of solvency ] do not un
derstand that the real friends of silver de-
sire condition that might follow inaction
or neglect to appreciate the meaning of
the present eXigency if it should result in
the entire banishment of gold from our
financial and currency arrangements
Besides the treasury notes, which GER
tainly should be paid in gold, amounting
to nearly $500, 100000, there will fall due
| in 1901 S100 600, 600 of bonds issued during
the last year, for which we have received
| gold, and in 1907 nearly 5000, 900, 600 of per
cent. bonds issued in 1877. Shall the pay
ment of these obligations in gold be re-
pudated? IF they are to be paid in such a
manner as the preservation of our national
| honor and national solvency demands, we
should not destroy, or even imperil, our
ability TO supply ourselves with gold for
| that purpose While 1 am not unfriendly
! to silver and while desire to see it recog-
nize1 to such an extent as is consistent
with financial safety and the preservation
of national honor and credit, l am not
| willing to see gold entirely banished from
our currency and finances. To avert such
q consequence 1 believe thorough and radi-
cal remedial legislation should be promptly
passed I, therefore, beg the congress to
| give the subject immediate attention.
! New Bond Issue Recommended.
In my opinion the secretary of the treas
| ury should be authorized to issue bonds of
the government for the purpose of procur-
| ing and maintaining a sufficient gold re-
| serve and the redemption and cancellation
of the United States legal tender notes and
the treasury notes issued for the purchase
of silver under the law of July IA, 1890.
We should be relieved from the humiliat-
ing process of issuing bonds to procure
gold to be Immediately and repeatedly
drawn out on these obligations for pur-
poses not related to the benefit of our gov
ernment or our people. The principal
and the interest of bonds should be pay
able on their face in gold, because they
should be sold only for gold or its repre-
sentative, and because there would now
probably be difficulty in favorably dispos
ing of bonds not containing this stipula
tion. Isuggest that the bonds be issued
in denominations of $50 and $50 and thei1
multiples, and that they bear interest at a
rate not exceeding per cent. per annum ]
do not see why they should not be pay.
able fifty years from their date We Of
the present generation have large amounts
to pay if we meet our obligations, and
long bonds are most salable The secre
tary of the treasury might well be per
mitted, at his discretion, to receive on the
sale of bonds the legal tender and treas
ury notes TO be retired, and, of course
when they are thus retired or redeemed il
gold they should be cancelled
These bonds, under existing laws, coult
be deposited by national banks as security
for circulation, and such banks should b,
allowed to issue circulation UP to the fac
value Of these or any other bonds so depos
tied except bonds outstanding bearing onll
per cent. interest, and which sell in thl
market at less than par. National bank
d gbnrsld not hp al IpvtraI D., t,1~, ont of,,,,