New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-11-01
RETIRING LEGAL TENDERS.

II Is now the boast Of some Of Secretary Car
isles friends that he is rapidly contracting the
paper currency and has already retired and can
celIcd $14, 4S6,2S0 Of the Sherman Treasury notes
No one processes tc give the legal authority Tor
such step Nobody pretcnds that there Is or AT
any time has been public anxiety to get these
notes redeemed and silver dollars or certificates
| issued instead Of them. But that Is exactly
what the Secretary IS doiIg If his admirers are
not in error. The panic Of 1893 was preclpitated
by the intmation Of the Secretary that these
notes might have to be redeemed In silver only.
Instead Of changing his plans when their disas-
| trous consequences were seen and also the ex-
| IRENE disfavor with which the people regarded
| them. 1t appears that the Secretary has been
steadily executing them as far as he could, though
in a private way. The Washington correspond
| ont of 1.-The Journal Of Commerce telcgraphs:
Secretary Carlisle adopted the theory that these
| notes should be retired when redeemed In silver
as early as the summer OF 1893 but redemptiohs
for the first year were only slightly in excess OK
| "a 200 600 The second year resulted in redemp-
lions of about 81 1000, and the third year prom
| ises to show at least as high a record
special effort has been made this summer 70 re-
dmce the outstanding volume OF Sherman notes
| Hv redemption in silver. Every Sherman note In
| Guided In a batch OF money onered In exchange
for silver dollars has been carefully set OH against
| tho silver issued. and has been cancelled
| persons desiring standard silver dollars nave
| been informed that they should present Sherman
notes or silver certificates In preference 10 legal
| tender notes
Other details are given to Indicate that IT IS the
carefully MANNED purpose Of the Treasury to
abolish the Treasury notes as far as possible De-
couse these are redeemable in gold under proyi
sion Of the act Of 1890, and to substitute in crcu
lotion silver certificates which are redeemapie III
|
silver Ony-that Is, are pracu'''' "o
| able at all.
II is not supposed that Secretary Carlisle mas
any expcctation that contraction OF the legal
tender paper will be approved by the people Ut
| nv the next Congress. Indeed, 1t Is difilcut 10
| see on what theory or for what Intelligent p'r
| pose he has been pursuing for more thah TWO
| years a course which he must calculate mat Ooh
gress will inquire into next December. III III
thinks the increased Issue Of silver cerunca'es
| will be regarded as a concession or FAVOR Dy Sill
| yer men, he cannot be we'll acquainted WIFI
| their temper Or II he thinks that retirement Oh
notes redeemablc in gold and the substitution III
circulation Of more notes redeemabie III silver
only will be approved by the practical business
world he surely reckons very strangely. lhere
are many bankers and persons interested In the
banking system who indulge the Idea, so enec-
tivelv combated by Senator Sherman last week.
! that the abolition Of egal-tender notes may open
the way for greatly increased circulation or
bonkno,es But MI. Carlise's performance
| does not seem to have any intelligent connection
with such plans 1t would not help to make
larger field for banknotes II every Sherman note
in the country were retired and silver certifcates
substituted.
The Secretary Is moving IN the wrong dlrec-
ton. The country has too many notes out
standing already which are redeemable In silver
only. They fail 10 cause serious trouble only be-
cause they have been treated as practically, al
though not legally, the equivalent OF notes re-
deemabe in gold But the moment the Treasury
itself begins to make discrimination, and 10
shove silver certificates into circulation by all
sorts Of devices in place OF gold notes, 1t Is IN
danger Of arousing again the apprehension when
| proycd 80 harmful in 1893. Further, II Is not In
accord with the letter the spirit Of The law that
one set of notes should be selected for preference
and cancellation. when the law requires me
Treasury TO maintain the parity OF oil gold ana
silver coin and paper. There is no intelligent
reason for departing from the requirement ana
violating the spirit OF the law by giving the peo-
ple proof that the Treasury itself considers some
OF its notes distinctly less valuable than others
How such n step can be considered expedlent or
helpful TO the public credit is mystery.