The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-11-20
CARLISLE ON FINANCES
GIVES GOOD DESCRIPTION OF THE
 CONDITIONS IN NEW YORK.

In a Most Concise Manner He Tells of the
 Financial Difficulties of This Country
 and Ends With the Hope That the Plat
 forms of Both Parties Will be Clear on
 the Silver Question.
 New York, Nov. 19-The Chamber of Commerce held its one hundred and twenty y-seventh annual banquet to- night at Delmonico's, The banquet
 hall was decorated with the stars and ! stripes and great enthusiasm prevail < ed. Alexander E. Orr, president of the N chamber, presided and around him x were seated besides the speakers of X the evening Hon. Carl Schurz, Rear
 Admiral Henry Erben. Mayor Strong,
 Hon. Hilary A. Herbert, Hon. Judson
 Harmon, General T. II. Ruger, Com
 mander Montgomery sicard, James N.
 Stable, William H. Webb Calvin s. q Brice, General Horace Porter, J. Ed < ward Simmons, John Jacob Astor and James G, Cannon.
 In the course of his opening address
 President Orr said:
 Tt is a subject of reorganization < that the normal conditions of prosper S ity which for a long time had lain dor mant are gradually but steadily spreading themselves over the length and breadth of the country. Much has been said and written concerning the
 government bond contract of the Sth @ of February last, that saving act of 2 the administration which gave protec- < tion and benefit to every interest and person throughout the land. It has been claimed that there was waste and extrava gance in it's negotiation, but we know better and when the impartial history of that transaction comes to be written-its comprehensive and far < reaching influence for good--it would < be found that blame only attaches to < those who sought to obstruct and hin der and that a need of praise wiM be rewarded to all who promptly came to { the front at that time when the fate of the government seemed to be trem- bling in the balance. If it had been
 necessary to sacrifice the whole prin- eipal of that loan to maintain the pub SAAS AA'SN est item of premium the money would llave been well invested"
 MT. Orr said congress should unequi- vocally declare that every financial ob- ligation of the United States will be paid in gold or silver coin at the option of the holder and that the secretary of < the treasury is given every power to E carry into effect the spirit and meaning of this declaration. Such action, he as serted, would dispel every doubt as to the integrity of our purpose, restore our credit to it's normal condition. MT. Orr concluded with an appeal for funds to aid the sufferers in Armenia.
 President -Orr's speech was received with loud cheering. Then he intro- duced Hon. John G. Carlisle, secretary of the treasury, who spoke on "Our Currency Question"
 MT. Carlisle in part said: While S scarcely anyone now seriously doubts ! the disposition and ability of the gov a ernment to maintain it's own credit at the highest standard and to preserve the integrity of all the forms of cur rency in circulation, in the existing state of our legislation the task is both M duu chpeIISlNe. ItpleIGSl, USdr- < ing bonds to the amount of $162, ,315, 400 have been issued to procure gold for the redemption of United States notes and treasury notes and the obligations < of the government on account of the
 notes still remain the same as at the
 beginning. The notes are redeemed,
 but they are unpaid. If the policy of redemption and reissue is continued the interest bearing debt will be greatly increa sed, while the non-interest-bear- ing debt will not be in the least dim- finished.
 The Fundamental wee Tn our currency
 system is the legal tender note, redeem
 able in coin by the government and
 re-issueable under the law. This threat
 ems the stability of the whole volume
 of our currency and has caused i'm
 mense losses by fluctuations. It was
 never contemplated that the govern
 ment should convert itself into a bank
 of issue. The circulation of legal ten
 der notes and treasury notes has a
 tendency to drive out of use and out
 of the country the very coin in which the government is compelled to redeem
 them and it has expelled millions from our DOIU6IS. NO O(I.Pt government IS
 required to supply gold from it's treas
 ury to discharge the private obliga-
 tions of it's citizens and no government
 ought to be required to do so. The
 fact that the government is required to
 borrow money is an injury to it's credit
 and the credit of its people, but the
 injury resulting from this cause is in-
 significant in comparison with the run
 that would follow an abandonment of the reserve while the notes are outstand-
 ing; for all our currency would thus be
 reduced to the silver standard. The
 theories that the government can ere
 ate money by placing it's stamp
 upon paper; that a law can make
 fifty cents equal to one hundred cents;
 that inflated prices paid in depreciated
 currency are better than natural prices
 paid in sound currency, and various
 other vagaries are attributable to long
 continued use of legal tender paper.
 The agitation for the free coinage
 of legal tender silver at ratio which
 would put only fifty cents worth of
 bullion in a silver dollar is predicated
 upon the same vicious principle The
 United States note was for the benefit
 of the government in time of war The free coinage of legal tender silver