Birmingham age-herald., 1895-05-24

paper in the form of notes, checks and
 bills has almost entirely displaced metal
 lie money in the daily business of the people, and as long as these forms of credit are kept equal in value to the me tallic standard, the effect upon the prices of commodities is precisely the same as if the whole volume of circulation con sisted of standard coin, for as long as equality in their value can be maintained the paper representatives of the dollar perform exactly the same office in the exchange of commodities that gold dol lars themselves would perform; but if this equality is destroyed the paper is dis
 credited, it's purchasing power is dimin- lshed, and the people have no longer stable measure of value.
 Denies There Is Distinct Debtor Glass;
 One of the most effective arguments made by the adVbcates of free coinage, in some parts of the country at least, is
 that the people are in debt, and that it the duty of the government to relieve them by such legislation as will enable them to procure cheap money for thespur- pose of discharging their obligations, and in support of this argument the most eX- aggerated statements are made as to the depressed and suffering condition of our farmers, wage-earners and other pro- ducing classes. This argument comedies l that under the proposed system of free | coinage at the ratio of 16 to 1 all the va- rious kinds of currency in use by the peo- | pie, including the silver dollar itself, would be worth less than 1t is now, for, of course, if this is not to be the result
 money would be no cheaper than it is now. To assert that the people are in debt is simply to say that they have traded with each other on credit, that one part of our fellow-citiZens relying upon the integrity and financial standing of their neighbors and acquaintances, have lent them money on time and sold prop
 erty to them without demanding imme- diate payment in cash, and that in this way they have enabled many people to carry on a useful business and live in comfortable homes who otherwise could not have done so. If it isia crime to lend money to a man who wants to borrow it, or to sell property on credit to man who wants to purchase it, and has no ready
 money to pay for 1t. let the perpetrators be properly punished, but let us not in- Volve the whole country In confusion and dfSaster and immolate innocent and guilty alike in order to punish the real offenders. If our people are in debt they | owe each other, and, consequently, about
 as many would be actually injured as would be apparently benefited by scaling the obligations down to a silver standard. The indebtedness of the farmers, me chanics and other laboring classes of our people, although large in the aggregate, is quite small in comparison with the whole indebtedness of the great railroad and manufacturing corporations the na-
 tional and state banks, savings insti- tutions, trust companies, insurance com panies, building associations, and other organizations engaged in financial and commercial enterprises.
 These various organizations are in- debted to the people to the extent of many billions of dollars, and while it is true that many of the people are also indebted to them, their debtors and creditors are not the same persons, and.
 therefore, the debts cannot be set off against each other and aytino11icIad i,, that way. 1 deny that there is any such thing as distinct debtor class" in this
 country, for, while nearIy every one owes some debts, large or small nearly every one has also some debts owing to him; in other words, he is both debtor and cred tor The laboring people, as a general rule, owe very little at any one time, while their employers are always indebted to them, because wages are not paid in advance; and besides, many of them have small deposits in savings and other banks in trust companies in build ing associations, and large numbers of them ha ye their lives insured for the benefit of their wives and children. and consequently they are creditors of the banks and the insurance companies. The savings bank depostors in this country last year numbered 4,777 6S7. a~d the wives and children of the depositors who depended upon these accumulated earnings for future support doubtless numDereu more. There were 1925, ,340 depositors in the national banks last year, and 1,724077 of them had de- posits of less than 5000 each, while state and private banks and loan and trust companies held deposits for 1436,63S peo- pie. Our life insurance companies, to say nothing of companies inSuring prop erty against loss by fire and otherwise, had 7,505S70 policies outstanding last year. upon which the premiums had been paid, or were being paid, by the people, and the mutual benefit and assessment companies had 3.47S,0O0 members.
 The buiding and loan associations had nearly 100000 members, all of whom had paid their money in as re- quired by the rules of the body to which they belonged. Here, then, are about 21, ,000,0 900 of our people, generally poor, or at least people of moderate means, who have given credit to these great corporations and companies, and, in my opinion, it would be grievous wrong to adopt any policy which would deprive them of the legal right to de- mand and receive just as good money as they parted with when they made the deposits in the banks or paid the pre- miums on their insurance policies. The hard-earned savings of the poor ought not to be sacrificed to the avarice of the wealthy mine owners or the ambition of aspiring politicians, and If the people who have a substantial interest in the welfare of the country and just appre- citation of their responsibilities as cit izens will exert their proper influence in public affairs this great wrong can never be perpetrated.
 Our Banking System
 MT. President, but little remains for me to say before bringing these remarks to a conclusion. It is not my purpose to discuss upon this occasion the various propositions which have been made from time to time for the improvement of our banking system, or for the retirement of United States notes, because the ques- tions involved in them are so important and so large that they cannot be prop