Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1895-12-12
retary Of the Treasury the necessities OF
the country ahould require


ed upon fully appreciating the fact that by
careless, easy descent we have reached
| a dangerous depth; our ascent will not be
| accomplished without laborious toll and
| struggle. We shall be wise IL we realize
that we are financially Ill and that our
restoration to health may require heroic
| treatment and unpleasant remedies.
In the present stage Of our difficulty 1t
| is not easy to understand how the amount
| of our revenue receipts directly affects it.
| The important question Is not the guam
| tity of money received i'm revenue pay
| ments, but the kind of money we maintain
and our ability to continue in sound finan-
| cial condition. We are considering the
| Governments holdings of gold as related
| to the soundness of our money and as
| affecting our national credit and monetary
strength. If the gold reserve had never
been impaired; If no bonds had been is
sued to replenish it; if there had been no
| question concerning our ability to con-
| tinue gold payments; If our revenues were
now paid in gold, and if we could look to
| our gold receipts as means of maintain
ing a safe reserve, the amount of our
| revenues would be an influential factor
in the problem. But unfortunately all
the circumstances that might lend weight
No Gold from Revenues.
In our present predicament no gold is
received in payment of revenue charges,
| nor would there be if the revenues We're
| increased. The receipts Of the treasury,
when not in silver certificates, consist
of United States notes and treasury notes
issued for silver purchases. These forms
| of money are only useful to the Govern
ment in paying its current, ordinary cx'
| penses, and its quantity in Government
| possession does not in the least contrib
ute toward giving us that kind of safe
financial standing or condition which is
| built on gold alone.
If it is said that these notes, if held by
the Government. can be used to obtain
gold for our reserve, the answer is easy.
The people draw gold from the treasury
on demand upon United States notes and
treasury notes, but the proposition that
the treasury can on demand draw gold
from the people upon them would be re-
garded in these days with wonder and
amusement. And even if this could be
done, there is nothing to prevent those
thus parting with their gold from regain
ing it the next day or the next hour by
the presentation of the notes they receiv-
ed in exchange for it. The secretary of
the treasury might use such not taken
| from surplus revenue to buy gold in the
market. OF course he could do this with
out paying a premium. Private holders
of gold, and, unlike the Government,
having no parity to maintain, would not
be restrained from making the best bar
gain possible when they furnished gold
to the treasury; but the moment the Sec
retary of the treasury bought gold on any
terms above par he would establish
general and universal premium upon it,
thus breaking down the parity between
gold and silver which the Government is
pledged to maintain, and opening the
way to new and serious complications.
Meantime the premium would not remain
stationary and the absurd spectacle
might be presented of n dealer selling
gold TO the Government, and with United
States or treasury notes in hand imme-
diately clamoring for its return and II
resale at a higher premium.
1t may be claimed that large revenue
and redundant receipts might favorably
affect the situation under discussion by
affordng an opportunity of retaining these
notes in the treasury when received, and
thus preventing their presentation for
gold. Such retention, to be useful, ought
to be at least measurably permanent; and
this is precisely what is prohibited, so far
as United States notes are concerned, by
the law of 1878 forbidding their further
retirement. That statute, in so many
words, provides that these notes, when
received into the treasury and belonging
to the United States shall be paid out
again and kept in circulation" 1t will,
moreover, be readily seen that the Gov
ernment could not refuse to pay out Unit
ed States notes and treasury notes in cur
rent transactions when demanded, and
insist on paying out silver alone and still
maintain the parity between that metal
and the currency representing gold. Be
sides, the accumulation in the treasury of
currency Of any kind exacted from the
people through taxation is justly regarded
as an evil and it cannot proceed far with
out vigorous protest against an unjusti6-
able retention of money from the business
of the country and a denunciation of a
scheme of taxation which proves itself to
be unjust when it takes from the earnings
and income of the citizens money so
much in excess of the needs of govern
ment support that large sums can be gath
cred and kept in the treasury. Such a con-
dition has heretofore, in times of surplus
revenue, led the Government to restore
currency to the people by the purchase of
it's unmatured bonds at large premium
and by a large increase of its deposits in
national banks, and we easily remember
that the abuse of treasury accumulation
has furnished most persuasive argument
in favor of legislation radically reducing
our tariff taxation.
Perhaps il is supposed that sufficient
revenue receipts would in a sentimental
way improve the situation, by inspiring
confidence in our solvency and allaying
the fear of pecuniary exhaustion. And
yet, through all our struggles to maintain
our gold reserve, there never has been
any apprehension as to our ready ability
to pay our way with such money as we
had; and the question whether or not our
current receipts met our current expenses
has not entered into the estimate of our
solvency. OF course, the general state
Of our funds, exclusive of gold, was en-
tirely immaterial to the foreign creditor
and investor. His debt could only be
paid in gold and his only concern was
our ability to keep on hand that kind of
money.
. On July ], 1892, more than year and a
, half before the first bonds were issued to
replenish the gold reserve, there was net
balance i'm the treasury, exclusive of such
reserve, Of less than $4,000, 900; but the
gold reserve amounted to more than $114-
100000, which was the queting feature
of the situation. IL was when the stock
of gold began rapidly to fall that fright
supervened and our securities held abroad