Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1896-12-03
r., Question of Currency Reform.

We are : ~" -
republican paPeFs u "'''''s anu IL
o...,a thron . hout the country are
aroused to The necessity Tor cur
..,,,. -eforu during the admins
.-,,;or of Pr sident McKinly, and
.ho+ these pa rucular papers think
,,o, ~, esse,, tial feature in this re-
.,,-, will nvolve the retirement of
tb4 oreenbacks. Among the west
ern republican journals which take
,bis GROUND are the Cleveland
Lender, the Indianapolis Journal,
the AIilwauk ee Sentinel, the Chi
caqo Tribune, the St. Paul Pioneer
Press. and the Portland Oregonian.
The Globe Democrat took this po-
si,ion on the greenback question
Wen Secretary Carlisle first pro
posed it in Ills annual report to
CONGRESS two years ago, and when
President Cleveland in his message
las. wear made his elaborate argu-
ment in favor of it. The general
public on neither occasion mani
tested any concern in the question
on account of the more pressing
interest in the silver issue, but now
that this silver peril is removed for
four wears at least. and probably
forever, the financial problem in its
other and larger aspects demands
some attention.
Anybody who takes the trouble
to look into this matter intelligent
" will find that the United States
has the most heterogeneous fnan-
cial system possessed by any coun-
try in the world. We have more
sorts of money and representatives
of money-gold coin, gold certifi.
Gates, silver dollars, silver certifi-
Gates, greenhacks, Sherman notes,
national bank notes, subsidiary sill
yer and minor coins-than are
found i'll any other country. The
laws creating these various kinds
of money wtre, fo- the most part,
adopted at different times, to meet
different sorts Of cXigencies, some
of them, as i'll the case of the green
backs, only temporary eXigenCies,
and, as in the case of the silver
dollars, silver certificates and the
Sherman notes, to placate certain
interests or to head off certain
movements or demonstrations
which threatened to be trouble
some to both of the parties All of !
these various sorts of cash, with
the exception Of gold coin, depend |
in large degree for their exchang-
able value on the $I23 900, 900
treasury gold reserve and s., Ioo,-
900, 900 or SLIP, 900, 900 of this
money are in the hands of the peo-
pie or i'll the banks and trust COM
panes at this moment.
The greenbacks and the Sher.
man notes about $4,000, 900 of
which, i'll the aggregate, are in Elk
lstence, three fourths Of which are
usually outside of the treasury,
and all OF which are gold obliga.
tons-are a serious and constant
menace to the treasury reserve,
and thus to the entire financial sys-
tenn and to the country's business
interests. Between January I, 1879
When the government resumed gold
payments, and the end of the fiscal
year 1896, four and a half months
ago, S426, 900, 600 greenbacks were
redeemed or re-redeemed in gold,
and yet, owing to the absurd and
"'lSchlevous law of May 81. 1873,
which d reefs their reissue after
being received by the treasury the
ehlife amount of the greenbacks is
still either actually or technically
outstanding the amount actually
outstanding at the present time be-
Ing about $500, 900. 900. This cur
'e"Cy can be used again and again
to raid the treasury reserve and
the fact that it has been so used
"aS one OF the reasons for the sale