Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1896-04-10
Silver and Savings Banks.

Silver aud Savings Banks.
The gold ar d silver sides Of the same
shield were never more picturesquely
shown up than in the respective papers.
in The North American Review, by the
presidents Of the Bowery Savings bank,
New York city, and the Denver Sayings
bank. = :
President John p. Townsend OF the
bank in New York city begins with the
dat footed statement that the only true
savings banks in the country are located
in the eastern and middle states. an as.
sertionf thousands of his readers will at
once as fatty deny. Depositors in these
eastern and middle state saving banks
had stored in January. 1896. $685.
852, 1913. 40. averaging $367.39 to each
owner. The interest and principal of
these savings is "in most cases" payable
in lawful money Of the United States.
"There is no real money but gold
money, continues President Townsend,
land to fix a permanent relative value
between the two (silver and gold) has
always been impossible" To allow the
free coinage Of silver when bullion is
worth only 80 cents On the gold dollar is
therefore to deliberately cut in two the
poor peoples savings and give them
only SO cents on the dollar. There is
good hope, moreover, says President
Townsend, that with the rapidly in
creasing supply Of gold silver may be
soon relegated to its place as subsidiary
metal and become legal tender only for
small amounts. But President Town
send has left the reader in doubt on one
point, which, if he had thought of, he
would no doubt have instantly made
clear. His opponents will ask, If there
is no real money but gold money, what
right have we to make silver or paper
or anything else legal tender, even in
small amounts?
Mr.. Charles 81. Smith, president Of
the Denver Savings bank, believes, in
diametrio opposition to President Town
send, that the adoption Of free silver
coinage would be the making of the saw
ings banks investors He makes this as
sertion boldly: 1.-THE terrible sufferings
of the past three years, the direct out
growth of the efforts still making to fet-
ter the republic in the golden bands Of
monometallism, are the best arguments
I can offer against the adoption of sim
gle standard" The indiscriminate use
of gold and silver with paper money
redeemable in either furnishes always an
abundant and stable currency, and until
governments dislocated the tie between
two metals by closing mints to the free
coinage Of silver they together suficed,
with their annual increase, for the
worlds practical needs, says Mr.. Smith
The attempted use of gold alone as
money metal makes its acquisition an
end rather than a means, and the hoard
ing of gold for itself alone ties up in
dustries and makes prosperity languish,
because Of the scarcity Of money that
should be used in legitimate trade.
The attempted use Of gold alone as
money has also made bond issues fash
ionable and both gold and greenbacka
articles of sale. Bonds are issued to buy
gold with and gold is wanted to buy the
bonds with.
The reason that the manufactured
goods of China, Japan and Mexico
threaten to undersell and overwhelm
ours is that these countries are silver
countries, he says further.
But the triumphant piece Of reasoning
Of President Smith, the argumentum ad
hominem, so to speak, is found in the
following: If the advocates Of the single
gold standard are so sure that gold is the
only money for the people Of the United
States, why do they not begin to show
their faith by their works and begin to
pay out gold? The people are willing;
everybody will take gold in payment Of
obligations. Let those who insist on re-
ceiving it from others begin here and
now to pay it out themselves. "How
many of them will do it?" asks Presi.
dent Smith.