Birmingham state herald., 1896-06-06
S DIHGLEFS DOCUMENT VoIuminous Adverse Report on
 Prohibitory Bond Bill. ALL SORTS OF ASSERTIONS Some of Which Have the Smell of Campaign Thunder-Two Democrats Concur in
 Adverse Recommendation.

ways and means, presented to the house this afternoon the report of the majority members of the committee on the senate bill to prohibit the further issuance of interest bearing bonds. The report re- cites the resumption act of 1S75 which provides for the coin redemption of Unit l ed States legal tender notes on and after January 1, 1879, and authorizes the sec retary of the treasury to provide a re- demption fund from the surplus revenues and by the sale of bonds and which sue cessfully established and maintained the l parity of gold from 1870 to 1893 from the l surplus revenues alone.
 l Mr. Dingley then points out that the senate bill proposes to repeal so much of that act as authorizes the secretary to 1 borrow money to maintain the redemp- I ton fund. While the bill does not use | the word repeal" yet this, in the com mittee opinion, is the legal effect of the 1 language employed. He characterizes l this attempt to cloud this repeal by the reference to further authority of con- gress" as meaningless verbiage." For surely" the report continues. "eVery one | knows without a declaration to this ef- I feet that congress may re-enact law which has been repealed, and the repeal l Is proposed just as congress is ready to adjourn for six months and With the knowledge that the senate, as. at pres I ent constituted, would never consent to l authorize an issue of bonds to maintain the redemption fund"
 The report shows that the plenary pow CT embodied in the resumption act was 1 given to the secretary of the treasury not only because the knowledge that he | had such power would inspire confidence | in the public credit, but also because exi- gencies for the replenshment of the fund would inevitably arise when congress was | not in session.
 "If a proposition" the report continues. 1 had been made to deprive the secretary | of the treas sury of the power to borrow for the purpose of maintaining the re- dempt.on fund between 1879 and 1893 1t might have been plausibly argued that 1 there was then no necessity for borrow 1 ing, because the surplus revenues were ample for that purpose. But now to pro- pose this, when there is and has been for three years a large deficiency of revenue, and consequently not dollar can be add ed to the redemption fund from that source, and when there is no other re- source at hand for maintaining the re- demption fund except to borrow 1neVlta- l bly, raises the inquiry whether It is not l the deliberate purpose of the promoters l of this bill to plunge the government in-o repudia ton and depreciate the green I backs?"
 What makes this inquiry all the more pertinent is the fact that majority Of the 1 senate have already refused to concur in | the house bill to provide $40 900 more | revenue to avoid further deficiencies, or | even to take up the house revenue bill l and consider and amend IL with counter | proposition looking to more revenue, ana l that too, in the face of the fact that the I deficiency in the past three years, includ- I ing $11, ,000,0 900 of matured Pacific railroad I bonds, has exceeded 50,000,O00, and in l the last six months over $2G,000,O00. Practically, therefore, the report says, 1 the senate bill under consideration takes away from the secretary of the treasury | the power to borrow either gold or silver 1 to maintain the coin redemption fund l in the face of the fact that the govern 1 ment owns only 2S,O00,O00 of silver dol l lars and a little over 100,000,000 of gold | that can be used for redemption pur- 1 poses-which would disappear in a very l brief period if 1t should be understood | that the power to borrow money in an 1 exgency had been abrogated-the in- 1 evitable result of such a reckless course | would be repudiation by the govern ment, depreciation of the currency, and l such panic in the country as was never 1 before experienced.
 1 One of the excuses which have been 1 given for the passage of the senate bill l to deprive the secretary of the treasury of the power to borrow in order to main- l tain the redemption fund, as conferred 1 upon him by the resumption act of 1875, l is that he has sold bonds to syndicates l instead of offering them first as popular l loans. While we sympathize with this | criticism, vet InlS dIlOTuS reason for amending the act of 1875 so l as to require bonds issued under 1t to be first offered to the American people, but l not ground for the absolute repeal of all 1 authority to borrow in an exigency. The l house. five months ago, sent to the sen | ate bill so amending the act of lS15 l as to require the secretary of the treas l ury to first offer any bonds issued as l popular loan, but the senate refused to l concur in it.
 1 The antagonism between the house and 1 senate is emphasized by other citations | of refusal on the part of the senate to 1 act upon measures passed by the house l looking to the amelioration of the finan- | cial stringency of the government, and l then proceeds to say
 1 "The last and perhaps most prominent l excuse for the proposed repeal of so much | of the redemption act of 1875 as author 1 izes the secretary of the treasury to bor- | row coin to maintain the redemption | fund is that by using the standard silver | coin in the treasury in the redemption 1 of greenbacks there will be no necessity | of borrowing gold"
 The report argues to demonstrate that
 of 364, ,000, 900 silver dollars in the treasury, | all excepting 1S000 900 belong to the hold | CTS of outstanding silver certificates. and
 l if the government wishes to use silver it
 would have to borrow it, the same as
 | gold.
 l As to seigniorage, the report argues
 | that there can be no seigniorage until | there is coinage and that, therefore the 1 so-called seigniorage on the silver bullion
 | held in the treasury is no resource to the
 | treasury.
 The report concludes with the declara-
 | tion that in the present condition of the | country, with deficiency of revenue and
 distrust prevailing to an alarming extent,
 | 1t would be a most serious mistake, not
 | to use a stronger term, to take away al-
 rf7nc a npIx hnf 1-d71 a inc fnt a
 1 maintenance at par of the legal tender
 | and notes which formed so important a
 part of the currency of the United
 l States"
 The bill is reported back. therefore.
 | with recommendation that it do not
 1 pass, and this conclusion the thirteen re-
 publican members of the committee in-
 | dorse. Two of the democratic members
 | of the committee. Messrs. Turner of
 | Georgia and Cobb of Missouri concur in
 l the adverse recommendation, but with
 | out indorsing the report.
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