Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1897-12-23
TALK ABOUT BONDS.


| Financter1nE.
One of the features of the president's
message most difficult to account for
| is the elaborate explanation that Presi-
dent McKinleygives of the way the end
less chain may operate to deplete the
gold reserve and thus make bond issue
necessary. The explanation is identical
| with the explanation that President
Cleveland and Secretary Carlisle gave
to congress on more than one occasion.
President Mckinley says that we have
| 500, ooo, 600 Of currency to keep at par
with gold: that nobody is obliged to re-
deem in gold but the government that
the revenues Of the government are not
required TO be paid in gold; that the
only way the government can get gold
with certainty is by borrowing. He
adds:
The law which requires the govern
ment, after having redeemed its United
States notes. to pay them out again as cur
rent funds. demands constant repien-
ishment Of the gold reserve. This Is es-
pecially SO In times OF business panic and
when the revenues are insufficient to meet
the expenses OF the government.
The serious question then Is: Shall we
continue the policy that has been pursued
in the past-that is. when the gold reserve
/
bonds and supply the needed gold-or shall
we provide other means to prevent the re-
| curing drains upon the gold reserve?
If no further legislation is had ana the
policy OF selling bonds is TO be continued,
| then congress should give the secretary
| of the treasury authority to sell BONDS
at long or short periods, bearing q less
rate OF interest than is now authorized by
law"
Why should President Mckinley pre-
sent these pregnant facts to the atten-
ton of his partisan friends and support
ers, who had formerly so scornfully
tossed them aside as wicked inventions
of President Cleveland? Why should
he make the republicans swallow the
endless chain" theory, and especially
at this time? There is no pressure now
tending 10 diminish the gold reserve.
The insGficiency of the revenues does
not have such a tendency, as the ex-
perience Of the past four months shows.
While the revenues have been running
| behind at an average rate of more than
S., 200, 900, the gold reserve has steadily
| and materially increased. July !, 1891,
| it stood at SAC, o0o, 900. December 1,
1857, it stood at $15z zoo. 900. While
the treasury ran behind $4,000, 900 in
cash its stock of gold increased 81, ooo,-
coo. The dependence of the gold re-
serve upon revenues isn't apparent so
long as there is available cash in the
treasury aside from the gold reserve
to pay deficiencies with. If the deficit
continues to run at the present rate
for four or five months longer all the
cash except the gold win be used up
and further deficits viii reduce the gold
reserve. But the Dingley bill, we are
told, viii be producing plenty of rev.
enue in a few months and thus all dam
ger to the gold reserve will be averted.
That being the case, it is difficult to
understand why so much of the mes
sage was devoted to discussion Of so
improbable a thing as a bond issue.
What is the sense of discussing bond
issues when we have a sound money
party in power and the Dingley tariff
law in full swing? It is truly incom-
prehensible.-Utica Observer.