The Portland daily press., 1897-12-08

| 90 80, Noilors. Win gr0enDhC 10
sta, sG;nuer, with gold and silver On sub
lara. sina commercial parity, but both at a
lar oa p.enlum ovel PAPER money, SINH,
,nean qsestion arose, What did ''dollars,
dnmh. And in 1859, ''to remove all
nounC upon the subject an act was
PT,esea soemnly plsdging the faith OF the
;ts ao'l States to the payment in coin OF
oIs sSquiValent of all its interest bearing
u ,,,,alsns except when otherwise ex-
i das "a, disparity between our legal ten
49, aoa uoIiars'' and "coin dollars was not
o onen essentially greater than the present
ootniherclal disparity between silver and
2oiu. This act of 1869 was judicious. To
re1u1ltr> our outstanding bonds now paya-
BILE in COZ n into bonds payable in gold
would strengthen and confirm the public
credit and pnf is in position to COM
mand the markets. OF the world for our
securities on the>. most advantageous
terms.
Il may be objected thaft the adoption OF
speIclhc. form of paymente lor the pubic
uept would be inimical to tie spirit OF
quallfying clause in the repeating act
OF 1888, which reads: "And it is hereby
SS44o,ared to be the policy of the UNI, 7ed
aoa1es to continue the use of bota COLA
anu any, SILVER as standard money, and to coin
poIn gold and silver into money of equal
A
Wis Objection be raised, it loses all force
mnen we consider the only two methods
Dy which the gold and silver coins now
- ~ concurrent use with US can be SO con-
Vinued as to maintain the "parity in
vslae OF the coins of the two metals and
ene equal power of every dollar at all
of debts.''
One OF these methods is familiar to us,
since 1t has been in daily use in our f.
hanclal system since 1879. The other
method would consist in so advancing
the coinage value of silver by interna-
tional agreement or otherwise as to lend
a natural parity between the two, so
mat the present artificial method could
DC safely abandoned. There is nothing
IN uhe proposition now under considera-
tlon to interfere with the purpose to Sc
cure an Inauguration of the latter meth
Oh. lt must, however. be admitted to be
o. method which, Ii adopted, will operate
70 tnroW upon the governing body what
ever measure of risk may be involved in
the experiment, and it is manifestly just
GhaJ there the risk should lie, rather than
upon the helpless and possible nonassent-
ing creditor.
10 accomplish the objects herein sug-
gested without contracting the circula-
tlon, some other form of paper money
must be allowed to fill the vacuum which
would otherwise be accustomed The ma
tional banknote now familiar to our peo-
pie is the readiest and most practical
agent to accomplish that object, and I'M
der reasonable conditions Ii will be found
responsive to the call.
An enlarged issue of banknotes thus
contemplated would require number of
amendments to the present national bank
act. These amendments should be made
only upon such conservative lines as
would, while granting the necessary aid
TO the business world in facilitating ex-
changes, in nowise weaken the system,
or lessen the stability of the notes to be
issued. The complaint uttered against
the national bank act as it now stands is
not directed toward the method of bank
organization or the absolute safety guar
anteed to the noteholder. 1t is directed
toward those restrictions 1t embodies,
which result in its failure to accom-
plish the full benefit 1t ought to carry
The requirement. of the law now makes
it impossible to organize a bank with a
capital of less than $50, 900, no matter
how small the place in which it is to be
located, or how restricted the volume of
business there TO be transacted. Because
of that, with the added expense of taxa
ton, both national and local, many COM
munities are deprived of the aid of banks
of issue and burdened with onerous rates
of exchange and interest charges
In order to obviate to as great an extent
as possible those objections and make
the act more harmonious with proper
businesss conditions. I recommend that 1t
be amended in the following particulars