The commonwealth., 1897-12-09

mans. party. TO your tents o! Is
rael'!"
CONGRESS IN SESSION.
Congress convened Monday and there
was nothing out of the usual opening
of session of that body. The reading
of the Presidents message was the chief
interest. It is long paper consuming
an hour and twenty minutes in it's
reading In the House. The message
discusses the financial question at
length. We have space tor only few
extracts:
The President says:
at is manifest that we must devise
some plan to protect this government
against bond issues for repeated re-
demptions. We must either curtail
the opportunity for speculation, made
easy by the multiplied redemptlons OF
our demand obligations, or increase the
gold reserve for their redemption. We
have $500, 900, 600 OF currency, which
the government by solemn enactment
has undertaken to keeD at par with
gold. Nobody is obliged to redeem in
gold but the government. The banks
are not required to redeem in
gold. The government is obliged to
keep equal with gold all its outstanding
currency and coin obligations, while its
receipts are not required to be paid in
gold. They are paid in every kind of
money but gold, and the only means
by which the government can with
certainty get gold is by borrowing. 1t
can get it in no other way when it
most needs it. The government, with
out any fixed gold revenue, Is pledged
to maintain gold redemption, which it
has steadily and faithfully done, and
which, under the authority now given,
it will continue to do.
II earnestly recommend, as soon as
the receipts of the government are
quite sufficient to pay all the expenses
of the government, that when any of
the United States notes are presented
for redemption in gold and are redeem
ed in gold, such notes shall be kept and
set apart, and only paid out in ex-
change for gold. This lie an obvious
duty. If the holder of the United
States note prefers the gold and gets it
from the government, he should not
receive back from the government a
United States note without paying gold
in exchange for it. The reason for this
is made all the more apparent when
the government issues an interest bear
ing debt to provide gold for the redemp-
tion of United States-a non-interest-
bearing debenture-and should not pay
them out again except on demand, and
for gold. If they are put In any
other way they would return again to
be followed by another bond issue to
redeem them-another interest-bea
debt to redeem a non-interest-bearin
debt.
II concur with the Secretary of the
Treasury in his recommendation that
national banks be allowed to issue notes
to the face value of the bonds which
they have deposited for circulation, and
that the tax on circulating notes se-
cured by deposit of such bonds be re-
duced to one half of per cent. per an
mum. also join him in recommend
ing that authority be given for the es.
tablishment of national banks with a
minimum capital OF $4,000. This
will enable the smaller villages and ag-
ricultural regions of the country to be
supplied with currency to meet their
| needs.
81 recommend that the issue OF ma.
tional bank notes be restricted to the
denomination OF ten dollars and up
wards. # the suggestions I have here
in made shall have the approval Of
Congress, then I would recommend
that national banks be required to re.
deem their notes in gold"
The President, referring to the cuban
question, thinks that very little has
been done as it should have been done
as regards our attitude towards Cuba.
He says:
"Not single American citizen il
now under arrest or IN confinement in
The Surprise Of ALI.
Mr.. James Jones, of the drug firm o,
Jones & Son, Cowden, ILL.,, in speaking
Of DR.. Kings New Discovery, says that
last winter his wife was attacked with
La Grippe. and her case grew n, aari.