The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-06-30

SOlu Ccl VlAClCCS.
Silver certificates ............,....... 10 l-o
Legal tender notes and greGnbacks... s2,lI2
Treasury notes -, i!6
National hank notes 81. 2!%}
Toto, cash $3.50. $40
Checks, drafts, bills of exchange .....So'59o'94o
Percentage of cash to total credits,
5 per cent.
1.-The lesson to be drawn from these
figures is this:
Much the larger part of all our COM
mercial exchanges are carried on by
bank checks or other instruments of pri-
yate credit. These instruments all relate
to a certain form of money, in place of
which they for the moment stand. If
uncertainty intervene as to .what this
related thing-this money-is, or is to
be, distrust and confusion enter i'll.
The mighty. agency of personal credit is
shaken. Commercial exchanges fall off,
trade languishes and industry declines.
"The greenback was issued to pay
debts, not to acquire value, or, If value
was received, such value was either con-
sumed or converted into value not avail
able in the market. The greenback paid
soldiers and government employees; it
bought powder aud munitions of war.
The existence of a g%reenback is the evil
dence of q debt not paid. 1t is a lien
upon the future.
"a national bank note, on the con-
trary, is the evidence of some existing
value which lies somewhere as collateral
for its redemption. To transfer such
values is the only ordinary and proper
occasion which calls for their issue. The
volume in which they will appear
marks the rise in prices or all increasing
quantity of existing things. Like the
bank check, they will be in active serv-
ice when trade and commerce are active.
Thus they enjoy the principle of elias
ITCHY, wholly lacking in any possible
form Of direct government issue. The
method of their retirement is wholly
different and subjects the trade and COM
MERGE Of the country to less dangerous
strain.
.'There is no reason why the govern
ment should act IS warehouseman for
either gold or silver. Such afunction is
outside its proper limit of action. But
we are faced by the condition, and it is
the bette noire of the treasury. The
enormous amount of $500, 900, 900 of
silver, represented by 1888, 600, 900 in
silver certificates, added to the $780,.
900, 900 purchased by the government
under the Sherman act, constitutes a
standing menace to every business inter
est.
"Our whole monetary system is the
resultant of makeshift legislation and
u~nscientifc compromises. 1t is time that
reform began. I do not assume to offer
more final remedies. In my own opinion
the greenbacks should be permanently
retired. The silver purchased under the
Sherman act should be gradually sold
and the treasury notes redeemed and
Cancelled. Some well guarded system of
bank note circulation, broader and more
elastic than the present. national bank
act provides, should be inaugurated.
Such bank notes should be redeemable
at a central place and be redeemable In
gold only.
"To sum up, the defects of u pres
ent currency system are: l. A confusing
heterogeneity which needs simplifica-
ton. 2. The g%reenback controverts the
principle of paper money-viz, that ev-
cry note injected into the commercial
system should represent an existing
commercial value. 8. The treasury note
is a standing evidence of a foolish opera
ton, the creation of a debt for the pur-
chase on a falling market of a commodity
for which the purchaser has nc use-it
lies open to the just charge of being both
idiotic and immoral. 4. The national
bank note nearly conforms to the true
principle of paper money, but the IN
reasonable requirements for security
~paralyze it's efficiency and operate to
destroy its elasticity. 8. The silver GER
tifcate encourages the use of silver to a
larger extent than consists with the safe
preservation of that metal on a parity
with gold.
Would a national commission help
to promote reform? There is reason to
hope that it would be of great service in
that direction. Such a commission, if
rightly selected, would throw a flood Of
light upon these involved questions.
The information it might gather would
be of immense value to all our people
and would guide us to wise legislation.
Emotion and sentiment are not safe
guides in matters of science. A clear
apprehension of true principles will lead
to correct action"