The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-08-23
Common Sense On Currency Reform.

AT a time when many well-meaning
men seem to be gradually approaching
a crisis of mental self-deception with
reference to the relation WHICH the
greenback bears to our currency sys-
TEN, and appear to be bent on diffus-
ing their imagined alarm among the
people, thereby soaring them out OF
some years growth, it is refreshing to
encounter a student of financial prob
TENS and banker who does not snare
i'm this mild mania of apprehension
W Few men in New York city stand
higher in financial circles than Fred
ertrk:%D. --.Tappan, the man who, as
chairman of the clearing house COM
nfittee in 1898, did not little to check
the ruinous outflow of gold in that year
and break the backbone of the panic
into which the bankers of the country,
- with "a few conspicuous exceptions
were then thrown. Mr.. Tappan does
not view our present currency system
as IDEAL, by any means, but holds that
At might better be let alone as 1t Is
until those who would improve it are
agreed upon what form the desired
Improvement should take and have rea-
sonable assurance that this form VIII
be acceptable to the masses of the peo-
pie, than be made the subject of agi-
tation which would have no other ef-
feet than again to unsettle business
confidence. He is quoted as saying:
A dollar in greenbacks represents four
or five times that amount of credit. Is
the national bank note to be equally
J., influential? Behind the national BANK
note stands, after all, the credit OF the
government, precisely as behind the
greenback stands the credit of the gov
ernment, and is 1t fair to infer that the
credit in one case is any better than 1t
is i'm the other? Is 1t fair to infer that
if a sudden convusion or war should
come to this country the banks would
be any better able to protect their cur
rency than the government Is? l ont
pretend to say whether they would be
or not but do feel that this is ques-
tion which must he approached with
the utmost care, with any sounding
of danger signals, and / protest against
this constant iteration of a charge that
the greenback is an ever-present danger,
unless at the same time something is
offered which common sense and ex-
perience will suggest to every intelli-
gent person Is as good as the greenback
at it's best, and free from the objec-
W
in the system.
This, we take it, is substantially the
position of the Republican party on
this subject. 1t does not oppose cur
rency reform when urged at the proper
time and in the proper manner; on the
contrary, it is ready and willing to lend
the aid of its craftsmanship to correct
what evils may be shown to exist in
the present currency of the country
But it does object to the insensate at
tempt Of the small group of discredited
'reformers" who cluster around ex.
President Cleveland politically an6
draw intellectual inspiration from
Mugwump sources to stampede tht
country into a new campaign of rain
after four years of business havoc-tht
fruit of these agitators' former effort!
there is to be seen on every hand tht
happy evidences of prosperity's return
Propriety should suggest to such falls
guides as Messrs. Carlisle, Eckles &
Co. have shown themselves to be tina
the most appropriate policy for then
to adopt in the present juncture of af
fairs is the policy of silence. Tn
country is heartily sick of their babb
and tired of the whole chattering broot
of agitators who menace it's peace AM
disturb its convalescence.