The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-12-17
GAGE PRESENTS HIS BILL.
Continued From First Page.


provides that there shall be outstAnoinn. ~
at any time no more and No less OF uhe
treasury notes authorized by said acp e ilLl
the silver bullion and standard sii'er
dollars coined therefrom. thansare nelo IN
the treasury purohaed with said NOTES.
Section 8. That the secretary OF sne
treasury be and is hereby authorized W
receive at the treasury any of the OUT
standing bonds known as the I'VE per
centum bonds of 1904 and the four per
centum consols of 1907, issue respectively
under the act approved January 4, 1919,
and the acts approved July IA, 1871, anu
January 90 1871, and to issue in exchange
therefor coupon or registered bonds OF tne
United States, in such form as ne may
lprescribe, in denominatiops of fifty dol
lars or some multiple of that sum, Dear
ing in the act the rate of 2 ID per cehg
per annum, payable semi-annualJy ana
redeemable at the pleasure Of the Unlted
States after ten years from the oaIe OF
their issue; and the bonds hereby author
ized shall be payable principal and in
terest in United States gold coin OF the
present standard value and shall be eX-
empt from all taxation by or under state.
municipal or local authority.
Provided that none of the outstanding
bonds shall be received at valuation
greater than their present worth to yleld
an income of two and one half per
oentum per annum, and that the bonds
hereby authorized shall be issued at not
less than par.
Section 4. That the bonds authorized
by this act, and any other bonds OF the
United States may be deposited with the
| treasurer of the United States as security
for the circulating notes Of national
banking as ociations and any national
banking association which may deposit
| the bonds herein authorized to be de-
posted as security for it's circulating
notes, shall be entitled to receive from the
COMPTROLLER of the currency and to issue
| such notes to an amount equal to the face
value of such bonds.
Provided that the aggregate amount of
bonds by any national banking assoc1a-
| ton under any law, shall not exceed the
amount of its capital.
And provided further, that nothing
herein contained shall be constructed to
modify or repeal the provisions of section
1857, and section 5l71 of the revised
statutes, authorizing the comptroller of
the currency to require additional deposit
Of bonds or of lawful money, in case the
market value of the bonds held to secure
the circulating notes shall fall below the
par value Of the circulating notes out
standing for which such bonds may be
deposited as security.
Section 5. That any National banking
association whose deposit of bonds is less
than the amount deposited with the treas
| urer OF the United States under speoifca-
ton as the secretary of the treasury may
approve United States notes of 1890 and
silver certificates and shall be entitled to
receive from the comptroller of the cur
rency and to issue an equal amount of its
circulating notes, but the aggregate
amount of bonds, United States, treasury
notes of 1890 and silver certificates de.
posted by any national banking assoc Ia
ton shall not exceed the amount of Its
capital
United States notes, treasury notes of
1890 and silver certificates deposited with
the treasury of the United States under
authority of this section shall not exceed
the sum of 5000, 900. 900.
Section 6. That the secretary Of the
treasury shall issue from time to time in
his discretion, bonds of the same class
and character as those described in third
J section of this act aud shall substitute the
same with the treasurer of the United
States for equal amounts Of the United
States notes, treasury notes of 1890 and
silver certificates deposited by national
banking associations; and the bonds &C
issued and substituted shall be charged
to the respective National Banking asso,
Citations and be counted fog them at such
prices, not less thanspar, as shall represent
the market value Of such bonds, and the
United States notes, treasury notes OF
1890 and silver certificates released al
herein provided, shall become a part oil
the general redemption fund; and the
secretary of the treasury is hereby author
lied to exchange any of the treasury notes
of 1890 and exchange silver certificates fol
like amount of United States notes,
!, provided that the amount of bonds Issued
under the authority of the section shall
not exceed the sum of two millions of
dollars.
The succeeding sections are devoted te
the national banks, and carry out the
ideas of the secretary in his report.
A discussion on section two of the bill
followed. In answer to inquiries Mr.
Gage said its general purpose was the
} same as that set forth by the President
, He also said in answer 20 a query from
Mr.. Cox of Tennessee, that here was nc
probability that the parity between golC
, and silver would be disturbed by the pro
visions for exchanging treasury notes ant
, silver certificates, accumulated in the re
demption fund for coin, meaning gold.
In the bond section Mr.. Gage changed
the bill, SO as to make the interest pay
able quarterly. He said the only purpos'
of the section was to refund outstanding
bonds, for low interest bonds payable IN
gold. This would not reduce the gros
, amount of the debt, but it would make 1
saving on interest which the Secretary
roughly calculated at SIC, 000,00U annual
ly.
At present this government paid higt
ates on some of her bond issues. HI
thought it possible that these could b.
taken up,in time at rate of interestteye
below two perc ent, but this proposed
2 1-9 per cent rate was at least step to
ward reduction of the interest charge
, Mr.. Gage said he had excluded from hi
refunding plan bonds issued in 1895, al
though in his recommendation to Con
gress these bonds were enormously in
oludea. He said he preferred to let thes'
/ bonds alone, as a question had beer
] raised at the time of their issue as tt
their payment in gold, and he did no
wish to enter upon that question.
> In reply to Mr.. johnson of Indiana
Mr.. Gage said the bill would exclude al
the bonds issued under the Cleveland adj
, ministration.
MIR. Gage explained in detail the plal
of issuing national bank notes for United
States notes, treasury notes and silve
certificate and the covering Of the latte
: demand notes for refunding bonds. II
said the purpose of this was to accumu
late 5000, 900, 900 Of the demand obligation
placing them aside where they would re
II ~, dc h