The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1897-02-05
A CORRESPONDENT SUGGESTS
AMENDMENTS.

One Of the clearest headed n most
practical business men Of Richmond who
is also an officer Of q national bank,
writes The Times as follows:
To the Editor Of The Times:
l do not write his for publication, nut
to give YOU some points, which. l THINK
NAV be useful TO you in the nght YOU
are making for a plentiful supply ol
sound money, in which ! am in full SYM
nathv with YOU. The ignorance ana preJu-
dice that prevail about State bank lssue
of currency. as IL was before lSDl' WILL 1
fear. defeat any scheme for It's IestoId-
tion and hence ] think IL would Dc pest
ia sock substantially the same ehd
through a new national bank law, shorh
of all the unweildy and cumDlous CoAU1-
tious of the present lava law, III iaO''
that would provide for the engraving
Of the currency by III Government anu
uniformity of issue, and, instead OF max
ing the notes Tedeemdble, only AT inc
counter OF the bank, as In 1851, or ia
Washington. as now, adopt the much
talked-of and excellent New England
nlan called the Suffolk Bank system,
and reouire each bank to redeem IT'S notes
at its counter, and also AT some paih
couute at the State capital, or olhef
redecming c~ity-Richmond, for instance,
for Virginia, and New York city. instead
Of Albany, for New York.
2 There is really very little difference
of opinion as TO how the notes ought
TO be secured. There have been IN iact'
only four kinds of security proposed
They are as follows:
l. Government bonds, as now.
.. Double responsibility Of stockhold-
ers, as now.
b. A tax on all banks 10 secure the
notes of insolvent banks by a guaranty
fund Canadian.
T. Make the notes a first lien on all
tho assets Of the bank. to be paid ahead
Of the depositors Canadian.
The last two are unknown IN the
United States, but work very well and
satisfactorily in Canada. and they are
approved by all the bankers l have heard
Of.
The first { that is the deposit Of Gov
ernment bonds) is objected to FOR many
good reasons. 1 would take 1t q. leave
it. as | found the majority favored or
opposed il. Hence l conclude that a law
providing for engraving the notes by the
Government. fixing the character of Sc
curitv. and providing for examinations,
as now, is an we want. Let all ques-
lions Of detail management be governed
by state law, when not inconsistent with
the Federal law. and We would have as
much money as we could probably and
safely use.
The argument against the State banks
IS that the retailer Nas forced 10 Keep
a bank note detcctOr on his counter. TO
protect himself against bad notes. That
is true: but il was 10 protect himself
against cOsinterfcits. and not against
notes of broken or insolvont banks. GOV
crnment engraving would fully protect the
public In this respect. as II does now.
Again. the argument Is that the Viz
gilman going North found his notes at
such a discount that he could buy moth
ing with them. There was a. discount
then. but 10 was never as much as 1 per
cent. and there were no Government
notes then: while now We have a thou
sand MILLIONS Of Government paper. which
would still supply all demands Of inter
state trade. largely supplemented 10y the
bank issues. whether State or national.
The Government paper would remain fixed
I'm amount by law Of Congress. the hank
paper would be flexible. and increase or
diminish as the requirements of trade
called for II.
Much has been said IN ridicule OF the
wild cat banks OF the West Chiefly
Of Ohio). No one oln defend theif prin-
ciple or practice. and yet IL viii hardly
be denied that the wonderful strides Of
the Western country in population and
wealth could never nave been made with
ont tina same wild cat" currency. They
had no money. they invented q bad SUBJ
stltute: but il served the purpose Of
creating an empire OF States. that nothing
then available could have done
The South never had wild cat' banks:
the South was the conservative section.
but when the necessity came w also in
vented Confederate money. and main
tanned the greatest war Of modern times
for four years on Il Let no one derlde
wild cat' money who has never been
forced 10 the choice OF that or bank
ruptcy me starvation.
What our correspondent says Of the
Government engraving all the notes that
banks are TO use is most sensible-that is,
II the Government Is TO have anything
10 do with the currency. which we insist
it should have. The States could provide
for notes produced by machinery that
would make counterfeitlng impossible.
or the banks themselves. anxious OF
course to avoid having their notes coun-
torfoitcd. could procure them from the
bank note companies that do work now
that il Ia impossible TO initiate.
We shall never be content until we