The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1897-04-24

merce and trade. No better place to
determine this can be found than the
counter of a bank, and the following
statement of the amount of each re-
ceived by a bank in this city on a re-
cent day will indicate their relative i'm
portance in that direction:
Gold 9,SSo
SILVER l9,oZJ
Cold 4,O4J
SILVER certlncates.- SS,!ZS
Legal tender notes and g~reenbacks.. S2,1I2
Treasury 1926
National bank 34,263
Total .s269, SIS
Checks. drafts. bills of exchange. So. 39S,945
Percentage of cash to total credits,
five per cent.
THE lesson to be drawn from these
figures is this:
"Much the larger part of all our COM
mer;cal exchanges is carried Oh by
bank checks or other instruments of
private cerdit. 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, d~istrust and confusion
enter in. The mighty agency of person
IL credit is shaken. Commercial eX-
changes 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 on
sumed or converted into value not avail
able in the market. The greenback paid
soldiers and government employees; it
bought powder and munitions of war.
Che existence of a greenback is the evil
dence of 4 debt not paid. 1t is a lier
upon the future.
"a national bank note, on the con-
trary, is the evidence Of some existing
value which lies somew here as collateral
for its redemption. u 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 an increasing
quantity of existing things. Like the
bank check, they viii be in active serv-
ice when trade ard commerce are act
i've. Thus they enjoy the principle of
elasticity. wholly lacking in any pos
sible form of direct government issue.
The method of their retirement is
wholly different and subjects the trade
and n of the country to less
dangerous strain.
= 8
There is 10 reason why the govern
ment should act as warehouseman for
either gold or silver. Such a function is
outside its proper limit of action. But
we are faced by the condition, and it is
the bette noire of Me treasury. The
amount of $500, 900 Of
silver. represented by 5000, 900 in
silver certificates, added to the $780,
100000 purchased by the government
under the Sherman act, constitutes a
standing menace to every business in
terest.
Our whole monetary system is the
resultant of makeshift Legislation and
u~nscientific compromises. 1t is time
that reform began do not to
offer more final remedies. In my own
opinion the greenbacks should be per-
m~anently retired. The silver purchased
under theSherman act should be gradu-
ally sold and the treasury notes re-
deemed and cancelled. Some well
guarded system Of bank note circiua-
ton. broader and more elastic than the
present national bank act provides.
should be iEaugurated. SAich bank
II should be redePmable ut a central
place and be redeemable in gold only.
To sum M, the defects cf our pres-
tnt currency system are: I. y cOnfUs-
ing heterogcneity which needs sim
pIification. ,. The ~greenback contro-
verts the principle of paper moncy-viz.
that every injected into the COM
mercial system should represent all
commercial value. 3. The
note is u standing evidence of n
operation. the creation OF a
debt for the purchase on j falling
market of a commodity for which the
purchaser has no use-it liesopen TO the
just charge of being both idiotic and
immoral. 4. The national bank note
nearly conforms to the true principleof
paper money, but the unreasonablere-
quirements for security paralyze its
efficiency and operate to destroy its
elasticity. 5. The silver certificote'e
courages the use of silver to n largereX-
tent than consists with the safe presee-
vation 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 n food OF
light upon these involved questions.
The information it might gather would
be CT immense value to all N 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"
Watson Accepts the Verdict.
In a letter printed in the New York
World of March 9 Thomas +. Watson.
xoandida for vice president. saYS: