Rock Island Argus., 1897-12-17
STATESMEN PUZZLED
Over a Couple ofPoints Connected
with Secretary Cages Fl.
nancial Bill.
HOW ARE PEOPLE TO GET GOLD :


70 Ksow-Elucidation es Another Point
q fDimculty-Houso and Senate Vote Aid
for Starving Klondiksrs-wolcott Refers
70 His Mission, But Tells No Story--Po
ulist Policy Determined. -
Washington, Dec. 1.-Two questions
seemed to cause most confusion in the
minds Of the members Of the house
committee on banking and currency,
Which had Secretary Gage on the wit
ness stand yesterday in relation to his
financial bill which was before the
committee. The first Of these was as
to how those people who needed gold
Tor their legitimate business would be
able to get 1t If the treasury absorbed
the whole. or nearly the whole. of the
volume OF notes now redeemable in gold
at the demand Of the holder Brosius
especially pressed this point in a series
OK Questions on the ground that If the
people could not get gold to lay their
Foreign balances. for instance. all Amer
lean trade would go to a silver basis.
The people" answered the secretary,
could 90 to the banks and demand law
ful money Of the United States in ex-
| change for bank notes. II any bank re-
| fused to redeem its notes, the govern
, ment would simply seize the banks as
| sets and sell them and do the redeem
ing ITSELF
Secretary Doesn't Seem 10 Know. sfs
But lawful money includes both gold
and silver. and am supposing that the
people wanted only gold." argued Bro
sius. Now, would the note holder who
OBTAINS silver be able to preseut this
at the treasury and demand gold In ex-
| change for it?" Certainly" ans xered
the secretary. but whether the tyeas-
| ury would be able to give gold in esx-
change is another matter. That would
depend much on the load Of obligations
II was already carrying. II is for that
reason that my bill proposes to relieve
mat lead by at least $500 0,000,0 900. The
ssSoocO,s0 at least Of silver which it
must still keep at parity with gold. even
IL the provisions Of my bill are adopted,
are enough to keep it busy" This dis
cussion led by natural stages to the
consideration q the second problem,
namely. how the secretary proposed to
make the segregation OF 500, ,OOO, 900 Of
| gold-bcaring paper have any consider
| able effect in view Of the fact hat by his
own estimatO there are $3.50. .00u, 900 of
| demand obligations In various form out
standing, for which the treasury is La
bic to be called upon to give gold in ex-
| change.
Explains His Theory In Full.
The secretary accordingly made a full
explanation OF his theory: "Set down
$500. .coo.ocO as our total volume of out
| standing currency exchangeable for
gold. and therefore liable TO cause an
noyance TO the treasury. Deduct $780,
ooo.cco. which va keep as a working bal
| ance for the oily transactions in the
treasury. and 1t leaves $3.50, coo, 600. Next
| deduct the amount of lawful money
which we require the banks to keep in
the treasury for the redemption Of their
notes This Is now a matter of $l0,-
ooo.ooo; but under my bill it would be
10 per cent on $500. COG. 600. making $780,
100000 to take care of. Throw out an
other slo.ooo,0oo for currency which has
been lost or destroyed, and we get down
to $500 O00.Co0
Retail Trade Requires e4OO. 900, 900.
| "Retire s20o. .000. 900. as provided under
my bill, and you have only s620, 900, ,0O0
to care for. Now prohibit the issue Of
any national bank notes Of a smaller
denomination than $40. so as to give the
government q monopoly Of the money
employed in the domestic trade Of the
people. and a. 1t is now We find that the
popular retail trade seems to absorb
about ssis 1000, 900 OF notes OF denomina-
tions under SIC. besides $50. 600 600 of sill
yer dollars. In other words. about $780,
900 900 are now performing the func-
tions Of hand-to-har trade in this
country. Making the broadest allow
ances. We might safely count upon but
toning w not less than $3.50. .ooo, 900 in
this way in the pockets OF the people.
How 10 Manage the Remainder.
This would leave ss1000o.0o0 theo-
retically 20 plague the treasury. Now,
how will this potentially vextatious re-
mainder be held? II will be distributed
between 10000 banks. including the
trust companies, savings institutions
and the like. to say nothing of the stock
fug-toes and the cracked teapots and
holes in the ground which are the de-
positories q n great number OF private
A.