Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1897-04-15

cies IN the practlcal operations OF com
merce and trade. No better place t
determine this can be found than tn
counter Of bank, and the follown,
statement OF the amount of each re
ceived by bank in this city on a re
cent day will indicate their relative i'm
portance in that direction:
Gold coin. ........................$ 9.SS
| silver COIN OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. I0,eI
! Gold certllcdtes. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 4Vi
Silver certificates. .............,....... 1912
Legal tender notes and greenbacks.. 82l7
Treasury notes. OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. 70, 49l
National bank notes. 4,26'
iotdl CASH., .$aoS, o.!
Checks. drafts, bills Of exchange. 49, 39S, 94'
percentage Of cash to total credits
five per cent.
1.-THE lesson to be drawn from these
figures Is this:
"Much the larger part of all our COM
mer.cal exchanges is carried on by
bank checks or other instruments of
private cerdit These instruments all
relate to 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. distrust and confusion
enter IN. The mighty agency Of person
al credit is shaken. Commercial ex-
changes fall OFT. trade languishes and
industry declines.
y y u
1.-THE greenback was issued to pay
debts. not to acquire value. or, if value
was received. such value was either con-
sumed or converted into value not avail
able in the market. The greenback paid
aoldiers and government employees; it
l'oa, yht powder and munitions of war.
The existence of greenback is the evil
dence of debt not paid. 1t is lien
upon the future.
"a national bank note, on the con-
trary, Is the evidence of some existing
value which lies somewhere as collateral
for its redemption. To 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 will be in active serv-
ice when trade and 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 commerce Of the country to less
dangerous strain.
"There is no reason why the govern
ment should act as warehouseman for
either gold or silver. Such function is
outside its proper limit of action. But
we are faced by the condition, and it is
the bette noire Of the treasury. The
enormous amount Of $5OO,OOO,OOO Of
silver, represented by $33S,OOOO0O in
silver certificates, added to the $780,
100000 purchased by the government
under the Sherman act, constitutes a
menace to every business in |
terest.
"Our whole monetary system is the |
resultant of makeshift Legislation and |
lnscientific compromises. It is time
that reform began. l do not assume to
offer more final remedies. In my own
opinion the greenbacks should be per-
nanently retired. The silver purchased
mder theSherman act should be gradu-
ally sold and the treasury notes re-
leemed and cancelled. Some well
guarded system of bank note circlua-
ion, broader and more elastic than the
present national bank act provides.
should be inaugurated. Such bank
totes should be redeemable at a central
place and be redeemable in gold only.
ITO sum up, the defects Of our pres
mt currency system are: l. A confus-
ng heterogeneity which needs sim
,lifcatlon. 2. The greenback contfo-
'erts the principle of paper money-viz
hat every note injected into the COM
nercial system should represent an
xisting commercial value. 3. The
reasury note is standing evidence of a
oolish operation, the creation of
ebt for the purchase on falling
market Of commodity for which the
purchaser has no use-it lies open to the
ust charge Of being both idiotic and
4. The national bank note
early conforms TO the true principle of
'aper money, but the unreasonable re-
uirements for security paralyze its
and operate to destroy its
lasticity. 5. The silver certificate en-
ourages the use of silver to a larger ex-
pnt than consists with the safe preser-
alton of that metal on parity with
old.
"Would national commission help
D promote reform? There is reason to
ope that it would be of great service in
hat direction. Such commission, If
ightly selected, would throw flood of
ght upon these involved questions.
he information it might gather would s
e Of immense value to all our people
nd would guide us to wise legislation, ,
Emotion and sentiment are not safe t
uides in matters of science. A clear 8
pprehension OF true principles will
-ad TO correct action" A