Evening journal., 1897-02-01
THE VIEWS OF Mr.. GAGE
Coming Secretary OF the Treas.
ury Outlines His Policy.
HIS IDEAS OF FINANCIAL REFORM
Favors Early Retirement OF All Govern
ment Legal rendcri Notes Bank Notes
should He substituted For Greenbacis
Redee,nabIe Only In Gold.

should Be substituted For Greenbacks
Redee,nabIe Only In Cold.
Cn1CAGo, Feb Lyman j Gage. who
will be the secretary OF the treasury under
Mckinley's administration, has given
press representative the following state
mont of his opinion Of the present iinan
cial system;
Our whole monetary system is the re
sdltant of makeshift legislation and un
scientific compromise ii Is time chat re
form began.
I'm my own opinion The greenbacks
should be- permanently retired. The silver
purchased under the sherman net should
be gradually sold and the treasury notes
redeemed and cancelled. Some well guard
cd system of bank note circulation, broader
and more elastic than the present national
bank act provides should be inauFuratcd
Such bank notci should boz rcdecmablc
at o central place and bc rcdcomablc in
gold only.
Silver certificates, which form nearly
one fifth of the circulating medium of the
United Statos, are dangerous. BY their
use "a volume Of inferior money has found
an abnormal use. They are the most per
picking feature in the much involved
problem of our national finances
"Thme is no reason why the govern
ment should act as warchouscman for
oithcr gold or silver. such a function IS
outside its proper limit OF action
But we are faced by a condition. The
enormous amount of 5000, 900, 600 OF sill
YER represented boy s33S, 600, 900 in silver
certificates, added TO the $3.50, 900, 900 pur-
chascd by the government under the Sher-
man uct constitutes q standing menace to
every business interest
"go sum up, the defects OF our present
currency system are
First Confusing heterorcueity which
nceds simplihcation
Second. The grcenhack controverts
the principle OF paper money viz. that
every note Injected into the commercial
system should represent an existing com
lnercia value.
Third. The treasury note is stand
ing evidence of "a foolish oporation--tho
creation of a debt for the purchase ON a
falling mnrkct of % commodity for which
the purchaser has no use; it lies open to
the just charge of being both idiotic and
immoral
Fourth The national bank note near
ly conforms 10 the true principle of paper
money, but the unreasonable requirements
for security paralyzc its efficiency and OPP
ernte to destroy it's elasticity.
''Fifth.-Ihe silver certificate encOur-
ages the use of silver 60 "a larger extent
than Is consistent with the safe prcserva-
tion of that metal on parity with gold.
Would % national commission help TO
promote reformy'
There IS reason to hope that It would
be of great service in that direction. Such
commission, If rightly elected would
throw a food of light upon these involved
questions. The Information it might
gather would ho of immense value to all
our people and would guide MS TO wise
legislation.
Emotion and sentiment arc not safe
guides In matters of science a clear APP
prehension of true principles will lead &c
correct action. Reaction will be slow, but
it is coming. aud IL will be of long dura-
tiun
His Deanition of Money.
He defines money thus.
Through our heterogeneous system the
public mind has seemingly lost the power
60 discriminate between real things and
the shadowa or signs of things. tits sneces-
sary that diSguises be pulled aside and
that real facts appear
''rherc is in truth only one real money
metallic coin IL may be composed of
gold on silver; it might be of something
else, but it Is not Grcenhacks treasury
notes and rational hank notes are but
promises TO pay I'm the nature of thinga
they can be nothing more They pass as
money perform the functions OF money
often moro conveniently than money itself.
because of this confusion comes and
we are led asiray Seeing that the green.
bnck is uttered hy The government, that IL
has by the legal tender quality impaired
"a IT, fltt flt f1altf- huf 9
circulatcs with all the power Of money,
discrimination ceases. we call it money,
and the idca that government can create
money by its sanction or fiat becomes root
cd in the mind
"Thc distinctions just pointed out are
however, fundamental distinctions They
should be taught in the schools They an,
simple and easy TO be understood even by
child.
"Whio the silver dollar is real money
its power to exchange for other things j.
more than doubled by an artificial valu,
impaired TO it through the law which
givcs'it power equal to the dollar In golC
to pay custom dues.
Having an equal value i'm this direc
ton, and the quantity being limited, Il
has equal value in All directions but Tn,
difference between the metallic value O
the silver dollar and this arbitrary valu,
lies I'm the realm of credit
He was asked " DO you think the ma
iional banks could have borne the dcman,
for gold of the past three years bottor thar
the United states treasury IL the green
backs had been retircds"
He made this answer: ITO obtain tn
coin for such movement bank note
would be presented for redemption as tn
greenhacks have been. II the coin deman
proved continuous, the banks would TT
coup by calling In maturity loans. Il
short, contraction in general credit
would occur. Under its influence price
would fan until foreign creditors woul
find IL more advantageous to take con
moditics than 70 take coin Thus I'll
movement would be- self curative. IN