The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1898-07-16
THE NEW REVENUE LAW.

This is law of tripartite features
one enlarges internal taxes; another
provides for the issuance and sale o.
bonds and the third relates to the
money question by authorizing the
issuance of $l5O,OOO,OOO of treasur,
certificates, to be put out as emerg
encies demand, and to be taken ut
at the convenience of the treasury
and also requires that the silver bull
lion in the treasury vaults shall be
coined at the rate, at least, of ST..
| 500, 900 month
The bonds are made payable in
coin, according to existing law and
previous practice, and not in gold
coin as Mr. Gage would have done
They are not to be sold to a syndi-
cate of bankers, unless there is fail
ure to sell them by subscription and
as a popular loan. Whether or not
they can be so placed will he shortly
determined Bonds sold through
syndicates are usually concentrated
in the hands of few holders. If the
popular loan plan succeeds in this
instance, it will be an entering
wedge for the policy of having our
own people become the holders OF
the public securities.
The silver coinage proposition is a
slight concession to the strong silver
sentiment of the country, and if the
law is faithfully executed, in time the
treasury will be relieved of large
burden of its bullion. 1t will take
some time to coin it, if no more than
81, 100000 are coined annually, and
whether more shall be coined or not
is left to the discretion of the secret
ary of the treasury. 1t is known that
Mr.. Gage believes in a limited vol
ume of money, and that our circulat-
ing medium should be confined to
gold coin, and national bank paper
redeemable in gold coin, with the
quantity Of subsidiary silver coin that
convenience may require. Hence it
is presumable that he will coin no
more silver than the law requires.
The bullion on hand comprises seign-
forage to the amount of $42, 100000,
and were it all coined as promptly
as possible, that sum would be added
to our volume of circulating money.
The measure is compromise. The
senate and house held widely diver
gent views, and for time it seemed
as if both sides would be stubborn,
but the presence Of war forced both
sides to make concessions. There
was necessity for more money to
carry on the war, sum that could
not be Immediately produced by
taxation alone. One side wanted
bonds alone as we'll as additional
taxes, and the other was quite will
ling to grant more taxes, but in lieu
of bonds wanted an issue of green
backs, and all the silver bullion in
the vaults speedily coined, that the
country might have the benefit of
the seigniorage which, as before
stated, amounts to $42,OO0,0OO. 1t
now sleeps in the treasury, doing
good to neither the government nor
the people.
The law requires stamps to be
placed on great many kinds of
commercial papers, and provides Sc
we're penalties fol- failure to affix the
stamps and properly cancel them.
The following are some of the more
common instruments that require
stamp:
Bonds, stocks, ETC., issued after
July l, 1893, per 500 face, sc.
Sales or transfers of stock, per 800
face, &c.
Sales or agreements of sales of
merchandise, for present or future
delivery on exchanges, per 800, lc.
Bank checks, drafts, certificates of
deposit not drawing interest, payable
on demand, &c.
Bills of exchange, Gnland) time
drafts, notes, certificates of deposit
drawing interest, and all money or
ders, per 800, &c.
Bills of exchange, (foreign) letters
of credit, drawn singly, per 500, 4c.
Drawn in sets of two or more, each
set, per 800, &c.
Bills of lading, or receipts for
goods to be exported. l0c.