The San Francisco call., 1898-09-17
ARGUED IN
 FAVOR IF A
 UNIFORM LAW Bankers on MerCan-
 tile Paper. RESOLUTIONS ARE ADOPTED CONVENTION OF MEN WHO HAN
 DLE MONEY.
RESOLUTIONS ARE ADOPTED
CONVENTION OF MEN WHO HAN.
 DLE MONEY.
To-Day Delegates Will Inspect Beau ties of Tamalpais = Executive Council Will Fix Upon
 Next Meeting Place.

When the bankers convention recon vened yesterday morning J. M. Elliott of the First National Bank of Los Angeles presiding in the absence of J. J. Valentine, a resolution was presented rendering the thanks of the delegates to Hon. Frank G. Newlands for his address on Cur rency Reform A second resolution was also offered thanking MT. Newlands for his opposition to the passage of the Walker currency bill now pending in Con- gress
 Lowell White, of the San Francisco Saw ings Union, read an able paper entitled, Exemption from Taxation of Bonds of the Counties, Municipalities and School Districts of the State.' The chief pur- pose in opposing the taxation of public securities, Mr. White asserted, arose out of the fact that 1t enhances by an appre- ciable percentage the rate of interest necessary to be paid on county and munlc- ipal bonds over whatever is recovered in the way of taxes; the higher rate of in terest is of necessity paid by the poorer counties and districts, which must resort to borrowing, while the small amounts re- covered as taxes go into the treasures of the larger cities. It makes the State and its political subdivisions tributary to foreign creditors, continued MT. White. and thereby involves loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars each year from circulation; 1t impairs the credit of the forth that 1t is a debtor State and that Its people are of necessity impoverished and on the verge of bankruptcy; 1t gives a preference to non-residents oyer its own citizens; 1t destroys reverence for the law by maintaining on the statutes one which
 on K of he sancy 1t of en oah aed the standard of public morality by in- viting the crime of perjury. Miller, president of the D. 0. Mills Bank of Sacramento, speaking on the same subject, said: Public funds should be secured by State bonds in California. The question of public funds is in a confused state. The depository. system of national banks should be used. The & taxation Of these bonds is the prime dif1cuity, And a bond is good or not. We have gone through an insolvency process in Sacra- mento. A certain proportion of our debt which got us S out ut of debt in several years. The condition of public funds in California Is deplorable."
 To MT. Miller's remarks MT. White made answer that a real effort had been made to reach the political parties on this question, but not one of them had evinced a desire to put this proposition Tn its plat form. He said that 1t was impossible to look upon thls as a movement or the bankers for the reason that 1t would be at once opposed I've can only recommend on se gg S oar ean sae ony hande 1t as disinterested bankers and as ordinary citizens. We must rely on individual eff fort" His remarks, as were those of MT. Miller. were greeted with loud applause.
 Professor Plehn of the University of California next addressed the convention He said that, as a man of mere theories, he hesitated to talk to practical bankers. "But consider" he declared, that Mr. Whites ideas accord with those of the best authorities. In theory 1t Is advis- able, if you tax property, to tax all kinds of property. In all cases, however, we fail to reach shifting investments, mo- bile capital, as 1t is frequently termed: As it Is impossible to tax this form of property, the question arises, what be- parts of that property which are reached? The tax Is shifted. The bondholder who pays the taxes exacts a higher rate of interest. Shifting always costs money The bondholder exacts a higher rate of interest than would pay him for the tax he wants to pay. It would, therefore. be less costly if the municipalities could col- lect the tax at the start
 The next speaker was M. J. Daniels of the Orange Growers Bank of Riverside MT. Daniels said that it was important to get the matter before the people. What prevents Los Angeles or any other city is- suing bond," he said, which is not just