Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1898-12-02
Wa5hlnqton Standard
PERIL OF BOND SALES.
Contract Currency and Load the
Nation With Debt.
All IEDUC3MENT TO HOARD MONEY

At. IEDUCGMENT TO HOARD MONEY
t.H-.'i"i nt Contraction Forces Down
prise Tax Burden Increasing Use of
silver and I-.lc of Grecnbachs Would
Have Furnished Money For the War.
W. did not suIusr that any one
would justify. much lr-S boast Of, the
w"r rcv,nu" iii, which imposes onor-
iurt> TAXATION. "a the business If the
country AMI contracts the currency,
:,..,kiur the payment # taxes more diff
ru.t and increasing the general distress;
q. The country. The issuance Of bonds
Il. III tin" "a time j lot only loading
i..u nation with an enormous bonded
t, 1T. hut it j, producing distressing
contraction The fact that the first offer
If $500, 900, 0cJ Of bonds was subscribed
for MN" times over proves concluSlvely
that ms bond business wins every time.
1t w0uld 10 bad enough to draw
$500. 600. 600 from business and i'll
vest it III bonds. and thus keep 1t out
cf circulation for months before it will
return To the channels of trade through
the treasury department, but this Is not
the worst feat lure of the bond business.
The nIuir.v that was withdrawn from
business to put into bonds and was not
accepted by the government will be
bearded for another opportunity when
more bonds are issued.
The fact that the bonds already is
sued are selling at a premium is an add
ditiOnal induccment to hoard money
for investment i'll such securities. The
contraction which this boarding creates
c .liinucs to force down prices and
drive men out of business and induce
others who have money to put it into
bonds, which under present conditions is
the only possible business that will pay.
For the Republican party or any one
else to rejoice over or boast of a scheme
which necessarily puts down prices and
embarrasses enterprise, while it loads
the country with taxes and continually
increases the national debt, is to glory
i'll the distress OF the country which the
wretched bill is producing. If the Re-
publican party finds it necessary to kill
business and bankrupt the country in
order to keep the silver question filled,
tor who threw his patient into fits and
gloried in the writings of his victim
because he could cure fits.
The only redeeming incident of the
passage Of the war revenue bill was the
report of the finance committee of the
senate, majority Of whom did not be-
long to the national banks They re.
ported for the issuance of $3.50, 600, 600
i'll greenbacks to revive business and to
give the people money with which to
pay taxes. They also reported in favor
of utilizing the $42, 900, 900 in silver
bullion i'll the treasury and the issuance
of silver certificates
If this had been done, there would
have been abundance of money to pros
ecute the war, and the revenues with
the greenbacks and silver would have
been ample to prosecute the war with.
out the issuance of bond. In fact, the
scheme of majority of the committee
would have furnished more money for
the war than the bonded scheme of the
banks which became law. We again
call attention to the fact that %, 600, 600
of people in the last years of the civil
war were able to pay $500. 600, 900 from
internal revenue taxation, while rs, 00O, =
600 today cannot do the same thing
without sore distress, if they can do it
at all. We protest that because we
had cause for war with Spain the
government of the United States did
not necessarily have a cause against the
people, and the war waged against the
people of this country by the war rev.
enue bill will produce more distress
than the war with Spain will do to
both countries. If any person doubts
this, let him look about and see the sit
uatiou of his neighbors. If he has mon
ey to invest in bonds, they have not
See how they are getting along in his
neighborhood, and he will see the work.
ings of the war revenue bill, tho so
called glorious and patriotic scheme of
the hanks against the neon1e