The times., 1898-01-14
BILL DOES NOT SUIT WALKER.
This Is Made Manifest at the None
tary Hearing.

lDfS Is Ma0e MANIFEST AT tue MOn6.
tary Hea ring.
The House Committee on Banking
and Currency yesterday continued the
hearing of the indianapolis monetary
commission on the financial legislation
the commission is anxious to have Con-
gress enact. The hearing did not re-
eeive the same consideration at the
hands of visitors that it did on the pre-
vious day. and the attendance was
light. Even the members of the conn
mittee, with the exception of Chair
man Walker and Mr.. Cox, of Tennessee.
appeared not to manifest the same IN
terest in what took place as they had
on the previous day. Mr.. Cox Is. on
principle, opposed to the bill, and he
made his attitude clear on the first day
of the hearing but it was not until yes
terday that Chairman Walker made 1t
Enthusiastically understood that he, too,
will antagonize the monetary commis-
sions scheme. He made this manifest
all through the hearing by the ques-
tions he propounded and the theories
he advanced.
Mr.. T. ]. Bush. of Alabama. the last
advocate of the preceding day, resumed
the position as an advocate OF the
scheme as soon as the meeting was
called to order He filled that position
ONLY long enough to reiterate suDstah-
tally what he had said the day before,
that he did not believe that redsinp-
ton of notes at distant points wouid
in any way affect the circulation OF the
notes in the districts where they were
issued He said some OF ms iriehdS
had no expectation that the Dill "ouio
become a law. but it was their nope
fx1t
would be adopted in some bill. Mt.
Bush added that he was aware that
there. is a class of bankers VINO VIII
never be satisfied with any law, put ne
believed that the smaller banks Will De
much helped by the plan. he added
that he had no doubt but that the plan
would induce men OF small means "
become depositors and therepy save
money ~
Al tbe request of Mr.. Cox. of Ten
nessaa Mr.. Fairchild submitted to an
evarnination after the conclusion oil
Mr.. Bush's remarks. In reply TO ques-
tions by Mr.. Cox and other members vi
the committee. he SAID:
..Reparding bank reserves ana re-
demptions, the point was raised III ',ie
commission that the banks ought 70 oe
assisted in the redemption py solu Vi
thair notes We concluded there would
he a greater strain on the Government
to furnish gold for such purpose ana we
decided that one quarter Oh lhe
serves were to be held In coin. we sise
the banks the privilege TO redeem III
eiIvar hut the Govrnment must redeem
i'm gold. If there is no place Tor the
hank to get gold from and the silver
doas not supply the want, gold VIII
come from the Treasury. There Wouiu
he no money in the country less thah
ten dollars, but what would be silver
and banks, therefore. would De COM
PEELED to keep large amount OF Sii'eI
to accommodate customers.
customers would have to have the
silver 10 make UP their accounts Tor
there would be no small notes we
Droposed this method as a saIeSualu u
against drain on the treasury. II
would be possible and legal TO force the
Treasury to redeem with goid tue sii-
yer. This would not be true OF the
notes directly. but indirectly it would
he. The Government is bound 10 re-
deem ali it's own issues in gold
There is one thing in the bill that
can he modified: that is the capItal ana
surplus item so that bank might nave
a norton of it's surplus invested In real
estate. AS this bill is now drawn d
hank could not issue its notes with
real estate as surplus: notes must pe
issued on the capital surplus; TINS part
of the BILL / think could sateiy De
modified to cover this point
The effort Of this bill is to preserve
the gold standard. which ! consider
has been maintained Tor a nonoer Oh
wears and / believe should be, but the
hank note currency would always be
inst as good as the standard, whether
gold or silver. We propose that the
Government shall keep the silver dol
lars equal to gold: this will be done by
the Treasury redeeming them on De
nand: not per cent. OF the silver VIII
be exchanged for gold; the amount oil
silver that will be presented 10 tne
Treasury will depend on the desire OF
the people for gold and their belief IN
the continued value of the silver doIlal !.
silver will be so circulated that II VIII
not be sent to the Treasury Tor Soid'
Silver deposited in banks would be
rai5 ont IN customers on demand: ::
would have to be paid out Tor there
wouId be no notes less than ten dol
lars
Judge Robert s. Taylor, OF Indiana,
following. said that he was lawyer
and not a banker or financier- de
made a LAWYERS effort in advocacy or
tha monetary commissions scheme and
his remarks We're entirely IN the hne
of a lawyer arguing before court He
said the first requisite of the bill was
to fix a standard and the commission
prepared the very best plan it could
devise. The first section OF the Dill
contains the definition of the standard.
which he said was single gold stand
ard He declared that under the con-
fiicting present laws the President ana
Secretary of the Treasury could direct
the payment of the Government opil-
cations in paper if they saw fit ana De
within the law.
The result of these conflicting laws
makes the whole duty of maintaining
the standard rest on the shoulders OF
one man. and the commission believes
this to be the most serious element oil
the present financial situation Judge
Taylor declared that this CONDITION
should be corrected by law declaring
that all the obligations of the Govern
ment shall be paid in gold
The rest of Judge Taylor's argument
was in line with what former Senator
F,dmunds and former Secretary FAR
child had said.