Omaha daily bee., 1898-05-08

a reasonable time" So far from an issu
of bonds being "a monstrous imposition upol
the wealth producers" l do not hesitate I,
say that should large sum of money b,
required. which now seems certain, it woulC
be monstrous imposition upon these wealth
producers II bonds are not issued, and in
stead Of that the decision should be reached
to squeeze from them by early taxation tn,
money demanded
The business OF the country is Just recov.
ering from a great financial depression. The
| times are not yet too easy with our wealth.
producers, and there are few of our business
men who would not say that 1t would b;
better to accept the money from the capital.
lists (among whom must be included al
classes Of bank depositors), who have it tc
spare and are willing to loan it at the small
interest rate of from 21a to per cent, rather
than 1t should now be taken by taxation
from their business.
| In my opinion there Is no occasion at this
time for the multifarious taxation already
proposed In congress, which will bring ar
unnecessary realization of the war into al
most every household-but which is all
necessary If your $4,000, 900, before the end
of the calendar year lis to be realized, and
which amount must be still further in
creased IL the expenditure to the present
date is to be obtained in this manner.
But you also say that there is q large sum
available now in the treasury-that there
| are there $50, ,000, 900 of gold in excess of the
500, 900, 900 reserve and that this sum, with
| the taxes you suggest, will meet the exigen-
| cies of the situation. This Is an important
statement worthy Of consideration, IL only
| on account of the magnitude of the figures
given, and II 1t Is correct, 1t would seem to
dispose of the question. But let us investi-
gate the matter, and fortunately we now
| have to deal with real and exact figures and
not fancies.
| Considerable confusion exists In the public
mind concerning the treasury balance and
this is my apology for going into the ques-
| tion somewhat in detail. am entirely
aware that the editor of The Bee fully un-
derstands 1t, but your reference to this sub
ject in the editorial under review is by no
means calculated to remove any existing
misapprehension.
The balance reported in treasury state
ments represents all the funds In the treas
ury after its immediate liabilities are paid.
1t has been the custom and practice since
1879 to maintain 500, 900 900 of this balance
in gold which is termed the gold reserve,
but there is no distinct legislative enact
ment which authorizes the special setting
apart of a gold fund, except where it may be
inferred by the act Of congress which de-
clares it to be the policy of the government
to maintain the equality of its different cur
rencies. The actual reserve or surplus is the
total balance, whether composed of gold or
any other kind OF money. Every large and
important government must maintain some
surplus funds in its treasury to meet con-
tingencies, and, while no one can say exactly
what this should be in the United States, 1t
has been the practice for many years to
keep it not far from $4,000 900. Going
back for twenty years we find that in June,
1878, the balance was 1921 0i5. .5S1. In the
following year, when specie payments were
established, it reached $513, ,455, ,67l, and until
September, 1890. it never went below $780,
100000. After 1890 it was less and on June
80, 1898. it was 1922 ,462, ,29O. At these last
figures the danger signal was raised and the
small treasury balance had no insignificant
influence among the causes which provoked
the panic of 1893.
Since 1898 we have learned from actual ex-
perience the necessity and Importance of
maintaining an adequate surplus.
AS have stated, the balance June 80, 1893,
was $l22, 49,, ,290; on April /, 1885, II
was $685. 166,943, showing an apparent in
crease Of $l03, ,7O4.653 during that period.
But as fact, there was a deficit between
these dates of s1s9, ,777.242 and II the reserve
had not been reinforced froa the sale Of