Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-12-14
Secretary Gage Has Taken
No Action as Yet.
FOR THE FUTURE
Will Not be DiSclOSed--The Idea That
III Money Would Return to New York
From the South and West Has Not
Been Realized.

New York. Dec. IA special to the
Herald from Washington says: Secre-
tary Gage will not anticipate in an inter-
view any action he may take for the
purpose of putting into circulation more
of the money now held in the treasury.
When I asked him for information on
the subject today. he said:
There is nothing l can add to what
1 have already laid. No action has as
yet been taken. and if L said that none
is contemplated today it does not follow
that nothing will be done the day after
or next week"
1T has been suggested that you may
anticipate the January interest on the
government bonds"
Yes said the secretary. that may
be done or it may not be done. l cannot
speak for the future. 1t would not be
proper for me to anticipate any action
of this kind that I might AXE ever if I
knew that future conditions would prob
ably be such as to Justify it,
In the opinion of the treasury officials
much of the scarcity of money in New
York at the present time is due to the
fact that the currency sent from the
New York banks to the west and south
to be used in the nnual crop movement
has not returned as freely as in former
years. but has been absorbed by the
business OF the communities to which it
was sent. Speaking of this phase Of the
situation. Secretary Gage said:
ut is undoubtedly true that the BUSH
ness of the country in every locality re-
auires much more money for current use
than it did in times of depression. This
is but a natural result of the increased
prosperity. Eventually a stage of satu-
ration must be reached, when the in
terror has all the currency that it can
absorb. Whether that stage has yet
been reached or not. cannot be said.
Business in any locality requires more
money in it's transaction, just as GER
talnly as more goods to transport re-
quireS more cars On the railroads, 1t
means that there are more things to buy
and more people have more money with
which to buy them. 1t means that work.
men receive larger wages and are able
to carry more money in their pockets.
Whether these conditions will be per-
manent or not of course no one can
say. That they will continue for some
time. however, there seems to be no
doubt. AS long as present conditions
continue, more goods of all kinds will
be manufactured, more work1nen win get
constant employment at increasing
wages and larger areas will be put under
cultivation, resulting in more agricul-
tural products"
IF the interior of the country perma-
nently absorbS more currency than it
has used heretofore, does it not follow
that New York and other money centers
must get along with less circulation than
they AVE heretofore had at their dis
Dosal:"
That will necessarily follow replied
the secretary. unless there is an in
crease in bank note circulation. This
condition. therefore, affords another ar
gunaent in favor of an increased bank
circulation with such a degree of elas-
ITCHY as shall enable it to respond au-
tomaticaily to any temporary demand
for more currency in any locality"
Secretary Gage is disposed to believe
that the reports of Canadian money be-
ing withdrawn from New York to be
loaned abroad are exaggerated. He
bases this belief on the fact tina money
commands a higher rate in New York
than in ~London-the New York rate be-
ing about 7 per cent and the London
rate about 6 per cent. This difference in
interest rates would offer an inducement
to the Canadian banks to keep their
money in New York. The secretary also
believes that much OF the Canadian
money in New York is so invested as to
preclude it's speedy withdrawal, and UNI
less there should be a simultaneous with
drawal there would not be much danger
of the money market being seriously af-
fected.