Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1899-02-23
CURRENCY REFORM.
Chicago's Comptroller of the Cur
rency on Gold Standard.
President MckinIey's Position Oh the
Question Clearly Reflected
Wisdom of the Pres
ent system.

comptroller of the currency, Charles
Gates Dawes, one of the principal
speakers of the occasion. took for his
topic Currency Reform" speaking as
follows:
| ''The question of the changes in our pres
| ent law which should be made in order to
| carry out the will of the people, as ex-
| pressed in 1896, in favor of sound govern
| mental money and the gold standard, is one
| which Confronts the country, and which,
| now that the clouds of war have lifted, is
! again receiving careful and general con-
| sidera tion The year 1898 had demon
| strated that our present monetary system
| when subjected to the severe test of com
mercial panic, and deficiency in govern
| mental revenues, had an inherent weak
| ness which, before that time, had not been
| generally recognized.
| This weakness resulted chiefly from two
| causes. The first cause was the disproror-
| ton existing between demand govern
| mental currency liabilities and the gold in
| the treasury with which to redeem them
| The second cause was the fact that when
| these demand liabilities were once redeemed
| in gold they could be paid out again for
| governmental expenses. This enabled the
| public, coming again into their possession,
| to again present them for redemption, and
| thus was created what was known as the
| endless chain
| "Recognizing the duty of action incum-
| bent on him and his party, the president OF
the United States, in his first annual mes
| sage to congress, made the following rec
| ommendation: That when any of the
| United States notes are presented for re-
dempton in gold and are redeemed in gold
such notes shall be kept apart and only
paid out in exchange for gold. This is an
| obvious duty.
| In his last annual message to congress
| he repeated the recommendation in the fol-
| lowing words: In my judgment the pres
| ent condition of the treasury amply JLStl-
ont of he
| lation recommended one year ago, under
which a portion of the gold holdings
| should be placed in trust fund, from
| which greenbacks should be redeemed upon
| presentation but when once redeemed
should not therefore be paid out except for
| gold
| The speaker then reviewed the course
of monetary discussion subsequent to
! the presidents first recommendation.
He maintained the proposed preference
of the noteholder over the depositor, as
indicated in the later plans, would be
! most injurious to the general business
community, saying: "As funnmen-
| tai principle of inherent justice the
rights of a note-holder and depositor
against the common assets of the bank
to which their money has alike con
| tributed should be equally sacred He
continued:
What will be the effect of enactment
into law of his principal recommendations?
It's simplicity should not obscure its great
| value and Importance 1t will accomplish
| the following results, all of which relate
directly to the safety of the gold standard:
| with this trust fund in existence, de-
fCient governmental revenues cannot eat
away the foundation of governmental cur
| rency. The practical effect of the inability
of the secretary of the treasury to use the
| trust gold fund for currency expenditures
| will be to require the adjustment OF rev
enue laws by congress to meet the emer-
gency. In the second place, with this
| trust fund in existence, if it is necessary
| for the government to borrow money be-
| fore congress can change the revenue laws
| as to provide for a deficiency. it will
| borrow under more favorable conditions.
Preserving Gold Standard.
"In the third place, with this trust fund
| in existence, the preservation of the gold
standard by the direct act Of the presi-
| dent and the secretary of the treasury,
which occurred of necessity several times
| in the years 1894. 1895 and 1896, would not
| be absolutely necessary until the trust
| funds were exhausted by the redemption
| from it of an equal amount of currency Ii
| abilities.
I'm the face of the unquestioned ability
of the United States to furnish 1t all times,
through currency legislation, revenues suf-
hceint to pay current expenses, the abb
Sorption of a portion of the present surplus
gold holdings into fund for the better pro-
lection of the demand currency liabilities of
the treasury can incite no reasonable OPP
position.
The early segregation OF this fund,
which cannot be drawn upon for the cur
rent governmental expenses increasing, a 8
it will, the immediate Importance of ode
quate revenues, cannot but have bene-
:icial effect ip making more prominent that
relation which, more than any other is
vital to the success of both governments
and individualS-the relation of existing
income to existing expenses.
I'm his second annual message the pres
ident omitted the specific recommenda
ton that National banks should be allowed
to issue currency 20 the par of the United
States bonds deposited as security, tut
renewed in strongest language his recon-
menda ton for securing the safety of our
governmental currency system by setting
aside a trust fund in gold from which,
when once redeemed in gold, greenbackS
shall not thereafter be paid out except for
gold.
at is impossible, under all the circum-
stances, to construe this otherwise than
as an evidence of the great Importance at |
tached by him to this special step in gov |
ernmental currency reform, and an init |
nation that no projected measures in |
VolVing national bank currency or branch |
banking extensions should be allowed to
interfere with the passage of a law en-
bodying this great safeguard to govern
mental currency credit.
Each of these latter propositions can |
be considered Independently and should be |
so considered, if either, attached as a rider |
10 the provision providing for orgovernmental |
currency reform, tends to lessen its pros
peCt for enactment into law.
Let us remember that under the pres
ent system, in which government bonds |
stand security for bank notes. every |
bank note is as good as q government note.
whether one bank or all the banks issue |
lOtcS. In no class of laws are expert
ments more dangerous than in currency |
avs. With existing prosperity, increas-
ing confidence, and growing credits, it is
octter TO be conservative than radical, and |
% provide treasury reserves for the day
IF panic rather than bank asset notes for |
he day of speculation"
EFThe stock of gold in the treasury
5 going slowly downward. There are |
Neral reMsOms. hOMeNnr MhN nnhnLN |