The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-01-09
The McCleary Currency Bill.

The Banking and Currency Committee Of
the House Of Representatives, through its
Chairman, Mr.. MCCLEARY of Minnesota,
formally requested leave of the House or
Saturday to withdraw the currency bill
which bears Mr.. McCLEARYIs name and
which he reported to the House from his
Committee last spring. TIL request has
not yet been granted, but there is no doub
that it will be granted, IN the regular course
Of proceeding in such cases.
The ostensible ground for thus abandon
ing q measure which was the result of q
prolonged and careful consideration in com.
mittee, and which had the approval of all
the 6o-called currency reformers there are
In the country, is that the Senate, as at
present constituted, is hostile to it, ami
that, therefore, 1t would be useless for the
House to pass 1t until the complexion of the
Senate is changed, asst will be, next March.
A better and more conclusive reason is,
that a canvass Of the House has shown, il
that body also, a majority hostile or, at
least, indifferent to the bill. and that it
would certainly fail Of passing there.
The radical vice Of the bill Is that it pro-
poses to take from the Government its
iiSttch VI "a LULU = anu
turn it over to the thousands Of banks, big
and little, State and national, scattered
throughout the country, TO the great profit
OF the banks and to a corresponding loss
by the people. Somo of the advocates of
the bill have attempted to hide this feat
ure Of 1t, and to claim for it the disin-
terested purpose of relieving the Gov
eminent from the burden of maintaining
gold payments and throwing ii upon
the banks. Considering that the Govern
ment has not, for these twenty years,
failed in paying gold on demand for all its
obligations, whereas the strongest banks
In the country have, four times within the
same period, suspended payments even in
Government notes. 1t is absurd to say that
the banks are better able to protect the
nations currency than the Government
is. The five college professors who de-
livered their views on the subject,
the other day. were more candid. They
acknowledged that the issuing Of cur
rency would be u source Of profit to
the banks, and that only from its being
profitable would it be elastic. Secretary
GAGE has also been candid enough to con-
fess, in his recent report, that the chief
reason for turning over the issue OF cur
rency to the banks Is, in his view, the pro-
teotion Of stock spectators from the
s~tringency caused by the movements OF the
currency, at harvest time, from the money
centres to the Interior. Where the benefit
to the people would come in from the pas
sage OF the McCleary bill, or any bill like
1t, has never been shown.
or currency resting entirely, or mainly,
upon the national credit, the nation has
now 81, 15o,o 900, 900 namely, $4,000
o old legal tenders, 800, 900, 900 Treasury
notes OF 1890, $47O,OO0,o 900 silver dollars
and silver certificates, and $23s, OOO, 900 in
national bank notes, which, though pri-
marily obligations Of the banks issuing
them, are guaranteed by the Government
and pass from hand to hand solely upon
faith in that guarantee. Nobody ever looks
at a national bank note to see what
bank issued 1t. 1t is enough that it is
a note Of a national bank, no matter
where or which, To make IL acceptable.
Hence, it is, virtually, a Government note.
and Is treated as such universally. II now
W this 81, l5o. oOO, 900 OF currency should