The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-03-18
WILLIS T. ABB0TT'S LETTER..
HE MAKES CAUsTIC COMMENTS ON
THE CURRENCY BILL.

lie shows How 1.-The Little Joker" Is |
Used in LegisIntion-Taking Bonds
From the Hands of the People ana
Placing Them in the Hands of the
Bankers-"sapho" aud the yellow
Press-The BrbokIyn Rapid Tran
sit Job and GrOtesquc District
Attorney-NO Danger of ConspIra-
cy Against Bryan-The Standard
Oil Company and the Occur
dAIene TroubIes-POrto Rico and
the Constitution.
New York, March E.-One of the most
curious things about congressional legis-
lation is the singular facility with which
a little joker gets into any financial or
currency bill without being detected by
any member of Congress or the Senate,
and which invariably rebounds to the
good of what are called--I think. with
out demagogy-the capitalstic classes.
1t isn't necessary to bark back to the
justly celebrated crime of '73," for we
have new illustration of the ease with
which proviso OF something of the same
sort slips through without attention. One
servatively urged extensions of the fed
eral power has been the establishment of
postal savings banks. The popular de-
mand for this reform has been rapidly
growing Newspapers of unimpeachable
conservatism have supported it, Econo-
mists, public men, and even men of large
wealth, not directly attached to the So
called national banking system, which, of
course, is not national at ALL but simply
a device for personal profit have upheld
it. The difficulty which the poor have
found in finding absolutely safe deposit
tories for their savings, particularly in
the more sparsely settled regions, stimu-
lated the demand for this system-a sys-
TEN, by the way, very general abroad.
The grave question: which has been ask
ed by the opponents of the plan has been,
How shall you invest your funds?" The
natural response has been that in the
main they could be invested in national
securities, as they are in Great Britain.
In due time, no doubt, With this system
established, these investments can safely
be extended to state and to municipal
bonds, and in some instances TO the real
estate with the improvements necessary
for the housing of the postofices. But
it is undoubtedly safe proposition that
for the basis sufficiently large volume
of national bonds would be necessary.
Last week there was sufficient vol
ume to supply the necessary basis. Last
Wednesday, when the Republicans car
ried through their plan to force their cur
rency measure to enactment by sheer
power of numbers, this volume began i'm
mediate ly to decrease, because then by
the refunding feature of the measure
$3.50 lag, 400 of outstanding bonds soon 10
mature are to be exchanged at once for
bonds that cannot be called in or can
celed for thirty years. These bonds VIII
pass at once into the hands Of the ma
tional banks, which using them as basis
for circulation, will never give them up
as investments for rival banks that exist
not for profit, but for public service.
Critics of the pending currency bill, even
non-partisan ones, have called attention
to the fact that the refunding measure
bears no vital relation to the remainder
of the bill Perhaps, in the heated con-
troversy that has been going on over the
relative merits of the metallic ndards
it may have been done simply to give new
strength 20 the domination of gold. But
this was sufficiently accomplished by the
declaration in another section of the bill
for the gold standard, and as certain men,
among them a business partner and close
political associate of Senator Hanna, have
been the most outspoken opponents of
postal savings banks, being himself ma
tionai banker there is reason to suspect
that it was slipped in for the distinct pur-
pose of defeating such a reform in the
future.
1t seems almost humorous to note that
the purpose of the recent popular loan,
which was one of the greatest achieve
ments of the Mckinley administration,
was to get the bonds in the hands of the
people The purpose of this last bill is
obviously to get them out again,
New York has Witnessed, in the last ten
DAYS. two examples of the power of news
paper government on which I commented
i'm connection with the Molneux case.
The driving Of Olga Nethersole before the
grand jury, and finally into trial in
criminal court, at the instance of two
nevspapers. each of which is shouting
that it alone did it, was not only indie
cent, but it is a menace to future liber
ties of citizens of the metropolis. ! have
not seen the play, but / can conceive
of no man having a growing son who
,-o-ld not wish to put into the boys
hands by the age of is, the book upon
which the play of "Sapho" is founded. And
the moral fervor Of yellow journalism
spreads fast, with a little success. For
example, newspaper in Philadelphia,
which, after being for n great many years
somewhat somnOlent, was suddenly gas-
vanized into life by a touch of the very
talent which had made Mr., Hearsts New
York and San Francisco newspapers fam
Gus. saw that the New York World and
Journal were successfully bounding Miss
Nethersole, and in turn made like attacks
upon Mrs Langtry. Thomas Jefferson,
who is quoted to the point of wearisome-
ness, Is charged with having said that he
would rather have newspapers without
n government than a government with
out newspapers. But, at least, he didn't
express his opinion of government by
newspapers.
After the district attorney of New York