New-York tribune., 1903-03-02
FATE OF ALDRICH BILL.
POSSIBLE COMPROMISE.
F01Cier Currency Measure To Be Re-
ported To-Day.
rpY TELEGRAPH To THE TRIrrxE. !


IBV TELEGRAPH To THE TRIrrxEI
Washington. March 1--FihanciaI legislation
at this session OF Congress depends upon the
ability of Senator Aldrich to get his bill through
the Senate Tomorrow. This is the consensus of
opinion Of Republican leaders in the House to-
night. after the matter has been thoroughly dis
cussed the time rules. amendments etc,
all Of which enter into the equation in the face
of Democratic fIibuster and tho limited num-
ber 0f hours intervening before noon on March !.
The House Committee on Bank g and Cur
rency to-day authorized a favorable report
the AIdrch- Pay ayne-Fosvler bill. Shortly after
this authorization. Chairman Fowler Of the
committee filed the report in the House. All is
in readiness for the arrival Of the real
AIdrich bill from the Senate II this measure
comes to the House tomorrow CT early on
Tuesday, the plan is to bring in a rule for its
immediate consideration The rule will provide.
however. that everything after the enacting
clause in the AIdrich bill shall he killed. and
the bill reported to-day from the House COM
mittee substituted for It. This substitute will
be considered in general debate for a brief Pc
riod In the House. voted a party measure.
and passed. By preserving the enacting clause
Of the Aldrich bill. the substitute will be eligible
as the subject Of conference between the two
houses The agreement of this conference COM
mittee in formulating measure from the COM
laton Of the session. What this result will he.
so far as it's terms are concerned. not even the
most astute statesmen will venture guess
If Senator AIdrich fails to get his bill through
the Senate tomorrow. the whole question or
| financial legislation must be dropped for the
session. as the time would be too short to pass
a measure through the House. get a conference
conclusion and pass that through both Houses
Before reaching the decision to substitute the
LIN gA- faa
bill was reached, the House leaders considered
seriously the question Of bringing in a rule to
take the AIdrich bill from the Speakers table
as soon as it should come over from the Senate,
and consider it Immediately in the House Such
a rule would. however. preclude amending the
bill, and the House leaders insist that Mr.
AIdrich. by submitting to several amendments
to his measure in the Senate to further its
chances Of passage. demonstrates that the bill
is admittedly imperfect and they believe further
amendment absolutely necessary before the bill
be permitted to go upon the statutes.
The combination bill Of the House is entitled
"A bill providing for the issuance and circula-
ton of national bank notes. for the safe keep
ing of public money. and for other purposes"
The report filed this afternoon declares in addi-
ton to providing for the issue and circulation oc
national bank notes. the object of the measure
is to put back Immediately into circulation any
money the government may collect through its
customs receipts. we'll through its collec-
tions from internal revenue. The committee in
its report says:
In addition to providing for the issue and
circulation Of national bank notes. the object OF
this measure is to Immediately put hack into
circulation any money the government may col
lect through its customs receipts. as well as
through its collections from internal Tev@nue-
The availa BILE cash balance now in the treas
ury is ST.. 46S. SIS OF this amount there IS
now in national bank repositories $l.R4i24Z4
~ l.
994.4J4 The amount Of money nov IL, IN ,,t, IN
Treasury available for al! purposes - - l-'Ftt-
454. from which amount. II We deduct S,'h~E.-
OO as necessary WORKING bal ihte Igr Ete
Treasury. shall have only S2l-Tt4.tft- 10
meet the demand on the Treasury growing OUT
of the Panama transa "tton. "ill"n VIII can t't
$JOCsDOOO. Il is tnerefore evident that either
the government must at once call for S2StSAe-
Uj1 from the banks. appropriate $JpO7IpS'
from the amount now in the Treasury, leave
a working balance Of only about S22,OpotN"
which must be supplemented by collections from
the various resources until the amount in the
Treasury shall be brought up TO S5ObOOOpo be
fore an appropriation can he made Tor any
other purpose. without infringing upon What
has generally been considered a proper working
balance viz. S-OCsDt4O It is therefore evident
ttonal money to denoSit with natlHTlil nanhS IuI
the next six eight months if. indeed: it shalI
have collected as much as S3nUoOO within
that time.
The amount now deposited with national
banks is S14;.I11.59S. f"r which the government
holds government BOMBS as security amounting
to about S121 nOnGOG. and about $22.0Oh00O OF
other bonds. The measure now submitted pro-
videS that the gov NTn7Ecnt may deposit any pub
lie money inCIudin, this S143.eDUD. with
national banks i'll asa exceeding in amount
~ per cent of the paid Ip ana UnirnPaired Capi-
tai of any nation Al h.Irik without exaCting gov
ernment or other bonds. hut the government
shall have first lien upon the assets OF such
bank and shall receive interest such deposits
at the rIte of > per cent per annum. payable
erlf-anruaIIy on the first days OF January and
July 1t will he seen that the effect Of this pro-
vision will he within the next few months, say.
certainly within a year. to release the total
ernmert deposits. viz. S125.0OO.OOO Of govern
nent bonds and So OOO.Ot of state and other
bonds now held ny the Treasury in addition
thereto rs security for such deposits. The bonds
so released may then he used by the banks for
further increasing their bond secured C1TCul1-
tion which will undoubtedly be much needed
during the coming fall months
II IS clear that the plan proposed is perfectly
safe and that if the rate Of interest had been
per cent and the accounts were brought down to
date the amount that the government would
have received during the last twenty -four years.
had the bill reported been in operation. would
have been nearly $5O.0OO.OOO. and the govern
ment would not have lost a cent.
The government should cease to be a dis
turbIng factor in our business affairs. 1t
this thought that moved our committee to fix
the rate of interest. instead Of allowing it to
decreased at the pleasure Of the Secretary.
circumstance that must necessarily result in In
tense rivalry. bitter criticism. and constantly
subject the Treasury to endless scandal