The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-03-10

IN cash during the week slo1766oo most
Z Of which was due to operations with the the
su,,.Treast,ry; which gained heavily OF,
the bank operations custom payments
and Internal tevenue collections having
been very large. I#i4s5a 81 n
The United stntes Treasury has no need
for this money; the governments mas ma g
moro money than Is necessary 70 carry mr.
on Its affairs, but urder our wretcneu
sys tenn II {ls drawr, out Of circulation and
there Is no convenient way OF gettlng
1t back into the channels of trade ms
sort or thing has been gong on lot years. ears
and every now aud then the Secretary
Of the Treasury is compelled to resort "
all sorts of devices anticipating interest,",
buying In bonds, anticipating pension
payments. and so on, In order to get r1d
Of the surplus and prevent 1na1'clal
stringency on the outside. N,
The. drain has been especially severe
during the past several weeks, and mus
1t was that Senator Aldrich attempted
to get through his billto authorize the
Secretary OF the Theas,1ry to deposit
this money Ii the banks upon satlsfac-
tory collateral Under the provisions OF
the bill severy safeguard was thrown ''l
around the government deposits, and the
government was to receive not less thah
11-2 per cent. interest on such deposits.
But for reasons best known to Them
selves, most OF the Democratic Senator'S
were opposed to 1t, and the bill was killed
of. II 575as
AS we have more than once said, the
lAldrich bill was q mere temporary ex-
pedient, but It was Il necessary cxpedi-
eint, and In our$ opinion it was 4 great
mistake for the Democrats to have
choked It to! death. " They were not COM
PEELED to4vote for IT, even though tho bill
had been put Oh Its passage. They might
have voted against Ut and still have let
IT go through, and let the; responsibility
BIO on the Republicans. H
For tho timo being there is q pinch
in the money market and the Democrats
are getting the blame for It. We do not
write this in a complaining spirit. but 1t
seems to us well enough to call the at
tention Of Democrats to the fact that 1t
would be mistake for the party to put
itself in the attitude OF hostility to the
financial interests Of the land. 1t Is
right for the Democratic party to look
after the interests OF the people first OF
all; to regulate corporations. and all that
but there is no & sense in defeating
measure like the Aldrtch bill simply and
solely because some people had the idea
that 1t was q bill in the interest Of the
banks. The bill was not in the Interest
of the banks, but in the interest Of the
people. Something was said during the
discussion with regard to Wall Street
spectators. but this money-pinch has
not come through speculation, for specu-
laton has been very tame during the
past several months. There Is, during
this active period, an enormous demand
for money in carrying on the great
transactions Of the day, and In such an
emergency 1t is shameful that the gov
ernment should be withdrawing money
from the people when the government
does not need It. and so gripping the
people in their business affairs.
But a lesson has been learned. or
should have been learned. It IS quite
slain that the system should be SO
radically changed as to prevent the pos
sibllity Of government surplus, and TO
give the people an elastic currency, insde-
pendent Of the government which will
respond naturally to the demands OF the
trade. II this shall be the final outcome.
tho defeat OF the Aldrich bill will be
blessing In. disguise.
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES ---- NM / r