Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-03-03
FAVOR FOWLER BILL
MEMBERS HOUSE COMMITTEE
REPORT MEASURE. /.
Would Return Immediately to circu-
lation Money Collected From Gus
toms and internal Revenue-Would
Give Relief From Money stringency.

washington, u. ~. s!MdTCQ, G.-by
strict party vote of to the house
committee on banking and currency
authorized favorable report on the
Fowler bill introduced in the house
Saturday, providing for means of in
creasing the amount of available cur,
rency and as a safeguard against a.
stringency in the money market during.
the late summer and fall when the
demand for cash for the movement of
crops is exceedingly large. In report
ing the bill the committee says:
In addition to providing for the
sue and circulation of national bank
notes, the object of this measure is to
Immediately put back into circulation
any money the government may collect
through its customs receipts, as well
well as through its collections from in
ternal revenue:
The available cash balance now in
the treasury is tS222 ASSISTS. OF this
amount there Is now in the national
bank repositories s150.472, asa, leaving
a net balance in the treasury of ST.
994, Asa. The amount of money now in
the treasury available for all purposes
is $71,994,454 from which amount, if
We deduct S500OG000 as a necessary
working balance for the treasury we
shall have only $21 1894, ,454 to meet the
demand on the treasury growing out
of the Panama transaction, which will
call for $50,000,000.
What New Measure Will Do.
The amount now. deposited with
national banks is SLAB, Ill ,59S for which
the government holds government
bonds as security amounting to about
S125,000,000 and about S22,000,000 of
other bonds. The measure now sub
mitted provides that the government
may deposit any public money, in
Guiding this S143,000,800 with nation
al banks, in no case exceeding in
amount rs per cent of the paid up and
unimpaired capital of any national
bank, without exacting government or
other bonds, but the government shall
have a first lien upon the assets OF
such bank and shall receive interest
on such deposits at the rate of per
| cent per anum, payable serni-a nnualls
on the first days 1of January and July
| ut will be seen that, the effect of
this provision will be, within the next
few months, say certainly within d
year, to release the total amount OIL
bonds now deposited to secure govern
ment deposits-viz: $125,000,000 of
government bonds and $22,000.000 OF
state and other bonds now held by the
| treasury in addition thereto, as secur-
| ity for such deposits. The bonds so
released may then be used by the
banks for further increasing their
bond secured circulation, which will
undoubtedly be much needed during
the coming fall months.
Proposed Plan Is Safe.
1t is clear that the plan proposed is
perfectly safe, and that if the rate OF
interest had been two 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 been in opera
| ton, would have been nearly $4,000,
! 600, and the government would moi
| have lost cent.
4 THE government should cease to be
a disturbing factor in our business af
| fairs 1t was this thought that moveG
your committee to fix the rate of in
terest instead of allowing it to be in
1 creased or decreased at the pleasure ol
i the secretary, a circumstance that
must necessarily result in intense ri
/ valry, bitter criticism, and constantly
subject the treasury to endless scan
i dal"