The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1907-12-05
NO MORE CURRENCY TIYKERINa.
Danger of Oyerdoin Emergency
PnlliaIiNes

Cldl CculcIS dlc TtJOlClilS OVER thc 5ON-
ernment's announcement of IN issue OF
S5O,OOO,O0O Of Panama canal per cent
bonds and S100,0OOOO0 of per cent
treasury certificates Like Messrs
Roosevelt and Cortelyou, the bankers
believe that the government will thus
unlock all the boards of idle cash, ana
restore it to trade channels, where 1t
can perform its customary functions
Confidence Is gradually revivlng, and
that is all there is needed 10 restore
business TO its Old-time activity. For
the psychological effect which Ii has
on the country the action OF. the Presi-
dent In thus providing for an immed.-
ate increase in the currency is justiha-
BILE.
But there is always danger of over
doing these financial palliatives. Emer-
gency measures of relief are often effec-
tive for the moment, but they some
times do harm after normal conditions
are restored. For this reason it is to
be hoped that the government VIII take
no further steps In the direction or In
creasing the currency eXcert through
an act OF Congress, and this will insure
intelligent discussion from all points of
view. The measures which the Presl-
dent has announced will accomplish
their immediate purpose. winch was =
coax the boarded currency out OF Its
hiding places. But when all Of it gets
back into trade channels there Will be
TOO much of it. We will have gained
$I0OO0,OOO in gold BY the time that the
metal already ordered gets to New
York. This gold, coupled with the new
currency which will be created by the
measures announced by the government
will put the volume of the circulation
far above the needs of legitimate trade.
Our currency was sufficient, until the
recent scare and boarding began, 10
meet all demands OF the exchanges, ard
trade was more active then than Ii Is
likely to be for the next two or three
months, until confidence is fully reStor-
ed. An immediate effect of a Iedundan-
cy in currency viii be that the gold
which we have recently imported Will
all 20 back to Europe. Gold exporta-
ton always takes place when the cur
rency is inflated beyond the absorption
point in business. The $70,O00,0O0 of
currency which will drive out our $40,
100000 of gold would be poor ex-
change for us in this or any other exl-
gency.
When, just after the Jay Cooke fall
ure in September, 1873, and the general
financial CONFUSION which started at
that time President Grant was appear
ed to by the New York bankers to re-
issue the 100000 greenbacks which,
several years earlier, Secretary McCCi-
loch had retired and Cancelled, he refus
ed In carrying out the purpose of the
wartime legislators to retire the green-
backs as soon as possible, So as to re-
sum- gold and silver payments by the
treasury. McCulloch abolished as mucn
Of that currency as he could safely do,
and Grant refused to reissue 1t. Con-
traction was resorted TO in order 10
make resumption of specie payments
easier when Congress could DC induced
TO PASS q resumption act, and Grant
wanted resumption at the earliest pos
sible hour. The panic melted Congress
to pass a bill in April, 1874, which
would have added about $44,OO0,OO0
to the currency, but Grant vetoed it be-
cause he believed ii would delay re-
sumption. The financial scare was far
more acute in those days than ii is nov,
and the danger was UNNECESSARILY
greater. Grant, however. refused TO be
stampeded by the clamor fo- more cur
rency. A little of this frmness will De
in order for Mr. Roosevelt III this exi-
gency. No harm has been done thus
far by anything which the PresideDl
has countenanced. The money is being
coaxed out of its hiding places, and
when it gets back into its old channels
it will be abundant enough for all leGit-
innate purposes. The Panama canal
bonds, though not needed now, will be
needed some time. The treasury certifI-
not legal tender, so that they will be
retired twelve months hence. when in
terest ON them ceases. In the meantime
the treasury will send money to the
financial centers in the West and South.
wherever it is needed. A permanent
requirement is to make our currency
more elastic. and this Is a task which
Congress can attend to at IFS leisure
this winter-St. Louis Globe-Democrat
Conditions Reversed.
Will those editors who have been
worrying themselves sick and their
readers tired over the bugaboo of ex-
port discount prices please publish the
following New York dispatch and add
an honest comment?
".All records In the price of rails hith-
erto sold for export were broken Sat
urday, when the United States Prod
ucts Export Company, which takes care
of the foreign business of the United
States Steel Corporation, closed a cable
contract from the administration OF
the Japanese government railways call
ing for the shipment of 1900 tons on
q basis which will net just a shade be-
low $50 a ton at the mills. Shis is
nearly 50 ton in excess of the exist
ing price for rails intended for con
sumption in the United States. This
unprecedented figure IS to be paid to
assure prompt delivery"
Quite recently it has been urged that
the tariff should be reduced because we
sold an occasional bill of goods abroad
at lower than domestic prices. Perhaps
| ii will now be contended that the tariff
should be reduced because American
products bring q higher price abroad
| than at home.
DO Not Depend ON the Tariff.
1t is time to han il understood that
| the creation of nlUAOpolistic cOmbina-