The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1907-11-14
WASHINGTON


Washington, D. c., Nov. IL, 1907.
Now that the worst of the fnan-
cial panic is past, the banks appear
to be doing just what they have
been blaming their depositors for
doing, namely, accumulating gold
and keeping it out of circulation by
locking it up. This matter has
been brought to tue attention of the
Treasury Department and it may
result in measures being taken to
force the banks to make cash pay
ments under penalty of having their
deposits of Government money
withdrawn. The whole trouble in
the financial world has been lack
of confidence coupled with lack
of ready coin. Business has grown
far beyond the possibility of the
cash in hand going round The
result has been that checks, drafts,
and securities of one sort and
another have been substituted for
actual cash. This was all right
when they were backed by actual
values i'll crops, manufactures, or
manufacturing plants. The trouble
came when some bank depositors
got frightened and demanded i'm
mediate and actual money pay
mentS. Then it was found that
many banks, while perfectly sol
vent. did not have coin enough for
their immediate use. AS soon as
confidence wds restored and the
runs checked, everyone got along
quite as we'll with paper credit as
they would have with actual gold.
The Government came to the res
cue with about So, 900, 900 of ex-
ira deposits i'll National Banks and
urged the banks to increase their
note circulation to the legal limit.
Gold has beens imported and the
supply of money thus augmented.
But the Treasury is informed that
the banks have gone to the other
extreme and are locking up in their
vaults all the money they can get
hold of, and forcing their customers
TO do business with credit checks
and similar fiat currency that may
be deposited in their banks but not
drawn against for actual cash. The
Comptroller OF the Currency has
advised the withdrawal of Govern
ment Funds from banks that are
thus unfairly boarding gold, the
chances are that this threat will be
enough to make the banks loosen
up.
The Treasury itself has taken
step of questionable expediency in
refusing to make public any more
national bank failures. This has
always been matter of legitimate
information and such failures were
posted daily in the Treasury De-
partment for the benefit of newspa-
per correspondents and others IN
terested. Information as to such
failures was freely given out. 1t is
claimed, however, that the publica-
ton of such news tends to destroy
public confidence, so this avenue of
information has been closed. Of
course the failures cannot be con-
cealed and it merely means putting
the newspaper correspondents to
some inconvenience and getting the
information from unofficial instead
of official sources. Such conceal.
ment is not at all in line with
American policy and is calculated
to do more harm than good.
~
There was an accident in the De-
partment of Agriculture last week
the effects of which will be felt by
many of the farmers of the country.
The seed distributing warehouse of
the Department whence the seeds
were distributed each year was
burned and almost the entire stock
on hand was destroyed. The actu-
al loss amounts to about $Ioo, 900,
but the practical loss will be much
greater. OF course there were many
common varieties of seeds and there
has been long and heated discussion
as to whether any good was done
by the distribution of such seed
through the members of Congress.
But leaving this distribution out of
the question there were many other
varieties of seeds, the loss of which
will be keenly felt. The Depart
ment has been working for years
OH plant breeding much after the