Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1908-01-09
WASHINGTON LETTER.
IRON OUR REGULAR CORRESPONDENT.
WASHINGTON, D. c., JAN. 4TH

(TRoM OUR REGULAR CORRESPONDENT
WASHINGTON, D. c., JAN. 18th
Congress is talking currency. How
long it will be before talk is translated
into action, nobody can tell. The
Senate is working on one currency
bill and the House on another. The
Senate bill probably will be the ono
to be passed. The House leaders say
that arrangements have been made tc
PASS the Senate bill with slight
amendments. But these slight
amendments may very easily be Vita
and they probably will involve end
less talk, so there is not much hope
for completed bill inside of weeks OF
months.
= The chief differences between the
House and the Senate over currency
measure are the quality OF bonds that
may be accepted by the Treasury
from the banks as the basis OF note
circulation. The more radical men,
bers favor accepting certain classes OF
railroad and industrial bonds as Sc
curity for bank note circulation. This
would of course include state and
municipal bonds as well as govern
ment bonds. The most conservative
members are in favor of accepting
nothing but government bonds as the
guarantee of note circulation and there
is a middle class some of whom would
accept state bonds and others munich
pal bonds as well. The chances are
that the compromise will be found in
accepting state bonds. If the door is
open to municipal and industrial
bonds, it is hard to draw the line
and the government might easily get
loaded down with a lot of indigcstiblc
securities that were put out simply to
float note circulation ami for no other
purpose,
When it has been arranged that the
banks are to be allowed to issue emer-
gency currency to meet pressing de-
mands, the question will arise as to
how to force this note issue out of
circulation when it is no longer need
ed. The natural way to do this
would be by a government tax that
would be heavy enough to induce the
banks to retire the extra notes when
they were not really needed. There
will be a lot of discussion over fixing
the amount of this tax. The ma or
ity opinion seems to be that it will be
made about eight per cent. But this
has not been settled any more than
have any of the other features of the
bill. 1t might be a good scheme and
may be suggested to the Senate to
give the Secretary of the Treasury
power to fix the amount of the note
tax. Thus the tax could be made
heavier as the department saw there
was reason for the retirement, and
could be kept light when there was
urgent need of the issue and when
the banks needed all their money
without putting much of it into a
government tax. This would be
rather like the Bank of England's
variable rate of discount and could be
made to regulate the money market
as no automatically arranged tax
could do.
There is great rejoicing in the Taft
camp over the outcome in Ohio. Sec
rotary Taft SEEM to have won out at
every point. The primaries for the
election of delegates to the national
conventional will be held when the
Taft men choose, and it really Looks
as though Senator Foraker might be
led at the Taft chariot wheels to make
a Roman holiday if the Secretary only
gave the word. He will not give the
word, it is pretty well understood,
but the outcome of the state conven-
ton is very pleasing to him and to
his supporters and is looked upon as
going far toward assuring his success
in the National Convention.
There is good deal of talk over
the Philippine tariff and one of the