The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-08-20
ANOTHER CURRENCY JOKER.


Tho efforts of the Treasury depart
mcnt to get the National banks to Join
themselves in emergency currency asso
Citations do not seem to prosper. Until
within the past two months there was
no currency association formed by the
banks anywhere except in the District
of Columbia Then, in response to an
urgent plea of the Treasury Depart
ment to help it out of the hole it had
fallen into, the New York banks
formed currency association also, and
there was talk of such associations be-
in~ formed In Baltimore and Philadel-
phia. The reason why the Treasury De.
partment was SO anxious to have this
done was that in antlci patton of the
formation of such associations tho Sec
retary of the Treasury had gone for
ward and printed some five hundred
million dollars of emergency currency,
and gone to the. expense of changing
some thirty thousand plates for print
ing notes of the various banks, and
had thus incurred an expense for which
it was extremely desirous Of showing
some corresponding results.
The reluctance of the banks to enter
into these associations was, first. be-
cause of the fact that there was no
way provided in the law, and there ap-
peared to be no way In fact, for them
to get out of such associations once
they had entered into them; and, sec
ond. small bank in such an associa-
tion would have an equal voice with
the largest bank in it in debating what
the association should do. And now,
after the New York banks have formed
their association, third joker is found
in the bill, this being a provision that
the banks shall deposit ten per cent of
the emergency circulation issued to
them with the Treasury in Washing
ton,
The general scheme Of the Act is that
the banks in the different banking asso-
Citations may deposit with the Treas
urer of the United States, public sc.
curities that are approved by the Sec
retary, receiving ninety per cent Of the
par value of such securities in emer-
gency currency. They will be allowed
also seventy-6ve per cent of emergency
currency on the par value of other
than public securities that are approved
for this purpose by the Secretary of
the Treasury. And now it seems that
they must deposit ten per cent of this
emergency currency with the Treas"
urer, in addition to the securities speci-
fed. The banks will get, when the final
discounts arc reckoncd. eighty~one per
cent Of the face value of approved
public securities and sixty-seven and
one half per cent of the par value Of
other approved securities,
This appears to bring the emergency
currency proposition to another stand
still The point having been got over
that a bank could not withdraw from
the association and way provided for
it to do so, which point prevented the
formation of emergency currency asso-
Citations for upwards of two years, now
comes this ten per cent deposit propo-
sition which makes the banks repent
that they formed any association at all,
and will prevent them from Offering any
securities for deposit or demanding any
emergency currency. None of this emer-
gency currency has been applied for so
far, and this ten per cent deposit re.
quirement of the law will undoubtedly
be an eiiectual stopper upon any re
quest of any bank OF currency associa-
tion for this currency, either now or
at any future time.