The Washington herald., 1913-10-16
New York and Washington.

a financial relation of magnitude has
been established and maintained for
many years, and it is one which no
reasonable legislation can impair. What
that relation is can speedily be learned
by any one who visits the New York
clearinghouse and who upon the
same day calls upon the Collector OF
Customs at New York or the Assistant
Treasurer of the United States at the
subtressury of New York and also
. spend an hour or two in the New
y York postoffice
The New York custom-house is
: the greatest single revenue producer
which the government has. The sub
treasury at New York is the instru-
mentality or furnishes the machinery
by means of which large government
obligations arc paid or government
J revenues TO some extent are collected.
The New York postofice is the great
clearing house for the money-order
system of the United States, sharing
that responsibility with San Francisco.
1t is the greatest postal revenue pro-
ducer in the United States.
i. These three departments of the gov
ernment, so to speak, which are To-
y, =. Gated in New York maintain daily and
- constantly increasing relations with the
New York Clearing House Associa
- ton. The importer who pays the du-
tics upon commodities which he has
bought in other lands and which arc
shipped to him at New York docs this
usually by means of a check or draft
{: upon his own bank Sooner or later
that check reaches the New York
clearinghouse. 1t adds to the total
of the daily transactions carried on in
= the clearinghouse The New York
postofficc is authorized to make de-
posts in New York banks. and the
drafts with which the postmaster meets
the demands OF the government in one
form or another are represented by
clearinghouse transactions.
As long as the. greater part of the
p importationS upon which customs du-
ties are levied and paid are received
at New York Harbor and are accounted
for by the New York custom-house.
lthere will be intimate fiscal and hnan-
cial relations between the government
= and New York City.
.H. For many years, since Martin Van
Buren's day in the Presidency, the sub
treasury in New York has had daily
: transactions with the clearinghouse,
sometimes as high as several million
The aggregate of yearly trans
actions between the subtreasury and the
clearinghouse is many million dollars.
!. Furthermore it has been the custom
4 tof the government, or was for years
x the custom, TO arrange with New York
? bankers for the payment of govern
-ment obligations, particularly interest
upon bonds which represented the in
Is dcbtedncss OF the United States 10 the
people of other lands. Twice within
Z, the past twenty years the government
and the influential bankers of New
iKsYork entered into agreement by means
= OF which the payment of obligations
: against the United States-in one case
in gold and in another
100000 in gold, both held in foreign
lands-were completed through the
agency of these bankers.
9 1t has sometimes been said that those
who have framed the banking and cur
rency bill which Congress is now con-
sidering have been anxious to draft a
measure which would limit or restrain
the concentration of financial power in
New York City. One of the witnesses
before the Senate committee is quoted
as having intimated that no measure
could be drafted which would check
the normal and proper concentration
OF financial authority and resources in
New York City, for it was inconceiv-
able that Congress would adopt meas
ure which had this purpose in view.
If such measure were adopted the
inevitable effects of it would be more
seriously felt in other parts of the
country than in New York City.
s But what this witness meant when
he spoke in these words was no more
! than this-that the establishment of the
custom-house at New York and the
collection there of the magnificent Gus
! toms revenues upon importations re-
ceived at New York and, in a less de-
gree, the maintenance at New York of
postofice system which serves as the
clearinghouse for the greater part of
the money orders issued by postohices
in the United States. as well as the
: maintenance of the subtreasury system
-