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OCTOBER 9, 1903.
tion based on United States bonds thUB released.
Wo are reminded that that was the policy adopted
by Mr. Shaw fast year. Is it not strange that Mr.
Shew abandons that policy this year at the very
time when the newspaper dispatches reveal the
fact that national banks are retiring their bank
notes in such large amounts and numbers that
the limit of the amount retired within any one
ir.cuth $3,000.000 Is very nearly reached dur
ing this period. "
If while the financiers are clamoring for an
increase in the volume of currency through the
asset currency iciite, they "retire the bank note
circulation on the government bond plan to such
an extent thac business mon will become so em
barrassed that they may bj persuaded to urge
their ccngrossnjr-n to vote for the asset currency
scheme for the sake of "business interests" then
it mp,y be possible for the asset advocates to work
up quite a sentiment in favor of their unholy
Scheme.
The retirement of the bank notes issued on
governniGnt bonds may hae largo effect"" in push
ing throigh tne asset currency measurje; and if
that shall be the result, Secretary Shaw, who
seems to have great legislative powers within
himsplf, will r'.oubtless be able to look after the
AlrlrlclT bill by arbitrarily putting into effect the
provisions of tl.at measure.
JJJ
A Valuable Admission.
The Chicago Chronicle has found it impossi
ble to ignore the rise in the price of silver. In a
lucid interval the editor of that paper has ad
mitted the contention of bimetalliBts a conten
tion heretofore disputed by the advocates of the
gold standard, namely, that legislation increasing
the use of silver increases the price of silver. One
ultra-advocate of the gold standard announced a
few yeaTs ago in answer to a question, that if all
the nations of the world wee to remonetize silver
it would not increase its ?.ice, and that if all
the nations of the world were to demonetize gold
it would not decrease its price.
The Chronicle however, not only points out
the affect of the recent legislative demand on the
price of silver, but it argues that a further rise in
the price of silver will bring a suspension of the
legislative demand in Japan and Russia, and even
in India, and thus "stop the rise."
The editorial will be found on another page, and
is worth reading, not because the doctrine pre
sented is new, but because it is an acknowledge
ment 'from an unexpected source of a very plain,
principle That ho value of silver depends upon
the law of supply and demard is understood by all,
but that legislation can create a demand for silver
is a thing which the advocates of tho gold stand
ard have strenuously denied. When it is once ad
mitted that legislation can create a demand for
silver the man who admits it must admit the pos
sibility of the maintenance of a parity between
gold and silver. Pie may insist that international
bimetallism is necessary, but ho can no longer
talk about the impossibility of maintaining the
parity.
JJJ
Preaching and Practice.
In a recently delivered speech Mr. Roosevelt
fiaid:
"I want to see mon decent; I want to see
them act squarely.
"You know-I am ory fond of Mr. Riis,
and the reason is that when I preach about
decent citizenship I can turn to him and think
be has practiced ju-t what I have been preach
ing. The worth of any sermon lies in the way
- in which that sermon caa be and is applied
in practice."
The Philadelphia Public Ledger, a republican
Paper, makes an. interesting comment on this ad
dress, under the head-line, "The President as a
Preacher." The Public Ledger says the people
tfill not tire of the sermonizing habit if Mr.
The Commoner.
Roosevelt "makes or moroly tries to mako a prac
tical application of these Uno principles." But
tho Public Ledger holas it to bo "as clear as day
that tho president of tho United States has no
warrant to go about the country urging the great
American peoplo, who aro round and decent, too,
in the main, to bo decent and patriotic and po
litically clean, if ho continues to strike hands with
Addicks of Delaware, or even permits his post
master general to use tho whol power of his ad
ministration for tho purpose of strengthening the
Addicks faction in Delaware. Wo say 'continue
for tho resignation of William Michael Byrne
from tho offlco of district attornoy of Delawaro
recalls the fact vividly enough L-.at it was tho
president who placed Byrne in tho position'
This republican newspaper throwB a bit of
light on Mr. Byrne when, it directs attontlon to
the fact that Byrne came Into notice as an antl
Addicks republican, and was given tho post of
district attorney as a member of the opposition
of that faction. In 1899 Mr. Byrne said:
"Tho party can and -ought to be united;
but any attempt to unite it by & corrupt bar
gain in advance, to give a senatorship to Ad
dicks, will bo Indignantly repudiated by all
who carry conscienco into the discharge of
their public duties."
Tho Public Ledger saya that after all this
Byrne "went over to the Afldicks camp, accepted
the nomination for congress from tho band and
served tho useful and vindictive purpose of de
feating the regulars and seating a democrat." The
Public Lodger expresses the wish that Mr. Roose
velt will bo strong enough to br.eak away from the
Addicks gang, but in tho event that Mr. Roose
velt continues to affiliate with that "gang" tho
Public Ledger says: "Lot us have no more ser
mons, say we."
Mr. Roosevelt ought to bo quite willing to
yield to the very reasonable demand made, by tho
Public Ledger; for it was Mr Roosevelt who said,
and we think ho has repeated the statement on
several occasions, "Words are good when backed
by deeds and only so."
But the editor of tho Public Ledger is not tho
only republican who is beginning to understand
that asan orator Mr. Roosevelt is given to ser
monizing while as a public official ho is not in
clined to back up his words by deeds.
JJJ
Manipulating Bank Currency.
The Now York Times is a little alarmed at
the manner in which the banks are manipulating
the bank currency. In a recent editorial the
Times says:
"Tho policy of retiring notes at a moment
when the cry is that more notes are needed
would appear to be illogical and unbusiness
like. On tho, surface appearances are so much
against the banks that Mr. Bryan, for in
stance, in case he should interest himself in
the question, would be able to mako a state
ment to an audience wbica the most skillful
expounder among the bankers would find It
exceedingly hard to controvert. An advocate
of free silver coinage or government paper
money would boldly declare that the banks
retire their notes in order to keep up the
money rate; that their profecced de ire for
larger liberty of issue Is insincere, their real
purpose being to make money scarce and
dear. Such a statement would seem pre
posterous if made to well-informed Len, but
put in a popular fashion and supported by
the facts by which Secretary Shaw justifies
his 'blacklist,' it would bo difficult to rerute
it in a way to carry general conviction.
"Tho simple truth is that the national
banks retire circulation in order to mako
money, and all of them, without any excep
tion whatever, were organized to make money.
When a national bank issues notes it de
posits in the treasury at Washington United
States government bonds. The bonds now
chiefly used for that purpose are the United
States 2 per cents. On August 7. United
States 2s wore quoted at 106 to 107. Not
long after that date Secretary Shaw announced
that he had discovered a lawful way to trans
fer a portion of the surplus representing in-
tornal rovonuc receipts from the troasury to
tho national banks in tho form of deposit.
Tho preferred security for these deposits is
government bonds. The first effect of tho
secretary's announcement was an advance in
tho quotation of tho 2 per cents. Tho re
corded price Saturday was 108 to 109, rop-
resenting an ndvanco of $20 on every thousand-dollar
bond as compared with quotations
a month ago. If n bank desired to got bonds
as a basis for deposits from the internal rev
onuo recolpts, its managers might concJudo
that tho cheapest way to got them was to
take their own bonds from tho treasury by
retiring circulation; or, thoy might decide
to retire their notes and soli tho bonds for
tho sako of tho profit at the higher prlco. In
cither case they would be governed merely by
tho unlvorsal business considerations of flnan
cinl advantage. They would make money for
tho bank's stockholders."
The above Is Interesting, coming as It does
from a paper so thoroughly devoted to the Inter
ests' of Wall street. Tho fact that tho banks aro,
In business for the monoy there Is In It ought to
bo apparent to all, but tho banks are rogarded as
patriotic and charitable institutions by so many
peoplo that It is necessary 'o produce admissions
Hko the abovo to opon'tl(y eyes of those who
havo been deluded. Tho flexible currency that is
so much talked about is a curroncy that the banks
can control. If the power of tho banks to ex
pand and contract the curroncy is limited by law
it ceases to bo flexible except within the limits
provided by tho law. If a government official Is
given control over the issuo and retirement of
bank notes, then tho flexibility depends upon tho
Judgment of tho official. Flexibility means that
some person or persons Bhall havo power to de
termine tho volumo of paper money. Where shall
this power be located? In tho banks? If so, we
must expect tho banks to use It for their own pe
cuniary advantage without regard to the welfara
of the public. Is the power to bo vested in con
gress? Then why not retire the bank notes and
substitute greenbacks, leaving congress to de
termine the volume? If the power is to bo vested
in a treasury official, thon why not substituto -greenbacks
for bank notes and give tho treasury
official the authority to determine, within certain
limits, tho amount of greenbacks to bo issued or
withdrawn? No argumont can be made in favor
of a bank currency except t at.lt is a good thing
for tho banks. When tho peoplo understand, as
they ought to now, that the banks have been run
ning the government In their own interest without
at all considering tho interest of the public, there
will bo a revolution in public sentiment that will
prevent a longer surrender to the banks of tne
government's sovereign right to issue and control
the volume of paper monoy.
JJJ
1892 Again.
Some of the gold papers are still harping
upon Mr. Bryan's vote for Weaver In 1892. Tho
election of 1896 showed that Mr. Weaver was a
better democrat than Mr. Cleveland, but it is not
necessary to fall back upon this fact to justify
the action taken by the democrats of Nebraska in
1892. The democratic electors only polled 24,94.1
votes in Nebraska in 1892, while .the republican
electors polled 87,218, and the populist electors
82134. If the vote represented the party division
in' tho state as it then existed, tho republicans had
a plurality of more than 62,000 over the demo
crats, while the republican plurality over tho
populist vote was only 4,902. In tho face of theso
figures it must bo admitted that the democrats
very wisely attempted to defeat the republicans by
voting the populist ticket with the hope of throw
ing the election into tho house of representatives
(where the democrats had a clear majority), or,
if the gold bugs refuse to accept that interterpre
tatlon of it, they must admit that Nebraska's pro
test against Mr. Cleveland was a very forcible one,
even as far back as 1892. If the friends of Mr.
Cleveland will compare his vote in Nebraska in
1888 with his vote in 1892 thoy will be glad to
find some explanation that will account for tho
tremendous shrinkage. The actual explanation aa
well as the most reasonable' one is that the na
tional committee advised the democrats of Ne
braska, as It did tue democrats of several other
western states, to vote for the populist electors
with the hop of securing tb 1 election of a demo
cratic president in the house of representatives In
case no candidate had a majority in the electoral
.college.
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