6 Conservative.
certificates were issued instead. It was
provided in the act that any holder of
silver dollars might deposit them in
sums of not less than $10 with the
United States treasurer or assistant
treasurer , and receive certificates for
them in denominations of not less than
$10 , which was later made to include
denominations of $ ! , $2 and $5 by the
act of August 4 , 188(5. (
By the act of July 14 , 1890 , which
succeeded the act of February 28 , 1878 ,
and commonly
The Slicrinan Act. . , .
k n o w n as the
"Sherman Act , " the secretary of the
treasury was directed to purchase four
million five hundred thousand ounces of
silver bullion each month at the market
price , and to issue treasury notes in such
denominations as ho might prescribe
from $1 to $1.000 , in payment. These
notes were to be reedeerned in coin and
be receivable for all public dues , and
when so received might be reissued , but
no greater or less amount of them were
to bo "outstanding at any time than the
cost of the silver bullion and the stand
ard silver dollars coined therefrom , then
held in the treasury purchased by such
notes. " The further issue of these notes
was suspended by the repeal of the
purchasing clause of the act , November
1 , 1898 , those outstanding being re
issued when redeemed in gold or in pay
ment of dues to the government , and re
tired when redeemed in silver dollars.
National bank notes are issued under
the act of June 3 , 18G4 , and subsequent
amendatory acts. The banks are re
quired to deposit as security United
States registered bonds with the treas
urer at "Washington , and they are
entitled to issue circulating notes to. the
amount of 90 per cent of the par value
of the bonds deposited , the maximum
amount of which is not to exceed the
amount of the capital stock of the bank.
While there is no limit to the amount
the banks may issue by complying with
the requirements of the law , the limit
having been abolished in 1875 , yet the
conditions are such as to operate re-
etrictively , so that the aggregate issue
of the banks at present amounts to but
a small part less than one-half what
the law will permit in proportion to
their capital stock. In commenting on
the circulation issue of the banks in his
last annual report , Comptroller Eckels
says : "Between the competition of the
government note issues on the one hand
and the unnecessary restrictions im
posed by law upon the other , together
with the increasing price of bonds re
quired to be deposited as security , the
note-issuing function of the banks has
been permitted to become merely an
incident to the conduct of the nationa
banking associations of the country. "
Gold certificates were first authorized
by the act of March 8 , 1808 , which
authorized the secretary of the treasury
to receive deposits of gold coin and
bullion in sums of not less than $20
aud to issue certificates therefor in
denominations of not less than $20. This
) ractice was discontinued by order of
; he secretary January 1 , 1879 , so as to
u'evont the holders of United States
lotes from presenting them for redemp
tion in gold , and redepositing the gold
for gold certificates. Their reissue was
directed by the act of July 12 , 1882 , but
which provided that "the secretary of
the treasury shall suspend the issue of
gold certificates whenever the amount
of gold coin and gold bullion in the
; reasury , reserved for the redemption of
United States notes , falls below one
hundred millions of dollars. " Accord-
ug to the annual report of the director
of the mint , the subsidiary coins are
made from silver contained in and
separated from the gold bullion de
posited at the mints , its purchase for
this purpose being authorized by the act
of February 12 , 1878 ( section 8545 , Re
vised Statutes ) and their increase is
restricted to the amount of silver so
obtained.
The amount of minor coins five 'and
one cent pieces that may be issued is
not specifically limited , but the act of
February 12,1878 ( Sec. 8529 , Rev. Stat. )
requires that the secretary of the treas
ury shall cease their coinage until other
wise ordered , whenever the amount of
them presented for redemption shows
that they have become redundant.
These are the different kinds of money
we handle in our every-day transactions ,
and also the most pertinent features of
the acts of congress under which they
are issued. Congress derives its power
to make the laws governing the issue of
money from section 8 of article 1 of the
constitution , in the words "to coin
money and regulate the value thereof. "
Hence any changes that may be desired
in the monetary system of the country
must obviously come from a congress in
sympathy with the changes desired.
The change that is at present particular
ly urged , and which is an issue between
the two leading political parties , is from
the present standard of value , gold , to
that of silver and gold at the particular
ratio of 1C to 1. It has assumed the
form of an educational discussion , and
we may hope the ultimate result will be
for the best interests of the country re
gardless of party or section.
L. D. MITCHELL.
Brattleboro , Vt.
EXPERIENCED
STATESMANSHIP.hls massive narra
tive of facts con
cerning * the Filipino involvement
showed the great value of that dis
cipline of mind which the German
schools insist upon as to analytical aru
cogent statement. There is no publiois
in America who from his study , ex
perience , sincerity and fidelity to truth
could give a better or more exact state
meut of the anti-imperialist vie\ys and
policies of those citizens of the United
States who disapprove McKinley's
breign policy.
In speaking of the treaty about which
General Vifquain recently wrote and
which treaty the general declared was
saved from non-ratification and defeat
by a charge of great gallantry led against
recusant senators by Colonel Bryan , Mr.
Schurzsays : "No wonder that treaty
'ound opposition in the senate. Virulent
abuse was heaped upon the 'statesmen
who would oppose the ratification of a
peace treaty. ' A peace treaty ? This
was no pence treaty at all. It was a
with half-a-dozen in
reaty - - bloody wars
ts belly. It was , in the first place , an
open and brutal declaration of war
against our allies , the Filipinos , who
struggled for freedom and independence
'rom foreign rule. Every man not
totally blind could see that. For such a
; reaty the true friends of peace could ,
of course , not vote. "
It is a pity that General Schurz should
; hus differ from an aged , experienced
and learned leader like Colonel Bryan.
Oh ! ye loved ones , that already sleep
.11 the noiseless bed of rest , whom in life
[ could only weep for and never help ;
and ye who still toil lonely in the
monster-bearing desert , dyeing the
Sinty ground with your blood yet a
little while and we shall meet There ,
and our mother's bosom will screen us
all ; and oppression's harness and ser
row's fire whip , and all the Gehenna
bailiffs that patrol and inhabit ever
vexed time , can not thenceforth harm
us any more. Carlyle.
Immigration of
SOME FACTS. .
foreigners into the
United States seems to be drawing
toward its end ; the population of our
country has advanced at a less rate in
the last five years than ever before re
corded. We who are here , however , are
doing well ; we bought 80 per cent less
of other nations' goods in 1898 than in
1893 , while we sent abroad $400,000,000
worth more. The increase in consump
tion of raw material by our manufactur
ing industries , also , has amounted to 50
per cent in the same period. We are
raising more grain and less stock ; there
were ten million more acres under
cultivation in 1898 than in 1898 , and
twenty-five million head of live stock
less. There is $241,000,000 more gold in
circulation than five years ago , whereas
the silver and paper money have re
mained at the same point. This shows
quite plainly that the people at large
look upon gold as property , and consider
silver and paper as mere conveniences
for making change. This appears also
from the opposite state of things re
ported from the treasury , where the
surplus money , not wanted for actual
use , has piled up ; silver has increased
one-half more than gold. . This refers to
actual money , not to money in the sense
of wealth ; the wealth of the country is
t-V'v./ ' ; > ? " ' v. ' fl-
* > J . - . ' : ' , . " -Vi- . 1 ( /I .
