ISSUE OF ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE 
 MILLION DOLLARS OF TREASURY NOTES. 
 
 STATEMENT 
 
 ey 1. MCEA UIREN, 
 
 OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 
 
 IN THE 
 
 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 
 
 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1893. | 
 
 WASHINGTON. 
 
 1893. 
 
Issue of One Hundred and Twenty-five Million Dollars of Treas= 
 ury Notes. 
 
 
 
 STATEMENT 
 or 
 
 HON. J. L. McLAURIN, 
 
 OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 
 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 
 
 Wednesday, October 4, 1898. 
 
 On joint resolution (H.Res. 15) authorizing the issuing of $125,000,000 of 
 Treasury notes under the acts of 1862 and 1863, as follows: 
 
 “Whereas failures, bankruptcy, and business distress are witnessed 
 throughout every section of the United States in consequence of an inade- 
 quate volume of currency tomaintain equitable prices and make necessary 
 exchanges; and 
 
 “Whereas under present statute laws the Secretary of the Treasury has 
 ample authority to issue United States notes in sufficient quantity torelieve 
 the present financial stringency: Therefore, 
 
 “ Resolued by the Senate and House of epresentatives of the United States of 
 America in Congressassembled, That $25,000,000 of United States notes issued 
 
 ‘under the several acts of 1862 and 1863 be, and the same are hereby, declared 
 lost or destroyed, and the Secretary of the Treasury is directed to credit the 
 | redemption account with said amount. \ 
 
 “mMhat the Secretary of the Treasury at once cause to be prepared, signed, 
 and delivered to the Treasurer of the United States $125,000,000 of United 
 States notes as authorized by the acts of 1862 and 1863, the same to be credited 
 to the general fund andto pay current expenses: Provided, That the amount 
 So issued shall not exceed $450,000,000, the amount authorized to be issued 
 under the several acts of 1862 and 1863.” 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN said: 
 
 Mr. SPEAK®R: I avail myself of the indulgence of the House, 
 and submit a recent argument made before the Committee on 
 Banking and Currency: 
 
 Mr. CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN OF THE COMMITTEE: It is 
 with a good deal of diffidence that I appear before the Banking 
 and Currency Committee to submit any resolution upon the 
 financial question, as I appreciate my own inexperience and 
 ignorance upon many questions which go to make up our finan- 
 cial system. All the more so, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, be- 
 cause I feel that this committee is not likely to look with favor 
 upon the propositionwhichI havesubmitted. Atthe same time 
 Lappreciate the spirit of fairness and courtesy which prompted 
 you to set aside a portion of your valuable time in which to give 
 me a hearing, and [ shall not impose upon your good nature. I 
 feel that no gentleman upon this committee expects or needs 
 enlightenment from me upon what is the purpose, effect, and 
 scope of this resolution. 
 
 541 Bia 8) 
 
4 
 
 I listened with a great deal of interest to the able argument of 
 Mr. OATES yesterday,and1 am convinced that ifsome scheme of 
 the kind which was proposed by him could be put intooperation 
 that, a3 a permanent thing, it would be greatly to the advan- 
 tage of our Southern people, but in proposing this resolution I 
 had an eye to something which woul beimmediate. The need, 
 however, for legislative action of this character is not so great 
 now as it was a few weeks ago when the resolution was intro- 
 duced, because there has been a revival in business conditions 
 in the South and elsewhere. ¢ 
 
 We were called together by the President in an extra session 
 to devise a speedy means of relief for the great stringency which 
 existed in the money market, and we were told that the cause of 
 the panic was the operation of the Sherman act, but contrary to 
 what was expected and predicted the business conditions have 
 improved each day as it becomes more and more apparent that 
 the Senate will not consent to the unconditional repeal of the 
 Sherman act. In some way the lost confidence of the business 
 world, about which we heard so much, seems to have been in a 
 measure restored by the nonaction of the Senate. 
 
 My purpose at the time in the introduction of this resolution 
 was to try and suggest some means to enable our people to mar- 
 ket their crops. There was witnessed every day in. nearly all 
 the towns of the cotton belt, the sight of wagons, loaded with 
 cotton being brought into the market and then driven back home, 
 not because there was no demand for that cotton, but because 
 there was no money with which to buy. In many sections of 
 the country, owing to the money famine, the banks associated 
 themselves together and issued clearing-house certificates. These 
 began to. circulate as money, and our people soon began to feel 
 the good effects of even a crude currency of that kind. Busi- 
 ness interests of all kinds began to brighten, and there was a 
 feeling of hopefulness everywhere. 
 
 After I received your invitation the other day to appear be- 
 fore your committee and speak upon this resolution, I wired 
 Governor Tillman to send me one of the clearing-house certifi- 
 cates, which some of your committee have already seen. It is 
 not necessary for me to take the trouble to read it, but I will in- 
 paises it in evidence, so that any one can see it. Itis as fol- 
 
 ows: 
 
 No. 1197. 6 
 COLUMBIA CLEARING HOUSE ASSOCIATION. 
 
 CERTIFIOATE. 
 
 CoLuUMBIA, S. C., August 19, 1893. 
 This certifies that the banks composing the ‘‘Columbia pet House 
 Association”? have deposited with the undersigned trustees of said Clearing 
 House Association, securities of the approved vaiue of seven yf dollars to 
 secure to the bearer hereof the sum of . 
 
 FIVE DOLLARS 
 
 aston any, of the United States. payable on or before the first day of Jan- 
 uary, ; 
 
 This certificate is issued in accordance with the proceedings of the “Co- 
 lumbia Clearing House Association,” at a meeting thereof held on the 19th 
 day of August, 1893; and is receivable for any and all dues to the banks 
 
 541 
 
5 
 
 which are members of said association, and is also receivable on deposit in 
 any of said banks, andalso in settlement of all balances due from one ofsaid 
 
 banks to another. 
 R. S. DESPORTES, 
 JOHN A. CRAWFORD, > Trustees. 
 W. J. MURRAY, ¢ 
 Countersigned: 
 C. M. TEw, 
 Secretary. 
 
 (Indorsed onback:) Payment of the within certificate is guaranteed by the 
 following banks composing the ‘Columbia Clearing House Association,” 
 viz: Carolina National Bank, Central National Bank, Loan and Exchange 
 ee of South Carolina. Bank of Columbia, Canal Dime Savings Bank. 
 
 armers and Mechanics’ Bank. . 
 
 The CHAIRMAN. That circulates as money? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. That circulatesas money. Let me just in 
 that connection say that here isa private letter which I received 
 inclosing the certificate, and I do not think that there will be 
 any objection to my reading it: 
 
 STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA, EXECUTIVE CHAMBER, 
 Columbia, September 26, 1893. 
 
 DEAR SiR: In response to your telegram Governor Tillman sends you the 
 inclosed certificate. He says you talk about them like they were nothing, 
 but they are worth 100 cents on the dollar, and it takes that much gold, sil- 
 ree or greenbacks to get them, as they are about all the money we have 
 
 ere. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 ‘ 
 
 D. H. TOMPKINS, 
 Private Secretary. 
 Hon. JoHn L. MCLAURIN 
 Washington, D.C. 
 
 ‘The grain-elevator men in the West, I see by the papers, as- 
 sociated themselves together in a similar way. 
 
 The CHAIRMAN. How many dollar’s worth of those notes 
 have been put in circulation? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. Sevenand a half dollars—— 
 
 The CHAIRMAN. No, you misunderstand me. How much 
 is the aggregate volume of that currency? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. I could not answer that question; but I 
 could get you the information. These are secured by farmers’ 
 notes. For instance, they go to each other and get indorse 
 ments, and—— 
 
 Mr. HALL of Missouri (examining note). You mean there is 
 $7.50 security deposited for every $5 of this money? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. I mean that for every $5 of that issue there 
 is $7.50 of securities deposited, which have to be approved by 
 these trustees, who are men in whom we have every confidence. 
 For instance, here is aman who wants to borrow money, and 
 there are a number of men who own plantations worth $8,000, 
 $10,000, or $15,000, and he get them to go on his note. We know 
 these men are good for the money, unless everything should dis- 
 appear and all valuesgo. That paper is used as collateral upon 
 which to issue these clearing-house certificates. 
 
 The CHAIRMAN. And these notes of private individuals 
 are placed with these trustees as security for the final payment 
 of these clearing-house certificates? 
 
 Mr.McLAURIN. Yes,sir. Isuggested the indorsed notes as 
 one form of security; they have other forms—bonds, or anything 
 which is good security. 
 
 541 
 
 
 
TS Rae 
 
 6 
 
 Now, the grain elevator men in the West associated them- 
 selves together and issued elevator certificates, and they have 
 gone into circulation as money, and these certificates the 
 West and the South were enabled to perform every function 
 of money, they did perform every function of money, and they 
 will continue to do so just so long as people have confidence in 
 the organization by which they were issued. 
 
 Mr. WARNER. Let me interrupt you justa moment. AsI 
 understand it, these certificates are issued upon securities tothe 
 extent of 50 per cent above the face of the certificate? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. WARNER. Generally speaking, upon that kind of com- 
 mercial paper those who deposit their notes properly indorsed 
 receive from the banks these certificates? : 
 
 Mr.McLAURIN. Yes,sir. They use that, and they also use 
 mortgages, bonds, and anything of the kind that is good se- 
 curity. 
 
 Mr. WARNER. Butin the mainitis commercial paper which 
 is approved? : ; 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. Yes, sir. ; 
 
 Mr. JOHNSON of Indiana. For how many years baék has this 
 been done? ‘ 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. Not untilthis panic; not until we were ab- 
 solutely ‘‘ stumped” by a wantofcurrency, we saw loads of cotton 
 and other produce come to market and fail to find purchasers, 
 
 Mr. JOHNSON of Indiana. It is a recent invention down 
 
 there? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. Yes,sir. Itgotso bad during 
 in South Carolina that it was impossible to get meat insome 
 ities, and I have a letter from my own town, a wealthy town for 
 the South, a very prosperous town, where it is stated there has 
 not been a pound of meat in the town for a week; we had todo 
 something. It was a question of necessity. 
 
 The CHAIRMAN. Will you obtain from the trustees whose 
 names are upon that certificate a statement of the ag ogate 
 volume of those notes which have been issued and f t to 
 the committee to be published with your remarks? 
 
 Mr. McDAURIN. Yes, sir; I will do that with pleasure. I 
 will ask the stenographer to make a‘note of it. 
 
 Mr. SPERRY. And the time and limit within which they 
 circulate? 2 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. If you will have the eT ee ues- 
 tion you would like td’ have answered I will have i ‘Aone 
 promptly. 
 
 Mr. HALL of Missouri, These trustees might regard that as 
 a business secret? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. No, sir: Ido not think so. I think they 
 will be glad to furnish the committee with any information 
 they possibly can. These certificates have furnished the people 
 with a means of exchanging their products and paying their 
 debts and have served to relieve us from the stagnation in busi- 
 ness affairs which existed. If left to themselves, Mr. Chairman, 
 and had Congress never been called together, the good business 
 sense and tactof our people, I believe, would long ago haveended 
 the panic. 
 
 541 
 
7 
 
 In that connection I will read here an item from the Washing- 
 ton Post of the date of September 25, which is as follows: 
 
 ISSUED IN LIEU OF MONEY—ELEVATOR SCRIPT HELD TO BE LIABLE TO A 
 TAX OF 10 PER CENT. 
 
 A St. Pau, MInn., September 25. 
 
 The elevator owners of Minnesota and South Dakota are agitated over the 
 probability that they will in the next few weeks have to pay 10 per cent on 
 certified checks, drafts, and due bills, furnished as a circulating medium in 
 payment for grain. 
 
 it is learned that Special Agent Collins, of Chicago, has been here for sey- 
 eral days. He has interviewed the officials of two Government depositories 
 and other banksin St. Paul, and learned that they had accepted this ciass of 
 paper for collection, receiving them in due course of business from country 
 correspondents. 
 
 In Minneapolis, representatives of Charles A. Piiisbury and of the Si, 
 Anthony and Dakota Elevator Company, Brooks, Griffith & Co.,and F. H. 
 Peavey & Co. admitted they had issued these memorandaon account of 
 their inability to obtain currency. These, they acknowledged, had been used 
 instead of United States notes or legal tenders. They claimed, however, 
 they had been legally advised that they would not be conflictmg with the 
 United States laws. Their action, however, is a clear violation of section 
 3413, internal-revenue laws. : 
 
 Collector Johnson has located about $25,000 worth of these checks, on which 
 the tax would be $2,500. Butfew returns have been received from country 
 points, and until they are received it can not be determined what amount 
 has actually been placed in circulation. Collector Johnson and A. G. Col- 
 lins are both of the opinion that the companies are amenable to the law and 
 Will have to pay an assessment of 10 percent, but before this is levied a full 
 report of the amount of the checks issued and all the facts in the case willbe 
 sent to Washington. : 
 
 Now, the Treasury Department came forward after our people 
 
 had adopted an expedient of this character which affects nobody 
 
 ~ but ourselves; if these certificates are not good there will be no- 
 
 body hurt but the South Carolina people and the Western people, 
 
 and nobody is obliged to take them, it is nobody’s business; itisa 
 
 private business transaction, yet the Treasury Department rules 
 
 that all of our certified checks, even due bills and certificates of 
 clearing-house associations are liable to the 10 per cent tax. 
 
 Mr. JOHNSON of Indiana. Do you mean the Treasury De- 
 partment did that? 
 
 Mr. HALL of Missouri. You refer to the First Comptroller? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. I do not know who did it; but even the 
 threat tends to unsettle business transactions based upon these 
 certificates. : 
 
 Mr. JOHNSON of Indiana. Was it not Mr. Miller, of the In- 
 ternal Revenue? 
 
 Mr. HALL of Missouri. I did not understand that the ruling 
 applied to this more than to the New York clearing-house. 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. That article in the Post so states it. 
 
 Mr. WARNER. I sincerely hope they will attack both New 
 York and South Carolina, and that the 10 per cent tax will not 
 be in existence three months from now. é 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. Now, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, with- 
 out any special knowledge on the financial question, but looking 
 atit simply asa lawyer and aman who claims to have a little 
 common sense, it seems to me that this is the very strongest ar- 
 gument which could be adduced in favor of a resolution like 
 the one that I have proposed. It is the practical operation of 
 the vis medicatrix nature, being an effort of the financial body te 
 
 541 
 
8 
 
 throw off diseased conditions by the natural laws of trade and 
 finance. 
 
 When the Government refuses to allow us to adopt an expe- 
 dient of this character—in other words, refuses to allow us to 
 help ourselvyes—she should come in, and give to the sick man the 
 kind of medicine that his symptoms demonstrate is necessary. 
 When she prohibits to everybody else, individuals and States, 
 the power to issue due bills or any bills of credit, and arrogates 
 to herself the full power to do that, it becomes her sacred duty to 
 exercise that power wisely and to exercise it as fully as the 
 business needs of the country indicate is necessary. 
 
 Mr. HALL of Missouri. And promptly. 
 
 Mr. MCLAURIN. And by all means, promptly. Now, Mr. 
 Chairman and gentlemen, in the introduction of this resolution 
 I take the position that the Government without the enactment 
 of another statute, under the laws already existing, has ample 
 authority to give immediate and permanent relief. She can do 
 just what the banks and grain elevators have attempted to do, 
 except that she can do it much more thoroughly and effectually 
 than they can, because she can issue the full legal-tender cur- 
 rency, which will be good for all debts, both private and public, 
 at merely the cost of printing, and thus give to the country re- 
 lief from the troubles which are now existing. The authority 
 for this—and I have not been able to find any law which modifies 
 or changes it—is epitomized in this book: “National Loans of the 
 United States,” page 156, which reads as follows: 
 
 The act of February 25, 1862 (12 Stat., 345), authorized the issue of $150,000,000 
 United States notes, not bearing interest, payable to bearer, at the Treasury 
 of the United States, and of such denominations, not less than %, as the 
 Secretary of the Treasury might deem expedient, $50,000,000 to be applied to 
 the redemption of demand notes authorized by the act of July 17, 1861; these 
 notes to be a legal tender in payment of all debts, public and private, within 
 the United States, except duties on imports and interest on the public debt, 
 and to be exchangeable for 6 per cent United Statesbonds. Theactof July 
 11, 1862 (12 Stat., 532), authorized an additional issue of $150,000,000 of 
 such denominations as the Secretary of the Treas might deem expedient, 
 but no such notes should be for a fractional part of a dollar, and not more 
 than $35,000,000 of a lower denomination that $5; these notes to bea legal 
 tender as before authorized. 
 
 The act of March 3, 1863 (12 Stat., 710), authorized an additional issue of 
 $150,000,000 of such denominations not less than one dollar as the Secretary 
 of the Treasury might prescribe, which notes were made a legal tender. as 
 before authorized. The same act limited the time in which Treasury notes 
 micht be exchanged for United States bonds to July 1, 1863. The amountof 
 notes authorized by this act was to be in lieu of $100,000,000 authorized by 
 the resolution of January 17,1853. (12 Stat., 822.) 
 
 The length of loan indefinite; the amount authorized, $450,000,000; amount 
 issued. including reissues, $1,640,559,947; the highest amount outstan 
 
 June 30, 1864, $449,338,902, sold at par. Interest none; outstanding June 
 1880, $346,681,016. 
 
 Now, this statement reveals the fact that the Secretary of the 
 Treasury could at any time issue greenbacks to the full amount 
 of $450,000,000. 1t requires no act of Congress and even this 
 resolution is unnecessary so far as the enabling power is con- 
 cerned. He has the right to issue these notes at any time; and, 
 in fact, I believe other Secretaries of the Treasury have exer- 
 cised the right. 
 
 Mr. HALL of Missouri. Let meask you right there. You 
 say you have not found since 1863 an act which limits the amount 
 of greenbacks in circulation? 
 
 541 
 
9 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. No, sir; I do not think the Voorhees act 
 does it, and I have not been able to find anything which does. 
 
 Mr. HAUGEN. Did not the resumption act provide that 
 greenbacks should be redeemed, and later wasit not by afurther 
 act declared that they should be redee med only down to a certain 
 point—$346,000,000? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. In regard to fractional currency, I found, 
 under the act of July 21, 1875—— 
 
 Mr. HALL of Missouri. But is there not a provision in an 
 additional act that the circulation of greenbacks shall not be re- 
 deemed toa less amount than $340,000,000? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. Isay that there is, but it does not inter- 
 fere with the $450,000,000, which is the maximum limit, beyond 
 which they cannot go. I have not been able to find any act that 
 interferes with the $450,000,000 maximum limit to which they 
 cn issue the Treasury notes provided for in the acts of 1862 and 
 
 63. 
 
 Mr. HALL of Missouri. The resumption act provided that 
 the greenbacks should be redeemed in coin, and later when they 
 had redeemed down to'a point where there was $346,000,000 in 
 1878, it was declared that they should not be withdrawn from 
 circulation below that point, but as they returned to the Treas- 
 ury new notes should be given. 
 
 Mr. McCLAURIN. The way I understand it is that they could 
 not go below $346,000. 000, and not over $450,000,000, and when 
 brought in they shall be immediately paid out; they can not un- 
 der the law be hoarded in the Treasury. 
 
 AsIsaid, other Secretaries of the Treasury have taken au- 
 thority to increase the amount in circulation, and my authority 
 for this allegation is found in the Statistical Abstract, where, 
 on the twenty-ninth page, you will find in 1873 that there was 
 $356,000,000 in circulation, and that in 1874 there was $382,000,- 
 000 in circulation. Now, this shows an increase of $26,000,000. 
 If they could increase it $26,000,000 in the emergency of the 
 panic of 1873, why, in the emergency of the panic in 1893, could 
 they not increase it $125,000,000, provided they do not exceed 
 the $450,000,000 limit? : 
 
 Mr. WARNER. I think the gentleman will find that the re- 
 sumption act—I have not it by my side—but by inference from 
 its permission, and the construction, I think, has been concurred 
 in ever since, authorizing as it did the issue of bonds for cer- 
 tain purposes practically limited the power thereafter of the 
 Secretary to that covered by the permission, and that the re- 
 sumption act is at a latter date than the circumstances to which 
 you allude. 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. I understand that. 
 
 Mr. WARNER. And the act of 1878 modified in no particu- 
 lar whatever, and did not purport to modify in any particular 
 whatever, the resumption act, but simply provided as to United 
 States notes which might thereafter be redeemed; that they 
 should not be canceled, but should be paid out and kept in cir- 
 culation, thus leaving the greenback currency at the amount of 
 $346,090,000, and upon the uniform ruling of the Secretary of 
 the Treasury, which I think he is justified by the plain terms 
 of the act of 1875, leaving no permission to issue further bonds 
 
 541 
 
10 
 
 after 1875 except under that act, as to which theré has always 
 been a doubt raised whether the act of 1878 did not cancel that 
 as well. 
 
 Mr. MCLAURIN. It is a question of construction; I under- 
 stand that, but 1 was adverting to the act of 1873 and 1874 more 
 in the nature of an argument than to cite itas a precedent. 
 
 Mr. HAUGEN. You have not made any inquiry of the pres- 
 ent Secretary of the Treasury as to whether he regards himself 
 in possession of this power to issue further currency? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. No, sir; I did not, becauseI thought if this 
 resolution went through it would be a legislative construction 
 an and he would be spared the necessity of construing it him- 
 
 self. 
 
 Mr. HAUL of Missouri. The report of September 1, 1893, of 
 the Secretary of the Treasury shows that he is above the issue 
 by $681,000. How does he explain that? ’ 
 
 Mr. DAVIS. I want to make this point. When it was lim- 
 ited to $346,000,000, was there not an implied obligation it should 
 be kept as much as that? I have herean argument made in 1888 
 by Senator Piumb showing at least—— ; 
 
 Mr. WARNER. This is covered by the forepart of Mr. Mc- 
 LAURIN’S joint resolution. 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. Yes, sir; I think it is. 
 
 Mr. HAUGEN. Mr. HAwt states that the present Secretary 
 
 of thé Treasury has made a report, and it shows $346,366,000-—— 
 Mr. HALL of Missouri. I have no confidence in that report; 
 
 I made that statement a good many times. 
 Mr. DAVIS. I will state this, further: I have here a second 
 
 reply. I reply to his report in April, 1892, and he replied to 
 
 me, and I replied again in October, 1892, and I show that he 
 
 counts various moneys that are not in existence here at all. 
 There is absolutely $50,000,000 more than there was in existence; 
 and Senator Plumb showed how it was in regard to the gold. 
 The CHAIRMAN. The reduction to which you refer is ac- 
 counted for, probably, by the aet of Congress approved May 31, 
 
 1878. At that time Congress passed an act to prohibit the fur- 
 
 ther retirement of United States legal-tender notes, and if you 
 will pardon me I will have the textof that act putin the ‘ 
 so we will have it before us: 
 
 That on and after the passage of this act it shall not be lawful for the 
 retary of the Treasury or other officer under him to cancel or retire 
 more of the United States legal-tender notes, and when any of said 
 may ‘be redeemed or be received into the Treasury under any Jaw any 
 source whatever and shall belong to the United States, they shall Bes be re- 
 tired, canceled, or destroyed, but they shall be reissued and ont again 
 and kept in circulation: Provided, That nothing herein sha = 
 cancellation and destruction of mutilated notes and the issueof other notes 
 of like denominations in their stead as now provided by law. 
 
 After the law passed the Secretary fixed the amount to be kept 
 in existence at $346,000,000, and between the passage of the re- 
 sumption act and the passage of this act there were retired 
 greenbacks under the resumption law to the amount which has 
 been stated. After that there has been no retirement, except 
 poisibly the destruction, and while new ones were issued in- 
 
 ste Pa ey 
 Mr. HAUGEN. Youhave before you the banking laws, and I 
 54l 
 
11 
 
 would like to have you refer to the resumption actand see what 
 itstates in regard to the maximum. Whatis said in the earlier 
 laws in regard to the maximum to be issued? 
 
 The CHAIRMAN. Itis as follows: 
 
 And on and after the ist day of January, anno Domini 1879, the Secretary 
 of the Treasury shall redeem, in coin, the United States legal-tender notes 
 then outstanding, on their presentation for redemption at the office of the 
 assistant treasurer of the United States in the city of New York, in sums 
 of not less than 550. 
 
 That was the authority to redeem them and there was no aii- 
 thority to reissue,and when they were presented for redemption 
 they were canceled. ; 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. Iwill take up the discussion of that section 
 in which I provide that $25,000,000 be declared lost or destroyed. 
 The reason I introduced a section of that kind was because I 
 feared some trouble along the line indicated by Mr. Hau. 
 
 Mr. HALL of Missouri(to chairman, referring to book). That 
 section was in this law; you inadvertently overlooked it; you 
 went down too low. 
 
 Mr. HAUGEN. I wanted to find out what the maximum was. 
 
 The CHAIRMAN. I presume Mr. HAUGEN’S question refers 
 to this part of the law: 
 
 And whenever and so oftenas circulating notesshall beissued to. any such 
 banking association, so increasing its capital or circulating notes, or so 
 newly organized as aforesaid, it shall _ be the duty of the Secretary of the 
 
 pasury to redeem the legal-tender United States notes in excess only of 
 
 This is the resumption act of January 14, 1875. 
 
 Mr. AUGEN. Then the maximum of this act was changed 
 afterwards from $300,000,000' to $346,000,000, that being the 
 amount outstanding at the date of the later act. 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. To resume the thread! of my argument; I 
 find a precedent for declaring $25,000,000 lost and'destroyed and 
 authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to credit-the redemp- 
 tion fund with that amount in the act of June 21, 1879. In that 
 act you will see between $8,000,000 and $9,000,000 have been de- 
 clared lost or destroyed, and again the Secretary of the Treas- 
 ury, in his report of 1884, admits that $1,000,000 of Treasury 
 notes were burned up in the Chicago fire. There are no.means, 
 however, of determining the exact amount, but some idea: of 
 the amount lost or destroyed may be formed by a comparison 
 with the fractional currency. 
 
 The largest amount of fractional currency outstanding at any 
 one time was $46,912,003, which was in 1874. In January, 1875; 
 Congress passed anact providing for the retirement of fractional 
 eurrency, aud I suppose by this time it has all been retired and 
 redeemed under the provisions of that act. On June 30,1880, 
 the amount outstanding was $15,589,888: On June 21, 1879, Con- 
 gress declared that $8,375,954 had beenlost or destroyed. Since 
 then only $299,210.40 has been redeemed, and the probability is 
 that the other $6,000,000 has been lost or destroyed. At least 
 Tean cite as high an authority as Mr. SHERMAN in support of the 
 statement. 
 
 Now, here is proof that out of the $46,981,000 of fractional cur- 
 rency in circulation for a period of sixteen years, more than 
 $15,000,000 has been lost or destroyed. Now, of these Treasury 
 
 541 
 
12 
 
 notes there is, say, an average of $100,000,000 in circulation for 
 thirty years. Therefore the question would be, if $15,000,000 of 
 fractional currency was lost in sixteen years out of $46,000,000, 
 what amount would be lost out of $400,000,000 of Treasury notes 
 in circulation for a period of thirty years? 
 
 TheCHAIRMAN. I think you should take into consideration 
 the difference between the fractional notes and the large notes. 
 These fractional notes were very easily destroyed, being small, 
 and they were lost very readily and were stuffed into pockets—— 
 
 Mr. McCLAURIN. Of course, they were not as valuable, being 
 small amounts. 
 
 Mr. HAUGEN. Would it be fair to follow that out on the 
 rule of three? In that case it would only be a question of time — 
 when they would all be destroyed. 
 
 - Mr.McLAURIN. No,sir; but wecan take into consideration, 
 by way of comparison, the amount of fractional currency lost or 
 destroyed, and in making my estimate I have not taken out any- 
 thing like as large a per cent as that, as you will see. I have 
 taken into consideration the difference in value, size, ete. This 
 is the only guide, as far as anything like figures were concerned, 
 on which you could gemma base any conclusion. Senators 
 Plumb, STEWART, and some others have placed the amount at 
 $50,000,000. Senator Plumb, in 1888, said: 
 
 No man can tell the volume of greenbacks outstanding. Nominally it is 
 #346,000,000 and a fraction, but that volume has been subject to all the acci- 
 dents which have occurred during the past twenty-five years whereby money 
 has been consumed, worn out, and lost, and it is doubtful if the amount is 
 really over $300,000,000 to-day. 
 
 TheCHAIRMAN. Have you compared in this connection the 
 amount of the old land notes which were issued by the Govern- 
 ment and the amount of them which were subsequently returned 
 for cancellation? : 
 
 ‘Mr. McLAURIN. No, sir; I have not made that comparison. 
 
 The CHAIRMAN. I think you will find nearly all of those 
 got back safely. The rule you want to apply is the destruction 
 of the national-bank notes, and that will bring you to a com- 
 parison with the greenbacks. ; 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. Idid not makethatcomparison. I adopted 
 this other mode of argument and relied on Senators Plumb 
 and STEWART as men who had given a great deal of attention 
 to the subject and who ought to be authority. 
 
 The CHAIRMAN. You will find, if you compare the amount 
 of the national-bank notes retired, that it is very small. _ 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. Senator GEORGE, of Mississippi, also,ina 
 speech of March 14, 1892, incidentally referred to this subject, 
 when he states: 
 
 We have $100,000,000 in gold as afund, as Senator Beck says, to guard the 
 greenbacks. We have %346,000,000 of these greenbacks or legal-tender Treas- 
 ury notes. Mr. Beck says, and he has never been successfully contradicted, 
 that $50,000,000 is ample to guard the $346,000,000. If that be so, and he proves 
 it, as I have read in the hearing of the Senate, it is clear that we may in- 
 crease the volume of greenback currency double the 9346,000,000, and it will 
 remain a safe, sound, redeemable currency, equal to coin. 
 
 In this connection I will say, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, I 
 frankly confess my inexperience and ignorance upon many, per- 
 haps too many, of the propositions which go to make up the 
 
 bal 
 
i3 
 
 great question of finance. Called together by the President in 
 an extra session to devise means of relief, I began, as best I could, 
 an honest study of the situation. The pressand the people were 
 clamoring for more money, and business failures were seen on 
 every hand because of a declared want of money. My own peo- 
 ple were driven to the necessity of issuing due bills and clearing- 
 house papers, as Ihaveshown, and, considering their welfare and 
 finding laws upon the statute books which seemed to me ample 
 to afford relief, I introduced this resolution. 
 
 Doubtless one objection that will be made to the resolution is 
 that it increases the volume of paper currency, and this will be 
 followed by the statement that the present panic was caused by 
 a return and sale of securities which were held by foreigners, 
 who feared that the volume of paper money would become so 
 great that gold payment would not be maintained, and that the 
 principal and interest or dividends of their holdings would be 
 paid in silver orpaper. Ihave heard that objection Taised upon 
 the floor of the House, and I have nodoubtin the minds of many 
 of the committee that this is one of the chief objections toa 
 resolution of this character. 
 
 But, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, if it be true that it was the 
 return and sale of the property of the foreign security-holders 
 in this country that caused the panic, then ‘it is true that Con- 
 gress has been called together to enact laws which will be satis- 
 factory to foreign investors. Speaking for myself, I would say 
 that I am too much of an American to be willing tosee any such 
 laws and thereby to have my own people suffer. It is best, per- 
 - haps, to meet that objection fairly and squarely at the beginning 
 of my remarks. Itis doubtless true that the return of these for- 
 eign securities from abroad is largely responsible for the panic. 
 
 It is well for us then to consider what kind of securities were 
 held abroad and returned here and sold in such large quantities 
 as to produce a panic. The bonded debi of the nation amounts 
 to $585,000,000, of which $200,000,000 are held by national banks. 
 A large portion of the balance is held in trust funds by estates 
 and for investments of a similar character; but a small portion, 
 as Iam informed, of our national debt is held abroad by for- 
 eigners. This being true, it follows that the securities which 
 were held abroad and returned here in these large quantities were 
 either private or corporate bondsand stocks. Thisfactchanges 
 the entire face of the proposition, and because of that I make the 
 broad statement, as my opinion, thatat this period of our national 
 existence we do not want to bid for foreign investments, and I 
 will briefiy undertake to give my reasons for making a state- 
 ment of that character. 
 
 Foreign investments in this country are conclusive evidence 
 of the fact that the necessities of the people here for the use of 
 money are greater, their financial standing being considered, 
 than elsewhere, and hence they are willing to pay a larger trib- 
 ute for the use of the money. The only logical remedy forsuch 
 a condition is to supply the people with a sufficient volume of 
 domestic money. and thereby relieve them of the necessity of 
 going abroad for their currency, and this my resolution seeks in 
 part to accomplish. Foreign investments are dangerous to the 
 best interests of our country, as is disclosed by the statement 
 
 541 
 
4 
 
 that the return and sale of those securities produced ‘the present 
 panic. 
 
 In other words, we are at the mercy of foreign security-h 
 ers who, froman unreasonable fear, or from malice, orany @ 
 cause, can at any moment produce a panic and cause our per 
 to suffer. One of the chief objections urged against Chinesei 
 migration is, that they never become, naturalized. come 
 here and secure a competency, either great or small, when 
 it is secured they go back home. Just so itis with the fo 
 innestor. He comes in here and reaps as much tribute as pos- 
 sible—— 
 
 Mr. BLACK of Georgia. And he does not even come here. 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. No, sir: he sends his money and he 
 all the tribute possible, and then at the very first token : 
 
 Be fakes his flight homeward and leaves us to work out our own 
 estiny. 
 
 Mr. HAUGEN. Haye you any statistics in regard to the 
 aun ores les wornedy % 
 
 Ir. McLé IN. No,sir; [havenot. Iam just making 4 
 statement on the general tenor of remarks, ae we 
 
 Mr. HAUGEN. I think you are perfectly correct in that the- 
 ory, while I doubt the efficacy of the remedy you propose. 
 
 Mr. MCLAURIN. I thought that in the minds sa Te a 
 gach of the committee that was an objection I had to meet, ar 
 wanted to show Iwas not unreasonable in making a pr - 
 tion of this character, and that I had at least reasons which were 
 
 _to.me of a satisfactory nature. : 
 
 ‘While the primary cause of the panic was a lack of domestic 
 
 ‘money which made possible this invasion of foreign capital, 
 
 no less true that the immediate cause was the want of ¢ 
 
 to maintain prices,and thus enable the people to continue the 
 payment of tribute to foreign investors, as 1 will attempt. 
 
 to explain. The stocks and bonds held abroad were hola 
 those of railroads and other corporations. Those stocks wi 
 usually watered to the fullest extent they would stand. 
 watered stock is usually more or less divided in its ownership be- 
 tween the resident and the foreigner. 
 
 For years the people have been enabled to pay this unfairand 
 exorbitant; ipute. During this time the foreign investor re- 
 ceived his d.yidend, and as long as he got his dividend he was 
 content. In the meanwhile the stocks of the resident owner 
 were pledged with a trust company and funds raised to startnew 
 enterprises. The stocks and bonds of these new ventures were 
 often placed in the same way and other enterprises built upon 
 that. 
 
 In this manner a perfect network of such deals were made, all 
 depending upon the stability of the first. Statistics show that 
 the railroads of the United States cost,on an average, $20, 
 per mile, while they are bonded at $63,000; the patrons of the 
 roads must pay the interest on this $43,000 of watered stock. 
 these corporations became more numerous and the watered stock 
 greater, the demand for tribute upon the people also became 
 greater, until it arrived at a point where they could no longer 
 stand it. A fall in the price of products made a rigid economy 
 on the part of the people who have to pay these dividends and 
 
 541 
 
 
 
 
16 
 
 interest a necessity. Hence there was less travel, less freight, 
 less exchange of manufactured and other products. This econ- 
 omy and lessening of business brought about as an inevitable re- 
 sult less dividends, and the foreign investor became alarmed. 
 This alarm continued and increased until these investors threw 
 their holdings upon the market. So long as the foreigner was 
 content, the resident holders of these securities could manipulate 
 his stocks with comparative safety, but when the foreigner be- 
 gan to realize upon his portion and the prices declined as a re- 
 sult, the resident holder and all of his interests began to suffer. 
 It became necessary for him to keep his margins good, and in 
 such a rapid decline as followed this became impossible, and he 
 went down, and all the enterprises with which he was con- 
 nected. In my judgment, it was a fear of the loss of permanent 
 dividends, by reason of the poverty of the people, and not the 
 fear of any particular kind of money used in the final liquida- 
 tion, that caused the panic. } 
 We are asked to enact laws which will protect the foreign in- 
 vestors in gold payments, forgetting that such laws would bring 
 ruin and disaster upon our people. While we legislate to make 
 the investment of the foreigner satisfactory to him, we aré leg- 
 islating lower prices for the productions of our own people and 
 robbing the farmers and producers of this country of a just and 
 equitable remuneration in return for the products of their labor. 
 To this, so far as I am concerned, I-will never consent, but I will 
 oppose with all of the limited ability which I possess. 
 The fear of anincreasing volume of paper money is either a 
 cunning pretext oran absolute absurdity. The paper money out- 
 standing isasfollows: Gold certificates $80,414,049; silver certif- 
 icates $326,206,336; Treasury notes (greenbacks) $346,681,016 
 (nominal?); Treasury notes of 1890, $149,881,958; national-bank 
 bills (about) $175,000,000. The gold certificates are payable in 
 gold deposited for their issue. The silver certificates are pay- 
 able in the silver dollars deposited for their issue. The Treasury 
 notes of 1890, ee payment of the purchase of silver, are 
 payable in silver dollars as is shown in section 3 of the Sherman 
 act, which is as follows: bed 
 That the Secretary of the Treasury shall each month coin 2,000,000 ounces 
 of the silver bullion purchased under the provisions of this act into stan- 
 dard silver dollars, until the 1st day of July, 1891, and after that time he 
 shall coin of the silver purchased under the provisions of this act as much 
 as may be necessary to Reece for the redemption of the Treasury notes 
 herein provided for, and any gain or seigniorage arising from such coinage 
 shall be accounted for and paid into the ‘Treasury. . ' r iene 
 This leaves the Treasury notes amounting to $346,681,016 and 
 national-bank notes amounting to about $175,000,000, or a total 
 of $521,681,016 of paper money, whose final redemption can be- 
 come a matter of dispute. Upon this point I would like to sub- 
 mit the following, although there are volumes Of such state- 
 ments. This is from Mr. Pierrepont, Attorney-General of the 
 United States, and afterwards minister to England, in a letter 
 in the New York Times of April 18,1884, in which he says: ~ 
 
 There is not an outstanding bond, coupon, or greenback issued by the 
 United States which may not lawfully be paid in Silver.’ Not one of them 
 on its face or back, or in the statute authorizing the issue, or in declaration, 
 or in resolution of Congress, has any proviso that they shall be paid in gold. 
 And the act of February 20, 1878, directing the coina ge of silver dollars, de- 
 
16 
 
 clared that such dollars shall be a legal tender at a nominal value for all 
 debts and dues, public and private, except where otherwise expressly stipu- 
 lated in the contract. 
 
 In the discussion of the silver question in the House, which if 
 referred to escaped me at the time, as I have not heard it men- 
 tioned in the debate, there was a resolution which 
 United States Senate, January 25, 1878, and the House of — 
 sentatives on January 28, 1878, by a vote of 42 to 20 in the 
 ate and 189 to 79 in the House. It was to this effect: 
 
 That all the bonds of the United States issued or authorized to be issued 
 under the said acts of Congress hereinbefore recited are payable, principal 
 and interest, at the option of the Governmentof the United States, in silver 
 dollars of the coinage of the United States, containing 412} 
 standard silver; and that to restore to its coinage such silver coins as area 
 legal tender in payment of said bonds, principal and interest, is not in viola- 
 tion of the public faith nor in derogation of the rights of the public creditor. 
 
 The CHAIRMAN. What is the date of that act? 
 Mr. McLAURIN. This was a joint resolution which 
 the Senate January 25, 1878, and the House January 28, 1878. 
 The CHAIRMAN. That was not an act, that was a concur- 
 rent resolution. 
 Mr. MCLAURIN. Isostated. The national-bank c 
 
 urrency - 
 can only be made a charge upon the Treasury through the 
 
 Treasury notes, and the law expressly declares thatsuch notes 
 shall not be retired but shall be put immediately into circula- 
 tion. But counting the entire volume of $521,681,016 with the 
 amount of paper money which is provided for in my resolution, 
 $125,000,000, we would have $646,681,016 in all. 
 
 If we deduct from this amount the amount lost or destroyed, 
 $25,000,000, we would have in round numbers $575,000,000. 
 would give as a reserve 174+ per cent, which, under the cir- 
 cumstances, is plainly abundant, as can be briefly shown be the 
 national bank statistics. I have a report here from the Comp- 
 troller of Currency which I will not read, but from which I can 
 summarize the facts which I want in this way. 
 
 Mr. HALL of Missouri. What authority is there in law for 
 the Secretary of the Treasury to issue any legal-tender green- 
 back notes for money lost or destroyed? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. [I hate to stop right here; I do not like to 
 break the thread of my argument. 
 
 Mr. HALL of Missouri. Go ahead; I will come to that after- 
 wards. I want you before you leave to make that clear. 
 
 Mr. McCLAURIN. Now, to finish that point. The depositsin 
 these national banks amounts to $1,556,761,230. I will not read 
 all these items, but they amount to $1,754,222,429. 
 
 Mr. HAUGEN. What is the date of that? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. August 17. After deducting the clearing- 
 house certificates and other items counted as currency that are 
 unavailable for immediate use in payment there remains 0 
 $271,183,295 as actual reserve,or 15+ per cent. The situation 
 then is as follows: The Government would be doing business 
 with the full amount of $450,000,000 legal tender issued and the 
 present amount of national-bank issues upon a reserve of 17) per 
 cent, while the banks would be conducting their business upon 
 a margin of only 15} per cent reserve. 
 
 I submit that it is unfair to demand of the Government more 
 and a better reserve security than they are willing to put into 
 
 541 
 
17 
 
 practice among themselves. With this statement, based upon 
 the facts and backed up by the business intelligence and expe- 
 rience of the banking interests, | submit that the fear of an in- 
 crease of paper money is without any logical foundation. 
 
 Mr. HALL of Missouri. I want to read the only authority 
 you have thus far cited. I read from the act of May 31, 1878, 
 omitting the first part: 
 
 That from and after the passage of this act it shall not be lawful for the 
 Secretary of the Treasury or other officer under him to cancel or retire any 
 more of the United States legal-tender notes, and when any of said notes 
 may be redeemed or be received into the Treasury under any law, from any 
 source whatever, and shall belong tothe United States, they shall not bere- 
 tired, canceled, or destroyed, but they shall be reissued and paid out again 
 and kept in circulation: Provided, That nothing herein shall prohibit the 
 cancellation and destruction of mutilated notes and the issue of other notes 
 of like denomination in their stead as now provided by law. 
 
 Now, E wish to know if you have any authority outside of this 
 statute for basing your resolution, which is that the Secretary 
 of the Treasury shall keep the amount up to $346,000,000 for lost 
 and destroyed currency? There is nothing said in this section 
 about lost or destroyed. 
 
 Mr.McLAURIN. Ifitis lost or destroyed it does not need 
 the Secretary of the Treasury to retire it, because it has re- 
 tired itself. 
 
 Mr. HALL of Missouri. You think, then, that the word ‘‘re- 
 tired,” as herein used, means to include money lost? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. I think so. I think that the money has 
 already been retired by fire and loss of various kinds and I have 
 placed the amount far below what might be reasonably expected, 
 so as to prevent any question of that kind; because, as a matter 
 of common sense, if the money is gone it will never have to be 
 redeemed, and asa business man,if you had debts charged against 
 you which you knew that you would never be called uponto pay, 
 you would credit your bills payable and not have it stand as a 
 debit when it should be a credit. 
 
 Mr. WARNER. I presume the gentleman from South Caro- 
 lina, in his argument, does not intend to make a point upon the 
 peculiar wording of his resolution. What he intends is, by the 
 first section of the resolution proposed by him, to indicate what- 
 ever legislation the committee may find necessary, to declare a 
 certain amount of greenbacks to have been lost and destroyed 
 and to authorize reissue, so that although the point is perfectly 
 proper, I do not understand the gentleman from South Carolina 
 eau to confine his argument to the very wording of his reso- 
 
 ution. 
 
 Mr. HALL of Missouri. I will say in explanation of this, I 
 heard this objection made, and I wish to say I am favorably in- 
 clined to the gentleman’s first section; but I want to hear him 
 on that point, knowing that he has given it some examination 
 and I have not. 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. I thought of that, but I did not think it 
 necessary, for this reason: I do not pretend to be an expert 
 financier, but in looking around got this idea, and thought I 
 would present my views by embodying them in a resolution; 
 then as to technicalities, that is the business of this committee, 
 Ihave plainly stated our troubles in South Carolina and else- 
 
 541——2 
 

 
 18 
 
 where, and if you can give us help of any kind, we would be 
 glad toget it, without regard to the particular form in w, 
 the blessing is. to come. 
 
 Mr. WARNER. If the gentleman from South Carolina ; 
 permit me, in view of a somewhat extended and very fo 
 presentation made by him in the early part of his re of 
 the actual situation in South Carolina and the very 
 way in which it was made, and especially in view of his own ref- 
 erence to the argument made by Col, OATEs yesterday, I} 
 like to know if Iunderstand him correctly in this sta 
 that the means adopted by the bankers in Columbia, S. C., 
 vided there was no question about its legality, were as 
 practically to solve the problem as to the shortness of, . 
 and that if they are permitted to do that in a legitimate way fo 
 themselves or if some plan like that proposed by Col. OATES, 
 some such plan could be adopted as a permanent matter, would 
 that in your view be a satisfactory solution? Butso long as the 
 Government does not permit Col. OATES’s plan or-the plan of, 
 the bankers of South Carolina to be carried into effect, I under- 
 stand that you insist that the Government proyide the ‘ 
 back or currency which it does not permit you to: for 
 yourself? »’ 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. Yes, sir; that is one of the branches of. 
 argument, but I go further and say that what the banks ad ‘ 
 as an expedient, the Government can do more thoroughly and 
 effectually, and she ought to come in and do what the symptoms 
 of this financial disease show is necessary to be done, The 
 trouble with the certificates is, they might be subject to the 
 mauipulations of speculators. Give us a good legal: er eure 
 rency instead. “Co 
 
 Mr. WARNER. The resolution presented by the gentleman, 
 as I understand, providesfor twothings: First, arehabilitation, 
 if you may so call it, of currency that for one reason or ai 
 has become useless for the purposes of cireulation. In that I 
 may say I regard the suggestion asa very valuable one. The 
 second one is, the inerease of the amount of curreney byan esti-. 
 mated amount of $100,000,000. 
 
 Mr. MoLAURIN. Yes, sir. : 
 
 Mr. WARNER. As I understand, that increase is to take 
 the form of notes issued by the Government and paid out by the’ 
 Governinent for its expenses, debts, ete. : 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. WARNER. Now, in view of the suggestion of the gen- 
 tleman that this was proposed in the midst of a pressing emer- 
 geney, may I ask him to dwell a little longer upon the precise 
 means by which the placing of these notes to be issued and in 
 the possession of the Government, by which the present or ¢ 
 other similar emergency would be met. Say they have got 
 in the Treasury here or inthe Printing Office, there is no trouble 
 about that? 
 
 Mr. McoLAURIN. That is the milk in the cocoanut. There 
 is no doubt about it. It is a question of emission. How are 
 you going to get rid of them? I have thought of two plans, an 
 one was suggested by the speech of Mr. GEORGE, from which I 
 read a few momentsago. There are a large number of con- 
 
 541 
 
19 
 
 fractsunder the Government which have been suspended for 
 want of funds. Itmight be usedin this way, to pay current ex- 
 penses of the Government, etc. This ideais from the speech of 
 Senator GEORGE, but my original intention atthe time of the 
 introduction of the resolution was this: We were in a tight 
 
 ; and we needed help, and that quickly, and I realized the 
 fact that the only re lief from this panicky condition was to come 
 from the cotton crop of the South and the wheat crop of the 
 West; that as soon as we could get these big money crops upon 
 the market, gold would begin to come in, and everything would 
 lighten up. 
 
 Now, I believe during Mr. Cleveland’s Administration—and 
 if T am incorrect I know thegentleman from New York will cor- 
 rect me—at one time, when there was about tobe a panic in New 
 York, $60,000,000 was deposited. by the Administration in the 
 Wall street banks without interest. 
 
 Mr. WARNER. I think that is a slight mistake, but at the 
 same time I do not find any fault, because deposits have been 
 made to relieve stringency. 
 
 Mr. MCLAURIN. This is the argument that I make: Before 
 this time, when there was a money famine or likely to be 
 tightness in the money market, the Administration would goto 
 the relief of the New York bankers, and when the Government 
 gets in a. tight place it expects the New York bankers toreturn 
 the favor. Sometimes it is hard to differentiate between the 
 Government and the New York bankers, to tell where one stops 
 and the other begins. 
 
 Now, then, realizing the importance of marketing the cotton 
 and wheat crops, I did not see why this currency could not be 
 taken.and deposited in the country banks. Why not put some 
 of it in the Columbia banks, and it the Treasury wanted to have 
 @ proper understanding with those bankers, it could be placed 
 in there coupled with the condition that they would charge farm- 
 ers only-6 per cent. There is no better security in- the world 
 than a bale of cotton, for if there is any money at all in the 
 country, it will sell for something, and this was the idéa I had 
 at the time the resoiution was introduced. 
 
 Mr. WARNER. As I understand, the resolution provided 
 only that a sum should be credited to the general fund to pay 
 currentexpenses. This proviso wassimply to define theamount 
 of money, and not to indicate the use to which it was to be put? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. WARNER. And that the use contempiated by this was 
 the deposit of the money so issued in different parts of the coun 
 try that might need it in the emergency? 
 
 Mr. McCLAURIN. That was entirely with the Secretary of 
 the Treasury; 2 matter within his discretion. 
 
 The CHAIRMAN. Allow me+to suggest that the indications 
 are now that there will be a deficit of probably $50,000,000 and 
 $25,000,000 coupons, which have been extended to be paid by the 
 Treasury of the Government, and those two items must absorb’ 
 $75,000,000, and it is conceded by al] persons that our finances 
 are rather lower than they should be for the successful admin- 
 istration of the Treasury Department. Mr. Foster testified be- 
 fore the Ways and Means Committee that the Treasury ought 
 
 541 
 
20 
 
 to pave $50,000,000 more than it had in order to meet its obli- 
 gations. 
 
 Mr. WARNER. I donot think the gentleman misunderstood 
 me. My question was not as to the possibility of this Govern- 
 ment using $125,000,000. My question was, how was it to be 
 made immediately available? Because by the wording of his reso- 
 lution ‘‘the same is to be credited to the general fund and to 
 current expenses,” and I wanted to know how that was to be 
 out immediately. 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. Yes, sir; that is the idea; and, in addition 
 to what the gentleman has stated, it seems to me, as a matter of 
 business, in place of the issue of gold bonds and selling them 
 abroad to bring money here, it would be far better for the bene- 
 fit of the people if Congress should issue these notes, which would 
 bear no interest at all, and which our people would very Rasoe 
 accept, than it would be to issue gold bonds, sell them ai 
 and pay interest upon them. 
 
 Mr. WARNER. A prompt use of this permission is practi- 
 cally a further issue of greenbacks to be loaned to local banks in 
 parts of the country where currency is most needed? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. That is exactly it; better than I could 
 have said it. 
 
 The CHAIRMAN. Idesire to direct the attention of the com- 
 mittee to the constitutional authority to issue any more legal- 
 tender notes than $460,000,000. The Supreme Court held in the 
 legal-tender acts that issue was a war issue and grew out of 
 the necessities of the war, and I think there was some doubt 
 whether they could increase the legal-tender issue under these 
 acts mentioned in this bill and make them legal tender. I do 
 not want you to answer that, but I merely direct the attention of 
 the committee to this. : 
 
 Mr. JOHNSON of Indiana. You spoke im the early part of 
 your argument about the planter having brought his cotton to 
 town and having been obliged to take it home because there 
 was no money. Is this the first instance that has occurred in 
 your history down there? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. This is the first time I have ever known of 
 such a thing. 
 
 Mr. JOHNSON of Indiana. During this late money strin- 
 gency, has there been any run upon your banks down there? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. No, sir. 
 
 Mr. JOHNSON ofIndiana. Was money hoarded down there— 
 such money as the people had? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. No, sir; we did not have it to hoard. We 
 have been making cotton at a steady loss for several years, andI 
 could tell you something about the banks there, to show you our 
 people have confidence in our banking institutions. There isa 
 bank in the little town in which I live, and at one time it did 
 not have over $2,000 or $3,000 in it, but our people were not 
 uneasy. They knew it was safe, and that it was honestly admin- 
 istered, and therefore we had noruns in South Carolina. I do 
 not recollect but one single bank failure in the whole State, in 
 spite of all the stringency in money matters, and that was a 
 bank which resumed very speedily—only suspended by reason 
 of the failure of a bank outside of the State. 
 
 641 
 
21 
 
 Mr. BLACK of Georgia. Wasit a national bank or a State 
 bank? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. It was a State bank, at Florence, but it 
 very speedily resumed and is now perfectly solvent. 
 
 Mr. JOHNSON of Indiana. I understood you to say youdid 
 not suffer from a scarcity of money for marketing your crops? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. We generally have plenty of money to 
 market the crops. Our terrible time in the Southis in the sum- 
 mer and spring, when everything runs on credit, and that was 
 why I was so much impressed with Col. OATES’s argument. He 
 evidently understands the situation in the South. 
 
 Mr. JOHNSON of Indiana. What I am driving at is this: 
 Whether there has occurred at various times recently in the his- 
 tory of your people a scarcity of money other than what you cite 
 as having occurred in the last four or five or six months, or is 
 that simply an unusual condition? 
 
 Mr. MCLAURIN. Itis an unusualcondition. They willsend 
 from New York all the money we want to market the crop in 
 the fall; there has never been any troubleabout that. There is 
 no scarcity of money at some price, but sometimes there is a lit- 
 tle scarcity of change, and always a low price. 
 
 Mr. WARNER. You are dependentupon the actual currency 
 being forwarded from New York about three months every 
 
 ear: 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. JOHNSON of Indiana. You have never had any trouble 
 about it before? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. Not until now, except with low prices. 
 
 Mr. JOHNSON of Indiana. Your remedy is designed to meet 
 this specific trouble which existed? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. JOHNSON of Indiana. Then it is not necessary for the 
 general condition which has prevailed there? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. No, sir. 
 
 Mr. COBB of Alabama. I would state that that the farmers 
 had to pay too much interest for this money which comes from 
 New York. 
 
 Mr. HAUGEN. How do you expect to get this money out of 
 the Treasury? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. I just answered Mr. WARNER; by the way 
 of the deposits of which I spoke. 
 
 ~Mr. SPERRY. You would have it sent down by express? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. No, sir; the question of the gentleman 
 from Indiana was about the scarcity of money in general, and 
 thatopens up a big question; and whenever you come to study 
 that and reason it out you will see what caused the organization 
 of the Farmers’ Alliance and gave birth to the subtreasury bill 
 and every measure of thatkind. It isjustlike the workingof the 
 laws of evolution, and it is going on now and getting worse and 
 worse, and will continue todoso unless there aresome means de- 
 vised to remedy it, by giving elasticity to the circulating medium. 
 
 Mr.SPERRY. You attribute the low price of cotton to the 
 want of money, to the want of circulating medium? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. I certainly do. 
 
 Mr. SPERRY. Mr. CATCHINGS in his speech attributed it to 
 
 541 
 

 
 22 
 
 two extraordinary largecrops, and said that the agricultural 
 sociations throughout the South were trying to get toaotunytn 
 some way and curtail the output of cotton. 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. TI listened to Gen. CATCHINGS’S speech 
 and I thought it was one of the best speeches from his re 
 point that was made on the floor of the House; but he dida 
 state the condition of the South, and the causes of our poverty 
 correctly, and J believe that if I had the time I could ai r the 
 argument, because it was the special pleading of a law- 
 yer, from the Wall street standpoint. ' 
 
 Mr.SPERRY. The Statistical Abstract shows that the two 
 crops of 1889 and 1891 were two of the largest crops youhad, and 
 that the surplus in sight wasso great thatit caused the low 
 price in the market. 
 
 Mr. MCLAURIN. The price is dependent upon the volume 
 of money. t 
 
 ‘A SPERRY. Rather than the volume of the product in 
 sight? f 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. Yes, sir; that is my idea. é 
 
 Mr.SPERRY. That is absolutely different from anything I 
 
 know. ; 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. Just let._me ask you a question, if you will 
 pardon me. From the Statistical Abstract of 1892—I donot know 
 {can give the exact figures, but I can give you the idea. In 
 South Carolina in 1873 there was 973,158 acres in corn and the 
 was raised thereon 9,245,000 bushels, the value thereof being 
 $8,690,300. In 1892 South Carolina had in corn 1,691,677 
 and raised thereon 16,713,000 bushels, the value thereof 
 $9,526,000. Thus we have in 1873 and 1893 an increase of 
 63 per cent in the number of the acres, of 80 per centin bushe 
 less than 10.per.centin value. You can not account for this if 
 the volunge of money be not taken. into consideration. 
 
 Mr.SPERRY. I do not understand you; perhaps the rest of 
 the committee do. 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. If I could get the Abstract L could explain 
 it to you. 
 
 Mr. COX. He means that the increased price received from 
 the crop of 1890 was not equivalent to the smaller erop of cotton 
 made in 1880, when money was more) plentiful. 
 
 Mr.McLAURIN. [donot wantto undertake to gointoall that; 
 butI got the idea—I may be incorrect—that if you take the amount 
 of money in circulation and the amount of crop made, and take 
 the decrease in the amount of money in circulation and the in- 
 crease in the crop, and run them down each year together, aman 
 can not avoid the conclusion that the volume of money hasan ef- 
 fect upon the price of products. 
 
 Mr. COBB of Alabama. Anything which influenees its price 
 at Liverpool has an effectupon theSouthern prices. Doesitecon- 
 trol it? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. I think so. Thatis the place where the 
 price for cotton is fixed for the world. 
 
 Mr. SPERRY. If itis true that the Secretary reported that 
 there was more money in circulation in 1890 than in 1880, then, 
 on your theory, it ought to be higher? 
 
 Mr. MCLAURIN. I know the Secretary of the Treasury can 
 
 541 ; 
 
23 
 
 get up some very pretty reports, but I agree with Mr. HALL that 
 we have learned not to have a great deal of confidence in them. 
 Ido not believe that, on the average,there is over $1.50 per capita 
 in circulation in South Carolina the year round. 
 
 Mr. WARNER. You mean outside of the bank reserve? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. Yes,sir. Now, you take it in New York, 
 
 “where it is stated there is $272 per capita in circulation, and in 
 South Carolina, according tothe same statement, there is $12.40. 
 Well, I have no doubt that $272 in New York is about right, but 
 there is not even the $12.40 in circulation in South Carolina. 
 
 Mr. SPERRY. Just wait one moment right there. I do not 
 care how much per capitais in circulation. Thatisagreenback 
 idea. My suggestion was that there was more circulation in 
 1890 than in 1880, and the Treasury statistics as given in 1880 
 and 1890-are on the same basis exactly and the bank reserves re- 
 mained the same, and the detailed statements of the different 
 classes of money remained the same, and relatively it is pre- 
 cisely the same in 1890 as in 1880, and with this difierence there 
 is more volume in 1890 than in 1880? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. And more people in 1890, too. 
 
 Mr. SPERRY. So, if the Treasury statement is notcorrectin 
 1890 it was net correct in 1880, but it was made up in the same 
 way by the Department, and the point I am trying to make, and 
 which I wish to bring to your attention, is that in 1890 there is 
 more money in circulation according to the Treasury statement 
 than in 1880 according to the Treasury statement. Now,onyour 
 theory that it?is the volume of money which makes prices, will 
 you, explain to the committee why, in 1890, with alarger volume 
 of money, prices are lower than 1880 when we had a smaller vol- 
 ume of money? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. Ido not admit asa matter of fact there is 
 as much money in circulation now; as a practical fact I can not 
 admit that. 
 
 Mr. SPERRY. Then you dispute the detailed figures of the 
 Treasury of the United States in relation to the amount of money 
 in circulation? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. In eireulation among the people: I know 
 it is not in South Carolina. 
 
 Mr. SPERRY. How do you account for the fact that the 
 
 ew York banks are surrendering their circulation now? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. Ido not know unless it is for speculative 
 purposes or to produce another panic. 
 
 Mr. SPERRY. You would not eonclude that they were sur- 
 rendering that circulation because they could not properly use it? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. Well, I would not think they would keep 
 it outstanding if they could more properly draw it in. I am cer- 
 tain they would do what they thought best for their own interest. 
 
 Mr. COBB of Alabama., I do not know whether I understood 
 you. Do you mean the volume in circulation in this country con- 
 trols the price of cotton in the South? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. No, I mean the amount in circulation for 
 the: purpose: of buying that cotton; I do not care where it is. 
 
 Mr.COBB of Alabama. Youagreed tomystatement justnow 
 that the price of cotton in South Carolina was based on the price 
 at Liverpool? 
 
 541 
 
3+) 
 
 24 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. COBB of Alabama. If that be true, how can your other 
 statement be true, that the amount of volume in circulation in 
 South Carolina fixes prices? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. I was answering Mr. SPERRY’S question 
 then in regard to the correctness of the figures of the Treasury 
 Department of the amount of money in circulation. 
 
 Mr. SPERRY. You said that when the crop was harvested 
 you =e an abundance of money, which came in there from New 
 
 ork: 
 
 Mr. MCLAURIN. We had an abundance of money, but the 
 fixed the price of our cotton by combination between Liverpoo 
 and New York, and sent just enough money to buy it at that 
 
 price. 
 
 Mr. SPERRY. Then it is your opinion that Liverpool and 
 the New York Cotton Exchange are in a combination? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. You know very well, and everybody knows, 
 there is a combination of those exchanges to hammer the price 
 of cotton down or up for speculative purposes, without regard to 
 the amount of cotton produced. 
 
 Mr. SPERRY. You have the opinion that a — body of fiat 
 money issued by this Government would break up all possible 
 combinations to control prices? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. I am only in favor of fiat money to a cer- 
 tain extent. 
 
 Mr. SPERRY. Not unlimited? . 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. No, sir. 
 
 Mr. WARNER. I understand the gentleman that his propo-. 
 
 sition is to only meet an emergency? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. Yes, sir. Iagree with what Mr. GEORGE 
 says in that speech, and it seems to me very sensible. He says: 
 
 We have a hundred million dollars in gold as a fund, as Mr. Beck says, to 
 guard the greenbacks. We have three hundred and forty-six millions of 
 these greenbacks or legal-tender Treasury notes. Mr. Beck says, and he 
 has never been successfully contradicted, that $50,000,000 is ample to 
 the $346,000,000. If that be so, and he proves it, as I have read in the hearing 
 of the Senate, it is clear that we May increase the volume of greenback cur- 
 rency double the $346,000,000, and it will remain a safe, sound, redeemable 
 currency equal to coin. 
 
 I do not make any such statement, but I say it would be safe 
 on a reserve fund of 17+ per cent. 
 
 Mr. SPERRY. Is it your idea thatthe price of cotton is fixed 
 in Liverpool? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. I have always heard that and always read 
 it was true, and have no doubt itisso. They fix it low enough, 
 God knows. It is fixed very much without any consultation with 
 the man who makes the cotton, and at such a price that every- 
 body makes a profit from it except the man who raises the cot- 
 ton and who has the best right, therefore, to expect a profit. 
 
 Mr. SPERRY. Now, if the cotton price is fixed in Liverpool, 
 
 that is a gold price? 
 
 Mr. MCLAURIN. Yes,sir. 
 
 Mr. SPERRY. Liverpool draws London exchange to pay for 
 cotton, and that is gold. If you state that the price of cotton is 
 fixed in Liverpool in gold, how can any quantity of paper in 
 South Carolina help you out? : 
 
 541 
 
25 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. I do not want to go into a discussion of the 
 whole financial system. 
 
 Mr. SPERRY. Only alittle piece of it. 
 
 Mr.McLAURIN. Yes, sir. But my ideais this, that with a 
 proper system of finance, with something that was fair and just, 
 that we would break up the fixing of the price of our cotton in 
 Liverpool, and that America can fix the price of her products 
 here. My whole argument was directed against your allowing 
 these men in Liverpool, foreigners, to come in here and fix the 
 price of our cotton, wheat, or anything else, which they can 
 only do by our adopting the single gold standard. 
 
 Mr. HAUGEN. You believe in manufacturing the cotton in 
 this country? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. SPERRY. If you intend to break up Liverpool prices 
 and London exchange, do not you think you ought to have more 
 than $125,000,000? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. Yes, sir; but we will take that if we can 
 
 et it. 
 
 Mr. JOHNSON of Indiana. Butyou think they could increase 
 that quantity? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. Yes, sir. 
 
 Mr. JOHNSON of Indiana. Could you upset the Liverpool 
 and London exchange with $125,000,000? 
 
 Mr. MCLAURIN. No; Ido not propose to do that. 
 
 Mr. HALL of Missouri. I object very much to the gentleman 
 from Connecticut mingling and obscuring the distinction be- 
 tween price and value as utterly as he does. Nobody maintains 
 for a moment that the price of cotton is fixed in Liverpool. 
 
 Mr. SPERRY. Do you understand there is any difference be- 
 tween price and value? 
 
 Mr. HALL of Missouri. Yes, sir; and everyone who has 
 studied the works of political economists understands that 
 thoroughly, and would agree with what I say. 
 
 Mr.SPERRY. Following the suggestion of the distinguished 
 political economist from Missouri, will you describe to this com- 
 mittee the precise difference between the price and value of a 
 commodity when it is put on an auction market? 
 
 Mr. McLAURIN. Ihave no doubt that the gentleman from 
 Missouri can describe that with a great deal more accuracy and 
 ability than myself, and I will yield the floortohim. I might 
 say, however, that value is utility, pride is debt-paying power, 
 and while the price is artificially fixed in Liverpool, the value of 
 cotton is determined by the number of naked backs it will clothe, 
 and is the same whether they get our cotton at 5 cents or 10 
 cents per pound. 
 
 Mr. HALL of Missouri. I am very glad to take the position. 
 I maintain, with Prof. Taussig of Harvard, that the man who 
 does not draw a distinction, and keep it fairly in his mind, be- 
 tween price and value isa mere tyro. Gentlemen, I claim that 
 the political economists—and I do not pride myself on that—and 
 the gentleman, I suppose, sprays down his blood by speaking of 
 me asa distinguished political economist from Missouri—— 
 
 Mr. SPERRY. Youspokeof other political economists agree- 
 ing with you on the subject. 
 
 541 
 
Mr. HALL of Missouri. I think there is nota single writer 
 that I have examined, and I think I cited some fourteen in the 
 argument I made on the floor of the House on this question—— 
 
 Mr. SPERRY. Anda very good argument it was. 
 
 Mr. HALL of Missouri. Thank you. I know im that argu- 
 ment I cited the leading political economists of the different uni- 
 versities of this country and abroad. I quoted Adam Smith, 
 the professor of Amherst, the professor of Williaans, and Yale, 
 John Stuart Mill, Prof. Taussig of Harvard, Prof. Sumnerof oth- 
 ers, in which they lay down the doctrine and principle that any 
 increase whatever in the volume of the circulating medium in- 
 creases prices, and any decrease in the volume decreases prices. 
 Now Iam going to quote John Stuart Mill’s exact language,and 
 refer the gentleman to volume 8, chapter 5, section 4, where he 
 states: 
 
 That an inerease of the quantity of money raises prices, bee) genes 
 
 lowers them is the most elementary proposition in the theory of currency, 
 and without it we should have no key to any of the others. . 
 
 Now I take this illustration. There is a building, say here in 
 this-city, and if the circulating volume in the United States was 
 $25 per capita, which it is not, and the price of that building in 
 the market will sell for $10,000, inerease the volume of that cur- 
 reney to $50 per capita in circulation, and the price of that 
 building will be double that amount. If this volume capita 
 should be lessened, the price of that building will follow the 
 lessening of the per capita. I can explain why thatis. In in- 
 creasing the volume of the circulating medium, that increases 
 the value of the crops not a dollar; it does not affect the valueof 
 the crops at all, but it does increase the price the farmers re- 
 ceive, and price is what they pay their debts with. 
 
 Mr. HAUGEN. Is it not true in fixing the value of this house 
 that it must be fixed where the house is located, and it can not 
 he fixed in Liverpool or elsewhere, and for that reason it differs 
 from the value of a commodity that finds its way to a 
 market? 
 
 Mr. HALL of Missouri. I say that the value of the house is 
 not changed by the increase of the volume of money; the 
 remains the same, but the price is increased, and if thatmanhas 
 any debts to pay he pays his debts with price and not value. 
 
 Mr. COBB of Alabama. I would like to put this question, and 
 have youdraw a distinction: Whatis the distinction between the 
 effect which the Liverpool market has upon our cotton crop and 
 the inerease or decrease of volume in our own States? 
 
 Mr. HALL of Missouri. The effect of increase or decrease of 
 voluine in our own States is the increase or decrease of the price 
 of products. 
 
 r. COBB of Alabama. Withoutreference to Liverpool? 
 
 Mr. HALL of Missouri. I can not say without reference to 
 Liverpool, but a correct statement of the matter would be this 
 that by limitations and surroundings, the supply and demand 
 being the cause in one instance, the same itis in other instances, 
 then the price would be affected by the volume of circulation; it 
 is a thing like real estate that is affected by the volume of the 
 circulating medium. " 
 
 541 
 
27 
 
 Mr. COBB of Alabama. Then, if the cotton producer gets 
 
 more for the cotton he pays more for anything he consumes. 
 . Mr. HALLof Missouri. Thereisnoquestion aboutthat. But 
 what I want to-say is a report has been handed in from the 
 Dnited States Treasury and read in the United States Senate 
 ‘not over thirty days ago, in which it was stated that the volume 
 of the debt of the United States to-day is $31,000,000.000, and 
 that debt has to be paid by price and not by value; and this 
 gentleman comes forward here and argues the proposition that 
 we increase the volume of the currency—— 
 
 Mr. COBB of Alabama. Would you advocate an inflation of 
 “he-currency simply in view of the debtor and creditor relations? 
 
 Mr. HALL of Missouri. Understand me in thisway; when 
 I was asked. by a National Alliance, the State Alliance, and by 
 the suballiance known as my Congressional District Alliance, if 
 I would agree to a per capita volume of $50, I said, ‘‘ No, sir: I 
 will only pledge myself to vote one way, that you shall have'the 
 ‘right to pay your debts in the-same valueof money as when the 
 debt was contracted, but if $50 or $20 enables you to repudiate one 
 ‘eent-of your honest debt I shall never vote in Congress in favor 
 of that proposition, but Ishall demand, as far as my ability is, 
 that, you have the right to pay your debits inthe same volume of 
 money as when the debt was contracted; and that is a doctrine 
 ‘that is sustained by all writers,and is a doctrine that is -sus- 
 tained by the plainest tenets and principles of Christianity.” 
 
 Mr. SPERRY. Mr. McLAvuREN and I were not talking about 
 this house on the other side of the street, but we were talking 
 of cottonin Liverpool. Will you describe to this committee the 
 difference between the price and value of cotten sold in the ex- 
 
 .change of Liverpool? ; 
 
 Mr, HALL of Missouri. I will say, with all due deference, 
 that I thought I made that question clear to everybody and I 
 thought even to yourself, but I see I have failed. 
 
 ‘Mr. SPERRY. You have drawn an illustration of some house 
 -on the other side of thestreet and—— 
 
 ‘Mr. HALL of Missouri. I said an .increase.of the volume: of 
 “money in the United States dees not affect the value of the cot- 
 ton in Liverpool as between value and price; supply and demand 
 veontrol it; but the price of cotton is. determined by the volume 
 Of the circuiating medium m this country. : 
 
 ‘Mr. COBB of Alabama. Did you ever know cotton’to sell in 
 America at a price higher than the value in Liverpool? 
 
 Mr. HALL of Missouri. -Ewill-anuswer thai, gentlemen. in this 
 way: If you mean that the value of the cotton in the United 
 States has never exceeded the value of the catton in Liverpool, 
 answer you no; but if you mean the value of the cotton in Liy- 
 erpool has not been different from the price of the cotton in the 
 United States, I answer you yes. 
 
 ‘Mr. COBB of Alabama. 1am talking about what the farmer 
 gets in his pocket which jingles as money. Does he get for his 
 cotton 1 cent or part of a cent per pound more than the quota- 
 tions from Liverpool every day? I do not care whether you call 
 it price or value. [am talking about the money which he gets. 
 Is it not a principle of political economy that where a consider- 
 
 ; d41 
 
- 
 
 28 
 
 able portion of a production of a country is exported, that that 
 part of it which remains at home is always governed by the export 
 rice? 
 ¥ Mr. HALL of Missouri. There is no difference whatever on 
 that question. That isan old settled doctrine that the price of 
 the surplus exported fixes the price of the home product. Of 
 course they are using the word price here in relation to the word 
 value and in relation to the question here—— 
 Mr. COBB of Alabama. Isay that this distinction has nothing 
 to do with the amount of money the farmer puts in his pocket. 
 Mr. McLAURIN. Gentlemen, I will state that I am indebted 
 for your patient hearing and the courtesy with which I have 
 been heard. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Mr. HARTER of Ohio has introduced a bill providmg for an increase of 
 currency by enlarging the amount which national banks may issue upon 
 their deposits of bonds. We both have the same objective point, to wit, an 
 increase of the volume of currency, with this difference: ° 
 
 Mr. HARTER proposes to give the benefit accruing from such increase to 
 the national banks, in order to benefit a privileged class. 
 
 Mr. MCLAURIN proposes the Government to make the increase for the 
 benete of allthe people. In this connection I submit a table showing two 
 things: ° 
 
 First. The enormous profits which have already accrued to this privileged 
 class, called national bankers. 
 
 Second. A table showing, in connection with the questions of Mr. SPERRY 
 of Connecticut, the effect of contraction upon the price of products. 
 
 BANE PROFITS. 
 
 The following table, showing the bank profits foraseries of years,is given 
 below. It is taken from the World Almanac, andis presumably correct: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Year. Capital. Net earnings. 
 
 ee ee ee el ed le eee ate $465, 676, 023 858, 075, 430. 05 
 ISTO ee A, Sh ee 488, 100, 951 65, 048, 578.00. 
 Nie ee eS ee 589, 938, 59, 680, 931. 00 
 i by ae ae eS Se ee ees ee ee 497, 864, 833 58, 946, 224. 00 
 ri; Pn eee Pieris) REO. FS ea 500, 472, 271 43, 638, 152. 00 
 OTT Sassen SS 486, 324, 852 34, 857, 990. 00 
 a aa Bes 9-8 a: Es ee 470, 331, 890 30, 600, 589. 00 
 (Ey | ee aes a eS 2 ie 455, 132, 056 31, 551, 860. 00 
 1880 2s ee et ee ee 456, 315,002 51, 187, 034. 00 
 Et) (SE eR a SO oS eee. Pe 458, 934, 485 53, 632, 563. 00 
 jE Ss RE eS 5 Se 476, 947,715 53, 321, 234. 00 
 {ot RR St so eto el se ee ee Ee 494, 640, 140 54, 007, 148.00 
 r/o ee Se Pe eae < GRE SS <i 518, 605, 725 52, 362, 783.00 
 J eS arr ee ae 534, 699, 605 43, 625, 497.00 
 to RSRE® .2o8 2 RS Se SS fe 532, 556, 921 55, 165, 385. 00 
 Cty Se? DD LE Se oe. : Ae EL 578, 462 64, 506, 869. 66 
 pf ee ee ee. ae 583, 538, 144 65, 362, 286. 73 
 \.. EGS. ey See 596, 322, 518 59, 618, 265. 07 
 pl SRS ee ees A Ree 625, 089, 645 72, 055, 163. 52 
 lo ee a. 22 ee ee 760, 108, 201 75, 763, 514. 00 
 DOtG) SarDin gs. |: ... .. condeebaeescaen pian cece oeie ac ame 1, 081, 988, 586. 98 
 
 
 
 541 » 
 
29 
 
 The following figures, taken from the United States Statistical Abstract, 
 issued by the United States Treasury Department, shows the effect of a con- 
 
 traction of the currency, and falling prices on —— products: 
 
 Aggregate 
 Year. Products. crop. Home value. 
 212,441,400 | $421,796, 460 
 , 949, 000 322, 111, 881 
 768, 320, 000 610, 948, 390 
 1, 628, 464, 000 642, 146, 630 
 97, 783, 000 89, 276, 830 
 , 360, 81, 413, 589 
 26, 277, 000 372, 864, 670 
 , 643, 094 408, 499, 565 
 313, 724, 000 41, 283, 431 
 565, 795, 000 43, 666, 665 
 3,114,592 303, 600, 000 
 8, 652, 597 366, 863, 788