Currency Bill

For several years the most vital question dividing the Democratic and Republican parties was that which concerned the currency. The former demanded the remonetization-of silver at a parity of 16 to 1, and the latter denouncing such a scheme as an approach to repudiation. After the election of McKinley, proposal was directly made not only to reform the currency, but to adopt the gold ‘standard, which was finally consummated February 15, 1900, by Senate action in adopting, by a vote of 46 to 29, a bill which provides as follows: The dollar of 25y'5 gtains of gold, nine-tenths fine, shall be the standard unit of value, and all forms of United States money shall be maintained at a parity with it; and Treasury notes and greenbacks shall be redeemable in gold. The Secretary of the Treasury is to set apart a fund of $150,000,000 in gold for the redemption of these notes, and, to maintain this fund at a figure not below $100,000,000, he is empower eds to sell bonds of the United States bearing interest at not exceeding three per cent. It also made the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury, as fast as standard silver dollars are coined, to retire an equal amount of Treasury notes, and to i ue silver certificates against the silver so coined. Under certain provisions, too, gold certificates shall be i ued against the gold held in the Treasury. No United States notes nor Treasury notes shall be i ued in denominations of le than ten dollars, and no silver certificates in denominations of more than ten dollars. The Secretary of the Treasury is also authorized to refund the bonded debt of the United States in thirty-year bonds, bearing two per cent. interest, the principal and interest of these bonds to be paid in gold. The two per cent. bonds shall be i ued at not le than par. Any national bank, by depositing with the United States bonds of this country, shall be permitted to i ue circulating notes to the face value of the bonds deposited, no bank being allowed to i ue circulating notes in exce of the amount of the paid-in capital of the bank.