CUBA, WAR IN-Continued.

from the Committee on Foreign Affairs, reported the resolution presented by him March 2.

On March 2, 1896, Mr. Hitt, of Illinois, moved that the rules be suspended, that the Committee on Foreign Affairs be discharged from further consideration of Senate concurrent resolutions in regard to the relations between the United States and Cuba, and that the resolution which he sent to the desk be adopted by the House as a substitute therefor:

"Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That in the opinion of Congress a state of public war exists in Cuba, the parties to which are entitled to belligerent rights, and the United States should observe a strict neutrality between the belligerents.

"Resolved, That Congress deplores the destruction of life and property caused by the war now raging in that island, and believing that the only permanent solution of the contest equally in the interest of Spain, the people of Cuba, and other nations would be in the establishment of a government by the choice of the people of Cuba, it is the sense of Congress that the Government of the United States should use its good offices and friendly influences to that end.

"Resolved, That the United States has not intervened in struggles between any European governments and their colonies on this continent; but from the very close relations between the people of the United States and those of Cuba in consequence of its proximity and the extent of the commerce between the two peoples, the present war is entailing such losses upon the people of the United States that Congress is of the opinion that the Government of the United States should be prepared to protect the legitimate interests of citizens by intervention if necessary."

After debate on the same day, the rules were suspended and the resolutions agreed to-Yeas, 262; nays, 17.

The House substitute was transmitted to the Senate and after the correction of some clerical errors, on March 4, 1596, the Senate asked for a conference.

On April 1, in the House, and April 6, 1896, in the Senate, the conference report was agreed to, the House having receded.

The Senate resolutions were thus adopted.

President Cleveland took no action respecting these resolutions.

14,415,000

1889.

300,344,931

1890.

323,046,826

1891.

323,714,272 $40,463,165

1892.

1893.

311,814,840 98,051,657
320,875,683 140,661,694

1894.

1895.

1896, June!

98,080,506

119,887,370

16,735,000 116,792,759 257,102,445 11,830,000 131,380,019 297,210.043 763,466.888 21,365,000 120,850,399 307,364,148 813,756,984 29,830,000 141,235,339 326,880,803 907,812,639 11,935,000 92,970,019 326,489,165 892,931,561 268,772,371 134,862,009 58,935.000 66.344,409 327,091.381 856,008,170 265,109,456 115,978,708 55,405,000 48,381,569 319,731,752 804,606,485 225,562,755 33,430,000 42,961,909 336,313,080 736,348,250

200,387,376 628.972,558

690,975,135

No. 104.

CURRENCY-Continental.

The issue of paper money by the Continental Congress was one of the necessities of the period during which the war for independence was being waged. It proved so costly, however, that not until a greater crisis than the Revolution had arisen was a Government issue of legal-tender paper money emitted. Some $200,000,000 of Continental currency was issued between 1775 and 1780, and all of it was retired without the formality of redemption. After the first year of issue this currency steadily depreciated, until in 1781 one thousand dollars' worth of paper money was worth only one dollar in specie. "Then," as Mr. Jefferson writes, "it expired without a single groan. Not a murmur was heard on this occasion among the people. On the contrary, universal congratulations took place on their seeing this gigantic mass, whose dissolution had threatened convulsions which should shake their infant confederacy to its center, quietly interred in its grave." There is reason to believe that the Continental Congress never declared the currency to be a legal tender, although it did enact that any one refusing to take the money should be deered an enemy of his country. Nearly all the States, however, at the suggestion of Congress, made the Continental currency legal tender.

No. 105,

CURRENCY-Gold Reserves Held Against.

Since the resumption of specie payments on January 1, 1879, the Government has kept a reserve of $100,000,000 gold, to protect the issue of United States Treasury notes aggregating $346,681,016. Gold certificates can not be issued except for gold actually deposited, and such deposits must be held exclusively for the redemption of the certificates so issued. Whenever the gold in the Treasury in excess of the gold certificates outstanding falls below $100,000,000, the law directs that the issue of gold certificates shall cease.

The gold actually owned by the Government is to be determined by deducting from the gross amount in the Treasury the amount of gold certificates outstanding, and the net will be the reserve which the Government holds. The silver certificates are the only Government issue of paper money redeemable solely in silver. Of the other issues, the currency certificates are redeemable in legal-tender notes, and they in turn, with the Treasury notes of 1890, are redeemable in coin, either gold or silver. The ratio of Treasury gold reserves to paper money redeemable in gold in the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury is shown as follows:

No. 106.

CURRENCY-Issue of.

The new Federal Government had been in existence twentythree years before an issue of government notes was authorized by Congress On June 30, 1812, within two weeks after war had been declared with England, an act of Congress authorizing the issue of $5,000.000 Treasury notes was approved by President Madison. These notes were payable one year after date, bore interest at 5 2-5 per cent. per annum, and were to be issued "to such public creditors as chose to receive them at par." They were made receivable for all duties and taxes due the United States and for public lands. Various issues of Treasury notes were authorized by acts of Congress, down to 1861, but in every case they were merely temporary loans, usually bearing interest and payable only to such persons "as chose to receive them."

CURRENCY-Legal-tender Notes, Issue of.

No. 107.

For nearly fifty years, from 1812 to 1861, at various times Congress authorized the issue of Treasury notes, but not until the latter year was it ever proposed to make such notes a legal tender. A bankrupt Treasury, an impaired credit, and a civil war of unparalleled proportions made desperate measures necessary, and there was scarcely a financier in 1861 who did not consider the proposed issue of legal-tender notes a desperate undertaking, justified only, if at all, by the law of self-preservation, which operates in behalf of nations as well as individuals. The first "legal-tender" act was approved February 25, 1862. It avthorized the issue of $150,000,000 non-interest-bearing notes, payable to bearer, in denominations of not less than $5, and legal tender in payment of all debts, public and private, except duties on imports and interest on the public debt. These notes were made exchangeable for 6 per cent. bonds and receivable for loans that might thereafter be made by the Government. Supplementary acts of July 11, 1862, and January 17, 1863, authorized additional issues of $150,000,000 each, in denominations of not less than one dollar, and the time in which to exchange the notes for bonds was limited to July 1, 1863. It was under these acts that the legal-tender notes known as "greenbacks," now outstanding, were issued. The legal-tender issues during the war period were:

Amount issued.

*Highest amount outstanding at any one time, June 30, 1864. Includes reissue.

The one-year and two-year 5 per cent. notes of 1863, and the 6 per cent. compound interest notes of 1863, were legal tender for only their face value exclusive of interest, and were in a very short time retired from circulation by holders who kept them for an investment.

CURRENCY-Legal-tender Notes, Redemption of,

No. 108.

The retirement of the Treasury notes began soon after the war closed, and on April 12, 1866, an act of Congress authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to retire and cancel not more than $10,000,000 of notes within six months of the passage of the act and $1,000,000 per month thereafter.

On February 4, 1868, an act of Congress, suspending the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury to retire and cancel United States notes, became a law without the approval of the President

On March 18, 1869, an act "to strengthen the public credit" was passed, which declared that the United States notes were redeemable in coin. This act concluded as follows: "And the United States also solemnly pledges its faith to make provision at the earliest practicable period for the redemption of the United States notes in coin."

On January 14, 1875, the act "to provide for the resumption of specie payments" was passed. It declared that "on and after January 1, 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 fifty dollars." The same act provided that while the legal-tender notes outstanding remained in excess of $300,000,000, the Secretary of the Treasury should redeem such notes to the amount of 80 per cent. of the increase in national-bank notes issued.