speculations, by compelling them to earn interest on all of the worthless stocks and bonds they put upon the market, a fictitious value is given to them. Having their principal place of business in the commercial metropolis of the country, being able whenever their interests demand it to "corner" the money of the country, it could be hardly expected that the treasury department of the government would escape their control. If a conflict should arise between the secretary of the treasury and these vast monopolies, the question of which side would come off victorious could not be doubtful. The circulating medium of the country is, in legal tender notes, $356,000,000. That of national banks, excluding their reserves, is less than $300,000,000. This currency is scattered over the country--a small portion of it in foreign countries. No coin is in circulation, most of it being locked up by Wall street brokers, in the interest of these railroad corporations. Many of the national banks of the country are owned by railroad men. In addition to the immense earnings of the railroads, which under the present system are concentrated in the city of New York, almost the entire amount of stock and bonds issued by railroad companies is either owned or represented in Wall street, and as occasion demands is put upon the market. Thus the whole of this corporate influence can be used at any time in a financial conflict with the government. It has been and is still being used against the government. Under the revenue laws of the country, import duties are paid in coin. A part of the sum thus realized is applied in payment of the national debt. There is no good reason why the secretary of the treasury should not apply this sum directly in payment of government bonds. Such a policy would tend toward the resumption of specie payment, making the money of the people of equal value with that used by the government. This would not suit railroad companies. So long as a margin can be preserved between coin and currency (and for their purposes the wider the better) under the decision of the supreme court they can discharge their bond indebtedness, contracted to be paid in gold, with depreciated paper at par, and save the margin. In order that a margin may be continued, instead of making direct payment of government bonds to the direct holders thereof, the secretary of the treasury is required to sell gold in New York, and purchase or liquidate the bonds with the proceeds of these sales. It is noticeable in all cases of the sale of coin, that Wall street brokers are the purchasers, and usually at less than the quoted market value. By this means the interests of these railroad managers are subserved in more than one particular. Their brokers purchase and corner the coin sold, and prevent it going into circulation, and the margin between coin and currency is preserved. The day for the resumption of specie payment is kept in the distant future.