National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-01-09
LIGHT WANTED.

1t has been announced that the Banking
and Currency Committee have determined
= to request the opinions of large number
of gentlemen upon the financial situation
in order that they may be the better enabled
to frame a bill which shall meet the neces-
sites of the country and the demands OF
the hour. This pursuit after useful inform
alton upon the part of the committee Is
trustworthy, and it is to be sincerely hoped
that they will derive the advantages they
hope to derive from q consultation with the
leading merchants, bankers and financial
authorities who will be summoned before
them The whole arrangement, however,
suggests one or two ideas which must have
occurred to everybody who thought upon
the subject at all when the announcement
was made.
In the first place, the proposition suggests
the extreme modesty of the committee, the
self-depreciation of its individual members,
the admission upon their part that great
and eminent statesmen as they all are, it is
still possible that there are men in the coun-
try who know possibly more about what
they are supposed to be fully informed upon
than they do themselves. This humility
cannot but strike the country favorably,
and tine spectacle of dozen gentlemen L.
lustrious in legislation and distinguished in
politics receiving lectures in finance from
mere business men, sitting humbly at the
feet of Mr. Stewart and Mr.. Lowe and Mr..
Walker will, we have no doubt, be ap-
plauded by every sincere lover of his coun-
try. This modesty is all the more remark
able when we rccOllect that ono Of its
members only short time since delivered
an able argument upon the subject to de-
lighted audience in front of one Of our
hotels, and that another is popularity known
as the Gather of free banking" tho leader
of a following which is almost powerful
enough to carry away our present financial
structure and replace it with his own little
edifce, under whose shadow panics will be
no more and all our misery and distress will
be at an end.
Of course, we, in common with all the
rest of the world, bow deferentially to the
committee; but at the same time we may,
perhaps, be permitted to question the wis
dom of the course they have seen fit to
adopt. We have, since they desire and
need it, no objection to their learning all
that is to be learned upon the subject which
they have specially in charge; to complete
the education for which all the long sum-
mer and the holiday recess was insufficient;
but what prospect is there that the majority
will be any further advanced in their
studies by next July than they are at pres
ent d? And meanwhile the country must
wait until the course of lectures is concluded
and the committee is graduated, business
languishing, every vital interest suffering.
merchant and manufacturer in doubt as to
what may or may not be done; what foolish
scheme may be preached; what impracti-
cal theory may be incubated to puzzle
and bewilder the people. The members of
the committee mean well enough, but they
have taken the wrong means to get at the
opinion of the country. What they should
do is present their bill, or their ideas, if
they have any, as soon as possible to the
House and to the country, and let the coun-
try give its judgment upon it. The idea of
summoning men from New York and New
England to the Banking and Currency
Committee rooms to read essays or make
speeches to the committee, while its men,
bers sit around with their feet upon the
table, is absurd and ridiculous But the
lecture programme has been decided upon,
and the process of injecting ideas into the
committee will begin in a few days. Let
us hope that the operation will be successful.