The record-union., 1897-08-19


| dends uPon capital invested, there has
been a wide departure from doing a
| commercial business. The line to be
| drawn in the extension of credit is not
hard of ascertainment. A bank dealing
with commercial deposits should con-
| fine its granting of credits to strictly
| commercial undertakings. 1t has no
right to take commercial deposits pay
| able upon demand, if it pursue a differ
| ent policy. Fixed loans and fixed in
| vestments are the province of trust
| companies and savings institutions,
| and not the field to be entered upon
| by a commercial bank, handling com
mercial deposits, essential to the proper
| conduct of daily commercial business.
I am confident that if this line of de-
marcation was drawn, instead of there
being many bank failures because of
| an accumulation of uncomfortable as
| sets. there would be few. and then
/ largely through criminal dishOnesties.
But outside of these acts of a busi-
ness character to be performed by the
banker in bettering conditions, there
| are weaknesses in the business world,
| beyond the corrective power of any pri-
vate citizen, which must be eradicated
| if the hope of better things is fully
| justified These found their origin in
| statutory enactment and their undOing
lies solely with the nations legislative
| body. The currency problem is, taxi
ing it by and large. the most moment
Gus with which the American states
| man has to do. 1t is one neither of
politics nor political preferment 1t is,
as bankers more than all others ought
to realize one of business self preser-
| ch IAN X
at the hands of those who are sworn to
guard and preserve the peoples rights
a craftsmanship and patriotism COM
mensuratc with the magnitude of the
| interests involved. 1t ought, as well,
to enlist a public sentiment that would
| bring a swift punishment upon those
| who attempt to make it the plaything
| of party desires and the subjecc of
| mere political oratOry. There is no pO-
litical legerdemain by which political
! prestidgitators can deceive the public
| and substitute without the act being
| inquired into, other issues for that of
sound currency Neither one nor all
of them is of such vital Importance
| as this, which reaches to the nations
and the individuals credit. At the bot
tom of the currency question in it's
| last analysis lies that of credit and the
esteem in which the nations is held
both at home and abroad. History, it
is said ":bears evidence that the power
| of credit will hencefOrth decide finally
! the great contests of the world" Under
such a truth it is "a blunder worse
than a crime in those clothed with the
power of action to deter, whether from
motives of political strategy, indiffer-
ence or tinidity, taking such steps as
I1xr-
that will strengthen and not weaken
its financial standing and comport with
its true power and dignity.
One of the worlds most distinguished
philosophic historians has declared that
''the indispensable thing for a politician
is a knowledge of political economy and
| history" If the statement be correct,
a review of the currency legislation of
the United States for third of a CEN
| tury demonstrates how few if any poll
ticians in the historians sense have
! had to do with it. In all its range evil
dence is everywhere to be had of a.
disregard of the underlying principles
| of political economy and a woful ig-
Moran ce of the facts of monetary his
/ tory An analysis of it's parts bears
/ testimony to the truth of the assertion.
! A consideration of the whole places
/ it beyond cavil. That which we term
our currency system is one in name
only. 1t lacks every element of what
| rightfully can be called a system. 1t
violates in every essential feature what
in all other departments of government
affairs we dominate a system. 1t is
not an orderly combination of parts
not a whole according to some ra-
tiOnal principle or organic idea. Ev-
| erywhere there is want of unity, and
instead of presenting to the world
financial completeness it exhibits itself
as a work of ''shreds and patches
l am not unmindful that some of the
| evils of it found their origin in the
flush and excitement of a great war,
when men yielded their better judg-
ment to what seemed the demands of
| patriotism and sanctioned currency
legislation that under other and diff
ferent circumstances they would never
have consented should find place upon
the statutory books. But the era of
the war long ago passed away and
since that day, through three decades
! of peace, legislative bodies of varying
political faith have convened at the
cOuntry's capital, but yet the currency
laws are still inharmOnious, productive
of loss to every citizen and a cause
of anxiety to the nations executive Off
GERS. We have had currency legislation,
some OF it bearing promise of work
ing out the country's financial saliva
ton, but in many such instances it has
been charged and amended into that
which has made it an engine for harm.
The citizen who studies the ways of
governments and inquiries into the Op-
erations of financial laws, might toll
crate during the war period, with some
degree Of patience. as did the son of
the great financier. Albert Gallatin the
sobriquet of IAN odd fish" as applied
to him by a member of Congress in
1862, VIXEN he opposed the doctrine of
currency fiatism. but thirty years after
its close he has right to complain when
currency fiatism in silver and paper
issues Of the government are still sane
toned by legislative enactment. No
where in any nation of equal import
ance is there to be found a currency
and financial system so inadequate for
the purposes to be accomplished as
here. 1t presents in its circulation fea-
ture the singular spectacle of nine diff
ferent kinds of currency, all except two
of which are directly or indirectly de-
pendent upon the credit of the United
States. The Treasury Department es-
tablished by it is the greatest bank
ing institution in the land, clothed with
the least powers for self preservation
and beneficial action. One statute re-
quires the Secretary of the Treasury
to redeem the legal tender notes in coin