New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-03-09
A MONETARY COMMISSION.

| Those who are anxious for the retirement or
greenbacks discover In the Presidents remarks
encouragement to believe that he VIII favor that
course but they fail to remember the emphatic
and uneQuivocal language Of his letter OF ac-
ceptance and his many speeches In respect to
the continued use Of all the paper in circulation
No friend will wish to embarrass tho, President
in the least as to such notifications OF the ex-
listing system as may. in harmony with the sug-
gcstIon OF his inaugural Address. render small
err gold reserve sufficient for the entire safety
of the whole circulation. But one fact which
| stands out more clearly than any other at this
| time Is that he does not propose or favor any
action on the money question until after the re-
| form of the tariff has been accomplished, and
| that the proposed investigation OF the suD1ec'
| by commission wOrld necessarily put off all
! action until next winter.
| Congress Is likely to regard without much
| favor the work Of such commissions. created ana
| acting outside Of the members elected TO the
Senate and the House; and as the Recommended
| lions of any commission must first 90 to the
| committees in both houses. and meet debate ana
| amendment in BOTH and be enacted into law be-
fore they can have any effect. II has often seemed
| oury which the President suggests has certain
| timeness and practical utility which merit at
| tention. Primarily, much would be gained by
deferring entirely until another session all rag
mentary or hasty action. and all attempt to reach
| such action. until review OF the whole subject
| has placed before Congress some consistent pan
| for its acceptance modification or rejection.
Weeks Of weary and pointless debate. at time
when no action can be taken. would also be
postponed until members could at least have
| some definite plan to discuss.
1t Is a still more important desideratum that
| thorough and careful commission. lnvestigat-
| ing the entire subject with sufficient time and
! with access to all public records might place
before the country a body Of facts regarding the
various phases of the monetary problem which
| would have the highest authority. would pre-
| sumably be accepted as trustworthy by the
| representative men Of different elements in the
| commission, and could thus be extensively cir
| culated as an arsenal of Information. II would
| be no light matter to have the vast field Of con-
troversy random assertion and disputed statis-
tics narrowed as It readily might he through the
| unanimous Endorsement Of certain records by
men of opposing opinions. As all who have
| large proportion of the errors so successfully
propagated by Harvey and his associates could
have been instantly dsproved by reference to
| any such compilation of data which honorable
men Of both parties would have accepted with
| out hesitation.
Nor Is 1t to he lightly regarded that commits
sion Of the kind contemplated might bring TO
bear on the subject such practical experience
| and such ability Of reasoning as would do much
| to lead public opinion. So far there have been
the sophistrles Of the silver men with more or
less sufficient replies: the attacks Of the last Ad-
ministration on the greenbacks as the source Of
| woe. to which have been added the utterances
| of many bankers and others in harmony with
them. and the cutlery Of sundry Democrats and
| Popullsts for unlimited increase OF paper clrcu-
lation. either through State banks or by the
| Government. But a commission OF high char
acer and ability would assuredly not find 1t diff
cult to present conclusive reasons against the
| schemes which have chiefly engrOssed attention
thus far 1t would be worth much to have the
field of debate and inquiry thus narrowed also
| at least approximately within the range Of prac-
teal good sense. That would be Of lasting help
even though the commission should be unable
to mark out plan which Congress would adopt
1t is not in the least improbable that the pro-
posa to create a monetary commission may
meet with some difficulty in Congress, but the
plain advantages which may be secured. If the
Presidents suggestion is followed, may fairly
outweigh the Inconvenience and expense, even
though 1t should be judged improbable that Con
gress would accept without change the form of
| action proposed.