The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-07-08
SPECIAL CURRENCY MESSAGE.
mckinley Will Ask for Authority tn
Appoint Commission.


Appoint Commission.
WASHINGTON, July latter a dis
cusslon lasting over an hour, the cabi-
net today decided that the president
should send to congress a message rec
ommend1ng legislation providing for a
commission to adjust the currency
question of the country. It was re-
solved that this message should be sent
10 congress tomorrow, providing that
the tariff bill was by that time passed
py the senate. 1t is the expectation Of
tie president that the subject will re-
celVe the attention Of congress during
the present extra session of congress.
The message itself is written and is
short. Its principal feature is a quota
tlon from the presidents inaugural au-
dress on the financial Subject. The
president will ask the authority to
name nine commissioners and for an
appropriation for the expenses of the
commission, but will make no sugges-
ton as to the political or other compo-
! sItlon of the commission, nor will he
make any suggestion as to the lines Of
investigation. He will simply call at
tent1on to the necessity of a reform in
our currency and national banking
laws, and state that in his opinion,
this reform is all important with the
enactment of a protective tariff law
The message was framed by the pres
ident himself and like his other special
MESA ges to congress states the 1eces-
sity of the occasion tersely 1t recites
the fact that the tariff bill has now
passed both the house and the senate
and homo that will he
red in by both houses. With that acted
upon, a subject of equal importance,
he says, demands immediate attention,
! that of reform in our currency. The
message quotes from the presidents
inaugural address in which he says:
Our financial system needs some revision;
our money is al good now. but its value must
not be further threatened. 1t should all be
put on an enduring basis, not subject to
dispute. Therefore | believe 1t necessary to
devise a system, which, without diminishing
the circulating medium or offering a pre-
mum for its contraction, will put remedy
for these arrangements which, temporary in
their nature, might well in the years of our
prosperity have been displaced by wiser pro-
visions. With adequate revenue secure, but
not until then, we can enter upon such
changes in CUR fiscal laws will while in
surfing safety and volume to our money, no
| longer impose upon the government the ne
cessity of maintaining so large gold reserve,
with it's attendant and inevitable temptations
to speculation.
1t also cites the work and recommen-
dations of the Indianapolis currency
convention, and says if the power is
vested in the president, it is his pur-
pose to appoint non-partisan commits
sion, consisting of prominent well-in-
formed citizens, who will command
public confidence. The message closes
with the hope that congress will enact
legislation at this session to authorize
: this commission to be made up of repre-
sentatives of both parties, so that the
president may be prepared to report
! to congress when it reassembles in the
/ first term of the next regular session.
The president. while believing that
| the congress will respond to his mes
sage is not overconfident There was
some difference of opinion expressed by
| the cabinet as to the fate the recon-
menda ton would meet at this session.
! The majority, however, believed the
| opportunity was at least a favorable
one, and that it was, at any rate, the
duty of the administration to do what
it could to hasten the reform.