The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-10-10
CURRENCY SAVANTS TO MEET.
MONETARY COMMISSION TO RE-EN-
TER ITS WORK TO-MORROW.

banking to he called Before the
Commission - Commission Divided
Under Three General Heads.
Washington, Oct 9.-The members of
the monetary commission will convene
again Monday morning and begin their
real work of investigating the currency
problem. 1t is not likely that the COM
mission will take another adjournment for
so long a time until it finishes its labors,
though 1t Is probable that It will fire.
quently adjourn over Sunday. During it's
brief session in October its time %as de-
voted to discussion of the nature and
scope of its work, and to properly organ
izing so as to carry out it's work in a sys-
tematic fashion. The work was divided
under three general heads metallic cur
rency, demand obligations of the govern
ment, and The banking system. The COM
mission divided up itself to handle these
three subjects with the following commit
tees:
On Metallic Currency-C. Stuart Pat
terson of Pennsylvania; Louis A. Garnett
of California; J. Laurence Laughlin of
Illinois.
On Demand Obligations of the Govern
ment-Robert S. Taylor of Indiana; stuy-
vesant Fish of New York; J. W. Fries OF
North Carolina; George f. Edmunds of
Vermont.
On the Banking system-Charles S.
Fairchild of New York; T. G. Bush of Ala
bama; w. b. Dean of Minneapolis; George
e. Leighton of Missouri
In the meantime the secretaries have
been very busy classifying and preparing
in convenient shape the great mass Of data
! and suggestions that have already reach
ed the commission. Much of it had ac-
cummulated in the hands of the executive
committee before the commission was ap-
pointed, and a great deal has been receiv-
ed since that tlme Chairman Hanna of
| the executive committee, arranged a very
simple scheme for the preparation of this
data AS IL comes before the commission
It is all upon paper of the same size per-
forated for filing in convenient shape.
| That pertaining to metallic currency Is
upon paper tinged with buff. The paper
| upon which the data concerning govern
| ment demand obligations Is presented has
| a gTeenlsh cast, and matter concerning
| the banking system Is upon red tinted pa
| per. All the data is prepared in duplicate,
| one copy for each member of the commits
| sion, and a member can tell at a glance
| by the tint of the paper whether it Is mai
| ter pertaining to his own committee or one
| of the others. Thus while each man gives
| special attention to the matter with which
| his own committee is occupied he is keep
ing in touch with all that comes before
| the other committees. and there are, of
| course, frequent consultations OF the
| whole commission.
| The pwapnfiVa committed did not cease
operations when the commission was APP
| pointed and organized. In fact, Chair
| man Hanna regards its work as only be-
| gun. He regards the commission as
| quasi-judicial body to pass judgment and
| make a report upon the matter presented
| to it, and will see that experts upon f.
| nance and banking are brought before the
| commission to give their views, and that
| all data obtainabe from all parts of the
world is properly presented.
| The work of the committee upon metal
| lie currency will be the simplest of the
| lot. The monetary convention declared
| for q gold standard, and this committee
will probably report the same way,
| though it will make an investigation Of
! the operations of the single gold standard
and the single silver standard in various
| countries, as well as the efforts to main
tain bimetallic standard, and will report
| upon the result of their Investigations.
of the government has a much more diff
| ficult task. II will report upon the his
| tory of the various paper currency sys-
TENS the world has known and give its
| estimate upon the value and the effect
! of the various systems of paper currency
| The committee on banking will not only
investigate and report upon the various
! systems of banking that the world has
| known, but viii endeaVOr to make such
recommend as will, in its Judge
ment, bring about a better system of
banking in the United States. The com
mission Is impressed with the idea that
| American methods Of banking do not af-
ford the facilities they should for the
small farmers and men of very moderate
| resources. There are two or three diff
cutles" said one of the members Of the
! commission, in conversation with the
writer a few days ago, that I think can
! possibly be obviated. In the first place,
our banking facilities and banking capt
/ tai might, to advantage, be somewhat
| more evenly distributed throughout the
| country. There is surely some method Of
| doing away with this thing Of having
money command Q and 10 per cent. inter-
est in the southern and western agricul-
| tural communities, upon paper that is
| perfectly sound, when it will only com
mand 4lA and per cent. upon paper of
! equal soundnesS In the northern seaboard
! states Then we should find a way TO
| encourage the making Of small loans.
| am convinced that han the discomfort
| that finds expression in the periodical de-
| mands for currency imitation, arises from
the fact that the man Of small resources
finds it difficult, IL not impossible, TO OBJ
| tain n loan at a reasonable rate Of inter-
| est. Under our system the banks do not
| care to bother with loans of less thars
| $1,000, and ! have never heard of them
making one for less than 800. Yet a man
| who has a single bale Of cotton, 100 bush
els Of wheat, 200 or 300 bushels of
corn, or like small amount of
| product ought to be able to OBJ
tain loan that will enable him
to carry that commodity until, In his
| judgment the market price for It Is right.
/ II is seldom that wheat commands the
highest price just al tnreshing time, or
that cotton can be sold to best advantage
right after the picking, or that corn can
best be sold in husking time. Yet the
| man who has not enough TO fill a large
apartment In the warehouse, and take out
| warehouse receipts, has nothing upon
which he can borrow money, as collateral.
| If he did hold a warehouse receipt for a
| single bale of cotton or 100 bushels OF
wheat he would find 1t impossible TO go to
a bank and get loan upon it. The bank