The San Francisco call., 1898-01-03
Report of the Monetary Commission Has Been
 Submitted.
Present Evils Pointed Out and Important Recommends
 tiOnS Are Made.
Legislation Required to Prevent the Threatened Degradation of the
 Gold Standard.
Special Dispatch to The Call.
Call Office, Riggs House,


 Washington, Jan. ?.
 In the report of the Monetary Com mission to the executive committee of the Indianapolis Monetary Convention a plan of currency reform is submitted iii the hope that it will, if enacted into law, accomplish, so far as possible these results:
 l. To remove, at once and forever. a.! aoubt as to what the standard of value in the United States is and is to be.
 =. To establish the credit of the United States at the highest point among the nations of the world.
 3. To eliminate from our currency sys- tenn those features which reason and ex- perlence show to be elements of weak ness and danger.
 i. To provide paper currency convert lple into gold and equal to 1t in value at all times and places, in which, with a volume adequate to the general and usual needs Of business, there shall be com bined a quality of growth and elasticity, through which 1t will adjust itself auto maucally and promptly to all variations of demand, whether sudden or gradual, and which shall distribute itself through out the country as the wants Of the dif- ferent sections may require.
 3. To so utilize the existing silver dol lars as to maintain their parity with gold without imposing undue burdens on the treasury.
 6. To avoid any injurious contraction of the currency.
 (. 10 dNOlu the issue or lnI6TeSl-DedFlIS bonds, except in case of unlooked-for emergency; but to confer the power to issue bonds when necessary for the pres ervation of the credit of the Government.
 $. To accomplish these ends by plan which would lead from our present con- fused and uncertain situation by gradual and progressive steps, without shock or violent change, to monetary system which will be thoroughly safe and good and capable of growth to any extent that the country may require.
 N Ara xxrifa hn lfDoff nf preliminary report, go at length into the reasons which have led us to all the con clusions here expressed. A statement or those which relate to the more important points must suffice. Later a fuller anc final report will be presented.
 After alluding to the ten different forms of currency in the United States the report gives the following as the defects of the existing system:
 First-The vast amount of government credit currency without a certain and adequate provision for its redemption, and the consequent diminution of public confidence in the continued maintenance of the gold standard.
 Second-The continuance in circulation of government promises to pay, Which, when made a legal tender, constitute forced loan, which are secured only by such resources as the exercise Of the taxing power can render available, and which are payable only at the will of the
 Third-The failure to provide the means for d gradual and sufficient increase Of the volume of the currency to meet the needs of an increasing population and an enlarging commerce.
 and inflow of the currency when and as, and only when and as, the agricultural, manufacturing and commercial interests of the country require, at given time, either greater or less quantity or cur rency in circulation.
 Fifth-The failure to secure such a dis trihntfOn of the lnanaDlR capital Of the country as will tend to eQualiZe the rates of interest in all its parts.
 SiXth-The confusion of the fiscal func- tions of the treasury as the receiver of the public revenue and the disburSer thereof under congressional appropria- tionS with its issue and redemption 1unc- tions in exchanging and redeeming the
 Sevenih-The circulation of different different qualities as to legal tender and receivable for government dues.
 Eighth.The circulation of silver dol lars of full legal tender quality whose nominal value as coins so largely eX- ceeds their value as bullion, that they offer tempting inducements to successful counterfeiting.
 Ninth-The circulation of a national bank currency based upon government of those bonds, diminishing the ioanable funds of the banks, and, by reason of their bond basis, incapable of increasing m volume with temporary demand for more currency and of decreasing with the cessation of that demand.
 The committee states that the most serious evil affecting our present SyS- tenn is the threatened degradation of it's standard. The means necessary to establish and preserve popular confi- dence in the continued maintenance of the gold standard is given as follows:
 l. An explicit legislative definition of the gold standard and pledge that it will be maintained.
 ?. A requirement. that all obligations, public and private, unless otherwise stip- in conformity with that standard. 3. The adoption of a plan for the grad ual retirement of the outstanding note issues of the government. As the gold deposited for certificates cannot be used by the Government. and | advantage to the Government or to the people, there does not seem to be any reason for their continued issue.
 The banking system is thoroughly reviewed. and recommendations made for necessary reforms. The report is signed by: George F. Edmunds, chair man; George E.. Leighton, vice-chair- man; T. c. Bush, w. B. Dean, Charles s. Fairchild, Stuyvesant Fish, J. w. Fries, c. Stuart Patterson, Robert $. Taylor.
 Louis A. Garnett approves the re- | port, except as to the provisions relat- | ing to metallic currency; and J. Lau- renee Laughlin dissents from that DOT | Treasury to reissue United States | ton empowering the Secretary of the notes in purchase of bonds.