The record-union., 1898-01-03
The MONETARY
COMMISSION REPORT
Advocates Making Gold the Stand
ard.
Says II Cannot be Changed Without Work
Ing Mischief.

IN 0Olu SO as 20 C1Ose Cue OOoE
to All Meaning Of the Word
"Coin"-Speaks Of the "Mis-
educating Influence Of the
Greenback Currency.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 2.-The report
of the Monetary Commission, contain
ing the plan Of currency reform pro-
posed by it, together with a full dis
cussion Of the subject and a mass of
valuable statistics and other informa-
ton, has been sent out by the Execu-
tive Committee Of the Indianapolis
convention. Following are the main
points of the argument and the plan in
detail:
THE STANDARD
The most serious evil Of our present
situation is the threatened degradation
Of our monetary standard.
The concurring habits of Individual
mankind fix the standard by which to
measure the value of labor and prop
erty.
Governments cannot try to change
this standard without making mis-
chief.
The standard thus fixed is now gold.
This is fact of civilization.
Government, if it serves the people
well, accepts this fact and records it in
law
AS an immediate means toward this
end, We recommend that it shall be
provided by law that all obligations Of
the United States, existing and fu-
"a n mt
when otherwise expressly provided. By
the wise and courageous action of its
executive offices the Government has
upheld that standard by paying its
obligations in gold But until such
payment is required by law, and the
door thus closed to all question as to
the meaning of the word coin" in the
obligations of the Government, we
shall not have an established gold
STANDARD in the full sense Of those
words.
DEMAND OBLIGATIONS OF THE
GOVERNMENT.
At the present time the Government
has no fund for the payment of it's
demand obligations except the general
balance in the Treasury applicable
alike to the payment of all dues. Our
revenues are uncertain in amount; our
expenditures are large and growing,
and liable to vary. 1t is, therefore,
uncertain whether we shall have at any
particular time an adequate fund for
the redemption of the demand obliga-
tons without recourse to borrowing.
Borrowing is an Intellectual resource,
because, under the law as it stands the
notes which have been paid must be
returned to circulation, and so may be
used over and over to draw out the
borrowed gold. The issue of bonds,
moreover rests with the executive de-
partment, and whether it will be re-
sorted to or not viii depend upon the
personal views and discretion of the
officials at the head of that department
More serious still is the fact that it is
in the power of the executive depart
ment, as the law now stands, to decide
whether the Government notes shall be
paid in gold or in silver. An end
should be put to this anomalous and
hazardous situation by making specific
and adequate. provision for the pay
ment of the demand obligations, and
directing in the law that such payment
shall be in gold at the demand Of the
holder.
A paper currency issued by the Gov
ernment and circulating year after year
without redemption educates the people
in false notions concerning money. 1t
appears to those who do not look at it
critically to derive it's value from the
Government stamp" 1t ceases to be
regarded as a promise to pay money,
and seems to possess the virtue of
money in and of itself. Apd it is so
easy TO create it that when tfpes grow
hard the call for more is perfectly nat
ural. There can be no doubt that the
alteration of judgment on the money
question by so many of our people in
recent years has been largely due to the
miseducating influences of the green
back currency.
Sucn currency also lacks the i'm
portant quality of automatic adapta-
bility to the varying demands of busi-
ness. paper currency created by
legislation is fixed in volume by the
law cf its creation, and can neither con-
tract nor expand in response to those
varying conditions which are bound to
occur in the affairs of men.
More important than this is the fact
that such acurrency puts upon the Gov
ernment burden in the maintenance
of the credit Of all the financial insti-
tutions of the country. If the Gov
ernIn mt should fail to redeem its notes,
all bank notes, bank deposits insurance
losses and debts and dues of every
kind not specifically payable in gold
would be payable in the deprecated
paper or in silver. Every passing in
cident, therefore, which raises an ap-
prehension, however slight, of a pos
sibility, however remote, that the Gov
ernment may be unable or unwilling
to maintain gold payment of its obi
cations sends nervous tremor through
the whole business system of the
country. Sovereign government cannot
be compelled to pay its debts; it pays
them only when it wills so to do: and
the existence of doubt in the public
mind as to the continuance of the will
of our Government to pay its demand
obligations IN money satisfactory to
the holders thereof is a serious drag on
business enterprise.
The existence Of large outstanding
debt payable on demand is also a
source of weakness TO the Government
in it's international relations. Modern
warfare is so expensive that it is al
most as much matter of money as
men. A nation suddenly confronted
by the alternative of war or dishonor