The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-07-30

state of absolute chaos except as to one
thing-the maintenance of the gold stand
ard. The convention itself could not advance
beyond that point. 1t was the common jest
and taunt of the silver men that the gold
bugs could not agree on any specific plan
for carrying out what they were pleased to
can reform, and 1t was a not unpleaslng
thought to the do-nothing Republicans that
no two members of Congress could agree
upon a bill for this purpose.
The taunt was not without force. If the
friends and advocates of a particular policy
cannot embody it in a measure which they
can unitedly support, they have no grounds
upon which to call for public support. A
specific plan of action was necessary, and
the indianapolis convention undertook to
supply 1t. The monetary commission of
which ex-senator Edmunds was the chair
man, was the next step. In due time, and
after months of painstakng and most in
telllgent effort, a plan was reported with
a Dill for carrying 1t into effect. 1t was
offered to the committee on banking and
currency and was adopted in part. Other
features were added, and when the bill
came from the committee, and was found to
be unobJectionable, although different in
some respects from that reported by the
Indianapolis commission, Mr.. Hanna and
his associates put all their energies and all
the machinery they had organized at work
70 secure support for it in Congress and in
the country. What was accomplished in this
way Mr.. Hanna tells us in the following
paragraph:
ITO measure the present condition it is
reason to believe that the President and all
the leading administration Republican SEN
ators and congressman and the $50 mem
bers of the House who signed the petition
now stand united in support of the general
principles of the committees bill There is
every reason to believe that Mr.. Reed will
be an earnest advocate of monetary legisla-
ton"
If there ever was an organization fol-
moving public opinion that could give a
better account of itself at the end of eight
cen months than the Indianapolis monetary
convention can we do not know where or
when it is to be found The subject it had
to deal with was difficult one to under
stand. 1t was necessary in great part to
educate its own members. There are prob
ably few if any of those engaged in the
work who have not gained instruction In
financial science in their endeavOr to i'm
part it to others. Some of those who are
now most admirable and efficient in carry
ing on the work owe their whole training
as economists to the education they have
here received. Altogether they constitute a
ticular work which they first took in hand
in January. 1897. Mr. Hanna may well con-
graduate himself and his associates on the
results of their labor so far as they have
gone. That they will do with equal zeal
and intelligence what still remains to be
done we have full confidence. We remark
in connection with Mr.. Hanna's statement
mssion-a volume of over six hundred
pages prepared by Prof j. Laurence Laugh
lin-has just been issued from the Uni
versity of Chicago press, and that it is an
invaluable work for all students of the
subject, and that it cannot fail to be one
of the important sources of our financial
and political history