The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-01-03
PLAN OF CURRENCY REFORM
INDIANAPOLIS CONVENTIONS Ex-
ECUTIVE COMMITTEE SUBMITS m.

the Threatened Degradation of NIone-
tary standard-Plan Recommends That
it be Provided by Law That All obliga-
tionsof the U. S. be Payable in Gold.
Washington, D. c., Jan. 2.-The re-
port of the monetary commission,
containing the plan of currency
reform proposed by it, together with
full discussion of the subject and a
mass of valuable statistics and other
information, has been sent out by the
executive 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 mischief.
The standard thus fixed is now gold.
This is a 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 pro-
ryir3 I,xy1 Inv hot oil pH1 {orot q
United States, existing and future, shall
be, payable in gold except when other
wise expressly provided. BY the wise
and courageous action Of its executive
officers the government has upheld that
standard by paying it's obligations in
gold But until such payment is re-
quired 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 es-
tablished gold standard In the full sense
of those words.
Demand Obligations of Government.
At the present time the government
has no fund for the payment of it's de-
mand obligations except the general
balance in the treasury applicable alike
to the payment of all dues. Our reve-
nues are uncertain in amount; our ex-
penditures are large and growing, and
liable to vary. 1t Is, therefore, uncer-
tain whether we shall have at any par
ticular time an adequate fund for the
redemption of the demand obligations
without recourse to borrowing. Bor-
rowing is an ineffectua1 resource, be-
cause. under the law as it stands, the
4 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 resort
ed to or not will depend upon the per-
sonal views and discretion of the Off
cials 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 hazard
Gus situation by making specific and
adequate provision for the payment 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. It
appears to those who do not look at it
critically to derive it's value from the
ysgovernment stamp" 1t ceases to be
regarded as a promise to pay money
and seems to possess the virtue of mon
ey in and of itself. And it is so easy to
create it that when times grow hard
the call for more is perfectly natural
There can be no doubt that the aberra-
ton Of judgment on the money question
by so many of our people in recent
years has been largely due to the mis-
educating influences of the greenback
currency.
Such a currency also lacks the impor-
; tant quality Of automatic adaptability
to the varying demands Of business. A
paper currency created by legislation is
fixed in volume by the law of it's crea-
tion, and can neither contract nor ex-
pand in response to those varying con
tlitions which are bound to occur in the
affairs of men.
More important than this is the fact
that such currency puts upon the
government a burden in the mainten-
ance of the credit of all the ffnancia,
institutions of the country. If the gov.
ernment should fail to redeem it's 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 OF
in silver. Every passing incident, there.
FORE which raises an apprehension
however slight, of a possibility, howev.
er remote, that the government may be
unable or unwilling to maintain golG
payment of it's obligations sends a ner.
vous tremor through the whole bust
ness system of the country. Sovereign
government cannot be compelled to pay
it's debts; it pays them only when il
wills so to do; and the existence Of
doubt in the public mind as to the con
tinuance Of the will of our government
to pay it's demand obligations in money
satisfactory to the holders thereof is E
serious drag on business enterprise.
The existence of large outstanding
debt payable on demand is also source
of weakness to the government in it!
International relations. Modern war
fare is so expensive that it is almost a!
much a matter of money as men
nation suddenly confronted by the al