The times., 1898-01-13
ARGUE FOR THEIR MEASURE.
Edmunds and Fairchild Before tho

L
| Banking and Currency Committee.
| The House Committee on Banking
! and Currency devoted all of yesterday
| to the indianapolis monetary commits
sion. The hearing began at 10:30 o'clock
and lasted until 4:30, when it was ad-
| journed TO be continued to-day. Those
| present representing the indianapolis
| commission were former Senator Ed
| munds, of Vermont; former Secretary
| of the Treasury Fairchild, of New
| York; J. w. Fries. of North Carolina;
| T. J. Bush, of Alabama. and Judge X
| s. Taylor, of Indiana. Secretary Gage,
| several members of Congress, and Il
| number of women were also present
| Former Senator Edmunds, chairman
! of the monetary commission, was the
| first speaker. He gave general his
| tory of the reasons which induced the
| commission to make the report that the
! bankruptcy and currency commission
! has under consideration, which We're.
1 when summed up, belief IN only q
| single standard. He said that the com
| mission had concluded that a double
| standard could not exist, unless each
| contained the same value, and that if
such were the case it would be dou-
| bic standard in name only and sin
| gle standard in reality.
| In regard to the theories of the COM
! mission on the expansion Of national
| bank circulation. Mr.. E,dnunds said
| that when bank issued it's notes and
! got for them the note of an individual
| or corporation the party who borrow
| ed had something to pay with, but the
| United States does not have anything
| to show for notes ii issues because the
| income of the Government is consum-
ed each year and its only assets are its
| patriotism. The commission believe it
! to be unsafe, in this manner, to trust
| the Government which has by raids
on the Treasury at different times lost
| so much money. He declared that at
| the present time not one quarter of
as much money is required per capita
| for business it was fifty years ago,
because of the circulation of notes.
| The commissions bill does not contract
circulation. 1t simply exchanges one
| kind of money for another 1t also
| increases the national bank circuIa-
| ton.
''One would say without thinking
over the matter" said Mr.. Edmunds,
| that the note of the Government is
! better than that of a bank. The differ
! ence is that if a bank does not pay the
citizen can compel it, but the Govern
ment cannot be compelled to pay. The
| commission, therefore, believes the
note of bank better than that of the
Government"
| Former Secretary Fairchild said that
! monetary standards were no more sub
| ject TO governmental control than the
| tides and winds. II was a natural and
| economic operation between individu-
| ais, in which each sought the best.
| Governments had adopted standards.
| but had never created one When q
government sought to make a standard
| it merely interrupted the natural law
and embarrassed natural exchanges.
Further on he said OF banks that the
main ground for government interfer-
ence in bank note circulation was to
facilitate the Fapidity Of exchange By
giving regularity TO an otherwise nat
uraI operation between individuals SO
as to the Government stamps on coin.
The value was in the metal. and the
Government entered the transaction
by assaying and establishing what the
value was. In the opinion OF Mr.. Fair
child the Government should aid in the
natural operations of exchange by aid
ing the rapidity of money transactions.
and beyond this the people should be
left to themselves. This service, he
said. was not so much to the banks as
to the people who use them. for bank
ers could invest capital in other ways
The design of the banking feature of
the commissions report was to facili-
tate the natural operations of banking
and exchange.
Chairman Walker at this point an
nounced that a recess of an hour for
lunch would be taken.
When the hearing was resumed
Mr. NeWiands, of Nevada, asked the
Committee on Banking and Currency
to invite the Committees on Ways and
Means and on Coinage to take part in
the hearing. He insisted that they
were as deeply interested in the hear
ing as the Banking and Currency Com
mittee. Mr.. Johnson. of Indiana, and
Mr.. Fowler of New Jersey. objected.
declaring that the Ways and Means
and the Coinage Committees would
learn all about the bill when it comes
up for debate Mr. Newlands's motion
was lost, and Mr.. Fairchild proceeded.
He said that all the resources of
banks under the proposed system are
pledged TO redeem notes. \ deposit of
bonds might become necessary, but he
did not think it would The object of
the bill was to bind the banks together
for the safety of the issue of notes. to
make all the banks responsible for the
loss by one. He said that if all banks
under the system had kept up their
issue of notes since 1898 to so per cent.
of their capital, the loss to the banks
through the failures of some would
to date have been only one-eighth of one
per cent, and had the system been IN
vogue since national banks came into
existence the loss would have been
only one-fortieth of one per cent. Inls,
he declared, showed that failures undel
the proposed system would not have
been burden to the surviving banks.
Loss by fraud, the speaker said, would
be infinitely small. and he would not be
afraid to enter in the system
To assume that such condition
would come to the country that all the
banks could not pay their debt: Wou!d
be to assume condition such as has
never happened in the world, and
one so bad that the best security could
not be realized on.
After finishing his remarks, Mr.-talr-
child answered many hypothetical
questions and a few which were not.
after which Mr.. t ]. Bush, of Ala
bama. addressed the committee. One
of the things he said was that redenip
tions of notes under the proposed sys-
tenn would take place in large cities
like New York.
That is the present curse. exclaim-
ed Mr. Fowler of New Jersey What
we now want is to have the redemp-
tions made where the notes are issued
and thereby keep the notes in their
several localities and not boarded up in
a few great cities.
Mr.. Bush said that. in his opinion
under the system this boarding would
not take place Credit would be better
and circulation more plentiful. He
added that if the committee feared that
the notes would go to New York and
other cities for redemDtiOu. and not