Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1898-01-21
BANKER LEES IDEAS.

Washington Special, Jan. 10
Among the letters received by the
executive committee Of the moneoa.
rly commission giving opinions ::of
the report is one from Wi'lia" +.
Lee, of Long Prairie, MINI. Mr..
Lee says that the report is entitled
to the careful consideration Of
con grass, inasm"ch as it comes
from convention of business
men who have no purpose to serve
except tn. best interests of their
country. He regards them as best
qualified to speak on the subj ct.
Continuing, M. Lee says:
While the national treasury is
obliged to pay gold at the demand
of any person, corporation or ma
ton, whenever called upon to do
so. and its demand upon the tax
payer may be discharged in any
one of some half. dozen less valu-
able kinds of money, we may tx.
pect panics. The ''endless chain
that is used to deplcte the treasury
of gold can only be broken up by
disposirg of the links out of which
it can be formed. The commits
siv IS recommendation looking to
a larger issue of banknotes IS, no
doubt, along the right lines, for
ali elastic paper currency cannot
be had unless it GIBBS and flows in
response to local needs. So long
as edit money is issued BY the
general government, or only by
banks of large capital IN the money
centers, we may expect to have
the currency congested and the
rates of interest from 3 per cent to
6 per cent higher atinterior points
than in New York or Boston. A
banking law that would EN- 'ble
small country banks TO issue cur.
rencv, safely and proftably, would
do much to solve this most serious
feature Of the money question. No
amount Of currency issued by the
government would equalize it's dis.
tribution. The same po wers, call
them what you like, that Mt times
congest the currency Of our coun.
try, would do so if it was many
times doubled by the demand obi.
cations of the government. l AM
fully pursuaded that an adequate
and reliable supply of paper cur
rency for the interior places can
only b. secured ~ placing the
source of supply under control Of
local influences.
The time to cure defects in Dur
circulating medium is when the
country is prospecting. If times
are hard, money scarce and values
depreciating, demagogues gre
numerous and the people are tech.
meal and unreasonable. At such
times politicians are cowardly and
vacillating, and the difficulties in
the way of a wise solution of the
problem are s. greatly increased
that success can scarcely be hoped
for. The "money question has
been before the people so long that
they are fully informed concerning
it. The present congress was
elected with the belief that it
would take a;tiOn on it. The
country is emerging from a period
of hard times and the belief that
we are to enjoy season of pros.
perity is general; the time is ripe
and the remedy should be applied;
delay will tend to add new d &cul.
ties and will cause the people to
distrust and lose confidence in the
Republican party SO that they will
refuse to again leave the solution
of the problem in the hands of this,
the only party in the country at
all likely to solve it wisely.
The present congress has plain
duty to perform; that it will per.
form that duty is the hone Of the
great majority Of the conservative
substantial people of the nation.
The people also have a duty and
one not less important than that
.of congress; they must recognize
the necessity Of compromise and
the surrender of individual prefer.
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