Evening star., 1901-12-20
Mr.. GAGE ON BAN KING
SPEECH BEFORE NEW YORK BANK.
ERs' ASSOCIATION.
Favors n Closer Relation Between th
Great Financial Institutions
of the Country.

Secretary of the Treasury Lyman ]. Gage
was the guest of honor and the principal
speaker at the annual banquet OF Group
Eight of the New York State Bankers
Association held at the Waldorf-Astorla in
New York city last night. Nearly 500
members of the association and their guests
were present. George F. Baker, president
of the First National Bank, acted as toast
master.
Besides Secretary Gage, the speakers
were ex-Speaker Thomas B. Reed, the Rev.
DR.. Donald Sage Mackay, ex-Judge Henry
E. Howland and Amos Parker Wider. The
toasts TO which they responded We're, re-
spectively: Business and legislation" The
corporate conscience and the men who help
to make it,' Lawyers and hnanciers ana
1.-The west and the money power.
1t was 10 o'clock when MI. Gage arose to
speak, and he was heartily greeted by the
diners.
Secretary Gage said in part:
''It is a strange anomaly that while in
nearly every other department OF lite, I'M
provement is the indispensable rule, in the
great field of banking, finance and eX-
change we go on with an indifferent re
gard to the handicap imposed uy defective
methods and dismiss with little consldefa-
ton suggestions which. If adopted, would
advance society and business affairs in the
great economic field OF industry and eX-
change. The evidences OF Improvement In
all other departments of life are manifest
on every hand. Old machinery Is thrown
away.
I'm my last report to Congress- Mr..
Gage continued, Il took occasion to call
attention to the subject of banking and
currency, to point out what believe to be
bad defects in both, and to suggest some
improvements IN each which believe are
absolutely necessary in order to put us
into safe and strong competitive relations
With those better equipped than We are
in, that CT of M n
credit is made as useful as capital and by
which the products of human industry are
exchanged for each other.
'The weakness of our banking system Is
in the isolation and entire separateness
Of the individual banks oyer the country.
When a period of distruSt or doubt comes
over the land there is a seeking OF per-
Sonal safety through that general instinct
of self-preservation which drives men in
a confused mass over each other at the
cry of fire in the theater. l ventured to
suggest system of coalition between in
dividual members of the banking commu-
nifty through the country into one central
institution, with convenient branches in
the larger cities, in which all banks
should be related or interested according
to their individual relative Importance,
and which in certain sense should repre-
sent to the banking interests of the coun-
try what the federal government repre-
sents in our political system. Great preju-
dice exists, l know, against the aggrega-
ton of great wealth in the hands of a few
men. Happily it is the law of nature that
larger gains and better advantages can
be secured to aggregated wealth by serv-
Ing faithfully the common interests than
by exploiting the community through a
system of theft and robbery
The Secretary urged that there be a re-
form of the currency system of the ma
ton along the lines outlined in his report
to Congress, and declared that no time
was more favorable than the present for
the judicious revision of the laws.
EX-Speaker Thomas 3. Reed followed Mr..
Gage. He said in part:
"All the dissatisfaction with our present
currency system seems to be In the west
and south. The people down there have
all about them great natural resources, as
capable Of producing wealth as those In
the east. What they want Is the means
to develop those resources. The trouble
wanted currency, when they really wanted
capital. For this reason 1 believe in a
mixed currency. We must remember that
a currency founded on government bonds
has received the sanction OF forty years of
stump-speaking, of which I have done my
share The people have been taught that
there was something sacred about this
kind of currency. But government bonds
are slipping away, and the government is
becoming a beggar, and something must
be done. We must look to the future as
well as to the past. But all thanks to
Grant, Cleveland and John Sherman for
an opportunity to discuss these questions.
1.-THE voice of the people after they have
| made up their minds is the voice Of God.
l want to say to you today that in the
great problems that face this nation today
we shall be fortunate if we get cold, sensi-
Bile, dispassionate discussion"