Los Angeles herald., 1906-12-05

dlVOfCe should be releRated 20 the au-
thority Of the national congress. At
present the wide differences In the laws
Of the different states on this SUBJ
ject result in scandals and abuses, and
surely there Is nothing so vitality es-
sential to the welfare of the nation,
nothing around which the nation
should so bend itself to throw every
safeguard, as the home life of the
average citizen. The change would be
good from every standpoint. In par
ticular II would be good because it
would confer on the congress the power
at once to deal radically and eff
ciently with polygamy and this should
be done whether or not marriage and
divorce are dealt with It is neither
safe nor proper to leave the question
of polygamy to be dealt with by the
several states. Power to deal with
It should be conferred on the national
government
When home ties are loosened; when
men and women cease TO regard a
worthy family life, with all its duties
fully performed and all it's RESPONSE
bilities lived up to, as the best life
worth living, then evil days for the
commonwealth are at hand. There
are regions in our land and
classes of our population where the
birth rate has sunk below the death
rate. Surely IL should need no dem
onstratlon to show that willful sterility
is, from the standpoint of the nation,
from the standpoint of the human
race, the one sin for which the penalty
is national death, race death; a sin
for which there Is no atonement
sin which Is the more dreadful ex-
actly in proportion as the men and wo-
men guilty therefor are in other re-
spects, in character, and bodily and
mental powers, those whom for the
sol ~f AI1. .Nu . 4 h. Ill a.
see the fathers and mothers of many
healthy children, well brought up in
the homes made happy by their pres
ence. No man, no woman, can Shirk the
primary duties of life. whether for
love of ease and pleasure, or for any
other cause and retain his or her self
respect.
American Shipping
Let me once again call the atten-
tion of the congress to two subjects
concerning which l have frequently
before communicated with them. One
is the question of developing Ameri-
can shipping. / trust that law en-
bodying in substance the views, or a
major part Of the views, expressed in
the report on this subject laid before
the house at it's last session will be
passed. am well aware that in form
er years Objectionable measures have
DGSI pIOpOStu ISltItHCt W lIlG Gil
couragement of American shipping; but
1t seems to me that the proposed
measure Is as nearly unobjectionable
as any can be. 1t will of course ben
eft primarily our seaboard states, such
as Maine, Louisiana and Washington;
but what benefits part of our people
in the end benefits ALL just as gov
ernment aid to irrigation and forestry
in the West is really of benefit, not
only to the Rocky mountain states,
but to all our country. If 1t prove inn
practicable to enact law for the
encouragement of shipping generally,
then at least provision should be made
for better communication with South
America, notably for fast mail lines
to the chief South American ports. 1t
| is diScreditable to us that our business
| people, for lack of direct communica-
| tion in the shape of lines of steamers
l. with South America, should in that
| great sister continent be at a disad-
| vantage compared with the business
people of Europe.
Currency Reform
I especially call your attention to
| the second subject, the condition of
our currency laws. The national bank
act has ably served a great purpose
in aiding the enormous business de-
velopment of the country; and within
|
in circulation per capita from $2141 to
| $33.0S. For several years evidence has
been accumulating that additional leg
| islation is needed. The recurrence of
| each crop season emphasizes the de-
| fects of the present laws. There must
soon be a revision of them, because to
| leave them as they are means to incur
| liability of business disaster. Since
| your body adjourned there has been a
| fiuctuation in the interest on call mon
| ey from 2 per cent to 30 per cent; and
| the fluctuation was even greater dur
| ing the preceding six months. The sec
| retary of the treasury had to step in
and by wise action put stop to the
most violent period of oscillation. Even
worse than such fluctuation is the ad-
vance in commercial rates and the un-
certainty felt in the sufficiency of credit
| even at high rates. All commercial in
terests suffer during each crop period.
Excessive rates for call money in New
| York attract money from the interior
banks into the speculative field; this
| depletes the fund that would other
wise be available for commercial uses
and commercial borrowers are forced
to pay abnormal rates; so that each
| fall tax, in the shape of increased
interest charges, is placed on the whole
commerce of the country.
The Shaw Plan
The mere statement of these facts
shows that our present system is Sc
riously defective. There is need of
a change Unfortunately, however
many of the proposed changes must be
ruled from consideration because they
are complicated, are not easy of COM
prehension and tend to disturb exist
| ing rights and interests. We must
also rule out any plan which would
materially impair the value of the
United States per cent bonds now
pledged to secure circulation, the issue
| of which was made under conditions
peculiarly creditable to the treasury.
1 do not press any especial plan. Va
rious plans have recently been pro-
posed by expert committees of bankers.
Among the plans which are possibly
feasible and which certainly should re-
ceive your consideration is that re-
peatedly brought to your attention by
the present secretary of the treasury.
the essential features of which have
been approved by many prominent
bankers and business men. According
to this plan national banks should be
| permitted to issue a specified propor-
tion of their capital in notes of a given
kind, the issue to be taxed at so high