The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-11-12
FINE BANQUET OF THE CHAMBER
Continued from First Page.)
he currency question before the public
Secretary shaw's Address.

 ditions, I will confine my observations to certain measures of prevention which formerly I had the privilege of urging upon the attention of congress.
 Our currency is non-elastlc Each and every distinct form of our money is safe and convenient, and the parity of each with gold is assured. These are excellent features. Its volume is large, and under ordinary conditions, think ample It's volume, however does not respond to changing seasons, and the varying reed of trade. This, in my judgment, is the only weakness of our system.
 There were indications as early as August that people had been listening and in response were withdrawing money and locking it ID. There was no reason why they should do this, but they did it. It was the inoipient symp- tom of disease which always first shows itself in this way. In addition, increased commercial activity, incldcEt to the return of business mon rom summer vacations, ripening crop and the inlaying ot stocks of merchandise, caused an unprecedented demand fer remained fixed. infexible and non-elas-
 Had the national banks been empow- cred to issue additional circulation equal to fify per cent.of ther capital without deposit to secure it's re- uSIilpllOll Dul bubl6Ci -O Fl ttN Dl llNt per cent, an aggregate inc.ease e. $400,000, 900 would have been possible, and $200, 000,000 would very likely have been issued The people would have carried to their safe deposit vaults or taken home for concealment a national bank note as readily as gold cer- tihcate, and they would have been just as sSfe.
 The redemption of the existing bank note is now guaranteed by the govern ment, for it Is secured by a deposit of government bonds, which are direct ob ligations of the government. l grant that 1t Is Illogical for the government to guarantee bank notes. but the peo- pie have become so accustomed to money bearing In one form or another 1 would be willing to ooncede the guarantee to this suggested additional issuance of bank notes
 The tax would amply protect the gov ernment. Let the tax be treated as q premium on the governments warranty no more occasion to inquire into the solvency of a bank than they have now.
 do not believe it possible to make an elastic currency based on collateral security. It would be lmpracticable to have the government pass upon the solyency of commercial paper deposited as a basis of circulation and the banks would find 1t quite as difficult to get bonds with which to secure additional circulation as to get the money itself There is no occasion for the increased Issue until the banks have exhaust ed their cash resources, and when their cash resources are exhausted they have nothing available with which to buy bonds.
 Of course the banks should not be permitted to issue this uncovered ad- ditional circulation without the con sent of the comptroller of the ,curren- i cy.
 When the request is submitted the comptroller will naturally look at the record of the bank at the time of the l last official examination, or he will cause a special examination to be made and grant or withhold consent in the 1 light of the record in his office. By hay l ing the additional circulation Identical in form with the bonds secured, which We now have. the increase would pass unnoticed, and therefore, cause no alarm--a very important feature, as I view t.
 Address of Hon. Champe Andrews.
 The Hon. Champe Andrews of New York was the second speaker on the Hist, and in substance he said; 1 Contraction of currency was caused by long line of American depositors trying to draw their money out of cir culation. And why? They didn't un- derstand anything about per cent, bonds or a central bank. But they did understand that If they had bought Metropolitan Street Railway bonds supposed to pay them and ! per cent. the or T per cent went into the pockets of the receivers of that lroad and the men who watered It's stock. So they thought they had bet ter take their money out That Is not scientific, but 1t explains the sltpa- tion
 Has the business man lived up to the code of ethics as best he could :? We have not to go back more than five years to learn where the honors of the business world have gone They have been placed in the directorates of great fiduciary corporations. It does not take a Christian lecturer or a yellow paper to say that trust has been betrayed.
 Every twelve years we have gen. eraI cleaning out in the business world and about twelve years ago we had one in an insurance company, and now we have just had another And who brought it about? Not the busi- ness man, but the common voter.
 Five years ago we would have been told that if we would find the hon. ored men of the business profession, if not among the insurance and bank officials, why among the directorates of the great railroads. But when the searchlght of investigation was turn ed on we found out both the bad and the good, and the good have had to suffer with the bad.
 There have been men in our own city and pre-eminently one man who has used the distrust to his political advantage and the fact that few
 days ago a blatant demagogue could enroll 80,000 voters showed. hold that 1t does not become those who stand by to condemn those who , cry out in the wilderness that things , are wrong, with the reply that things are all right The problem in Japan is to chaag9 , military into commercial ideals and that in another form is the problem in z lmany countries to-day
 The currency problem is not an American problem alone, but one oi ? many nations. We cannot settle the l currency question alone in this coun- try any more than we could have in , stalled Mir. Bryans doctrine. But wt 7 can go a long way to here if we es tablish the principle in business tha a the amassing of money alone is no . the highest criterion of success in bus $