Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-03-09


the government ought to go out or the
banking business: and they mean by this
declaration that Congress ought to retire
all United States notes and turn our en-
tire paper circulation over to the banks;
That the government OF the lnlted
States ought not to engage in the BANK
ing business l am more than ready to
admit; but l utterly deny that the Is
suance of notes, impressed with the legal
tender quality, made receivable for pub
lie dues and intended to circulate as
money is any proper function of bank
1t is as much the duty of the government
to issue notes which are to be received
and treated as money as 1t is to coin the
money which is made out of the precious
metals; and even the men who favor
bank currency will not contend for cor
poration-issued coin. They concede that
it is the proper duty of the government
our metallic money is coined: but they are
under the strange delusion that wholly
different rule should apply to our paper
money.
A Peculiar Provision.
"A peculiar and, as l believe, wholly
indefensible provision of the bill Is the
section which repeats all limitation on the
right of national banks to retire their ordi-
nary circulation and leaves them free to
work out a damaging contraction Of the
currency.
This bill, instead of repeating all limi-
tation on the right of national banks to
retire their ordinary circulation. ought to
contain a provision still further limiting
that right The argument heretofore made
in favor of permitting the banks to retire
their notes was that they would thus be
induced to provide larger issue when the
necessities of the country required more
currency.
1T was contended-and there was much
force in that contention-that if the banks
were compelled to keep out during an
ordinary time the currency which they
had issued in an extraordinary time they
would be less inclined to take out ad-
ditional notes when more currency was
needed and that argument prevailed upon
Congress to permit the limited retirement
of their notes. But. If this bill becomes
law national banks will not take out
ordinary circulation to meet emergencies.
and the argument which has heretofore
been advanced in support of their right
to retire their ordinary notes Is irrelevant
I'm other words, the banks will here
after meet emergencies by issuing notes
under this bill and not under their general
authority. Therefore their circulation
under the general law not being an emer-
gency circulation ought not to be retired
at all; and certainly they ought not to be
clothed with the power to retire them to
an extent that might result in sudden
and disasterous contraction. Had the bill
repealed the present law which permits
the retirement of $9,OOO.OOO per month and
restored the old law, which only permitted
the retirement of $4,000, OOO per month. it
would have been more in harmony with
its general provisions.
Overuse of Bank Credits.
Il have my own opinion, and it is very
definite one, as to what produced the re-
cent financial stringency and brought the
country to the very verge of disas-
IL
would interest the Senate or the country
for me to state the reasons upon which
that opinion Is based. 1 WILL however.
without entering upon an elaborate dis
cussion of it, venture to say that it was
due Immediately, to the overuse of bank
credits in the city of New York. 1t came
when the country had the least reason
to expect it, Our crops had been abun-
dant, and the price of almost every farm
product was more than satisfactory.
Il do not, of course. overlook the fact
that it has been charged in many quar-
tiers that the trouble was due to the per-
sistent demand of the President of the
United States for the enactment of new
laws and the enforcement Of old laws to
regulate and control our railroads; but
that charge has been made by men whose
minds are heated with resentment. and 1t
will not bear a close analysis. The PreSi-
dent has demanded only that the rail-
roads of this country should be, required
to deal justly with the people; ana he
has evinced no disposition to harass or to
Cypress them.
II am no apologist for the President:
and / have no patience with the adula-
ton of him in which some democrats in
dulge 1t is true that upon this question
of railroad regulation he has embraced
the doctrine of our party. and for that
l applaud him; but he has done more to
change the character and the structure
of this government than all of his pred
'ecessors combined.
Augustus Caesars Boast.
He has frequently exhibited a supreme
Indifference to the Constitution of his
country, and has pursued what has seemed
to me a systematic and a deliberate pur-
pose to impair the rights Of the states,
and to concentrate all power in the federal
government. 1t was the boast of Angus
tus Caesar that he found Rome of brick
and left it for marble. President Roosevelt
can hereafter say that he found this
union of sovereign states and left 1t one
vast nation.
THE good he has done in arousing pub
lie attention to certain evils of corporate
management will give him an env1able
place in the history of his time; but the
harm he has done in dWarfing the states
and eXalting the general government can
not be measured and unless the tendency
which he has set in motion is arrested
and reversed our splendid federal system
will ultimately be destroyed.
I'VE have never before witnessed such
a mixture of good and evil in any public
man. Before We have finished praising
him for some wise recommendation he
makes another so foolish that our praise
must turn to censure. They tell me that
he is brave. and 1 answer that he Is Just
as rash as he Is brave. They tell me that
he is honest and l answer that he Is just
as arbitrary as he is honest. He is
TOO bad for a blessing.
Too good for a curse;
] wish in my heart
He were better or worse"
''If he were better. he would be a demo- |
crat and if he were a little worse, he |
would mot obscure and confuse the great |
issues between us and our adversaries.
Causes of Money Stringency.
But If it be true, as 1 believe it is,
that the Immediate cause of our financial
disturbance was the overuse of bank
credits, this is not full or a final ex-
PLANTATION Of our troubles We must 20
deeper and satisfy ourselves as to the
influences which induced conservative
bankers to extend credits beyond what
they ought to have known was a safe
limit. Gambling in stocks and bonds and
in agricultural products on the New York
exchanges will account for much but 1t |
will not account for all that we have suf- |
fered. High living and overtrading have
done their part in this bitter business, and |
Joined with a mad desire to !