The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-03-10
SEN. BAILEY
 ON CURRENCY Voices Views of the
 Minority. EXPLAINS HIS AMENDMENT Doesn't Believe His Substitute Would Result in Imitation. Texas Senator Pays His Respects to Roosevelt and Tells of the Press
 ident's Many short Conn

Washington. March 9--Senator Jo- seph W. Bailey. of Texas a member of the Senate Committee on Finance from which the Aldrich currency bill was reported, addressed the Senate today at length and generally voiced the views of the minority upon the subject of em- ergency currency.
 He did not believe his substitute for the Aldrich bill would result in in- dalton. although 1t provided for S5o0.- 100000 as permanent part of our money supply.
 '.The truth fs,' he said. "the nation al banks of this country are seeking to establish a system of asset currency; and they will strive to defeat any measure which compels them to se- cure their circulation. They want the privilege of issuing their notes with out interest, and without security. and lending them to the people for inter est upon security. For my part, will never support a bill which legalizes such an arrange nent and shall always insist that tho safety of our currency IS or ln- dnitely more importance to the country than the size of bank dividends.
 He wanted to compel banks of the South to invest part of their capital fzation and surplus in State, county, district and municipal bonds. He quot ed court decisions to show that there IS no question as to the right Of Con rreas to authorize the issuance of money by the government and make tt legal tender, for all debts.
 q cannot account" he said. Tor the general but unfounded notion that the issue of currency is the function or bank except upon the theory tnat % many governments have abdicated that sovareirn power and have permitted hanks 10 exercise 1t so long that men have come to believe that 1t Is, and mas always been, banking priViese. Nothing could be further from the truth than this"
 ClreuIataon of Banks.
 Nfr. Railev reviewed at great length Inc circumstances under which na- tional bank cirouiatton has oeen as- sued. .,.a 7, ,n,.ovu, us the danger of commltsinS a,,rtar,cv to. ha,,gxa." declared Mir. Bailey, recehe events will furnish 1t. Last tv,,, .,ary when the country was III Nao 4..s.al throes of money famine, the nationaI hask~ did moi come to the rescue with cheerful and patriotic alacrity, but on thn contrary. the Secretary or the Treasurv was compelled to beg them, almost upon pended knees. to take out additional notes. They preferred tne clearing house certificates. because is eA81GE expensive to obtain them.
 He insisted that the issue of govern ment notes proposed by him could not ha charred as a ''recrudescence or rreenbackism." The greenbacks ne added had done great service for the Rovernmsut and he defended the record of that class of currency. But ne exulained, his substitute bill did not propose money similar to the green backR.
 The fact that his substitute is not drawn in the interest of the banks. Mir. Bailey said. is shown by the op- poattion of nearly every banker Of the countrv to 1t. The interest required on fine money so provided. he added, would preyent the banks from making any thing out of 1t. He opposed the idea of making the great staple products security for these deposits of emer- gency currency would be, he said, af- fected by such Q practice.
 Mir Bailey declared that he had his own opinion on the cause of the recent II did not. of course" said Mr. Bailey, overlook the fact that 1t has been charged in many quarters that the trouble was due to the persistent de- mand of the United States for the enactment of new laws, and the en- forcement of the 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 close analysis. The President has demanded only that the railroads of this country should be required to deal justly with the people: and he has evinced no disposition to harass or to oppress them.
 No Apology For Roosevelt.
 q am no apoIogist for the Presi- dent; and have no patience with the uR fxa An tal4 TNnft crats indulge. It is true that upon this question of railroad regulation he has embraced the doctrine of our par ey and for that applaud him: but he has done more to change the charac- ter and the structure of this govern ment than all of his predecessors com bined He has frequently exhibited a supreme indifference to tho constitu- ton of his country. and has pursued what has seemed to me a deliberate plan to impair the rights of the states and to concentrate all power in the Federal government.
 "It was the boast of Augustus Cae- sar that he found Rome of brick and left it of 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 public attention to certain evils of corporate management will give him an enviable place in the history of his time; but the harm he has done in dwarfing the states and exalting the general gov ernment cannot be measured. and un- less the tendency which he has set in motion is arrested and reversed, our splendid Federal system will ultimate ly be destroyed.
 we have never before witnessed such e mixture of good and ovil in any public man. Before we have finished nraIsinR him for some wise recom- mendation, he makes another so foolish that our praise must turn to censure.
 ''They tell me that he is brave. and I answer that he is just as rash as he is brave. They tell me that he is non ast and answer that h0 is just as arbitrary ss he is hoRest. He IS;
 "'Too bad for blessing
 "'Too good for curse.
 "T wish in my heart
 "ae were better or worse'