New-York tribune., 1908-12-09
). N. FOWLER'S VIEWS
Congressman Discusses Ftnanc'at
and Currency Legislation.

man Of the House Committee on Banking an"
Currency gave out tonight statement with re-
gard to financial and currency legtslatoon at INC
present session of Congress. He began oy EN-
pha sizing the Importance Of principles ra'her ten
of particular bills in this matter, and urged an
business men. bankers and lawyers. who snouio
inform themselves upon this most important ques-
tion before the American people. that they stuoy
principles and" he said. Il hope my susgesuoii
may fall under the eye of every one VINO taxes an
interest In financial and currency Legislation. ms
statement continues:
No government should have any demand "Stisa- nsa
en- and imPer the credit Of the govern nen a " M in
it is constantly losing In f4e q tor any o sandnE
consequence has any demand ongaI10n yiI it,
credit and disturb and unsettle the commercial cr
fd sae 1 1 otes should be eliminated either by
retirement or coHTersi3n into sSIG country Should
he coined out Of the standard Of value Of that
our ba nix reserve should be all in gold gold GER
tifcates. which are the same tnIng tng,,.1 currency
is an untrammelled credit currency That Is, a
posts Lla4 are iIigsfse trade and commerce and
R5sGft psfntioG It IS reated not only to its deposors
as well Iii and also to The Whole commercial world Of
the nation Of which every bank is an i1tegra Part,
of 6e sIs peoPie PpGi Is Supreme law How can pro
eG: of any oea Which
aces the business of the whole country? -, anal
ity and the quantity Of the bank in every
oniy lie done by one sir gle administration Of all
the banking institutions. It is essential that the
Tnted states f notes s Both of Which are mere de-
beeause 'c credit hased on other credit the
of initiation, which must inevitably lead 10 COM @
national ba9ka Of Is and Is per cent respectively
to sound barking then, though the reserves
actually in gold but in fact, amount 10 only 10 or
panded to a breaking and ruinous degree and com
merce genera must st pegS paS the penalty nis n or m
state banks and trust companies had fallen 70 snont
Of Of ts 2ak same condon one alone can be
madeb% the Inform administration Of our bank
Second-We should know that the savings Of the
securities of conservative character and not
leads to an unhesthy condition disaster and untold
Rroughout W the 20 Gnted By
supervision on Of all commercial banks which drmg s
counts and USING & Them Tor s ana s
fined to conservative Investments ,,-.,--
m pbats a m hG bsnn ns5 t~ss has SeSope
eaormousy in he Limited States & Known d as the ne
segregated from the commercsi sccognts and not
Of their eg teTeby deSeopns 1nheaithy
conditions. which in turn breed and precipitsate s
0f ali a can o0S BE- se b9 the
Of & ognd IS nce bs baTRsg sss fabric ea %
the country may be thrown into utter confusion by
IerneJ tbro;@pb @ snS and se,r,oI1s syneTience We
bS, d. boG iesson 1 ybiS osbf ot fn Sa for
gotten, now that We have learned it so recently and
The welfare of the people is the supreme law
& ~ M It m broader tai on tbS ,td Pr9sf z
ALL does not mean the people OF the city or the
the whole people from the Atlantic 10 the PsciTc,
h@sa who may BE- dreg or nde6y
These perils TO our wilo:c commercial world must
be removed. How? Precisely as fear is queed by
ASSOCIATION
Of impending or threatening danger The rlme-
sandGE I'd alone d all of Of them n must must fall e but that that
Il the American idea OF federation-''united we
stand and divided We fall
separated and unrelated subjects the business Of
ong eli Business n htere Of
whatsoever kind,to the ever lurking danger in the
for some reason extend its infuenes Until panic
6e and m h bsns f @ so9 ae eh
other. The banks, on the one hand demand their
ofber hand reF1se TO oaV Them whch is no less
run on The t4er part simply because they have ~ pos
pletey breaking down our exchange paralyzins
inmates in loss iEnmeasurabls and suffering indie
The problem before the people of the United
States Is peculiarly our own and cannot be solved
S OWN cohdons and W successfully sov the
greatest problem now confronting the whole civ
peculiar conditions Of those fundamental principles
% aFs a5d aa m the prna 10 in
dividual banking whicn is striknEly peculiar to
the United States, and At the time secure
that strength and protection that essential TO
absolute confidence and impregnable defence TO
American commerce, we must accomplish three
things:
First-We must unity American banking
Second-We must decentraliZe our hank credits.
ThirG-We must centralize gold
The unifcatton of banking system can be ac- |
only through national aC+, which |
after a thorough stu1y and mature deiiberation |
shall be approved by The business and banking in
terests of the whole country and commend itself to
the loyal support of the people v ell. Such |
act must give sufficient freedom 10 enable the in
dvidul banks to efficiently exercise their nlpor-
tant function. II must at the time carry |
limitations and rest-ictlons In the teTest Of safety
which being enforced bV thorough supervision will
givo the highest guarantee for continual solvency
II must provide for a common, central, ample and
general gold directly related TO the total
LA biifti IS Of all the banFs. and also provide
for degree of mutuay OF responsibility between |
the individual units composing the system suf- |
hcient TO make loss to the depositor as well TO
the holder impossible.
Neither n government savings bank nor a gov
eminent guarantee Of bank deposits. which are |
identical In fact and principle should find any |
place on the statute books Of our country whose |
chief greatest strer 9Th and crowninE glory is
The inIividualism - our citizenship.