The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-02-29
Measure Finally Leaves Hands
 of lht Committee
PASSED BUT NOT INDORSED
Majority of the Members Reserve the Right To Oppose Any Section of the Measure Upon the
 Floor of the House.

Washington. February 2S.-By a vote of Il to 5. three members being present and not voting, the House committee on banking and currency today authorized the chairman, Representative Fowler of New Jersey. to report to the House the Fowler currency bill. with the recom- mendation that it pass.
 The vote cast was as follows Fowler, New Jersey; Prince, Illinois; Powers, Maine; McMorran, Michigan Weems, Ohio; McCleary. Pennsylvania; Waldo, New York: Hayes, California; Weeks, Massachusetts; Durey. New York; Gill lespie, Texas.
 Nayes; Burton, Ohio; James, Kentucky; Mckinney, Illinois; Lewis. Georgia; Crawford, North Carolina. Present and not voting; McHenry. Pennsylvania; Pujo, Louisiana; Glass. Virginia.
 MT. Weeks in voting for the favorable report of the bill, reserved the right to oppose on the floor the clause providing for a federal guaranty of national bank deposits.
 Though the decision to report the bill favorably was reached as the result of weeks of hearing and exhaustive discus sion of it's various provisions in execu- tive session, the decision does not com init the banking and currency committee to its support on the floor of the House Ten of the eleven members who voted for the favorable report reserved the 1 individual right sAo oppose any section of it and to offer and urge any amend l ment when the bill is called up. Six Amendments. The committee amended the bill in six of it's features. The clause permit ting national banks to do a trust and savings bank business was amended by striking out the savings bank section. The clause making all of the national banks within each of the proposed re- serve districts specifically liable for 10 per cent of the check and note liabilities of failed national banks within that district was revised to read 20 per cent The bill as originally framed allowed each national bank to take out national credit notes to the extent of 100 per cent of it's capital stock with the approval of the comptroller of the treasury and an unlimited additional amount with the approval of the board of managers of the reserve district to which the bank belonged
 This provision was revised so that the total amount of credit notes issuable to any bank shall not exceed 200 per cent of it's capital stock. The bin originally provided that of the deposited guaranty fund to be ere ated by a tax of per cent on the credit issued, so per cent should be invested in United States 2 per cent bonds and 20 per cent should be heIi in reserve. This is a gold fund. The bill as revised stipulates the invest ment of the entire fund in United States 2s and fixes their fiat purchase price at 104, which was the average price for the month of February last. Bond Securities.} The revised bill in order to carry out the bond security retiremen. clause, provides that after the guaran- ty fund has reached the sum of S25 = 900, 900, the Secretary of the Treasury shall issue gold certificates in amounts corresponding with the annual 2 per cent payments on the total outstandinw credit notes issued, these gold certi- ficates to take the place of an equal amount of outstanding greenbacks. As the estimated annual tax on credit notes would be $14,000OOO about II
  retirement of the country's present bond secured currency after the gua-- anty fund reached the amount of $25,- 100000.
 One of the most interesting provis- ions of the bill revised requires the government to collect it's claims and pay its current expenses through the banks. That is the government woulJ continue to hold in the treasury the greenback redemption fund amounting to $150,000,000 and the gold certih- cate redemption fund amounting t) about $S20,0O 900, but it's general fund for the continual expenses of the gov ernment would be kept on deposit in various national banks subject to check; and instead of paying out gen eral moneys by voucher and treasury checks, payments would be by bang checks.
 Minority Called of.
 At the minority conference some weeks ago which resulted in the in- troduction by Mr. John Sharp Will Hams of the minority currency bill. the plan was practically agreed to that the democratic members of the bank ing and currency committee .uoald at the proper time make minority report offering the Williams bill as a substi- ute for the Fowler bill This was ten tative to a Joint conference to be he'd by the minorities of the finance coni- mittee in the Senate and banking and currency in the House.
 That conference has not been held. The reason reported is that the minor ity in the Senate has bound itself to the Bailey iill as substitute for the Aldrich bill, and therefore is unwilling. to confer with the House minority or the Williams bill.
 Ten days was granted by the com mittee to democratic members in which to agree upon substitute measure for the Fowler bill and to submit a minor ity report
 Fowler Synopsis. Chairman Fowler tonight made public a svnopsis of the committee report which