The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1908-01-17
THE MONEY QUESTION
Our Financial System Has Failed
of Its Duty.

VI NV
ITS INCOMPETENCE PROVED.
Government, Not Banks, Should Con-
troll Money of the Observation-Disclosures
ofProposed Emergency Currency Leg
isIation-Senator Ovens Remedy.
Recrudescence of offensive Par
isanship"-Roosevet's Use of Fed
eraI Patronage.
By WILLIS j. ABBOT.
When the national convention meets
in 1908 it will be confronted by the
question as to whether William J. Bry-
an shall be nominated for the presiden-
cy. The Democratic convention nonli-
mates only by two-thirds vote. Its
candidate, whoever he may be, must
have two-thirds of all the delegates in
his support. OF course as a recon-
pense for this the Democratic party
stands for the unit rule. Every state
delegation votes as unit. The only
time when this rule Was broken was in
Michigan in 1892, when the state dele
CATION was split. Today there is no
possibility Of a break in any state. II
Mr.. Bryan is not the favorite of the
whole convention, he VIII not be NOM
mated, and of all men he would be the
IL trnno5s CDnh
conditions.
Senator Owen or "the Panic"
| or course Oklahoma is far away
from the financial center Of the United
States. Senator Owen has offered as
a remedy for the financial panic this
proposition: "Let the United States
treasury advance treasury notes against
acceptable bonds deposited with tDc
! treasury up to 80 per cent OF their
| present market value to any person or
CORPORATION or bank. Let the treasury
charge for these advances Of treasury
notes a charge Of 6 per cent, per an
NUN for the first four months and 8
| per cent thereafter The measure
which Senator Owen is going to pre-
sent is toaa certain extent very much
like that which the bankers of the
country are going to offer under the
name OF an emergency, currency. The
| chief difference is that the. proposition
of the senator from Oklahoma makes
the issuance of currency part OF the
Al ND .rnt' RI .Of
the business of the national banks. he
| urges that the currency should be ma
tmal currency and not national bank
currency. He says, 1.-The treasury
notes advanced in this manner under
a penalty of and S!per. cent would
not initiate the currency, but, on the
contrary. would be automatically self
contracting and return to, the treasury
Immediately the present"exigency has
passed"
Men who are in a position to- talk
with authority say that the. PROPOSE
ton of the bankers for:an, emergency
currency based upon all sorts of cll-
rio1s securities viii be pressed before
congress, will be reported by the copl-
nittee ON currency and lis likely to lie
adopted. Personally dc not believe
this. It does not seem possible that
the. congress of the United States will
permit the enactment Of n law which
will allow the banks to issue currency
based upon securities which may or
may not be thoroughly acceptable.
| There is Il certainty that the committee
on banking and currency in both house
and senate will demand some new reg
ulation Of the banking currency. What
that regulation may be 1t is too early
to determine. 1t will not be the cOnceS-
sion to the banks Of the right to issue
currency based upon any sort OF securl-
ties. The time has passed when banks
could be permitted to buy q railroad
bond. deposit il in their own vaIllts ANU
then issue money based upon IL Only
last week one Of the great railroad sys-
TENS in the south went into the hands
of receiver II the banks Of Virginia
and North and South Carolina had
been issuing notes based on the bonds
of the Seaboard Air Line, what would
those notes have been worth?
Undoubtedly the money question Is
going to come up again In the next
campaign. 1t will not come up in its
old shape Of the free coinage of silver,
though many people believe that it
might we'll have been fought out ON
that line and that today the banking
system would have been better had
that fight bccn won. But it must
be argued again because the banking
system has shown itself incompetent
to cope with present business necessi-
ties. The treasury IS not able to carry
out the needs of the nation, and SO in
some way the country must determine
how to correct a financial system
which has been shown to be utterly
incompetent to take care OF the busi.
ness of the nation. Every fall we find
that 1t is impossible to get money
enough to move the crops. Every
winter we find it impossible to get
money enough to carry the cotton of
the south to the seaboard. That means
that the financial system Of the Unit
ed States has failed Of its duty. The
banks have controlled the money OF
the nation, they have controlled to
some extent the politics Of the nation.
but now. after all their boasting OF
their system, they are unable to carry
A. tI,n Hpf fhu-nct fond