Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-01-04

several financial panics, each folloWed
| by period of depression, but IL mas
never witnessed one except on the
! heels of threatened or accomplished
| financial or economic legislation. | VIII
not take your time to prove this state
/, ment. Let those who doubt its verify
| read the record.
Others place the responsibility for
what we have witnessed to defects IN
our currency system. am supposed
to be about as pronounced In my views
on that subject as any, yet am GER
tain that the causes to which l have
referred would have produced some
effect had our currency laws been the
most perfect In the world. We might
have escaped panic, but not very
considerable amount of business de-
preston. In other words II our cur
rency hadN been as elastic as that of
other great commercial countries, tho
disastrous effects would have been very
greatly reduced
Much can be said In praise of United
States money. Each and every dollar
is worth 25.S grains of gold, for each
and every dollar can be exchanged for
gold. No doubt exists as to any one OF
our several forms OF money. Inc
question of genuineness is the sole
consideration which need interest the
holder. The sole weakness of the sys-
TEN is its want OF responsiveness to
the needs OF commerce incident to sea-
| sens and trade conditions.
During summer months, While crops
are growing, and business men are EN-
joying their vacations, the demand for
money is reduced to the minimum.
The farmer lays aside his. surplus
utensils of commercials grain sacks
the railroads place on side tracks
their surplus utensils of commerce
freight cars-and banks and business
men use no more checks and drafts
than the needs of the hour require.
Ninety-flve per cent of the business
OF the country Is done with checks, put
the remaining 5 per cent exceeds Sl,-
$50, 600, 900 per annum. The volume OF
checks used in July is probably Az per
cent less than in December. but the
volume OF our money never contracts
some plan should be devised to insure
some measure o. responsiveness to the
d. mards of trade.
have many times used the illustra-
ton of leading horse behind Dug
CIV. Those who have had this expert
ence have found 1t convenient TO nave
few feet Of slack, otherwise they
have felt the knot in the end OF the
halter when passing over rough places.
we have very large volume OF
money all of which is at all times IN
use. We are leading our enormous ana
uneuualed commerce.. therefore, at the
extreme end Of a very lone monetary
tether. During the last five years we
have frequently felt the knot, and now
Il seems to have slipped from our
grasp. Every bank in every large city
has suspended money payment. Such
catastrophe when at the height OF
our prosperity. with a crop worth w.
O0O. 900, 900 just ready for market
should be impossible, and 1T is impos-
sible in any other commercial country.
This weakness is no new discovery.
1t has been recognized for years. VOL
ume after volume has been printed
setting forth this one defect, bills IN
tended to be remedial have been m
troduced by the hundred, speeches.
have been made by the thousand,
bankers conventions have passed reso-
buttons innumerable, and yet nothing
has been done, and nothing is likely 10
, be done until we shall have expert
anuAd a few more of these dire caiam-
tiles. Why this delay? The answer IS
easy. While ninety out OF every
hundred recognize the defect, not ten
out Of a hundred can be made to agree
upon a remedy. The divergence or
opinion among bankers and supposed
EXPERTS is more marked and irrecon-
cilable, II possible, than among lay
men.
No plan has yet been suggested that
IS not fraught with Objectionable
features and the best way to reach
| conclusion is to eliminate the impos-
sible and the impracticable. and see
what remains.
All our great commercial competl-
tors have large central banks We have
experimented with institutions of this
kind, but thus far they have failed to
satisfy the demands Of the people.
President Jackson's veto of the bill
renewing the charter Of the United
States Bank was the most popular act
of his administration, and has re-
manned the most popular to the present
time. Still there are many who think
our reQe1npllOH lFOlll Odu5cA AASS AAA
such an institution.
/ I recently read an interview by a
United States senator from a trans
Missouri state, in which he declared
dangerous any plan which was made to
depend in the remotest degree upon
the comptroller of the currency, or
the secretary Of the treasury, or both
combined. He then proceeded to adj
vocate a central bank to be controlled
he said by the government. He did
not say that he would keep congress
in session to direct its administration
but I submit that if such an institu-
ton is to be controlled by the gov
eminent probably it will be attached
to the executive branch and If so then
certainly the comptroller or the sec
rotary Of the treasury, or both COM
bined will have somewhat to say Pos
sibly commission appointed by con-
gress, or by the executive, or board Of
governors, in some way created would
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