The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1908-07-18

individual purchasers would demand
money from the banks with which to
make their payments The spectacle of
| depositors asking their own money from
I the banks tc make investments appealed
to the Secretary as so unconscionable and
as involying SO great srm a har as dpaf 20 v 5ne
the banks alone. AS to the $50, 600, COO or
bonds, he declared his intention to re-
quire only 10 per cent cash from the
banks in payment for them, and that the
remaining 90 per cent should remain in
the banks as g Eog fbsaa Sepp9s d-Sw ?
per cent interest, and 50 when a bank
purchased a 800 bond, and paid only $40
post without Interest, the bank. while
that condition lasted. would be really re-
e emon5t a y per IS eeps nte For o 1e who
accused the banks, as the President did.
of being chiefly responsible for the panic,
this favoritism is astounding. It is such
question the good faith of his u~tterances-
Republican agologists. unable to agree,
the cause of the panic. Some say it is
over-production, some that 1t is over
speculation, some that it is bad k
some that It is an insufficient currency,
some that 1t is a defective monetary sys-
tenn, while others charge It directly to
what they denominate the rabid ndis-
c~retions of the President and the Presi-
dent answers to the mayor of Omaha, so
the mayor says. that If the panic was
vas proud of his part in 1t. Proud Of
it'll What think you of that? Proud to
of a great nation proud to have brought
idleness to a million men and the gaunt
specter of want to countless homes:
proud to have clogged the wheels OF
progress proud to have cast. a dark
shadow over a happy land. I knn"1 the
mayor of Omaha. He is an oid-time
friend of the President, and I know him
to be an honorable man. Yet it SURPRISES
belief. it seems Incredible. that the
Praefdanf of the Tinted States. this
popular darling, could have SO expressed
himself. But whatever the cause, and
cause, the great central fact remains
that we have suffered a disastrous panic
under Republican auspices. How long
the panic may niger none can forecast.
The r~ecuperative energy of our people Is
marvellous, and already they are bringing
order out of chaos We viii have the
experience Of other panics. Gradually
our wounded Industries will limp out Of
the storm, and sooner or later normal
conditions will be restored But for the
enormous damage already done, and for
Inevitable losses yet TO accrue, there can
only this poor consolation. hat it IS a
Republican panic. Not even in the re-
hottest degree can it be charged TO the
Democratic party. That is the signi1-
cant fact I wish especially to impress. It
proves the falsity of Republican accusa-
lion ana the emptiness of Republican
less heed to aduce when the name OF
Bryan is heard.
THE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS BILL
Certain Republican leaders in Congress,
like Aldrich and Vreeland, following a
coterie OF great bankers and ~hnanciers,
affected to believe that the panic was due
to a lack of money and the want of
greater ~iexibility in our currency system.
Thereupon they started In to incubate a
remedy, and the result is the hyphenated
land law. OF this law I wish now to
speak Prior to its passage national
States bonds were deposited to secure
them. The new law makes two radical
changes in this particular. First, under
this law national banks may now under
certain conditions pledge state, county,
the basis of their circulation Upon such
bonds the banks may receive circulating
notes equal in amount to ninety per CEN
tum Of the market value OF the bonds
deposited, the market value to be as
certained under the direction of the Sec
rotary of the Treasury, not to exceed the
under this law ten or more national
banks, having an aggregate capital and
ganize what is termed a national cur
rency association" The chief purpose Of
uai bank. a member of the association,
to use its commercial paper, that IS,
IIatinn h66s snS, b as inc PASS @s9t u IN IN
one of these associations should desire
to use It's commercial paper TO obtain
quired in the first instance to lay the
proposition before the board of managers
securities it offered to pledge. If the
officers of the association should approve
the application, 1t would then be their
NIT the proposition to the Comptroller of
the Currency. If in turn that officer
should approve IT. IT would then be ms
Treasury, and IL he should be of opinion
that the conditions contemplated by the
law existed and that all statutory re-
QuirpmpntG had been complied with. he
would direct the issue of additional cir
culating notes, based on the commercial
discretion, not to exceed seventy-ive per
centum of the cash value of the securi-
ties deposited. These circulating notes
would be delivered in the first Instance
to the currency association for and on
behalf of the particular bank applying
for them. The entire association, under
the law, would be responsible for the re-
demption of the notes, the association
holding the pledged securities to indemnl-
fy it. The evident and confessed object
Of the law is to enable the larger national
banks to unite their credit and CONNER
cial assets, and by cooperation to utilize
them to obtain additional circulation as
they might have occasion to need IL. The
law fixes the aggregate amount mat may
be issued under its provisions at $500,
600, 900. All notes issued under the pro-
visions of this act are made subject TO a
tax at the rate of 8 per cent per annum
for the first month. and one per cent per
month additional thereafter, until a rate
of 10 per cent per annum is reached. The
GAAA[A LAAA8 A0N - -
Emergency currency" and the tax re-
ferred to is imposed to hasten their early
retirement.
This, in substance, Is the remedy Ger
tain national bankers and Republican
statesmen, acting In cooperation, pro-
pose as a panic preventive and panacea.
The best feature of the law Is the pro-
vision limiting its continuance to six
years. That is the duration fixed by its
terms. 1 venture to say, however, that
While it is claimed to be ar experiment,
tentative and temporary, It has been
really put out as a feeler. If the people
endorse the measure, If they fan to ex-
press their disapproval of 1t, then the
policy IL will be continued.
It is the first hesitating step toward
our monetary system over to
the national banks. Movements of this
kind gather volumes as they go. Is II
that the American people are
to endorse this dangerous depar-
Here, more than ever before, the
abdicates the sovereign func-
lion imposed upon it by the constitution
Of making money. and confers that
great p~rerogative, at least in substance, /
upon corporations. The / duty of
a safe and adequate currency
TO the people is one of the most delicate
important functions OF our sover-
1t is a function the American
people cannot afford to delegate to pri-
vate, or semi-private, public bodies.
Is a prerogative that should re-
main exclusive and unimpaired in the
1ands of the people, or in the hands of
heir public representatives. It is no
to say that in a great emer-
sency, like that recent experienced, the
1anks under a law OF this character
be greatly strengthened In their
htTfN m TnIfaUa mnnaTnTU N 4