Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1909-1911, 1909-09-17
TAFT ENDORSES
4 CENTRAL BANK
PRESIDENT IN BOSTON ADDRESS
SAYS PRESENT SYSTEM IS
ALL WRONG.
"ALDRICH ABOVE SUSPICION"
Declares Rhode Island Man Is One OF
AbleSt Statesmen in Financial Mat
tiers in Either House.


BOSTON. Mass, Sept. 15.-Declar-
ing that the nations banking system is
"patched-up affair."" President Taft i'll
notable address here Tuesday night en-
dorsed the plan for a great central bank
as means of preventing financial pan
les.
The President was the guest of 2OOO
representative men of Boston at Me
chanicS' hall, his speech being the first
to be delivered on his $4,000 mile trip
which began when he left Beverly today.
Tomorrow he will depart for Chicago.
Says System Is Patchwork.
Referring to proposed financial legis-
lation, the President said:
Your chairman has made some refer
ence to Il number of subjects to which
the attention of Congress may well be
directed In the first place, there is the
monetary situation. While it is prob
able that the Nreeland bill, passed by
the last Congress, would aid us in case
of another financial crash, it is certain
that our banking and monetary system Is
a patched-up affair which satisfies no
body, and least of all those who are
clear-headed and have a knowledge OF
what a financial system should be. The
matter has been referred by Congress to
a monetary commission, which has been
studying with much interest and enthu-
siasm the financial and banking systems
of the great governments of Europe,
and has embodied and will soon publish
interesting and attractive accounts of
the financial systems of the world. 1t
is quite apparent from the statements
of Mr. Nreeland, who is now the head
of the committee on banking and cur
rency in the House of Representatives,
and from the conversations of Mr.. Aid
rich, who is the chairman of the none
tary commission and of the finance COM
II e
minds of the monetary commission and
of the monetary commission is toward
some sort of arrangement for central
bank of issue which shall control the
reserve and exercise power to meet
and control the casual stringency which
from time to time will come in the cir
culating medium of the country and the
world.
Favors Central Bank.
'Mr. AIdrich states that there are two
indispensable requirements in any plan
to be adopted involving a central bank
of issue. The one is that the control of
the monetary system shall be kept free
from Wall street influences and the
other that it shall not be manipulated
for political purposes. These are two
principles to which we can all subscribe
1t is quite possible that the report of the
commission of a definite conclusion may
be delayed beyond the next session of
/ Congress. Meantime the members of the
commission intend to institute a cam
paign of education in order to arouse
public opinion to the necessity of q
change in our monetary and banking
systems, and to the advantages that will
arise from placing some form of control
over the money market and the reserve
| in the hands of an Intelligent body of
financiers responsible to the government.
[ am told that Mr.. Aldrich will swing
around the circle in the present fall and
will lecture in many Of the cities of the
middle west on the defects and needs of
our monetary system | cannot too
strongly approve of this proposal.
Aldrich Above Suspicion
''Mr. Aldrich, who is the leader of the
Senate, and certainly one of the ablest
statesmen in financial matters in either
house, has been regarded with deep sus-
picion by many people, especially in the
west.
eff, with his clear cut ideas and simple
but effective style of speaking, he makes
apparent to the western people what L
believe to be his earnest desire to aid the
people and to crown his political career
| by the preparation and passage of a bill
which shall give us a sound and safe
monetary and banking system, it would
| be a long step toward removing the po-
ltical obstacles to proper solution of
the question"
Little to Say of Tariff.
Referring to tariff legislation, the Pres
ident said
L am not going to discuss the merits
and dement's of the new tariff bill with
you. | shall have often to refer to that
before my journey is ended, and [ must
save something for other audiences.
Suffice it to say that the passage of the
| bill has removed a disturbing element in