Morris tribune., 1910-10-21
Supplement TRIBUNE Morris MIMI Saturday

For administrative and legislative
purposes the Federal Government has,
ever since the Fourth of March, 1897,
been in the keeping and under the
guidance Of the Republican party.
The preceding Democratic admins
trat1on of Grover Cleveland had, in
many respects, proved a failure, es-
pecially in it's tariff legislation, which
proved, more or less, hampering to
the Industrial and economic life Of
the country, and produced an insult
f1ciency of revenue for the current
expenses of the Government, entail
ing, in part, the necessity of increas-
ing the interest-bearing debt of the
Nation. And no serious efforts were
made to enforce the provisions of the
antitrust law, which had been en-
acted in 1890, under Republican ad-
ministration, for the purpose OF check
ing and restraining the growing and
threatening rapacity and greed of cor
porations seeking, by various devices,
to monOpoIize and restrain interstate
trade and commerce. The only rem
ediaI legislation secured during CleVe-
lands term-and that was only a
mere palliative-was the repeal of the
statute requiring the purchase of
4,500,000 ounces of silver every month,
and this repeal was effected chiefly
by Republican votes. The great ma
jority of the Democratic vote was
against the repeal.
The first duty entailed upon the ad-
ministration of President Mckinley
was the enactment of new tariff
legislation for the purpose of reViving g
the languishing industries of the coun-
try, and for the purpose of securing
sufficient revenues for the current ex-
penses of the Government. This
duty was accomplished when the tariff
act of July, 1897, was passed. That
act was not only the means of re-
viving the industrial life of the coun-
try, but also furnished ample revenues
for the wants of the Government, aside
from the demands of the Spanish war,
which broke out within year there
after. This war was carried on in
1898 to a successful issue, resulting
in the independence and rehabilitation
of Cuba, and the acquisition and re-
generation of Porto Rico and the Phil
ippine Islands. The war and it's re-
sultant burdens delayed the enactment
of needed monetary legislation, SO that
it was not until 1900 that this i'm
portant work was taken up.
At that time, and for years, we
had been suffering from the evil ef-
fects of the double standard, and from
the difficulty of maintaining silver on
a parity with gold. By the act of
March, 1900, the double standard was
abolished and gold was made the sin
gle standard and unit of our currency.
This placed our monetary system on
a sound basis and on a par with the
other great commercial nations of the
world. And while our paper currency
Is not entirely satisfactory and is sub
ject to some criticism yet, aside from
its lack Of elasticity, it is, on the
whole, a fairly good and safe currency,
and in all essentials far superior to
the paper currency we had in this
country before the days of the Civil
War. The monetary panic, which oc-
Cured in the latter part of 1907 and
the early part of 1908, did not come
so much from any defect in our cur
rency system as from undue and sim
lister speculation in the great none
tary center of the country. Many pro-
mOters, individuals, trust companies,
and banks, had, in one form or an
other, incurred obligations, not always
of legitimate business character, far
in excess of the available currency
at their command, and when they
were unable to meet their current OBJ
legations, the panic ensued. Had the
demand for currency been confined
and limited to the requirements and
demands of legitimate trade and COM
merce there would have been no
dearth of currency and no occasion
for bank suspensions. The banks and
monetary institutions outside Of New
York City were, as rule, in sound
and safe condition.; and the industrial
and commercial life of the country
was in a normal and fairly prosper
Gus condition, as was shown by the
easy and steady recuperation which
ensued after the panic. In short, it
was a bankers rather than a business
mans panic, with it's origin and storm
center in New York City, rather than
elsewhere, and just such panic as
could we'll occur under the best cur
rency system. There was as much
money in circulation per capita i'm
mediately preceding the panic as in
the prosperous year succeeding it,
and the volume of deposits in the
banks and other monetary institu-
tions was greater by 1888, 100000 June
80, 1907, than June 80, 1906. How
ever, to meet such contingencies as
occurred in this panic Congress, by
the act of May 80, 1908, amended the
national banking laws by providing
for the issue of an emergency cur
rency through currency associa-
tions" Of national banks. The act
is we'll guarded and the currency
issued under it would be per.
fectly safe. A few currency associa.
tions have been, Or are being organic
ed under this act, but no currency
has, so far, been issued. The act
also provided for the creation Of a
monetary commission" harg d
with the duty Of enquiring into and
reporting to Congress what changes
are necessary, Or desirable, in our
monetary and banking systems.
The Commission has made extensive
investigations and enquiries and has
made various preliminary reports
especially upon the monetary systems