Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1912-09-23
RO0SEVELT'S CONFESSION OF
FAITH"
(Tenth Installment.)
Revision of Currency Urgent.

SfistOh OI currency urgent.
In addition, then, to the remedies
that we can begin forthwith, there
should be a fearless, intelligent and
searching inquiry into the whole
subject, made by an absolutely nom
partisan body of experts, with no
prejudices to warp their minds, no
object to serve, who shall recommend
any necessary remedy, Needless of
what interest may be helped or hurt
thereby, and caring only for the in
terests of the people as a whole.
We believe that there exists an i'm
perative need for prompt legislation
for the Improvement of our national
currency system The experience of
repeated financial crises in the last
forty years has proved that the pres
ent method of issuing, through pri-
vate agencies, notes secured by gov
ernment bonds is both harmful and
unscientific. This method was adopt
ed as a means of financing the gov
ernment during the Civil War
through furnishing a domestic mar
ket for government bonds. 1t was
largely successful in fulfilling that
pun POoCs Dul lndl nCCu Is lOilS pdolp
and the system has outlived this fea-
ture of it's usefulness. The issue of
currency is fundamentally a govern
ment function. The system to be
adopted should have as it's basic prin-
ciples soundness and elasticity. The
currency should flow forth readily at
the demand of commercial activity,
and retire as promptly when the de-
mand diminishes. 1t should be au-
tomatically sufficient for all of the
legitimate needs of business in any
section of the country. Only by such
means can the country be freed from
the danger of recurring panics. The
control should be safeguarded against
manipulation by Wall street or the
| large interests 1t should be made
impossible to use the machinery or
! perquisites of the currency system
/ for any speculative purposes. The
country must be safeguarded against
overeXpansion or unjust contraction
of either credit or circulating me-
dium
Conservation Is Important Issue.
There can be no greater issue than
that of conservation in this country.
Just as we must conserve our men,
women and children, so we must con-
serve the resources of the land on
which they live. We must conserve
the soil so that our children shall
have land that is more and not less
fertile than that our fathers dwell
in. We must conserve the forests
not by disuse but by use, making
them more valuable at the same time
that we use them. We must con
serve the mines. Moreover, we mus
insure so far as possible the use O.
certain types of great natural re
sources for the benefit of the people
as whole. The public should no
ALLEVIATE its fee in the waterpowe
which will be of incalculable conse
quence as a source of power in tn,
immediate future. The nation ant
the states within their severa
spheres should by immediate legisla
tion keep the fee of the waterpower
leasing it's use only for a reasonabl
, length of time on terms that will Sc
cure the interests of the public. Jus
as the nation has gone into the worl
of irrigation in the west, so it shoul
5 go into the work of helping reclaim
1 the swamp lands of the south. w
= should undertake the complete devel
opment and control of the Mississippi
) as a national work, just as we hav
undertaken the work of building tn
Panama canal. We can use the plant
and we can use the human eXperienc
left free by the completion of tn