The Yale expositor., 1913-06-26
WILSON ASKS new
CURRENCY SYSTEM
President Wilson Reads Mes
sage to Joint Session Of
Congress.
NEW SYSTEM IS DEMANDED
Revision Of the Banking and Currency
Laws Must Go Hand In Hand
With Revision Of the
Tariff

Washington, June 23.-President
Wilson today read his special message
on the subject of banking and currency
reform to the joint session OF con-
gress. The message follows:
Mr.. Speaker. Mr.. President. Gentle
men of the Congress-: 1t is under the
compulsion of what seems to me
clear and imperative duty that l have
a second time this session sought the
privilege of addressing you in person.
l know, OF course, that the heated
season of the year is upon us, that
work In these chambers and In the
committee rooms is likely to become a
burden as the season lengthens, and
that every consideration of personal
comfort, perhaps, in the cases OF some
of us, considerations of personal
health even, dictate an early conclu-
sion of the deliberations of the ses-
sion; but there are occasions of public
duty when these things which touch
us privately seem very small; when
the work to be done is so pressing and
so fraught with big consequence that
we know that we are not at liberty to
weigh against it any point of personal
sacrifice. 1t is absolutely imperative
that we should give the business men
of this country a banking and curren-
cy system by means of which they
can make use OF the freedom of enter
prise and of individual initiative
which we are about to bestow upon
them.
We are about to set them free; we
must not leave them without the tools
of action when they are free. We are
about to set them free by removing
the trammels of the protective tariff.
Ever since the Civil war they have
waited for this emancipation and for
the free opportunities it will bring
with It, It has been reserved for US
to give 1t to them. Some fell in love,
indeed with the slothful security OF
their dependence upon the govern
ment; some took advantage of the
shelter of the nursery to set up a
mimic mastery of their own within
it's walls. Now both the tonic and
the discipline of liberty and maturity
are to ensue. -,
1t is not enough to strike the
shackles from business. The duty of
statesmanship is not negative merely.
1t is constructive also. We must show
that we understand what business
needs and that we know how to sup
ply 1t. No man, however casual and
superficial his observation of the con-
ditions now prevailing In the country,
can fail to see that one of the chief
things business needs now, and will
need increasingly as 1t gains in scope
and vigor in the years Immediately
ahead Of us, is the proper meann by
which readily to vitalize it's credit,
corporate and individual, and its orig
inative brains. What will 1t profit US
to be free IL we are not to have the
best and most accessible instrumen-
talities OF commerce and enterprise?
The ksinciples upon which we should
act are also clear. The country has
sought and seen its path In this mat
ter within the last few years-see II
more clearly now than 1t ever saw IL
before--much more clearly than when
the last legislative proposals on the
subject were made. We must have a
currency, not rigid as now, but readily.
elastically responsive to sound credit.
the expanding and contracting credits
of everyday transactions, the normal
ebb and flow of personal and corporate
dealings. Our banking laws must mo-
bilize reserves; must not permit the
concentration anywhere In few hands
OF the monetary resources of the coun-
try or their use for speculative pur-
poses In such volume as to hinder OF
impede or stand in the way of other
more legitimate, more fruitful uses
And the control OF the system OF bank
ing and OF issue which our new laws
are to set up must be public, not pri-
vate, must be vested in the govern
ment Itself, so that the banks may be
the instruments, not the masters, OF
business and of individual enterprise
and initiative.
The committees of the congress TO
which legislation of this character is
referred have devoted careful and dis
passionate study to the means OF ac-
these objects. They have
honored me by consulting me. They
are ready to suggest action. l have
come to you. as the head OF the gov
and the responsible leader OF
the party In power. to urge action now.
while there Is time to serve the coun-
try deliberately and az We ebouId IL n