The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-06-23
wv ASHINGTON, June 22.-tSpeciaI)
M Well at last the much talked of

! AA/ w ell at ldSl the much talked of
currency bill is ready for
introduction M the House of Rep
resentatives, and even rs this enljgbt-
ening little story is being read. by the few
cred public, the President himself may be
addressing the assembled House and Sem
ate and explaining to them the meaning
of real money.
1t had been my purpose as soon as they
got this bill ready for the press to si-
multaneously with its publication write
a very clear and lucid story concerning
1t, so that the uninformed could forthwith
drink at the fountain of knowledge first
hand, and no longer wallow in the mire
/ OF ignorance.
| Circumstances over which | have no
control will compel me to refrain from
going into any very definite details of the
currency plan, and illustrating its pos
| sibilities in my clear forceful and fluent
style. l would like to do so very much,
but, l restrain myself because someone
might accuse me of lobbying for the bill.
Utterances by men of note these days
may be jefked up before an Investigating
committee later to his embarrassment and
confusion. Therefore, the public will be
compelled t6 study this bill out without
my aid, or remain in dense and OPAQUE
gloom.
| This is, of course, my principal reason
for not writing a detailed explanation of
the bill-another reason is that l don't
know anything about 1t. Ordinarily
would not let little thing like the latter
reason deter me. I frequently write very
interesting accounts of many things con-
corning which I know nothing; If the
managing editor knows less, as is fre-
quently the case 1t is all right. and 1 get
away with it..
However, all the big guys have chewed
over this bill for the past month and say
| that it is all right President Wilson,
Secretary McAdoo, Chairman Glass and
William J. Bryan have all taken slant
at 1t. and each one added a little mite
here and some other ingredient there, and
1t is now up to the highbrows on the hill,
and Oscar, who knows many things about
everything-to say nothing of all there Is
about the tariff-wlll take a squnt, and
whatever Oscar decides to do about it will
be done SO far as the House is concerned
| Anyway, we can all remember the good
old days when everyone knew all aooul
the currency. 1t was long, long time
ago when William j. Bryan first COM
menced to run for the presidency. l knew
my currency lesson then, and that's what
makes me a little suspicious of this bill,
and | advise every one to read it with
great care l have done so, and in no
place in it, is there a syllable about the
Free and Unlimited Coinage of Silver at
the Ratio of 16 to /, With or Without the
Consent of Any Nation on Earth" There
are no references to fiat" money or a
| unit basis" 1t seems to me that all
these phrases time honored and populo-
| democratic are the very quintessential
quintessence of currency. Without them
| there must be "a lingering doubt in our
minds as to the soundness of this leg
! islation-somewhere there arises a hint
of predatory wealth and sinister interests
| being involved.
| There is one redeeming feature about
the bill; provisions have been made for
an elastic" issue of circulating notes.