The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1913-06-27
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 10 the joint session of con,
gress. The message follows:
Mr.. Speaker, Mr. President, Gentle.
men of the Congress: 1t is under the
compulsion CT what seems to me a
clear and imperative duty that / have
a second time this session sought the
| privilege of addressing you in person
| know, or course, that the heated
season of the year is upon US, that
work in tt csc chambers and in the
| committee rooms is likely to become q
burden as she season lengthens, and
that every consideration Of persOna}
comfort, perhaps, in the cases of some
Of US, considerations of personal
| health even, dictate an early conclu
sion Of the deliberations of the SEES
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 tC
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 hiring
with it. 1t has been reserved for Us
to give it tc 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
its 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
craftsmanship 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 it. 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 it gains in scope
and vigOr in the years Immediately
ahead of US, is the proper means by
which readily to vitalize it's credit,
corporate and individual, and it's orig
NATIVE brains What will it profit US
to be free if we are not to have the
best and most accessible instrument
talities of commerce and enterprise?
The principles upon which we should
act are also clear. The country has
sought and seen it's path in this mat
ter within the last few years-See it
more clearly now than it ever saw it
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
elasticslly 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-
bilZe reserves; must not permit the
concentration anywhere in a few hands
of the monetary resources of the coun-
try or their use for speculative pur-
poses in such volume as to- hinder or
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
'eferred have devoted careful and dis
passionate study to tie means of ac-
.omplishing these objects They have
IGNORED me by consulting me. They
ire ready to suggest action. / have
come TO you, as the head of the gov
,rnment and, the responsible leader of
he party in power, to urge action now,
while there is time to serve the coun-
Try deliberately and as we should, in
clear air Of common counsel.