Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1913-06-01

3. II must furnish an elastic cur
rency.
\ our present system scatters the re
serves throughout $4,000 banks.
II permits commercial assets to Ii,
useless in $4,000 bank vaults becaus,
there is no place to turn them int,
cash.
II furnishes currency which, in
stead of increasing in volume wher
II is needed for business purposes ant
dying out when the need is over
does just the opposite; is rigid anC
irreducible in amount; constantly
grows larger without the slightest re,
gard to business wants, and woult
drive out all the gold in the country
If we were not such an overwhelm.
ingly-rich producing country.
With no great central controlling
system, we have no way of bringing
gold into the country, when we mos
need it, or of preventing its outflow
when we cannot spare il. France
for instance. takes our gold, as shown
1by the recent shipments, at a time
when exchange is against such an
operation and reserves are low, and
we are helpless to stop It. Our sup
| ply is at the mercy OF the world.
How Our Currency System Shows Its
Weakness.
The bad effects which are most ap-
parent, of this system or lack of sys-
TEN, under which for fifty years we
have been simply enduring the most
uncomfortable and dangerous finan-
cial condition, are those which show
themselves every year at harvest time
and whenever an unusual credit crisis
con1Tonts us.
In the fall, when the crop is to be
moved, the whole country IL almost
invariably under pressure. This II
because there is no elasticity to our
currency and our credit. and money
becoming tied up during the easier
seasons of the year, not only In spec
ulation but in commercial loans to
good business enterprises, must be
pulled out by main force in the fall
and sent to the fields. All other legit-
movement Is over with.
But worse even than this every SO
often we are crowded into danger
and disaster and irresistibly swept
into the whirlpool OF some destruc-
tive overwhelming crisis. Such was
the panic of 1907, and with such
panics We have been regularly cursed
every ten and twenty years. These
crises have smashed the machinery OF
business, wiping out countless mil
lions Of dollars Of value in the de-
structive paths, and forced long peri
ods Of hard times.
At such times is evidenced the tre-
mendous disadvantage of lack of CO.
operation and the absence of "A great
gold reserve stored at one center to
not alone cure panics but to actually
prevent them. Under these condi-
tions every bank in the country be-
gins mad struggle to protect its
own reserve and starts calling in
loans, adding to the general disaster.
The Monetary Commission Plan.
After the panic of 1907 the nation
al monetary commission was ap-
pointed and the members began
most thorough and exhaustive study
by investigation in Europe of the
methods Of other countries, and
through expert and financial testi-
mony. Their work extended over
period of years.
The result OF their deliberations
was the formulation and presentation
Of a bill providing an economic rem
edy, workable and efficient and
which has the merit of being found
ed on an extension of the existing
banking outfit. This bill jncorporat-
ed all the banks of the country into
ocal associations, these in turn elect |
ng a head branch in each Of is dis |
ricts into which the whole of the |
United States would be divided, the |
to elect a central reserve |
association at Washington, where the |
gold of the country would be gath |
cred in a tremendously strong re-
'erve and here, and at the branches, |
he commercial assets of the bank |
under the present lack OF system |
frozen in the bank vaults) |
'ould be readily turned into paper
,ank notes to meet the requirements
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