The daily sentinel., 1914-01-05
NEW CURRENCY LAW To. mark END.
.0F PAh|CS IN THE UNITED STATES.
Congressman keang Sees Hope For the People in New Law
Which Was Forced Through Congress by President
Woodrow Wilson.

great political party which had been
in control of the government for the
greater part of a half century con-
Tossing its inability to formulate a
banking and currency policy which
II was willing TO submit to the can
did judgment of the country.
Is 1T to be wondered at that one
third of the members of the minority
voted with the democrats on the final
passage of the bill?
VIII End Panics.
Murdoch of Kansas, the leader of
the progressiyes in the house-and
as good democrat on most questions
as we have in congress-in announc-
ing his support of the bill, said that
1t would put an end to financial
panics. | think he was right, but
the country has little to fear from
industrial panics just now.
j. Pierpont Morgan said that the
panic of 1907. was the most disas-
trous in the history of the country,
and 1T was a made-to-order, direct
from -Wall-Street financial convul-
sion. 1t scared the country out of
three years growth and destroyed
thousands OF fortunes.
Our republican friends do not like
- ttssh oooth NAht Bhhitt III "hth
II swept over the country Teddy was
in the white house, Aldrich was in
the senate, and Cannon in the house,
and high-protective tariff was
raining its blessings on the nation
very much as the mama fell on the
distressed Israelites. In addition to
ali this, Providence had blessed the
land with bountiful crops and the
riills and factories seemed well sup
piled with orders.
In a day-almost within an hour
prosperity was stricken down.
Banks closed-and those that did not
close issued cashiers certificates"
in lieu of lowful money--business
was paralyzed and hundreds of thou
sands of men walked the streets
without work OF course, after the
atmosphere had cleared a little, it
was found that Morgan and other
Wall Street magnates had picked up
many desirable properties-includ-
ing Tennessee Coal and Iron, the
Steel Trusts leading rival-at panic
prices, but the government and the
people seemed helpless to deal with
the situation.
That sort of thing can never hap
pen in this country again SO long
as the Wilson-Bryan act is on the
statute books and the members of
the federal reserve board do their
duty.
Wall Street Curbed.
Wall Street has been permanently
shorn of the power to make panics.
Il has lost that power because it has
lost control of the nations money.
Heretofore the banks of the coun-
try sent their reserve to Wall Street
for the use of the spectators who
inhabit the canon-like streets of low
er Manhattan and the directors of
legitimate business on the farms and
in the factories found it Just that
much more difficult to secure accom-
modations. or course, these re-
serves were supposed to be subject
to call, but in times of stress Wall
Street could net or would not re-
spond to the call and then there was
trouble.
Under the Wilson-Bryan bill the
reserves which used to go to Wall
Street will be divided between eight
tc twelve federal reserve banks scat
tered over the country and will all
ways be on hand to take care of the
commercial and industrial needs of
the country. Wall Street will get
its share, but it will not be permit
ted to get the other fellows share.
Under the direction of the fed
eral reserve board these big reserve
banks may help each other and, in
the event of an unusual crisis, the
federal reserve board itself may re-
lease a part or all of the hundreds
of millions of emergency currency
authorized Inv the Wilson, Rryan bill
The scheme is very much like a well
organized fire department. The ord