The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1916-10-05

SAUK CEl
that the warning nations of Europe
have had their hands full on land
and sea in battling against each
other. None of then, had any ships
or soldiers to spare for an attack
upon, or invasion of, our country, and
none of them have manifested "a ,pur
pose or desire to make such an attack
or invasion. And as to our OWL
country, we have not been in condi
ton to invade or attack any of the
belligerents or any other country save
Mexico. In the pursuit of Villa, the
best we could do was to send about
eighteen or nineteen thousand regulars
into and along the border of Mexico
could muster, and our militia, or ma
tional guard, could not, under the
constitution, be taken out of oul
country and used in a foreign war
And as to our navy, it is admitted on
all sides that it is far inferior tC
that of England, Germany, and even
to that of France. How could any
sane man, under such circumstances
harbor the notion of our making wal
upon any of the great belligerents in
Europe? The truth, in brief, is that
none of the belligerents could I'll
get at us, nor we at them. The only
war President Wilson has had or
his hands and suffered from has been
a diplomatic war, and that has been
carried on by him with no credit OF
glory to our country.
Record of Democratic Party.
The chief claim, however, of the
Democratic party is in respect te
what they are pleased to call their
scheme of so-called constructive leg
islation. Great stress is laid upon
the laws enacted during President
Wilson's administration.
Currency Legislation.
In the fall of 1907, there was SO
called bankers monetary panic Id
ously affected the banks in that city
but also to considerable extent
affected banks in other parts of the
country. For a time the banks in
New York suspended cash payments
and this led to the suspension of cash
payments in many of the banks in
our large cities. The panic finally
subsidized and spent it's force by the
end of the year without leaving the
havoc and destruction in its wake
that the panic of 1873 did. This
panic led to the passage of the so
called Northumberland act of May
80, 1908, which provided for the is
suance of emergency currency through
voluntary currency associations of ma
tional banks and also permitted ma
tional banks in certain cases to obtain
additional circulation, on other Sc
security than United States bonds. The
act also provided for the appoint
ment of a national monetary commits
sion, ito inquire into and report to
congress what changes are neces
sary or desirable in the monetary
system of the United States" and SO
forth. The commission made an ex
haustive and thorough investigation
both at home and abroad, and gath
cred a large quantity of most val
liable data and material, consisting
of many volumes, and finally made its
report to congress on the Sth day
of JAM, 1912, recommending, among
other things, the establishment of a
national reserve association, with a
capital of S2OO,OOO,OO0, and with sub
sidiary local, or branch, associations
throughout the country. Stock sub
scriptions were to be limited ITO
national and state banks and to trust
companies, but was not compulsory
A bill to carry out the recommends,
lions of the commission was intro
duced, but no action was taken on
the same. I shall not at this time
enter into further details in regard
to the report of the commission. Ii
is a part of the monetary history OF
this country, and much of the com
missions work was utilized and made
use of in formulating the federal re
serve act, to which | shall later on
call your attention. While emergency
currency associations were formed
under the Aldrich-Vreeland act, nc
currency was taken out under it until
the threatened panic of 1914, for the
reason that after the subsistence OF
the panic of 1907 normal monetary
and business conditions prevailed
business was good, and money abun
dant at reasonable rates. By its
terms the Aldrich-Vreeland act eX
pired by limitation June 80, 1914. In
the federal reserve act the life o!
the Northumberland law was eN
tended for another year and rt
duction. of the tax Oh the emergency
currency was also made.
No Change in Tax Rate.
The act of Aug. A, 1914, made nc
change\ in the tax rate, but removed
some other restrictions which were
not germane after the passage of the
federal reserve lazy. The war in Eu
rope, which was impending in July
and broke out in the early days OF
August, 1914, threatened our country
with another monetary panic. The