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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (June 27, 1913)
v'FV3Wvl '"nvsnny w.v Tr'ffHp vuq TPi" ! ' "" The Commoner. WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR m Lincoln, Nebraska, Jurie 27, 1913 VOL. 13f NO. 25 Whole Number 649 President Wilsons Message on Currency Reform At a joint session of the two houses of con gress, Juno 23,1913, President Wilson delivered, in person, the following message: Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, Gentlemen of tho Congress: It is under the compulsion of what seems to me a clear and imperative duty that I have a second time this session sought tho privilege of addressing you in person. I know, of course, that the heated season of the year is upon us, that work in these chamhers and in tho committee rooms is likely to become a burden as tho season lengthens, and that every consideration of personal convenience and per sonal comfort, perhaps, in tho cases of some of us, considerations of personal health even, dic tato an early conclusion of the deliberations of tho session; but there are occasions of public duty when these things which touch us privately seem very small; when tho work to bo done is so pressing and so fraught with big conse quence that we know that we are not at liberty to weigh against it any point of personal sacri fice. Wo are now in the presence of such an occasion. It is absolutely imperative that we should give the business men of this country a banking and currency system by means of which they can make use of the freedom of enterprise and of individual initiative which wo are about to bestow upon them. Wo 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 tho trammels of the protective tariff. Ever since the Civil war they have waited for this emancipation and for the free opportunities it will bring with it. It has been reserved for us to give It to them. Somo fell In love, Indeed, with the slothful security of their dependence upon the government; somo 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 tho discip line of liberty and maturity are to ensue. There will be some readjustments of purpose and of point of view. There will follow a period of expansion and new enterprise, freshly con ceived. It is for us to determine now whether ft shall be rapid and facile and of easy accomplishment." This can not bo un less tho resourceful business men who are to deal with tho now circumstances are to have at hand and ready for use the instrumentalities and conveniences of free enterprise which in dependent men need when acting on their own initiative. It Is not enough to strike the shackles from business. Tho duty of statesmanship is not negative merely. It Is constructive also. Wo must show that we understand what business needs and that wo know how to supply It. No man, however casual and superficial his obser vation of tho conditions now prevailing In tho country, can fall to seo that one of the chief things business needs now, and will need in creasingly as it gains In scope and vigor in tho years immediately ahead of us, is tho proper means by which readily to vitilizo its credit, cor porate and individual, and its originative brains. What wlll.it profit us to bo free if we aro not to have the best and most accessible instru mentalities of commerce and enterprise? What will It profit us to bo quit of one kind of mo nopoly if we aro to remain in tho grip of an other and more effective kind? How are wo to gain and keep tho confidenco of tho business community unless wo show that wo know how both to aid and to protect it? What shall wo say if wo make fresh enterprise necessary and also make It very difficult by leaving all elso except the tariff Just as wo found It? Tho tyrannies of business, big and little, lie within tho field of credit. We know that. Shall wo not act upon tho knowledg'o? Do we not know how to act upon it? If a man can not mako his assets available at pleasure, his assets of capa city and character and resourco, what satisfac tion Is it to him to seo opportunity beckoning to him on every hand, when others have the keys of credit in their pockets and treat them as all but their own private possession? It ia per fectly 'clear that it Is our duty to supply tho new banking and currency system the country needs, and that It will immediately need it more than ever. Tho only question is, When shall wo supply it now, or later, after tho demands shall have become reproaches that we were so dull and so slow? Shall wo hasten to change tho tariff laws and then bo laggards about making it pos sible' and easy for the country to tako advan tage of tho change? Thcro can be only one answer to that question. We must act now, at whatever sacriflco to ourselves. It Is a duty which tho circumstance forbid us to postpone. I should bo recreant to my dcopost convictions of public obligation did I not prosB it upon you with solemn and urgent insistence Tho principles upon which wo "should act are also clear. Tho country has sought and scon Its path in this matter within tho last few years sees it more clearly now than it ovor saw It before much more clearly than when tho last legislative proposals on tho subject woro raado. Wo must have a currency, not rigid as now, but readily, elastically responsive to sound credit, tho expanding and contracting of credits of everyday transactions, tho normal obb and flow of personal and corporato doalings. Our bank ing Ijuvh must mobilize reserves; must not per mit tho concentration iiiiywhcro in a few bauds of the monetary resources of tho country or their uso for speculative purposes in such volume us to hinder or impede or stand in tho way of other nioro legitimate, moro fruitful uses. And tho control of tho system of bank ing and of issue which our new laws are to set up must' be public, not private, must bs vested in tho government itself, so that the banks may bo (ho instrument, not tho masters, of business and of Individual enterprise and initiative. Tho committees of tho congress to which legislation of this ctiaractor is referred have do voted careful and dispassionate study to the means of accomplishing these objects. Thoy have honored mo by consulting me. They are ready to suggest action. I have como to you, as tho head of tho government and tho respon sible leader of tho party In power, to urge ac tion now, while there is time to servo tho coun try deliberately and as wo should, in a clear air of common counsel. I appeal to you with a deep conviction of duty. I believe that you share this conviction. I therefore appeal to you with confidence. I am at your service without reservo to play my part In any way you may call upon mo to play it In this great enterprise of exigent reform which It will dignify and dis tinguish us to perform and discredit us to no gleet Faithful Fulfillment of the Baltimore Platform Promises Following is an Associated Press dispatch: Washington, D. C, Juno 22. Secretary Bryan tonight issued a statement on. the currency bill prepared by Chairmen Glass and Owen of the congressional bankingand currency committees, Secretary of tho Treasury McAdoo and the presi dent. Secretary Bryan gave his "unreserved" indorsement to the proposed measure and re moved all doubt as to his position with reference to currency reform, the ideas of President Wil son and the necessity for immediate action. "I am glad to indorse most earnestly and un reservedly the currency bill which has been pre pared by the chairmen of the two congressional committees in conjunction with the president and Mr. McAdoo," said M.r. Bryan. "It is a much better bill than I suposed it to bo. "Tho plan which the president now urges confers great advantages upon all banks while It preserves to tho people, acting through tho gov ernment, all that Is essential for the protection of tho public. "The notes are to be treasury notes issued by the government and loaned to the regional reserve banks. This Is in harmony with tho democratic contention. There is no surrender of the government's right to issue money. Tho board of control is appointed by the president. Thus the people, acting through the govern ' ment, are In entire control. "Tho great point of advantage to the banks an advantage that ought to make them willing to accept tho bill without question is that It furnishes a currency which they can secure In time of need without having to put up bonds as security. Tho bond requirement largely neu tralizes the advantage of the money issued on them as security, because the banks can not draw back more from tho government than, they have already invested in tho bonds, but where a bank can put up its good assets it it able at all times, without sacrifice, to secure any additional circulation that the company may need, and tho governing board can be trusted to issue its treasury notes to the re- I ii ii U.AMJr;i&i&XJ&&&&i6fi 0,1.jOiU'' & JteJBfaAiA. tft& i.ttJtif i4i;rtli. '