re
The Conservative.
ECONOMISTS UPON TIIK NECESSITY
I'OK CUItllENCY ItKFOHM.
The committee appointed by the Amer
ican Economic Association a year ago to
consider the subject of currency reform
made a very businesslike statement of
the necessities of the monetary problem
in the United States at the annual con
vention of the association at Now Haven
on December 20. The committee itself
was a strong one , representing different
great colleges of the country. It was
signed by F. M. Taylor , University of
Michigan ; F. M. Taussig , Harvard uni
versity : , T. W. Jeuks , Cornell univer
sity ; Sidney Sherwood , John Hopkins
university ; and David Kinley , Univer
sity of Illinois. The points made in the
report are recognized by intelligent busi
ness men and are practically the same
brought forward by the monetary con
vention of business men at Indianapolis
two years ago. The report says :
"Under existing conditions the only
wise and consistent policy for the United
States is the frank recognition of the
fact that the actual monetary standard is
now , and for some time to come will be ,
gold , and the adoption of legislation
which shall insure the entire stability of
that standard , until such time as the na
tion may have decided to establish some
other. Assent to this statement does
not commit any one to the position that
the gold standard is , abstractly consid
ered , the most desirable one. As is well
known , a large number of economists
hold to the opposite opinion. But , as is
also well knownthe particular substitute
which such economists favor i. c. , in
ternational bimetallism , is at present ,
and for a long time will bo , out of the
question.
"In consequence , the precise form
which the question of standards now
takes in the United States is as to
whether the currency shall rest on a
gold basis or on a silver or paper basis.
Thus stated it can have , to the majority
of economists , but one solution. Under
existing conditions the gold standard is ;
for the United States , the best available
This being the case , it is the duty of the
nation to render that standard as stable
as possible , and to remove all uucer
taiuty as to its maintenance and its easy
working , for uncertainty as to the basis
of the currency must always be a men
ace to prosperity.
The committee believes that mucl
would be gained by a definition of the
standard in terms of gold ; and to enact
legislation that will maintain the con
vertibility , into gold , of other forms of
currency. It believes that under nor
mal conditions the task in question can
be devolved "most advantageously upon
xuinc inntitntion or institutions of a bank
ing nature. " Also that this solution of
the problem in the United States is , on
the whole , best. If , on the other hand ,
the treasury must still maintain the
standard of value , the department should
bo specially organised with reference to
the duty. The most important modifi
cation of the existing system should
come in the separation of the manage
ment of the monetary system of the
country from those functions which are
of a purely fiscal nature. The report
thinks it would be well to find a place
for silver dollars where they will cause
least trouble by retiring all notes under
ten dollars ; also to authorize the secre-
taiy of the treasury to retire , at least
temporarily , notes which have been once
redeemed.
The report declares that without re
ference to the disputed retention of
greenbacks as a part of the currency the
maintenance of some system of bank
issues will bo indispensable. It should
bo under federal control and should have
more elasticity than exists in the present
system. If it bo not practicable to secure
legislation to issue circulation upon
ordinary banking assets , the report sug
gests that the banking law could bo
amended to permit reissue of notes with
in six months after retirement , and to
raise the ratio of notes to bonds depos
ited ; to lower the tax or to levy it upon
capital and surplus. The committee
would be inclined to prohibit any bank
from paying out of the notes of other
banks , except to the issuer through the
redemption agency.
The recommendations of the report
nclude : The establishment of branch
banks in the newer and remote sections ;
that country banks should be permitted
to circulate notes upon a portion of their
general assets ; the exemption from the
federal 10 per cent tax on circulation of
such state banks as comply with the
regulation of federal law and submit to
national supervision ; and the lowering
of the minimum capital of national
banks to $20,000 or $25,000. The report
ioncludes :
"Your committee are of the opinion
that what is most needed at this junc
ture is a disposition on the part of the
friends of reform to sink individual pre
ferences as to details , and to insist that
congress shall enact such legislation as
it is possible to agree upon. Undoubt
edly there is room in this matter of cur
reucy , reform for honest differences of
opinion , but such a degree of persistence
in one's opinion as makes a working
compromise impossible has no justifica
tiou in monetary principles or in the
conditions prevailing in the United
States. It is safe to say that of the five
or six currency bills that during the last
twelve mouths have been in any serious
sense before the country , the passage of
any one would have resulted in great
improvement and would have measur
ably satisfied the demands of reformers.
The sensible men of this country are
almost as unanimously opposed to ex
pansion as they are opposed to free silver.
A few well-known republicans are favor
ing the doctrine at present because it is
a party measure , but they will abandon
it. Men like Thomas B. Reed , Grover
Cleveland , , T. Sterling Morton , Andrew
Carnegie , Charles Eliot Norton , Carl
Schurz , and hundreds of others equally
intelligent , are bitterly opposed to ex-
pansion. The republicans will be com
pelled to give it up. Eight labor organ
izations have already adopted resolu
tions against expansion. To believe
that the American people , on sober
second thought , will agree to spend hun
dreds of millions of dollars , and sacri
fice thousands of lives , for no other pur
pose than to bring liberty to the Fili-
nines and Cubans , is to accuse the
American people of being fools in spite
of education. It is unfortunate thai
W. , T. Bryan is an anti-expansionist , but
in spite of him , expansion or imperial
ism is doomed. Every day the republi
can party stands by expansion , weakens
its chances of success at the next presi
dential election. In two years expan
sion will be so unpopular that no politi
cal power will dare support it. Atchison -
son Globe.
It may not have
WINTKK WHKAT
been remembered ,
IX NKISKASKA.
or even known , to
: nany people in our state , that winter
wheat is mostly produced south of the
ine of latitude which marks its northern
boundary. The success which has come
to the farmers who , within the last past
five years , of its cultivation , leaves no
room for speculation upon the problem
of wheat-culture on these vast and rich
areas. The fact arms our people for a
new advancement , and the advantage of
diversifying production as a measure of
both profit and safety , whose probable
benefits it would bo impossible to esti
mate. Actual results tell their own big
story for the future. All that is needed
to insure rich returns from winter
wheat culture are two things. One of
these things is the selection of good seed ,
and the other thing is to sow the good
seed by the drill method of seeding to
guard it from the strong winds and the
wash of the rainstorm.
It is due to the truth of histoiy to say
of the agricultural progress of this state
that it began with a general acceptance
of the false idea of four and forty years
ago that successful agriculture could not
be prosecuted on these then alleged bar
ren soils. Public opinion mapped our
geographies so as to make us a part of
the "Great American Desert , " and the
early settler shared the idea. It was
only by timid steps and gradual discov
eries that the first occupants of the ter
ritory and the world wore taught by the
lessons of experience and practical dem
onstration that this is one of the most
fertile regions for producing staples for
the consumption of hungry mankind
upon which the sun of heaven has ever
shown.
There is a French proverb : " A spoiled
child always turns out a success. "