UNITED STATES FINANCE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 141, 5 June 1908, Page 2

UNITED STATES FINANCE.

■ oiuo week- ago Mr. Smalley. the \cu ...'"" l 'oiic-,0i,.|c„l of U,. J^onloi, '"• '•"''""■•niuij: on Senator Aldrirh', lllmicv Ji,||. Sill(1 t |,., t j, ]liul ~m t, r , M M] iroin the Senate mountain a verv litij,. ni»ii-e. Similarly, Mr. Andrew 1ain,...,,, lather n.inciiipiuon.iy described h ° M , •[ '"inpo.-iiig , r.uight lor tlie nerve, 01 ""uncial llilc|-..sU, while, even should It l'ii-s the Uou-e. very little Use would lie made 01 it. T„-day we are advised that ihc tines of parturition are over •md mat lh, ••riiiicuhis mils'' on it-' emergen,,, into ]jf ( , l, as ]„.,,„ ..reeled "" f <"' less derisive cries". 'il„. lea-on- arc /.,,( | um | t0 6( .,,i. hybrid Hill, a- TI k . Times charactcri-c---11, that lia- now become | ilw |,-,, Ml' il"' fault* and Utile „f hj,,, security of compromise. Currem-, rcloini, says the JJimcdin Star, 110,0 whom we ~,,,,1,., started with a national and ,|e,.p - rooted prejudice again,! it -the American people have a -Li.u.g dislike to their (toverninent being in the banking busiucss-and (|,,. tin.il Hill does not embody the matured wishes of either Senator Powder or Sen,lor Aldrich, or Congressman Vrcclaiul. hauli of the.-e ] mt [ his own |;,|, tail neiilier had been -, 1.1.. t„ 0bi,,,, «'"t >"• «-".ir,l. As :l matter of )„„. lory, tlie country was uearlv as tired "f the talk of uirr, ucv reform as Kabul.! is uf 1,,.,- religious dillcrenccs „* li "' K ' •'"»" Uill. 'llie filiation is not without its humorous side when we '■''•ill lh" panicky feeling that w.'i"broad in the land last October. Then linancnll institutions were elosiii" their d»or.-, factories discharging hands, deI'osilors withdrawing iUI( f secretin" their saving,, aid from Jlainc to Call" toriii,, the cry went forth that the President should call a special session "I Congress. Mr. Poosevelt kept cool and did nothing of tlie kind, lie knew his countrymen 100 well. In spite „t their worship of individualism and their resentment of .State, interference, they iii'i; among the first to appeal to the lioverninent in times of financial trouble and the very last to make a, move when the opportunity for legislative action is open. What has come to pass is only what has all along Ix-eu predicted by impartial observers. The facts of Ih'e situation may be summed up in brief The currency system of the I'liilcd States is too rigid; it cannot respond readily to any sudden demand upon it. The country i b a t all times liable to be plunged into a crisis should the schemes of certain individuals go wron.r. Hence in October last, when Wall-street was in chao-, bewildered and distracted depositor- willnlrew their inoncv hum flip ordinary cliannels of trade, solvent banks were impotent to meet the demands upon them..and nothing but. the intervention of private eauitalists likMr. Morgan and Mr. liockefoller tided over the darkest days. Legislation had then to face the problem how to avert the recurrence of a disastrous collapse at a time when the nation was liiuhlv pru-pemus a,„| busy villi iudustria'l Hi'e fn I'd to end. la other words. 'be ;a-l; iva- 1., ,reaie and maintain ciilid-iice in !1„. cuntrv and it- in--tilini..!!-. I'.ili- were drawn up liv llie ido/en. and perf-,-1 ere, were prupound- ; ed by ; 1,,. „';,r,-y In,, „f the welter '•merged Mr. Ahlri-.-h's Senate Kill, which provided for the issue of an emergency currency amounting tooliiUKlll.lilill dollars in llie form of national banknotes, taxable at (i per ecu!., and withdrawable when the emergency lias pa—eii: and that of ('.nigressinan Viveland, which provided lor the issue of an c rgeuc.v chit -y based on liighfradc coniinercial paper ei]tially with bond-. A ciinfcivncc followed,' whose fruit- were „ further enlargement of the da- of acceptable bonds and its adoption in the form of a c promise Hill by both lloii-e-. What good it will do no one can predict until a new crisis ari-es (~ 1.-til.