Show CY REFORM i This being the thc open season for tor state banking C association meetings wo we are beginning to hear heal complaints more complaints more or less definite about definite about the ness and Inelasticity of or the currency system These complaints are arc not In til themselves Ill-founded Ill or unreason unreason- on- on able Our currency system Is a patchwork patchwork patchwork patch patch- work inheritance It represents not the compact and logical development of a consistent pla plan but a rough atI attempt at- at r I- tempt to meet emergencies as they have e arisen It has I HS not kept pace pace pace- and could not keep pace with pace with changing chang chang- I In lag ing conditions because it is a compost composite compos compos- ite a compromise between conflicting t j and forces The federal government govern govern- I ment Is today toda neither definitely in the tho banking business nor nOl out of it H and this indeterminate role though It may InItiative Initiative in initiative In- In have political advantages destroys and compels tho the treasury to and antl waiting policy follow folIos a drifting In any campaign for reform the rigidity rigidity rig rig- of the tho currency s system must be betaken betaken betaken taken for granted Pressure for changes must conic como from without and those who urge amendment I should be armed with suggestions I k which the public will accept as rational ration ration- al and feasible We c think that mos most of oC the tho recent agitation lot for currency legislation lation has lack lacked d effectiveness be because be- be cause camo it has merely pointed out dc tie- and offered no substantial reme- reme lies dies At times when the tho shoe has hab pinched there have been cs es from the banking Interests but bu when the pres pressure has been temporarIly Ily relieved i d tho the fight for better con eon has been abandoned Last Las winter the Chamber of or Commerce au atm aU- an Inquiry and antl Mr tr and antl Secretary Shaw exchanged letters on certain phases of oC the tho currency ques ques- tion No agreement resulted am and the controversy contro lapsed Mr Vander Vander- lip Up at the meeting of or the New York YOlk State Stale Bankers' Bankers association tho the othor day made mado a fresh Cresh pica Illen for a more mor clastic elastic system and antl though his suggestions suggestions sug sug- sug- sug were a n little vague the they haiat badat had bad at least the thc merit of recognizing tho the fact act that before anything can be accomplished ac ac- ac- ac the tue banking interests advocating ad ad- changes changeR must get and and present u Ii concrete and workable program I The rhe argument is often made that tha the currency system must be he grievously grievous grievous- ly Iy at nt fault because the rate of Interest on call money in Wall street may rise within a n month from Crom 4 per cent to 10 or 60 It will vili hardly be held however how how- ever that the banks suffer stiffer from this fluctuation since a soaring Interest rate means large profits to the banking bank bank- ing institutions which loan funds to Wall Vall all street speculators It may even bo ho conceived that the banks encourage encourage age fluctuations b by which they directly direct direct- ly profit Mr la lays s 's more I stress however on the Inability of the banks to furnish tho the In Iii currency needed each year ear to tomoe move mo the crops without creating a n temporary currency famine In the big money markets He lIe favors the removal re re- re- re moval mo of some ome of the present restrictions ions on the I Issuing power of banks and even suggests that the government government government govern govern- ment abandon its indeterminate role In finance and go back to tho the pre- pre Jacksonian practice of direct control through tho the establishment of oC a United States bank This proposal Is logical enough but from the political point o of view it Is hardly practicable as an immediate reform since It Involves a 1 reconstruction of oC our financial system from cellar celiar to garret banel The average I American voter feels himself pretty much at sea sen when asked to deal with financial problems and will Insist on 1 the vcr very ery gradual reformation of a I h financial system whose Ills he lees does not c feel and whose advantages he has been sedulously taught to value Mr Is right however how how- ever In pointing out the necessity of ot concerted action b by tho the banking Interests in interests In- In I l If the present system Is to h b be J. J i amended If they can submit an In Intelligible intelligible In- In r and simple program to the public public and to to c congress tu ress there may maybe mabe may ma maybe I be no great Sleat difficulty in se securing i legislative action t t tf |