of money per capita than before, for the reason that the prices of all commodities have increased and that notwithstanding we are on a gold basis and have the so-called "sound dollar."

Although the circulating medium has increased with our population, yet so utterly has the past lack of system in banking perverted (here as in all its aspects true to its class instinct of selfish exploitation) its functions that instead of increasing our facilities of interchange and prosperity it has become a means of crushing all except the master devils in control of the money machine. In every instance prices have increased they have increased much more than the slight increase in money wages temporarily granted by the master class. For instance, on the necessaries of life and on all articles controlled and manufactured by the protected thieving trusts the margin between the possible savings from the small wages and absolute destitution has been wiped out. Does this not, and should it not, satisfy anyone that my contention is correct that this country has had enough circulating money? The mischief lies in the defects of distribution, and this bill not only intensifies it, but makes it more dangerous and directly sinister. Ever since the banking interests perceived that some form of regulation of the railroads became inevitable, water was poured into all the stocks and bonds of every carrier. The purpose was twofold. In the first place, it permitted a tiny minority to control through a holding company vast railroads; and, secondly, and more directly, to soak the community with a lot of inflated paper so-called "securities." In order to market these and to give them the apparent approval of the Government, this bill becomes the necessary lever with which to unload the so-called "securities" on the public.

Surely the country has enough money, but it is not properly distributed, nor is it where it by right belongs, with the people. Now, who is clamoring for more money and elastic currencythe people? No; the banks.

For whose benefit-the people's benefit and interest? No; for the bank magnates' own gain and benefit.

Now, if you desire to make it still easier for banks to bleed and rob the people and make it still easier for them to control the wealth of this country, then in this case pass this Wall street Morgan-Rockefeller bill for which they are clamoring, but for heaven's sake do not try to make the American people believe that it is done for the interest of the country. Be honest and admit that it is done for the poor, oppressed, and lean banks who are only declaring from 30 per cent up to 60 per cent dividends on their capital and whose $100-shares are worth up to two thousand and in some instances more, because it is they and no others who want this legislation.

I believe that this clamor on the part of these banks for currency legislation, Mr. Speaker, is a great bluff and nothing else. By their actions they are trying to blind the people and keep the people's thoughts from the abuses that now exist, fearing that if the public would awaken, it would demand repeal of all the obnoxious acts which make it possible for the banks of this country to do what they please with the public. Government money should be substituted for the nationalbank notes called money.

Until this is done the user will continue to grow more autocratic and powerful and the toiler more completely his slave. In the belief that our present monetary system is enriching a privileged few and doing an incalculable wrong to the many, we demand its abolition, root and branch, and advocate a substitute for all coin and currency now in use, full legal-tender paper money (not notes), to be issued by the Government for a consideration and in sufficient volume for doing the business of the country for cash.

This money should be issued direct to the people without the intervention of interest-bearing bonds or bankers and, being receivable for taxes and for all dues to the Government, would be self-redeeming, thus making unnecessary all coinage of precious metals for redemption purposes.

Under an equitable monetary system a favored few will not have their products stamped as money, thereby giving them an immense advantage over their fellow-producers to whom this privilege is denied, but all producers will be placed on an equal footing, and no one will be able to obtain money unless he gives to society some useful product or service in return.

The monopoly to issue money enjoyed by private individuals has led to numberless other monopolies, and will in time concentrate all wealth in a few hands if the present system is not reversed.

Let the Government issue all money; let it be issued for a consideration and services only, and received as it is issued, thereby forming a natural and perfect circulation.

Under this system the money will first come into the posses

sion of the industrious people, and those social parasites who have been absorbing labor's products by the mere control and manipulation of money will be compelled to either live on what they have accumulated or else become industrious also.

I honestly and firmly believe that the foregoing plan or system proposed by the Monetary Association should, and some day surely will, be established, and in connection establish postal savings banks and within a short time the people and the country will free themselves from the deadly grip of this mammoth money octopus.

The question is, Will you do it?

Remember, by your deeds you shall be known.

This evil legislation is bound to recoil on its authors. It is sure to emphasize in the minds of all thinking people not only the vacuity of mentality of the Republican party, but it will surely make the people understand that mere worship of the fetich of the full dinner pail and Republican prosperity no longer can hold good. For years the senseless howl about the Democratic panic of 1893 has done good service. What can be said of the Republican panic that began in 1907 and whose end no man can foretell? It is idle to say that other causes of international nature contributed to it. It is undisputed that the great malefactors of corporation finance precipitated it and made use of it to punish their adversaries, and to some extent were caught in its maelstrom of financial rottenness. To escape from this they find their only relief in working off on the people their inflated converted bonds under the ægis of this proposed legislation. Let all this be disputed-what have the Republicans to say to the charge that this panic came while they had, and have had, uninterrupted control of the Presidency and of both Houses of Congress for a long period of years?

Here is an extract from the New York Evening Post of January 18, 1908:

KILLING THREE SUPERSTITIONS WITH ONE PANIC. Every man regrets that the panic had to come. We all suffer, and shall suffer, from it; for its effects will be with us for months to come. Secretary Taft, whose account in his Boston speech of the origin of our financial troubles was so informed, is too clear-sighted to be under any delusion about the effect passing away, as some obstinate optimists be lieve it will, in a night. He predicted that industrial crippling would be a certain and continuing result. That but heightens the sense of the calamity which has befallen the country. Yet, if it had to be, there are many public grounds for satisfaction that it fell just when it did. It came at precisely the right moment to kill, or at least scotch, three of our most harmful political superstitions at the same time. Defining superstition as a conviction without reason, or in the face of reason to the contrary, we need have no hesitation in calling one belief about the Republican party superstitious. It is that the Republican party is, somehow, "good for business." With that this nation has been for some years grievously afflicted. It has been in vain to point out mistaken policies, insensate leaders, and corrupt management. Never mind all that, people have said; we have noticed that when the Republican party is in power work is plenty, wages are high, the tall chimneys smoke, exchanges mount up, profits are great, prosperity is abundant; and we don't propose to run the risk of a change. Of course this was based on a memory as short as the argument was fallacious. The Republican party was in power in 1873-1877, among the most disastrous years of our history. Per contra, the Democratic party, when in control from 1884 to 1888, was distinctly good for business. But political memories in this country rarely cover more than a year or two of the immediate past, and so the superstition we speak of has come to hold thousands in its grasp. But they must feel its hold broken to-day. The hard fact has done what all the reasoning in the world could not effect. Men in all parts of the country are out of work. The public revenues are steadily declining, and a large Treasury deficit is plainly in sight. The business and manufacturing outlook is gloomy, yet there, all the while, is the Republican party in full power. The spell of a mere name has not worked. Providence has ceased to be a member of the Republican party. The result can not fail to be to cause the Republican managers to think with less reverence of their own supernatural wisdom and of the divine bounty with

more.

The twin superstition is the persuasion that a high tariff has a magic in it to make good times. We have had this dinned into our ears to such an extent for ten years past that even ordinarily sensible men have come to think there might be something in it. The result has been to make the tariff sacrosanct, to touch which was both a crime and a sacrilege. Some of the best heads in the Republican party have been given over to believe this strong delusion and lie. They have been ready with instant objection to any proposal to revise the tariff, since it would mean a great blow to business. Well, business has now received a succession of staggering blows, and the high tariff has been no protection against them whatever. When men have talked about the unnecessary and oppressive duties on iron and steel, the answer has been that we could not afford to disturb the high tariff which kept that vast industry at its pitch of activity. Well, the iron and steel business has been cut squarely in half, though not a single duty has been pared down by a shaving. Suppose such a tremendous shock had followed tariff reduction. Every Republican finger in the land would have pointed to the awful warning. But to-day the awful warning has come with the high tariff in full vigor. This ought to put an end to the worship of the tariff as a fetich for at least a decade. Superstitions are nonpartisan. *. But that superstition, too, shriveled before the breath of the panic The part which unreasoning hopes and fears, with unfounded beliefs, have played in political history, everyone knows to have been large, and no man in his senses expects that it will be more than relatively smaller as education and experience make their slow and painful conquests. But it is always a relief when a political obsession ceases even temporarily to hamper rational discussion. That amount of adversity's sweet milk we can draw from the panic. It has made certain pet delusions so absurd that they can no longer be maintained with a

*

The panic of 1893 came on the country as an aftermath of the panic of 1892. The panic of 1907 belongs to and should be borne by the Republican party without any partners except their silent partners, the corporation magnates and trust beneficiaries. The panic of 1893 all but burst forth in Harrison's Administration. President Harrison's Secretary of the Treasury had the plates for the bonds engraved and was getting ready to issue bonds, the same bonds that were afterwards used by Cleveland to save the credit of the Government-all but wrecked by the expenditures of the Republican House and Republican Senate. The wastefulness of that period is duplicated to-day, and the Republican panic of 1907 has not taught the Republicans anything whatever.

But this time you will not be able to mislead all the people. They have found you out and your Wall street gamblers' bill shows what straits you are in. You are at the end of your rope and, like Bill Sykes, you are about to play a trick of unspeakable and needless financial ruffianism before your political end. You are not even grateful to your wretched dog, and are illtreating that portion of the little bankers who have filled your campaign funds with this loathsome financial flimflam.

How much longer this will be tolerated by the American people I do not know, but I predict this, that it will not take long. The American people will some day in the near future come to realize that whenever the condition in a country reaches that stage that it is possible for one man to stop or steer a panic for his own ends, that it is also possible for that same group or that same man to cause to be or bring about a panic. Both feats have already been accomplished and are fresh in the people's minds. They have left ruin and desolation and misery all over our country, and the end is not yet in sight, in spite of skillfully manipulated stock markets and faked enthusiasm. If nothing else showed the pitiable condition of the Republican party it is shown by the fact that the stock markets rise and keep on rising on the killing in the stock markets and curbs that can be made when this currency bill becomes law, and this in spite of over 400,000 freight cars idle and empty, and in spite of a national deficit unheard of in a solvent State in times of peace. The party of Lincoln and of Sherman and of Boutwell has become an annex to and a servant of a gang of stockjobbers. With this well deserved gibbeting I pity the people of these United States, who must in the last instance pay the piper for the untold evils of this mongrel currency bill.

Education.

Education is the foundation upon which to build a nation's prosperity, happiness, and liberties.

SPEECH

OF

HON. RICHMOND P. HOBSON,

OF ALABAMA,

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

Saturday, May 30, 1908.

Mr. HOBSON said:

Mr. SPEAKER: Under the leave to print granted by the House, I desire to have printed in the RECORD the following articles and information from the General Educational Board, which is doing a mighty work for the general cause of education in America:

IMPROVED CONDITIONS FOR THE SOUTHERN FARMER.

[An address delivered by Dr. Seaman A. Knapp, of the United States Department of Agriculture, at the tenth conference for education in the South, at Pinehurst, N. C.]

In discussing this topic it is necessary to arrive at a just estimate of present conditions in our Southern rural districts.

Some years since a traveler said that the farms of the South looked like a bankrupt stock ready for the auctioneer; the soils were impoverished, the brush and brier patches conspicuous, the buildings dilapidated, the fences a makeshift, the highways but little more than much-used bridle paths; the churches and schoolhouses were built upon the plan of inclosing the necessary space at the least expense, and the graveyards appeared as if the living did not believe in the resurrection.

This view point is not mine. To me the Southern States surpass all of the countries of the earth of equal area in material resources,

are

mineral wealth of surpassing value; within almost every acre agricultural resources that, touched by intellect and labor, will reveal marvelous products. To me the Southern people are the purest stock of the greatest race the world has produced. The rural population the essential material of their natures is not impaired, and it requires has lived under unfortunate conditions for the best development, but but leadership but to maintain great results. "Scratch a Filipino and you may uncover a Malay; scratch a poor white of the South and you reveal a hero. Great gains have already been made and greater are yet to come. There are some retarding conditions. What are they? The following are a few of the most important:

First. In the older States of the South the annual product per acre has greatly decreased, owing to the rapid loss of soil fertility, and moderate production is only maintained at increased cost. Even comparatively new States, like Texas, indicate rapid loss of fertility. Second. Within the last half century vast areas of virgin prairie lines, and have attracted many from the older States. soils have been opened for settlement by the construction of railway Economic and rapid transportation are equalizing the land values of the world, depressing them in older and more populous sections and rapidly enhancing values in the newer. This is true in Virginia, in New York, in England, and elsewhere.

culture.

Third. The large body of freedmen settled throughout the rural districts of the South has tended to lower farm values and depress agriculture. I am not claiming that they intentionally do this or are morally responsible for the effect. The effect is not the result of color, but is caused by lower planes of living. I simply mention it as a factor. Fourth. The poverty of the laboring whites should be taken into account. It takes resources to build and maintain a high civilization. If the poor whites and the colored people, constituting ninetenths of the country population, do not have means to buy farms, nor improve them, nor purchase equipment, nor to pay current expenses, country conditions must fall to a low level. Considerable of this is due to the war between the States, which financially ruined the South. It takes a long time for a people to recover froin sweeping disasters, and it takes longer when nine-tenths of them have but slight knowledge of thrift. Fifth. The credit system has been a potent factor in depressing agrilimited way forty years ago, but it prospered and became dominant, To some extent it might have been a necessary evil in a oppressive, and insolent. It unblushingly swept the earnings of toil from the masses into the coffers of the few. It substituted voluntary for involuntary servitude, ownership by agreement, and poverty by contract under fear of the sheriff for the ownership by birthright and a government by proprietary right. So we have lived under a slav ery where the chains are ingeniously forged and the bands riveted with gold. It is all the same in effect-the impoverishment of the Sixth. Evolution in manufactures has wielded a mighty influence against the general development of the country. Sixty years ago most of our mechanics lived in the country upon small farms, which they and their families tilled for support, and they sold their surplus labor to supplement the home income. People were honest and thrifty, because all were employed; to-day these mechanic farmers reside in town or city, sell all their labor, and live out of a canned garden and milk a tin cow. Of course their sons and daughters are idle.

masses.

Seventh. To foster the mechanic arts we have levied a duty upon the farmers, thereby destroying competition and increasing the cost of what they purchase about 50 per cent. This with the marvelous improvements in machinery and mechanical power has given the mechanic an earning capacity (as shown by the last census) of from four to six times that of the average farmer. This is the main magnet which attracts the best youth from the farms and deprives the rural districts of their rightful leaders.

Eighth. To cap the climax of depressing influences most of the money of the country has been diverted into commercial channels through the banking laws. In olden time there were men in the country who loaned money to farmers; later all such funds have been absorbed by banks, until banks directly and indirectly control the money of the country. Farmers can deposit in a bank; but they can not borrow from that bank, even their own money, to make a crop. It requires at least six months to make and market an average crop upon a farm. Banks can loan only for ninety days. Suppose all of the deposits of a village bank were made by farmers, that money must be loaned upon short time and hence is not available for crop raising to any extent. Thus the banking capital of our country, a considerable portion of which belongs to farmers, has not promoted agriculture, but has stimulated commercialism and by its concentration in cities has fostered gambling in stocks. The great fluctuation in the values of farms and farm products lies in the fact that the money of the country is not backing them. It has been loaned to the merchant, the manufacturer, and the speculating interests. This is not intended as an argument against banks. Banks are a necessity. The criticism holds against a phase of our banking laws which by process of law diverts the money of farmers into commercial channels.

This backward condition of the country as compared with the city is not a new problem. It dates from the earliest historical periods. Many of the words of reproach or opprobrium in the English language were the designation of farmers, in the several languages from which they were derived, such as villain, heathen, clown, and boor. While rural conditions were such as these names indicate, the weavers of Bruges and the trainbands of London were winning victories for liberty.

Every effort to improve the country has been more or less of an uplift. When manufacturers were established in the villages of Eng land and in New England an important step was taken in economic production. It helped the marketing of farm products and gave employment to the surplus labor of the country. This should still be the policy of manufacturers, if the most economic production is sought. These villages were a social as well as an economic gain. They

The establishment of country schools was another advance. had been far from perfect and possibly should be modified to meet present conditions; but they have been an inspiration to thousands who lived remote from urban refinement. They were expensive, but infinitely cheap as compared with the barbarism of ignorance.

Another advance of the country was the establishment of agricul tural colleges. These democratic institutions attracted the sous of farmers by their gospel of labor and the introduction of studies helpful in vocations of toil.

It was hoped, and by many expected, that the graduates of these colleges would return to the country, become captains of rural industries,

and revolutionize conditions. This did not occur, but good was done. Thousands of the undergraduates are upon the farms. Many of these colleges have established short courses for the tillers of the soil. Farmers institutes have been organized to carry agricultural knowledge to the scattered homes in the country and deliver it orally. They have fostered investigations along agricultural lines, and they keep the necessity of more agricultural knowledge as a live issue before the people.

Another class of reformers is prescribing "diversification of farm products" as a remedy. Diversifying is a great aid to success in agriculture, under certain conditions; but how can the man who has nothing diversify? He can not go into dairying nor stock farming, because he can not buy the fraction of a cow or a pig. He can not plant new crops. because the merchant regards the move as an experiment, and he will not advance on an experiment. The only way such farmers can prosper is by remaining in the old rut and improving the rut.

Other advocates of reform are clamoring for improvement of rural conditions better homes, passable highways, free delivery of mails, etc. These are excellent suggestions; but they do not reach the main difficulty, which is the lack of means to do anything.

I once heard a poor tenant farmer complain that he could not make a living farming; a passing stranger remarked, "Why don't you quit farming, if there is no money in it, and go to banking?" "Mister!" replied the poor man, "I don't know whether you are insane or an Idiot. It sounds like both." To men on the farm hunting for a breakfast, considerable of the advice sounds like both.

There is another remedy for the country, very popular just now, and that is the teaching of agriculture in the common schools. Properly defined and understood, there is a certain amount of helpfulness in it. However, if taught universally in the country schools, no sweeping revolution will result, for the following reasons:

First. Agriculture is not a science and it has but little science in it. That little science can be taught. The remainder must be acquired by observation, experience, and business methods. Some instruction may be given in soils, in plant classification, in the way plants feed and grow and are propagated, in insect and bird life, and in animal structure and requirements. These may go into secondary schools in a limited way. It appears to me impracticable to introduce them generally into the rural common schools, as they are now organized; at least till teachers are trained to instruct. If these schools can be consolidated into township schools, properly graded, it will then be possible to introduce some object-lessons and primary instruction in nature studies. In the common country schools, it is at present unwise to attempt much looking to agriculture beyond object-lessons. These are always valuable, and oral instruction should be given with them.

It is estimated that there is a possible gain of fivefold in the earnIng capacity of each farm laborer above his present income. Practically the whole gain is due to the following plan: Fill the soil with humus; prepare a deeper and more thoroughly pulverized seed bed; better seed; proper fertilization; more cultivation; the use of stronger teams; better machinery and tools; and utilize the idle lands by grazing. Four-fifths of the gain is in the economic use of better teams and tools and the introduction of animal husbandry. A majority of our common school teachers are women ignorant of practical agriculture, but no more so than 60 per cent of the male teachers. How are such teachers to instruct in these branches, which requires a farm fully equipped and practical experience?

I have been talking about common schools. In our portion of the United States there are no common schools. They are most extraordinary schools. The children are given science lessons, language lessons, social economy, French, Latin, drawing, vocal and piano music, etc. Possibly later they may learn to read and spell. I asked the patron of one school how the pupils progressed in Latin. He replied, "Very well, indeed. The only difficulty is that they are required to write their translations in English and they do not know how to write English." Let us drop this farce. The need in common schools is for thorough training in the fundamental English branches. If there is time for more, let the boys study bookkeeping and business methods. If still there be room. introduce nature studies and object-lessons. Let the giris take for higher branches the lost science of cooking, housekeeping, and physiology. I am asking for a substantial foundation upon which to build a useful life for such people as must be practical, because they must earn their bread by toil. For people of means and with love of learning, I commend a life of study, broad, deep, and thorough, well rounded by extensive travel and observation. We need great scholars. The common toiler needs an education that leads to easier bread.

In the centuries the American people have been at work on the problems of rural reform some progress has been made, and we are now prepared for the complete accomplishment of what we have so earnestly sought, the placing of rural life upon a plane of profit, of honor, and power. We must commence at the bottoin and readjust the life of the common people.

First. By increasing the earning capacity of the small farmers. More comfortable homes, better schools, improved highways, telephones, free delivery of mails and rural libraries-all require money. They can not be installed and maintained without it; hence the basis of the better rural life is greater earning capacity of the farmer. Farm renovation and maximum crop production are now fully understood, and they can be explained and illustrated in such a simple and practical way that it would be a crime not to send the gospel of maximum production to the rural toiler. It is said by some that the farmers are a hard class to reach and impress. That is not my experience. They are the most tractable of people, if you have anything substantial to offer-but they all want proof. They do not take kindly to pure theories, and no class can more quickly discriminate between the real farmer and the book farmer than the men who till the soil. The message to the farmers must be practical and of easy application. Who shall take this message? Our experience is in favor of farmers of fair education and acknowledged success on the farm. They may make mistakes, from a Scientific standpoint, in delivering the message, but these are easily corrected. The main thing is to induce the farmer to act, and no one can do that like a fellow-farmer. Of what avail is it that the message be taken by a man of science, if the farmer will not give heed? eral it is not the man who knows the most who is the most successful, but the man who imparts an implicit belief with his message. The greatest failure as a world force is the man who knows so much that he lives in universal doubt, injecting a modifying clause into every assertion and ending the problems of life with an interrogation point. The process of changing the environment of a farmer is like that of transforming a farm boy into a scholar. First, the farmer is selected

In gen

to conduct a simple and inexpensive demonstration. Second, a contract is drawn with the United States Department of Agriculture by which he agrees to follow certain instructions. Third, better seed is furnished him and his name is published in the papers. Fourth, each month when the Government's field agent goes to inspect his demonstration many of his neighbors are invited; consequently he will almost unconsciously improve his farm so as to be ready for company and cultivate all of his crops better. Fifth, a report of his extra crop is made in the county papers. His neighbors talk about it and want to buy seed. Sixth, he sells the seed of his crop at a high price. His neighbors ask him how he produced it. He is invited to address public assemblies. He has become a man of note and a leader of the people and can not return to his old ways. Soon there is a body of such men; a township, a county, and finally a State is transformed. The power which transformed the humble fishermen of Galilee into mighty apostles of truth is ever present and can be used as effectively to-day in any good cause as when the Son of God turned His footsteps from Judea's capital and spoke to the wayside children of poverty.

The environment of men must be penetrated and modified or little permanent change can be made in them. The environment of the farmer is limited generally to a few miles. The demonstration must be carried to this limited area and show how simple and easy it is to restore the virgin fertility of the soil, to multiply the product of the land per acre, to increase the number of acres each laborer can till by three or four fold, and to harvest a profit from untilled fields by animal husbandry. This is our farmers' cooperative demonstration work.

The second step in rural regeneration is the establishment of agricultural banks, through which reliable men may be assisted to own the lands they till. In the United States there are over 2,000,000 rented farms, more than one-third of the total number. The majority of these farmers would become owners if properly encouraged and aided. In addition there are tens of thousands of mechanics in the towns and cities who were raised on farms and would return to the country and purchase lands for homes if slightly assisted.

Agricultural banks should be established to assist in carrying out the plan of colonizing the country with thrifty home owners. Furthermore, it is equitable, because while millions produced by the farms of the nation have by the process of banking been transferred to commerce, no way has been provided, under the law, by which the money of the people can be used by the people for time investments in providing for ownership of rural homes-the royal right of American sovereigns and more honorable than the Order of the Garter or the Golden Fleece.

The third advance in the great uplift of rural conditions consists in teaching farmers' wives and daughters how to feed, clothe, and doctor their families. When the township graded school takes the place of the scattered district schools, it will be plain how to accomplish this work by school demonstrations.

If these three progressive steps be taken, the rest will follow as a natural evolution. It is not a matter of pure deduction which assures me that the farmers will make their homes more comfortable and more beautiful, will perfect the rural school system, will construct good roads, telephones, and electric railways, when they have the means to do so. Wherever our farmers' cooperative demonstration work has been conducted long enough for the farmers to get out of debt, there is a marked improvement in buildings and farm equipment to do good work. The farmers' families are better clothed and fed; thrift and comfort have appeared in places formerly as destitute of these as the jungles of Africa.

The State can accelerate the progress of rural improvement by encouraging good works. In England better highways have been promoted by a law which provides for the general Government taking charge and thereafter maintaining all roads which the people construct and improve up to certain excellence. In a similar way the State could encourage the building of the best macadam or Roman type of roads by offering premiums for every mile constructed by a township or county, and important highways might even receive national aid. Such a highway as the Spaniards constructed from Ponce to San Juan is worthy of national aid and is more valuable to the country than a railroad and at less cost. The life of a Roman highway is more than two thousand years. Several such highways should bisect every county in the United States and be a part of a great national road system. The secondary highways will of course for many years be dirt roads; but they should be of the best type. With our waterways improved, connecting canals constructed, and a system of national highways developed, the problem of transportation will be largely solved and an immense impetus given to better country conditions.

In a similar way a wise governmental policy can foster schools by special annual appropriations to township and county graded schools of a certain excellence. Under such a system a high school fully equipped to instruct in the practical branches required for successful farm life could be maintained in every county.

Telephones should be made a part of the postal system and extended through the farming districts of the United States where the people have shown ability to construct and maintain a first-class highway, one-half the expense of installing the telephone to be borne by the rural route and a rental charge made, as for post-office boxes. In addition there should be a rural express on every highway of the first class. Thus a farmer residing 10 miles from his market town could make an order by phone and receive the package by express in a short time. By the same conveyance the sons and daughters of the farmers could attend a central high school.

Upon this general plan, and no other, can the country become what it should-a home-making place, where the farmer will reside upon his farm. The mechanic and the merchant wanting more space for their homes will choose it 5 or 10 miles in the country, and professional men will seek rural quiet and rest. Our civic centers are expanding with amazing rapidity, not because men love brick walls and electric elevators, but because they there find greater earning capacity and certain conveniences and comforts, which have become a necessity. Make it possible to have all of these amid the quiet and beauties of nature, with rapid transit to business centers, and vast numbers that have sought an urban home will turn to the country for a home at less cost with purer air and water, greater convenience and beauty, cheaper food and more contentment.

Let it be the high privilege of this great and free people to establish a republic where rural pride is equal to civic pride, where men of the most refined taste and culture select the rural villa, and where the wealth that comes from the soil finds its greatest return in developing and perfecting that great domain of nature which God has given to us as an everlasting estate.

The Democratic Congressional Committee.

SPEECH

OF

HON. JAMES T. LLOYD,

OF MISSOURI,

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

Mr. LLOYD said:

Saturday, May 30, 1908.

Mr. SPEAKER: Political parties are necessary to the best interests of the Republic and have been important factors in the progress of our Government. There must be organization to make these parties effective. In every part of the country the machinery is established to carry out these purposes. Committees are selected which, in a representative way, look after the work of the party. The two great parties each have a Congressional committee, composed mainly of Members of Congress, who are charged with the responsible work of assisting in the various Congressional districts in the attempt to secure control of the next Congress.

The Democratic Congressional committee is composed of the following Members of the House of Representatives and the Senate: JOHN L. BURNETT, Alabama; STEPHEN BRUNDIDGE, Arkansas; FRANK CLARK, Florida; JAMES M. GRIGGS, Georgia; HENRY T. RAINEY, Illinois; LINCOLN DIXON, Indiana; D. W. HAMILTON, Iowa; BEN JOHNSON, Kentucky; JOSEPH E. RANSDELL, Louisiana; JOHN GILL, Maryland; JOHN A. KELIHER, Massachusetts; W. S. HAMMOND, Minnesota; E. J. BOWERS; Mississippi; JAMES T. LLOYD, Missouri; G. M. HITCHCOCK, Nebraska; GEORGE A. BARTLETT, Nevada; WILLIAM HUGHES, New Jersey; WILLIAM H. RYAN, New York; WILLIAM W. KITCHIN, North Carolina; T. T. ANSBERRY, Ohio; JAMES S. DAVENPORT, Oklahoma; JOHN G. MCHENRY, Pennsylvania; D. L. D. GRANGER, Rhode Island; D. E. FINLEY, South Carolina; JOHN WESLEY GAINES, Tennessee; JOHN M. MOORE, Texas; H. D. FLOOD, Virginia; CHARLES H. WEISSE, Wisconsin; MARCUS A. SMITH, Arizona; ROBERT L. OWEN, Oklahoma; ROBERT L. TAYLOR, Tennessee; HENRY M. TELLER, Colorado; A. S. CLAY, Georgia; THOMAS S. MARTIN, Virginia; WILLIAM J. STONE, Missouri; FRANCIS G. NEWLANDS, Nevada; JAMES P. TALIAFERRO. Florida; JOHN H. BANKHEAD, Alabama, and CHARLES A. CULBERSON, Texas.

This committee met and organized by the selection of the folowing officers: JAMES T. LLOYD, chairman; DAVID E. FINLEY, and D. L. D. GRANGER, vice-chairmen; FRANK CLARK, secretary; WILLIAM HUGHES, assistant secretary, and Joseph J. Sinnott, a messenger in the House of Representatives, sergeantat-arms.

Its various subcommittees have been chosen and are as follows:

Executive committee, HENRY T. RAINEY, chairman; D. E. FINLEY, WILLIAM J. STONE, LINCOLN DIXON, D. W. HAMILTON. Campaign committee, LINCOLN DIXON, chairman; D. E. FINLEY, D. W. HAMILTON, CHARLES A. CULBERSON, WILLIAM W. KITCHIN, WILLIAM HUGHES, STEPHEN BRUNDIDGE, W. S. HAMMond, George A. BARTLETT, HENRY M. TELLER, THOMAS S. MARTIN, JAMES S. DAVENPORT, T. T. ANSBERRY.

Literature committee, JOHN WESLEY GAINES, chairman; G. M. HITCHCOCK, E. J. BOWERS, HENRY T. RAINEY, ROBERT L. OWEN, D. L. D. GRANGER, FRANK CLARK, JOHN A. KELIHER, JOHN L. BURNETT, JOHN G. MCHENRY, ROBERT L. TAYLOR, JOSEPH E. RANSDELL, MARCUS A. SMITH.

Finance committee, H. D. FLOOD, chairman; WILLIAM H. RYAN, JAMES M. GRIGGS, W. J. STONE, FRANCIS G. NEWLANDS, A. S. CLAY, CHARLES H. WEISSE, JOHN GILL, BEN JOHNSON, JAMES P. TALIAFERRO, JOHN M. MOORE, JOHN H. BANKHEAD.

The Republicans selected a Congressional committee, whose names I have not been able to obtain. They effected an organization by naming JAMES S. SHERMAN, of New York, chairman, and HENRY C. LOUDENSLAGER, of New Jersey, secretary.

Each committee is preparing some kind of handbook of inforImation for distribution. This book contains extracts from the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD of speeches and statements of prominent men, which have been printed.

This is a wonderful country. Party spirit may run high, contest for supremacy may be intense, contending parties may widely differ as to the internal policy; but when the honor of the country is assailed or its rights trampled upon by an outside foe, there is but one voice in defense that is the voice of the whole people, who are willing to die, if need be, to maintain the integrity of the Republic.

The Currency Law. SPEECH

OF

HON. WILLIAM S. BENNET,

OF NEW YORK,

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

Tuesday, May 26, 1908.

Mr. BENNET of New York said:

Mr. SPEAKER: Under leave to print I insert in the RECORD this new currency law, believing it to be a matter of general interest, and also an interesting article by William Henry Knox, of the New York bar, which article appeared in the Albany Law Journal in January last:

[Public No. 169.]

H. R. 21871. An act to amend the national banking laws. Be it enacted, etc., That national banking associations, each having an unimpaired capital and a surplus of not less than 20 per cent, not less than ten in number, having an aggregate capital and surplus of at least $5,000,000, may form voluntary associations to be designated as national currency associations. The banks uniting to form such association shall, by their presidents or vice-presidents, acting under authority from the board of directors, make and file with the Secretary of the Treasury a certificate setting forth the names of the banks composing the association, the principal place of business of the association, and the name of the association, which name shall be subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury. Upon the filing of such certificate the associated banks therein named shall become a body corporate, and by the name so designated and approved may sue and be sued and exercise the powers of a body corporate for the purposes hereinafter mentioned: Provided, That not more than one such national currency association shall be formed in any city: Provided further, That the several members of such national currency associa tion shall be taken, as nearly as conveniently may be, from a territory composed of a State or part of a State, or contiguous parts of one or more States: And provided further, That any national bank in such city or territory having the qualifications herein prescribed for membership in such national currency association shall, upon its application to and upon the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, be admitted to membership in a national currency association for that city or territory, and upon usch admission shall be deemed and held a part of the body corporate, and as such entitled to all the rights and privileges and subject to all the liabilities of an original member: And provided further, That each national currency association shall be composed exclusively of banks not members of any other national currency association.

A

The dissolution, voluntary or otherwise, of any bank in such association shall not affect the corporate existence of the association unless there shall then remain less than the minimum number of ten banks: Provided, however, That the reduction of the number of said banks below the minimum of ten shall not affect the existence of the corporation with respect to the assertion of all rights in favor of or against such association. The affairs of the association shall be managed by a board consisting of one representative from each bank. By-laws for the government of the association shall be made by the board, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury. president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, and an executive committee of not less than five members shall be elected by the board. The powers of such board, except in the election of officers and mak ing of by-laws, may be exercised through its executive committee. The national currency association herein provided for shall have and exercise any and all powers necessary to carry out the purposes of this section, namely, to render available, under the direction and control of the Secretary of the Treasury, as a basis for additional circulation any securities, including commercial paper, held by a national banking association. For the purpose of obtaining such additional circulation, any bank belonging to any national currency association, having circulating notes outstanding secured by the deposit of bonds of the United States to an amount not less than 40 per cent of its capital stock, and which has its capital unimpaired and a surplus of not less than 20 per cent, may deposit with and transfer to the association, in trust for the United States, for the purpose hereinafter provided, such of the securities above mentioned as may be satisfactory to the board of the association. The officers of the association may thereupon, in behalf of such bank, make application to the Comptroller of the Currency for an issue of additional circulating notes to an amount not exceeding 75 per cent of the cash value of the securities or commercial paper so deposited. The Comptroller of the Currency shall immediately transmit such application to the Secretary of the Treasury with such recommendation as he thinks proper, and if, in the judgment of the Secretary of the Treasury, business conditions in the locality demand additional circulation, and if he be satisfied with the character and value of the securities proposed and that a lien in favor of the United States on the securities so deposited and on the assets of the banks composing the association will be amply sufficient for the protection of the United States, he may direct an issue of additional circulating notes to the association on behalf of such bank to an amount in his discretion, not, however, exceeding 75 per cent of the cash value of the securities so deposited: Provided, That upon the deposit of any of the State, city, town, county, or other municipal bonds, of a character described in section 3 of this act, circulating notes may be of such bonds so deposited: And provided further, That no national issued to the extent of not exceeding 90 per cent of the market value banking association shall be authorized in any event to issue circulating notes based on commercial paper in excess of 30 per cent of its unimpaired capital and surplus. The term "commercial paper" shall be held to include only notes representing actual commercial transactions, which, when accepted by the association, shall bear the names of at least two responsible parties and have not exceeding four months to run.

The banks and the assets of all banks belonging to the association shall be jointly and severally liable to the United States for the redemption of such additional circulation; and to secure such liability,

the lien created by section 5230 of the Revised Statutes shall extend to and cover the assets of all banks belonging to the association and to the securities deposited by the banks with the association pursuant to the provisions of this act; but as between the several banks composing such association, each bank shall be liable only in the proportion that its capital and surplus bears to the aggregate capital and surplus of all such banks. The association may at any time require of any of its constituent banks a deposit of additional securities or commercial paper, or an exchange of the securities already on deposit, to secure such additional circulation; and in case of the failure of such bank to make such deposit or exchange the association may, after ten days' notice to the bank, sell the securities and paper already in its hands at public sale and deposit the proceeds with the Treasurer of the United States as a fund for the redemption of such additional circulation. If such fund be insufficient for that purpose, the association may recover from the bank the amount of the deficiency by suit in the circuit court of the United States and shall have the benefit of the lien hereinbefore provided for in favor of the United States upon the assets of such bank. The association or the Secretary of the Treasury may permit or require the withdrawal of any such securities or commercial paper and the substitution of other securities or commercial paper of equal value therefor.

SEC. 2. That whenever any bank belonging to a national currency association shall fail to preserve or make good its redemption fund in the Treasury of the United States, required by section 3 of the act of June 20, 1874, chapter 343, and the provisions of this act, the Treasurer of the United States shall notify such national currency association to make good such redemption fund, and upon the failure of such national currency association to make good such fund, the Treasurer of the United States may, in his discretion, apply so much of the redemption fund belonging to the other banks composing such national currency association as may be necessary for that purpose; and such national currency association may, after five days' notice to such bank, proceed to sell at public sale the securities deposited by such bank with the association pursuant to the provisions of section 1 of this act, and deposit the proceeds with the Treasurer of the United States as a fund for the redemption of the additional circulation taken out by such bank under this act.

SEC. 3. That any national banking association which has circulating notes outstanding, secured by the deposit of United States bonds to an amount of not less than 40 per cent of its capital stock, and which has a surplus of not less than 20 per cent, may make application to the Comptroller of the Currency for authority to issue additional circulating notes, to be secured by the deposit of bonds other than bonds of the United States. The Comptroller of the Currency shall transmit immediately the application, with his recommendation, to the Secretary of the Treasury, who shall, if in his judgment business conditions in the locality demand additional circulation, approve the same, and shall determine the time of issue and fix the amount, within the limitations herein imposed, of the additional circulating notes to be issued. Whenever after receiving notice of such approval any such association shall deposit with the Treasurer or any assistant treasurer of the United States such of the bonds described in this section as shall be approved in character and amount by the Treasurer of the United States and the Secretary of the Treasury, it shall be entitled to receive, upon the order of the Comptroller of the Currency, circulating notes in blank, registered and countersigned as provided by law, not exceeding in amount 90 per cent of the market value, but not in excess of the par value of any bonds so deposited, such market value to be ascertained and determined under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury.

The Treasurer of the United States, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, shall accept as security for the additional circulating notes provided for in this section bonds or other interest-bearing obligations of any State of the United States or any legally authorized bonds issued by any city, town, county, or other legally constituted municipality or district in the United States which has been is existence for a period of ten years, and which for a period of ten years previous to such deposit has not defaulted in the payment of any part of either principal or interest of any funded debt authorized to be contracted by it, and whose net funded indebtedness does not exceed 10 per cent of the valuation of its taxable property, to be ascertained by the last preceding valuation of property for the assessment of taxes. The Treasurer of the United States, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, shall accept, for the purposes of this section, securities herein enumerated in such porportions as he may from time to time determine, and he may with such approval at any time require the deposit of additional securities or require any association to change the character of the securities already on deposit.

SEC. 4. That the legal title of all bonds, whether coupon or registered, deposited to secure circulating notes issued in accordance with the terms of section 3 of this act shall be transferred to the Treasurer of the United States in trust for the association depositing them, under regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury. A receipt shall be given to the association by the Treasurer or any assistant treasurer of the United States, stating that such bond is held in trust for the association on whose behalf the transfer is made and as security for the redemption and payment of any circulating notes that have been or may be delivered to such association. No assignment or transfer of any such bond by the Treasurer shall be deemed valid unless countersigned by the Comptroller of the Currency. The provisions of sections 5163, 5164, 5165, 5166, and 5167 and sections 5224 to 5234, inclusive, of the Revised Statutes respecting United States bonds deposited to secure circulating notes shall, except as herein modified, be applicable to all bonds deposited under the terms of section 3 of this act.

SEC. 5. That the additional circulating notes issued under this act shall be used, held, and treated in the same way as circulating notes of national banking associations heretofore issued and secured by a deposit of United States bonds, and shall be subject to all the provisions of law affecting such notes except as herein expressly modified: Provided, That the total amount of circulating notes outstanding of any national banking association, including notes secured by United States bonds as now provided by law, and notes secured otherwise than by deposit of such bonds, shall not at any time exceed the amount of its unimpaired capital and surplus: And provided further, That there shall not be outstanding at any time circulating notes issued under the provisions of this act to an amount of more than $500,000,000.

SEC. 6. That whenever and so long as any national banking associatlon has outstanding any of the additional circulating notes authorized to be issued by the provisions of this act it shall keep on deposit in the Treasury of the United States, in addition to the redemption fund

required by section 3 of the act of June 20, 1874, an additional sum equal to 5 per cent of such additional circulation at any time outstanding, such additional 5 per cent to be treated, held, and used in all respects in the same manner as the original redemption fund provided for by said section 3 of the act of June 20, 1874.

SEC. 7. In order that the distribution of notes to be issued under the provisions of this act shall be made as equitable as practicable between the various sections of the country, the Secretary of the Treasury shall not approve applications from associations in any State in excess of the amount to which such State would be entitled of the additional notes herein authorized on the basis of the proportion which the unimpaired capital and surplus of the national banking associations in such State bears to the total amount of unimpaired capital and surplus of the national banking associations of the United States: Provided, however, That in case the applications from associations in any State shall not be equal to the amount which the associations of such State would be entitled to under this method of distribution, the Secretary of the Treasury may, in his discretion, to meet an emergency, assign the amount not thus applied for to any applying association or associations in States in the same section of the country.

SEC. 8. That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to obtain information with reference to the value and character of the securities authorized to be accepted under the provisions of this act, and he shall from time to time furnish information to national banking associations as to such securities as would be acceptable under the provisions of this act.

SEC. 9. That section 5214 of the Revised Statutes, as amended, be further amended to read as follows:

SEC. 5214. National banking associations having on deposit bonds of the United States, bearing interest.at the rate of 2 per cent per annum, including the bonds issued for the construction of the Panama Canal, under the provisions of section 8 of 'An act to provide for the construction of a canal connecting the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans,' approved June 28, 1902, to secure its circulating notes, shall pay to the Treasurer of the United States, in the months of January and July, a tax of one-fourth of 1 per cent each half year upon the average amount of such of its notes in circulation as are based upon the deposit of such bonds; and such associations having on deposit bonds of the United States bearing interest at a rate higher than 2 per cent per annum shall pay a tax of one-half of 1 per cent each half year upon the average amount of such of its notes in circulation as are based upon the deposit of such bonds. National banking associations having circulating notes secured otherwise than by bonds of the United States shall pay for the first month a tax at the rate of 5 per cent per annum upon the average amount of such of their notes in circulation as are based upon the deposit of such securities, and afterwards an additional tax of 1 per cent per annum for each month until a tax of 10 per cent per annum is reached, and thereafter such tax of 10 per cent per annum, upon the average amount of such notes. Every national banking association having outstanding circulating notes secured by a deposit of other securities than United States bonds shall make monthly returns, under oath of its president or cashier, to the Treasurer of the United States, in such form as the Treasurer may prescribe, of the average monthly amount of its notes so secured in circulation; and it shall be the duty of the Comptroller of the Currency to cause such reports of notes in circulation to be verified by examina. tion of the banks' records. The taxes received on circulating notes secured otherwise than by bonds of the United States shall be paid into the division of redemption of the Treasury and credited and added to the reserve fund held for the redemption of United States and other notes."

SEC. 10. That section 9 of the act approved July 12, 1882, as amended by the act approved March 4, 1907, be further amended to read as fol

lows:

SEC. 9. That any national banking association desiring to withdraw its circulating notes, secured by deposit of United States bonds in the manner provided in section 4 of the act approved June 20, 1874, is hereby authorized for that purpose to deposit lawful money with the Treasurer of the United States and, with the consent of the Comptroller of the Currency and the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, to withdraw a proportionate amount of bonds held as security for its circulating notes in the order of such deposits: Provided, That not more that $9,000,000 of lawful money shall be so deposited during any calendar month for this purpose,

"Any national banking association desiring to withdraw any of its circulating notes, secured by the deposit of securities other than bonds of the United States, may make such withdrawal at any time in like manner and effect by the deposit of lawful money or national bank notes with the Treasurer of the United States, and upon such deposit a proportionate share of the securities so deposited may be withdrawn: Provided, That the deposits under this section to retire notes secured by the deposit of securities other than bonds of the United States shall not be covered into the Treasury, as required by section 6 of an act entitled 'An act directing the purchase of silver bullion and the issue of Treasury notes thereon, and for other purposes,' approved July 14, 1890, but shall be retained in the Treasury for the purpose of redeeming the notes of the bank making such deposit."

SEC. 11. That section 5172 of the Revised Statutes be, and the same is hereby, amended to read as follows:

SEC. 5172. In order to furnish suitable notes for circulation, the Comptroller of the Currency shall, under the direction of the Secre tary of the Treasury, cause plates and dies to be engraved, in the best manner to guard against counterfeiting and fraudulent alterations, and shall have printed therefrom, and numbered, such quantity of eirculating notes, in blank, of the denominations of $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500, $1,000, and $10,000, as may be required to supply the associations entitled to receive the same. Such notes shall state upon their face that they are secured by United States bonds or other securities, certified by the written or engraved signatures of the Treas urer and Register and by the imprint of the seal of the Treasury. They shall also express upon their face the promise of the association receiving the same to pay on demand, attested by the signature of the president or vice-president and cashier. The Comptroller of the Currency, acting under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, shall, as soon as practicable, cause to be prepared circulating notes in blank, registered and countersigned, as provided by law, to an amount equal to 50 per cent of the capital stock of each national banking association; such notes to be deposited in the Treasury or in the subtreasury of the United States nearest the place of business of each association, and to be held for such association, subject to the order of the Comptroller of the Currency, for their delivery as provided by law: Provided, That the Comptroller of the Currency may issue nationalbank notes of the present form until plates can be prepared and cir